Combining Vray Clipper with displacement

[MANUEL_MOUSIOL]

I am working on a project right now where I need to able to flexibly cut geometry with the vray clipper, but I also need displacement detail in the clipped geo. As of right now the displacement is processed before clipping, which makes everything very flat. Most of the time I guess that is what you want, but I would like displacement to be applied after the clipping.
Can this be implemented, please?

Not necessarily related to this topic: https://forums.chaosgroup.com/forum/...r-vray-clipper
But both of these features would be not only a great benifit for my project, but I would need to do it in a different way if not implemented.
Working with GPU here btw.

[Vizioen]

Could you show an example for what you're trying to achieve?

[MANUEL_MOUSIOL]

See attached screen.
The red area is clipped at an angle. The chipboard is totally flat but I would like to give it some displacement so it looks "more alive".
I could of course easily cut this by hand and then displacement wouldnt be huge problem to implement. But I have more than this one object that has to be cut the same way, so I would like to use the clipper to do that cutting work; also to be able to quickly change the angle and position of the cut when the client asks for it, instead of having to go through all those different objects again...

[^Lele^]

but where would the displacement be specified? and with which UV coordinates?

[MANUEL_MOUSIOL]

is that a trick question? cause I cant answer that... I just need it to work, you figure it out LOL

[Vizioen]

Well the clipper doesn't generate UV coordinates. I just tried to stick a triplanartex in the displacementmod but that doesn't work either (for the clipped area), although my brain said it should. You might want to give boolean a try for your problem though.

[^Lele^]

is that a trick question? cause I cant answer that... I just need it to work, you figure it out LOL

Ahah, no it was a genuine question: What happens when a clipper cuts more geo?
Should it use, say, the shader displacement map if present?
So it'd have to clip first, and just like now it applies UVs to the new geo, it should try and displace it?
Just trying to wrap my head around how it should work. ^^

[Vizioen]

Something else you can try is to create a mesh with a displace modifier and the same displacement map (BUT inverted) and use that as a clipper mesh. Because this isn't such a very heavy scene and heavy displacement I think this would be a good solution for you for now.

[MANUEL_MOUSIOL]

Not a bad idea, I was thinking that myself...but... I would have to change to CPU rendering then...as you said, it is not a heavy scene, so CPU should render fast too...but I hate switching LOL
it would also require me to just displace that certain area of chipboard, as I wouldnt need it on the other parts of the geo, but when the object changes and thus the position and size of the chipboard, I would have to make another clipping model for that...getting kind of complicated..

[Vizioen]

Ah I'm not a GPU render guy (not enough supported stuff that I use and my GPU just sucks > QuadroK4000) As to the other things you need to change when client requires something else, I'm not sure I quite follow but working with instances and or references should keep the work from getting complicated.

[^Lele^]

Something else you can try is to create a mesh with a displace modifier and the same displacement map (BUT inverted) and use that as a clipper mesh. Because this isn't such a very heavy scene and heavy displacement I think this would be a good solution for you for now.

Very clever!

[MANUEL_MOUSIOL]

Ah I'm not a GPU render guy (not enough supported stuff that I use and my GPU just sucks > QuadroK4000) As to the other things you need to change when client requires something else, I'm not sure I quite follow but working with instances and or references should keep the work from getting complicated.

yeah, I guess you are right. If I work with modifiers and references, it should be fine. I do have to model every part though. As you can see it is very simple geometry, but it is made out of 7 sheets in every model, which I have to readjust if the client wants a different way of clipping. Multiplied by at least 5 different models. Using clipper would make everything so much easier.

I think it would be a good idea to implement displacement for clipped geometry, even if it is just from the material displacement slot.
devs?

[MANUEL_MOUSIOL]

Well the clipper doesn't generate UV coordinates. I just tried to stick a triplanartex in the displacementmod but that doesn't work either (for the clipped area), although my brain said it should. You might want to give boolean a try for your problem though.

yeah, thats the point. I am using triplanar on all of the objects (since I am a lazy bastard) and figured that it would work with the displacement, but the clipper works at end of everything...
it doesnt even work with the displacement in the material slot..but that is almost unusable anyway, since there is no way keep the continuity (which I am always baffled by..it is such an important option)