Viewport Displacement Approximation

[slooper]

I need to place objects on the surface of a plane with VrayDisplacementMod applied. I would like a way to approximate the displacement of the Vray modifier within the viewport OR some sort of script that can be ran that will call and return the given z value of a vray displaced surface given the x and y position of an object. Another possible alternative would be to use another displacement modifer type on a duplicate copy of the plane and determine an accurate setting conversion between the two different displacement modifers so as to gain viewport approximation from the proxy. I am hoping I am not the first to want this functionality.

Any suggestions or workarounds?

slooper

[Render_Wrangler]

(workaround)
you could put a displace modifier on
right click on it, "off in render"
then add the vray disp
and wire the strength parameters together with the appropriate
difference.
may require a bit of testing, but once u find the magic number
it should always work

[slooper]

well I was originally hoping for a more predictable workaround, but began the process of determining the conversion ratio from Max Displace to Vray Displacement. I was happily surprised to see that the amounts are identical! Using the same displacement bitmap, a displacement amount of 100 gave me coincident faces in the renderer for the entire surface. SO if anyone wants to see Vray displacement estimation in the viewport, a duplicate, tesselated object with the Max displacement will work just fine.

Thanks!

slooper