Displacement on texture vs geometry displacement

[john_gulland]

Morning all,

When I go to materials > add attribute > add displacement... it comes up with a box saying that this feature will be legacy shortly.

I created a model. One with the approach above another other by clicking a grouped object > Extensions > vray > vray objects > add displacement to object.

Both seemed to render exactly the same. The only difference I can see is that the first one has the displacement on the material, and the later having the geometry stored in the geometry section.

Should I simply do the later going forward?

When I go to the tutorial page about displacements, it doesn't mention about anything being made legacy, so I'm assuming the displacement function will stay (which is a key one as I understand) but it's more of an interface change!? e.g. where the displacement map is ordered?

I'm still figuring out some of these key features and simply want to know the best practice going forward, ensuring my future models can be accessed going forward? On that note, if this first method is being made legacy, will future versions be able to recognise the displacement?

Thanks

T

[nikoleta.garkova]

Hi john_gulland,

The Displacement Attribute function is considered deprecated due to some known issues/limitations and we would generally advise to use the Displacement Modifier. Their idea is the same, but as you've noted the one acts as a material displacement, while the other is geometry-based. The Displacement Modifier allows multiple objects to use the same Displacement instances but different materials.

When I go to the tutorial page about displacements, it doesn't mention about anything being made legacy

The docs page are actually covering the Displacement Modifier (not the Attribute), but it might be a good idea to place a warning if the latter goes away for good.

For now, however, the material displacement Attribute is available since there are lots of older projects using this method. You can also find some additional info in this thread.

[john_gulland]

Hi john_gulland,

The Displacement Attribute function is considered deprecated due to some known issues/limitations and we would generally advise to use the Displacement Modifier. Their idea is the same, but as you've noted the one acts as a material displacement, while the other is geometry-based. The Displacement Modifier allows multiple objects to use the same Displacement instances but different materials.


The docs page are actually covering the Displacement Modifier (not the Attribute), but it might be a good idea to place a warning if the latter goes away for good.

For now, however, the material displacement Attribute is available since there are lots of older projects using this method. You can also find some additional info in this thread.

Ok great thanks for the clarification. I will use the geometry method going forward.

As you have noted, just base on the fact that you can use the same geometry for different materials makes it a solid idea.