I have a client asking for a texture that will be laser engraved into the resin of the product to an exact specification. This is important to them that it be as accurate to the real world depth as possible. It is a knurl pattern with a depth of 100 Microns. My questions is in Maya and Vray 3.6 what is the best way to ensure the depth is accurate? I believe only displacement is tied to real-world units but I’d rather use a bump or normal map because of the nature of the CAD I’m working with.
A bump or normal map is really just a visual cheat.
As far as I can see you have two options, the first using a displacement map with the correct settings, the second would be using a bump or normal map and dialing it in to match a photograph of the real item. (you will need to match your photograph lighting in CG).
I know this thread a a couple of month’s old but on the rare occasion such as this where you are being asked to generate a very specific cut pattern, maybe it’d be worth the trouble to actually model it out? If it’s a typical “knurl pattern” it’s usually just a a pattern of little pyramid shapes etched into the object. You could probably create this pattern with a ProBooleans operation. I mean sure, it’s a tedious process but if it’s like what’s below, you could do it in an hour or two.
The other option would be find a friend who works on ProEngineer or SolidWorks. Those programs all have knurling operations built in. They could apply it the base object for you and export it as STEP “.stp” model.
