DX Studio

General Discussion - Parallax mapping?

Andrew McAdam Freeware Edition Joined 20 September 2009 20 September 2009 14:48:33

Hey dudes, Just been testing out normal mapping in DX studio. It works really nice. I have been creating high poly models in 3DMax and then rendering to a low poly model using the render to texture option in 3DS max. Awesome. The next thing I want to explore is Parallax mapping. I can render a height map with the normal map. -Is there anyway to do Parallax mapping in DX Studio yet? -The next biggy would be, is there anyway to do relief mapping? Cheers dudes, Andy Mac

MiKo Commercial Pro Edition Joined 07 September 2008 20 September 2009 14:57:41

Andy, sorry for kicking in and knowing nothing at all about parallax/relief mapping. Any chance you'd upload a comparison of hipoly and lopoly+rtt model? I'd really love to see how that looks like...

BUnzaga Commercial Pro Edition Joined 07 June 2006 21 September 2009 05:07:47

I'd also be interested on load difference between several high poly models vs low poly models+normal map. Like overload the scene with 500 high poly models, what is the fps or shift-alt-f12 result? Then compare this to 500 low poly models with normal maps. What is the finding?

MDK1311 Non-Commercial Pro Edition Joined 13 May 2009 21 September 2009 21:34:59

@ Andrew McAdam- If my memory is still up to date the parrallax is a shader effect right? so why not trying with nvidia' shader tools? oh and btw try http://www.xnormal.net/1.aspx this could be helpful to make your lowpoly cages and normalmap generation. Best luck with your further projects

Tracey White Commercial Pro Edition Joined 01 August 2008 21 September 2009 21:51:27

Parallax is a renderer feature...DX Studio does not support it now. Relief mapping is pretty much the same as parallax mapping. DX Studio does real well with normal maps though And Normal mapping is close to parallax mapping. It's all the same really...kinda. The idea is the same anyways, but the effect (especially the way light reacts to an object) is where you get improvements from bump map -> normal map -> parallax map By the way, CrazyBump is a GREAT normals generator (from maps).

Moach Non-Commercial Pro Edition Joined 20 May 2008 21 September 2009 22:04:41

you can... but... only if you know how to make your own shaders... DXS kinda supports customs shaders so if you got the relevant expertise, you can create your own parallax effect there´s a plug-in for 3ds max which makes creating your own shaders rather simple, just google for lumonix shaderFX for 3dsmax and you´ll know what i mean... definately worth checking out!

Michael Cook Non-Commercial Pro Edition Joined 03 December 2007 21 September 2009 22:06:40

Parallax mapping is completely different from normal mapping. Parallax mapping basically distorts pixels in the normals direction to give the impression that something is more detailed then what it really is, where as normal mapping distorts the normals of the mesh. The major difference is parts of the mesh can "occlude" other parts and the profile of the mesh is actually changed with parallax mapping. The mesh itself isn't changed, its just drawn to look like it has. Normal maps and bump maps do not do this. Would be neat if DXStudio had this feature. Check this out: http://graphics.cs.brown.edu/games/SteepParallax/index.html That would be rad to have!

Tracey White Commercial Pro Edition Joined 01 August 2008 21 September 2009 22:19:41

Yup Michael...which is why it rocks I LOVE the link you provided. That steep parallax example is really nice! Those images are a great example of the progress through the different methods. Parallax mapping akin to displacement mapping...if you're more familiar with that term. Moach, I haven't been able to get an FX shader to do parallax mapping in DX Studio. Can you share one?

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