1
$\begingroup$

Problem

I am trying to apply a static displacement map to a plane. Even though I am using the Cycles renderer, and I have configured the Principled BSDF shader to use "Displacement and Bump," I am still not seeing any variation in the plane's geometry.

  • Windows 10 version 2004
  • Blender 2.83.0
  • Cycles Renderer
    • Cycles Feature Set: Experiemental

Actual Result

It appears that the plane has a bump map effect, but the displacement aspect isn't working.

Expected Result

The plane should have both a bump map and displacement map effect, where the geometry of the plane is being modified by the black and white displacement vector that's being fed into the material output node.

Additional Details

Here's the wood texture I'm using

enter image description here

Here's a preview of the plane. It's flat, despite having the bump texture on it. The displacement isn't actually modifying the plane's geometry, like I'd expect it to.

enter image description here

enter image description here

Here's what my node editor looks like:

enter image description here

Here are my material settings:

enter image description here

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
2
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ If the input is a height-map, you should use a 'Displacement' rather than a 'Vector Displacement' node. And.. (not relevant to there being no displacement at all).. sRGB .jpg is not the best format for the map. $\endgroup$
    – Robin Betts ♦
    Jun 13, 2020 at 18:37
  • $\begingroup$ I was trying to convert the color image into a greyscale, using the ColorRamp node, and then feed that into Vector Displacement, since the standard Displacement node doesn't support integration with the ColorRamp node. Is that not a good way to go about handling displacement? $\endgroup$
    – Trevor Sullivan
    Jun 13, 2020 at 19:41

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1
$\begingroup$

Does your plane have enough subdivisions? A flat plane with only one face obviously can't be displaced so you need to add some geometry in edit mode or by using a subdivision modifier before the displace modifier

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
3
  • $\begingroup$ I was wondering about that, honestly. Although I figured that the whole point of displacement maps is that you are modifying geometry without adding any additional geometric detail. $\endgroup$
    – Trevor Sullivan
    Jun 13, 2020 at 18:26
  • $\begingroup$ I tried adding a subdivision surface modifier, but that didn't help the displacement. $\endgroup$
    – Trevor Sullivan
    Jun 13, 2020 at 18:30
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ Try 'Adaptive' subdivision. that will be pixel-based, and subdivide according to visible resolution in the render. $\endgroup$
    – Robin Betts ♦
    Jun 13, 2020 at 18:39

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .