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I have just started using Blender a few weeks ago and I have been doing ok with it until recently when I changed some setting and now I can't get displacement to work on image textures.

Before I could use displacement images on bricks for example to get nice 3d textures with each brick raised out of the surface. But now when I add an image in the node editor with a displacement image and hook it up and add subdivision surface modifier and displacement modifier I can't get the nice 3d effect. Changing the strength or midlevel just seems to change the x and y displacement. Please help. I've attached an image of my workspace. Also I would like to know if it's possible to get displacement effects not just on each brick but also on the contours and ridges within an individual brick?

Thankyou.

enter image description here

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  • $\begingroup$ we can't see any image. Are you sure you're not using Vector Displacement instead of Displacement? Also make sure you've enabled Displacement Only option in the Material > Settings > Surface > Displacement $\endgroup$
    – moonboots
    Aug 26, 2020 at 20:00
  • $\begingroup$ Did you subdivide the plane? Please edit your question and add an image that shows what you've done $\endgroup$
    – no-can-do
    Aug 26, 2020 at 20:07
  • $\begingroup$ Hi, I forgot to add the image, I've now added it. Yes I subdivded using subdivision modifier and I tried "displacement only" in settings. I just can't get it to bring the bricks out nicely when before it seemed to work great. Thanks! $\endgroup$
    – indigo
    Aug 27, 2020 at 10:12
  • $\begingroup$ "look dev" (material preview) is not Cycles. So it won't displace as Cycles can do. $\endgroup$
    – lemon
    Aug 27, 2020 at 10:18

3 Answers 3

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you have not connected the Texture Coordinate to the Displacement Texture, would guess that causes the problem. Also switching the Image Texture Node from "sRGB" to "non-color data" give more accurate results

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  • $\begingroup$ Thanks, which part of texture co-ordinate do I hook up to the Vector part of the displacement texture? I just tried a few possiblities and none changed it that much. $\endgroup$
    – indigo
    Aug 27, 2020 at 13:17
  • $\begingroup$ Image textures pick up their coordinates, by default, from the UV map marked active for rendering, so that's probably OK. $\endgroup$
    – Robin Betts ♦
    Aug 27, 2020 at 13:40
  • $\begingroup$ Ah, ok. Nice to know. Thank you! $\endgroup$
    – leonkax
    Aug 27, 2020 at 15:29
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There are one or two different things going on ..

  1. You're displacing the mesh geometry, pre-render, with a Displacement modifier, and furthermore, displacing the render-evaluated geometry at render-time, with a Displacement shader (which only Cycles will implement). The combination is certainly not what you want, here, so, go one way or the other.

If you choose to use the modifier, you will probably need more subdivision to pick up a reasonable amount of the detail from the height map.

  1. Maybe you have made your wall from a cube scaled in Object Mode? (While modelling, always scale in Edit Mode :) ) This will have scaled the wall's Object space (its axes, you can switch them on in Object Properties > Viewport Display to have a look), as well as its mesh. That scales the normals, as measured in Object space, too, and the effect of displacement. Try CtrlA Apply > Scale to fix that.
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  • $\begingroup$ Jpeg sRGB is not ideal for displacement, either.. Depending on how it was baked, strictly, you may have to change the image texture output to 'non-color', for accuracy, probably too fussy in this case. $\endgroup$
    – Robin Betts ♦
    Aug 27, 2020 at 13:46
  • $\begingroup$ I tried re-creating the cube and scaling it in edit mode but still the same issue. I tried switch the units of the scene to centimetres instead of metres in case that was doing it but still nothing. I might re-install Blender as I had it working before without having to use Texture Co-ordinates and scaling of the image. Thanks. $\endgroup$
    – indigo
    Aug 27, 2020 at 16:20
  • $\begingroup$ @indigo.. sorry there's no fix, there... you could share your file with the displacement image packed, on blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com, if it's still not working. $\endgroup$
    – Robin Betts ♦
    Aug 27, 2020 at 17:52
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The vector from the mapping node needed plugging into the displacement image node

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