markdd Posted October 4, 2017 Share Posted October 4, 2017 What started the thread above was me trying to work out the new Parallax Shader. Is it possible to have a video or at least an expanded help section on the how's and why's of using it? My biggest question is: will it work on its own with a png file applied to the bump shader?.... At the moment I can't make that work and was wondering what I wasn't understanding about it. Many thanks Quote Link to comment
Popular Post tsw Posted October 10, 2017 Popular Post Share Posted October 10, 2017 I've been playing around a bit with parallax mapping too. My understanding is that the intent is to simulate displacement mapping, but without creating real geometry (thus avoiding the increase in render times). Here's an example image and VWX file that uses a PNG for the bump/parallax shader. Note that I think you need to also have something greater than zero in Bump Strength for the effect to show. The biggest advantage is that parallax mapping can occlude itself vs. plain bump mapping which cannot. If you look closely at the examples you'll notice the pebbles in front are covering those in the back, while the plain bump map looks "pasted" on the surface. The difference is even more pronounced at a steeper view angle (bottom image). What's odd to me is that shadows don't appear to be effected by parallax mapping, so it looks a little artificially flat on the sphere example. I'm not sure if that's a limitation of parallax mapping. (It would be really cool if it was possible to turn on Self-Shadowing with parallax mapping!) Parallax.vwx 6 Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee PVA - Admin Posted October 10, 2017 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted October 10, 2017 The above explanation is excellent. Parallax is simply an upgraded form of Bump mapping that simulates depth better without the additional geometry generation needed by Displacement. It also doesn't impact reflections and ambient light render times as much since it isn't creating new surfaces for light to interact with. Quote Link to comment
markdd Posted October 10, 2017 Author Share Posted October 10, 2017 That's very helpful. Thanks. Quote Link to comment
zoomer Posted October 10, 2017 Share Posted October 10, 2017 (edited) What I do not understand is the positive/negative values. Is it just for mirrorings direction or is it any kind view/light dependency and has to be re-adjusted for each camera. Or better, when it is good, why is not on by default ? Edited December 22, 2018 by zoomer 1 Quote Link to comment
mjm Posted December 22, 2018 Share Posted December 22, 2018 On 10/10/2017 at 3:26 PM, zoomer said: What I do not understand is the positive/negative values. Is it just for mirrorings direction or is it any kind view/light dependency and hast to be re-adjusted for each camera. Or better, when it is good, why is not on by default ? ^bump Quote Link to comment
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