Displacement Mapping
A rendering technique that pushes a surface’s actual geometry in or out using a grayscale height map. Robert Cook described it in 1984 while at Lucasfilm, and it enables convincing rock, skin and terrain detail.
Spot it
- 01Real surface relief
- 02Silhouettes that bulge
- 03Self-shadowing bumps
Why it happens
Each vertex of a finely subdivided surface is moved along its normal by the height read from a texture, changing the silhouette and casting real shadows.
Recreate it in Pixio
Image edit prompt“Render this image with displacement mapping: the surfaces physically bulge and sink into deep relief like carved stone, with rugged ridges, grooves and bumps that change the silhouette, cast real self-shadows and catch grazing light, in muted matte materials. Keep the original subject and composition.”
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