Displacement mapping: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 08:40, 31 July 2022

Revision as of 21:36, 19 September 2022

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'''Displacement mapping''' is an alternative computer graphics technique in contrast to [[bump mapping|bump]], [[normal mapping|normal]], and [[parallaxParallax mapping|parallax]], using a ([[proceduralTexture texturemapping|proceduralmapping]]-), using a [[texture mapping|texture-]] or [[heightmap|height map]] to cause an effect where the actual geometric position of points over the textured surface are ''displaced'', often along the [[Locally|local]] [[surface normal]], according to the value the texture function evaluates to at each point on the surface. It gives surfaces a great sense of depth and detail, permitting in particular self-occlusion, [[self-shadowing]] and silhouettes; on the other hand, it is the most costly of this class of techniques owing to the large amount of additional geometry.

For years, displacement mapping was a peculiarity of high-end rendering systems like [[PhotoRealistic RenderMan]], while realtime [[Application programming interface|APIs]], like [[OpenGL]] and [[DirectX]], were only starting to use this feature. One of the reasons for this is that the original implementation of displacement mapping required an adaptive [[Tessellation (computer graphics)|tessellation]] of the surface in order to obtain enough [[micropolygon]]s whose size matched the size of a pixel on the screen.{{cn|date=March 2020}}