Parallax mapping: Difference between revisions

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<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:ParallaxMapping.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Image:ParallaxMapping.jpg| Example of parallax mapping. The walls are [[Texture (visual arts)|texture]]d with parallax maps. Screenshot taken from one of the base examples of the [[open source]] [[Irrlicht Engine|Irrlicht 3d engine]].]] -->

'''Parallax mapping''' (also called '''offset mapping''' or '''virtual displacement mapping''') is an enhancement of the [[bump mapping]] or [[normal mapping]] techniques applied to textures in 3D [[rendering (computer graphics)|rendering]] applications such as [[video game]]s. To the end user, this means that [[texture mapping|textures]] such as stone walls will have more apparent depth and thus greater realism with less of an influence on the performance of the simulation. Parallax mapping was introduced by Tomomichi Kaneko et al., in 2001.<ref name="Kaneko">Kaneko, T., et al., 2001. [http://vrsj.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ic-at/ICAT2003/papers/01205.pdf Detailed Shape Representation with Parallax Mapping]. In Proceedings of ICAT 2001, pp. 205-208.</ref> in 2001.

Parallax mapping is implemented by displacing the texture coordinates at a point on the rendered [[polygon]] by a function of the view angle in tangent space (the angle relative to the surface normal) and the value of the [[height map]] at that point. At steeper view-angles, the texture coordinates are displaced more, giving the illusion of depth due to [[parallax]] effects as the view changes.