Today I’ll show you how you can use the built-in displacement function in 3ds max for adding detail to your meshes. We’ll also be taking a look at adding the displace modifier to cloth and tree branches.
3ds Max Displace Modifier
The great thing about the displace modifier is that you can actually see the changes it makes in the viewport. Since the VRay Displacement function is only applied during rendering, this acts as a nice alternative for experimenting with details.
To make the displace modifier work, we’ll put the display color of our mesh to ‘Object Color’ mode. In this tutorial I’ll be applying displace to a couple of cloth pillows. Go over to the modifier list and add ‘Displace‘ to its modifier stack. In the Image rollout, you can add the displacement map of your choosing and even select a second map. The blur amount controls the sharpness/blur of the effect.
The displace modifier creates a gizmo over the object which controls how the displacement is applied. You can use the transform tools to set the correct orientation. The Map rollout provides you with the mapping options like planar and cylindrical depending on the shape of your object. This mapping shape and UV coordinates control how the displacement map gets applied over the mesh. You can use the Fit button to fit the gizmo over the object properly.
The strength parameter sets the actual displacement distance. Whereas the decay slows the displacement strength the farther it goes from the origin.
You have the freedom to add even more displace modifiers on top of it for ultimate control. For the effect to look organic, make sure your mesh has a high polycount or else apply a turbosmooth modifier.
Using the same method, you can add some bark detail to tree trunks and branches.
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Talk soon,
Alex
P.S.
Today’s my birthday, so that’s another way to say thank you for supporting me!
