Displacement Dilemma!

[Macer]

I’m trying to establish if a surface that is being displaced can have the displacement map locked in one position relative that surface. I don’t have much experience in Viz /Max and have tried searching through the help files (as well as all the never ending posts here), but to no avail.

I tried to use Jeff Patton’s (grass displacement with mental ray) tutorial and it worked great for stills but not so well for animations. Please check out my previous post:

http://www.cgarchitect.com/vb/22569-grass-animations.html

My current set up utilises Viz and Mental Ray 3.5, but I also have access to a seat of Max, and might be able to talk my employer into purchasing V-Ray. So this question applies to all who have any experience in creating grass in animations (I’m guessing that’s most of you!) – whatever the software;

Can the displacement map be locked to one position on a surface (if so, how?) or should I be looking at other options such as V-Ray (I think I read on Spot3d.com that it can be fixed to a set location??). Is there a method that will allow Max hair and fur to cope with large areas of grass (ie. Football pitches) without my computer grinding to a halt?

I realise that I should try and use a flat solution (ie. Mix maps etc) for speed, but this doesn’t give the desired results from every angle.

Any tips on settings or techniques, links to tutorials, or any other advice would be greatly appreciated!

(Moderators – I wasn’t entirely sure were this post should go – as it is directed at users of max, viz, mental ray, and v-ray, as well as anyone else –using any other packages - who my have relative experience in this matter….)

Thanks in advance for all your help!

Cheers,

Mark