Vray animated diplacement map problem

[cloakfiend]

Hi,

 

I'm trying to animate the height on my vray displacement map over time using the slider values in the modifier stack section. all looks good on the time line and the slider changes values as i scroll the timeline so when i render i expect it to work as when i do various test renders they look correct. However when i render the animation as a whole it just stays at the height of the first frame i started rendering at? It seems to ignore the information in the timeline and completely not animate the amount value over more than one frame?

 

any help would be legendary, i guess the other option would be to animate the rgb output from 0 to 1 of the map, but why complicate things?

 

also while im here if anyone knows how to make a smooth shiny displacement map with no jaggies it would be very helpful. i'm trying to do a worm under the skin type of thing using bitmap disp maps but it doesn't seem possible if they are shiny, its always jagged at the bottom of the raised parts no matter how much i blur it! Is there a way to soften the displacement maps pixel edges in the render?

 

M using 3ds max 2008 vray 1.5 RC5

[cloakfiend]

Here is what i mean about the shiny animated displacement map issue, i want to avoid the steps effect on the render. After searching the net for info im beggining to think it can't be done unless my displacement map is in some sort of vector form which I dont think is possible (and would be tough to animate anyways).

 

Can it be smooth? I'm just looking for a yes or no answer? Please! anyone.

 

[WAcky]

i dont know about the animation part but re: the stepped displacement. Try setting the blur on your disp map higher...or making the vraydisplacementmod resolution higher? try playing around with the filtering settings in the vraydisplacementmod too? Just a guess...

[cloakfiend]

Thanks Guys,

 

I'll give it a go as I'm new to displacement maps and im kinda limited to the size of maps i've been given which is 2800x2500, and i tried to make the map huge before but that just made the steps much thinner, rather than a seamless surface.

 

My current settings are on 2d mapping (landscape as its on a flat plane) with filter blur on 0.001, resolution 2800 and precision on 1 (as its flat). Hope thats all good.

 

I'll post a pic with a higher blur amount as soon as i get home, I'm pretty sure I tried that though.

 

Thanks again for your advice.

 

Mac.

[Stephen Thomas]

Using a 16-bit image rather than an 8-bit one might help to reduce the banding on your gradients too.

[BrianKitts]

answer might be more in the filtering of the displacement map as opposed to the displacement settings. Attached is the difference in "pyramidal" and "summed area" filters for the bitmap.

 

Summed area with a large blur value should help you smooth that out.

Edited February 25, 2009 by BrianKitts

[Nic H]

16 bit will be much better

[cloakfiend]

Hey, Thanks a lot for the info, how come you have no stepping at all on either, i agree the summed area one looks better for sure. I always use that for rendering with pictures and video. forgot about that. will try again. p.s. did you use vray displacement modifier or a different displacment map technique.

 

here is what it looks like with filter blur for those who were curious......pretty much the opposite of what i wanted. Im working on a stone column thing like in the golden child "give me the knife" scene lol. It won't be shiny! so at least i can relax for a bit.

 

I'll try the summed area, thing out but your pyramidal one looks 10 times better than mine to begin with so im not sure how you got that, what size is your map? mine was 2000x2000 (in pic).

 

 

I'm doing the 16bit one now.

 

M

[cloakfiend]

YES! AT LAST A HUGE THANK YOU TO ALL YOU 16BIT FANBOYS!!!!!!!

 

IT IS THE SOLUTION!!!!!!!!!

 

Here are some pics using summed area 2000x2000 16bit greyscale pngs, one pic not blured much and one pic blurred a lot.

 

 

[WAcky]

yay!

[cloakfiend]

But animating the displacement amount over time, its looks like a bug in vray or max. It simply wont animate over time. you are forced to animate the RGB output in the material editor of the map. Displacement amount will NOT animate if you render a sequence out, but it will if you render one frame at a time. Strange, try it out if you don't belive me.

 

M