Displacement Mapping

[kl899]

What exactly is displacement mapping? I see it being talked about with much enthusiasm here but no one ever talks about the fundamentals. Has it ever been implemented in hardware before? Why should I care?

 

[muted]

www.microsoft.com/mscorp/corpevents/meltdown2001/ppt/Externals/Matrox_Displacement.ppt

 

[Simon F]

Displacement mapping has been around for a quite a while, for example in "realistic" rendering systems such as Pixar's "Renderman". See Renderman Interface Spec

In a nutshell, the texture is used to move the surface around before visibility tests and shading is done. It basically takes bump mapping one step further by actually modifiying the surface rather than just tweaking its shading.