How expensive is Parallax?

jordank95

I’m using a bit of parallax on some terrain in my game in UE4. I also have a bunch of modular building pieces that have brick/plaster. The brick/plaster feels pretty flat and I’d like to get the separation to have more depth when the edges of the plaster should dip down. Is adding POM on all of these modular building pieces too expensive or is this something that’s usually done? Any other techniques that I can use to get some more depth on the plaster/brick material? 

Eric Chadwick

It shouldn't be too bad if you used material LODs to disable it quickly as the player moves away from it. Best thing is to make a blockout level and profile it. https://docs.unrealengine.com/4.27/en-US/TestingAndOptimization/PerformanceAndProfiling/

gnoop

I wonder  should  POM  typically work on multi-layered materials?  Like ground surface with 2-3 layers .    We have an issue with it working only on first layer.       Is it a common  thing  or it's working  on any number of layers in modern games?          Also what people do to overcome  certain floaty feeling  of it  especially  when seen at sharp angles?

Shrike

Im not an expert on POM but it is expensive relative to the amount of steps you use

Make sure to multiply the step amount with a fresnel
Personally im using a double fresnel where the frontal view is also reduced

Im also unsure about terrain usage but it surely does bloat the instructions, so id only use it where its highest impact