Parallax Occlusion Mapping
polycounter lvl 10
Hi guys!
This thing have a much interest in last times for me.
I tried doing something with plugin from Fabio Policarpo (Relief Mapping for 3D Studio Max Render)
It's working, but only with not unwraped models.
Maybe i do something wrong...i don't know
People who worked or works with it. Pleace prompt!
Is any way to look result in 3d package? for sample in 3dsmax, maybe some .fx shader? or separate viewer.
How it is possible to work parallax on unwrapped models?
Thanks...
This thing have a much interest in last times for me.
I tried doing something with plugin from Fabio Policarpo (Relief Mapping for 3D Studio Max Render)
It's working, but only with not unwraped models.
Maybe i do something wrong...i don't know
People who worked or works with it. Pleace prompt!
Is any way to look result in 3d package? for sample in 3dsmax, maybe some .fx shader? or separate viewer.
How it is possible to work parallax on unwrapped models?
Thanks...
Replies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeF-kCr_vyo
But it only parallax, without occlusion
Did you read the readme, and try his example Max file?
The .FX files on his site should work in Max's viewport, I haven't tried them though.
Ben Cloward has a HLSL viewport shader for parallax.
http://www.bencloward.com/shaders_offset.shtml
relief mapping:
newV.y = -newV.y;
half height = tex2D(bumpTex, In.texCoord.xy).a;
half2 offset = newV * (height * 2.0 - 1.0) * offsetBias;
half2 newTexCoord = In.texCoord.xy + offset;
If you take a look at fabio's code, it is much much more involved.
The terminology is extremely confusing, involving any combination of parallax, occlusion, relief, etc, in the title, but those are the differences.
With a little work, you can take fabio's relief shader and swizzle the Y and Z coordinates to make it 3dsmax compatable.
Also, the next verison of ShaderFX is supposed to have a relief mapping sample.
About Ben's offset mapping shader, yes i used it.
It's looking good like and relief mapping, but only with tiled texture and on simple models.
"It's called Offset Normal Mapping, Parallax Mapping, or Simulated Displacement Mapping. It's one of the features that is exhibited prominently in the Unreal Engine 3 Tech Demo"
This means that mapping using only for environments? Or for characters too, and how?
has it sense for using on characters?
Thanks guys
Just for displaying in max it would be fine i'm sure, but i've never heard of anyone using it on character work.
I'd have to disagree. Oblivion uses bump offset/parallax mapping all over the place. So does Unreal Tournament 2007 (excuse me, UT3). I know because we're using the Unreal Engine 3 and it came with some of the UT3 levels.
I wouldn't recommend using it on most things, but surfaces such as brick or rock walls, embossed lettering, slightly raised beams, neon signs, and so forth can really benefit from some offset.
"hell its still not very feasible to use stuff like that even for environment stuff in a real game"
I'd have to disagree. Oblivion uses bump offset/parallax mapping all over the place. So does Unreal Tournament 2007 (excuse me, UT3). I know because we're using the Unreal Engine 3 and it came with some of the UT3 levels.
I wouldn't recommend using it on most things, but surfaces such as brick or rock walls, embossed lettering, slightly raised beams, neon signs, and so forth can really benefit from some offset.
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from what i understand relief mapping and parallax are two different things. my engine has steep self shadowing parallax mapping and it does not extrude as far nor alter the silhouette like relief mapping does.
although i have heard regular parallax could be altered to also alter the silhouette, but that mapping technique is still different than relief. am i correct on this?
and yes, parallax mapping is fast enough to use quite a bit in high end graphic games, relief mapping not so much. if the unreal 3 engine has and uses relief mapping i would be extremly surprised.
BTW, my Parallax pixel shader is 57 instructions, without, it is 51... the overhead associated with it is hardly inhibiting, but there is also the extra channel requirement for the height map. It isn't used for characters because, as stated, there is little benefit even with the not-extreme cost.
None of these modify the silhouette, btw. It is not possible in DX9, since it works per-pixel.
None of these modify the silhouette, btw. It is not possible in DX9, since it works per-pixel.
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here is a pic from an article showing relief mapping altering the silhouette running in realtime on the nvidia 7800 gtx, a dx9 card. however if the limitation truly is in dx9 for wahtever reason perhaps they are using opengl? and if so what is the limitation in dx9 that causes it to not be possible? sorry but i am not very technical whn it comes to shaders, i only have basic knowledge when it comes to the more recent ones.
btw, with parallax mapping on deformable characters i thought no one used parallax mapping on deformable objects simply because parallax tends to swim badly when the object is deforming, has this been overcome since you guys are mentioning it being used on characters?
http://www.inf.ufrgs.br/~oliveira/RTM.html
As to your character question, tbh I'm not completely sure about the swimming, next character I do I'll create a heightmap as well as see.