RayDisplace Updates

(what's new for minor releases)

Here I'll post updates about small changes to rayDisplace, between major releases (for which I'll try to update the full doc/tutorial instead).

To check current tutorial for rayDisplace go here : displacement_maps

Mental Ray for Maya is now availabe free of charge to owners of a Maya licence, so you might check rayDisplace Mental Ray for Maya version : displacement_maps_mental.html

And finally if you're having trouble with the « baking » process, it might be useful for you to check the workarounds page : rayDisplace_workaround

January 10, 2005 : recompiled rayDisplace for Maya 6.0, and source code is available

June 10, 2003 : recompiled rayDisplace as well as the Mental Ray version for Maya 5.0.

January 25, 2003 : added transparency support and ability to look only « inside » or « outside » to rayDisplace for Maya 4.5 : rayDisplace45.zip

• rayDisplace is now able to return transparency as well as color of closest surface when returnColor is enabled.

• Two parameters have been added, both true by default : inside and outside. When both are checked rayDisplace functions the way it used to. If only one is checked it will only look for closest surface « inside » the low resolution object (in direction opposite to normals) or « outside » (in the direction of normals).

Application : I have been asked that rayDisplace, in case of the high resolution surface being made of several parts that may overlap, should be able to return only the distance or normal information for the high resolution « outer hull ». To do so just disable outside and leave inside checked, then set bias to a value equal or higher to the greatest distance between the low resolution surface and the high resolution one.

Olivier Renouard

olivier AT drone DOT org