Displacement doesn't work properly

[danielsian]

So it seems that C4D is doing not only displacement, but also surface subdivision and smoothing if you check some checkbox in the displacement UI, right? I am sorry, but I don't think we will do anything like that. There's several reasons for that:

• Cinema obviously already has a way to achieve the same effect using modifiers and it's not at all that difficult.
• We want the UI to be logical and concise. Displacement and surface subdivision/smoothing are two different concepts and should be held separate in the UI. I don't know why C4D has it together in the first place...
• We try to keep the UI consistent across host applications and 3DS Max does not and will not have such a feature, so another reason why not to put it there

I hope you'll agree that it's not such a big issue.

I would appreciate a good direction about how to properly use Displacement in Corona in order to have precision. All I need is to have exactly the same look in ZBrush and Corona when displaced (ok, I know Zbrush increases the visualization of details, ignore this).
The method described by Cinemike works, actually thanks Michael, but is not precise once we can't use the height value provided by ZBrush.

So, if you guys could provide a tutorial or something like that I and probably all the Cinema 4D users would appreciate.

Thanks

[Cinemike]

The issue made me curious and I did a little test.

Two planes, one just 1 cm above the other one. Assigned a material with displacement, Color shader plain White, Height: 1cm.
Two cubes, one 1 cm smaller on all sides than the other one, at the same position. Assigned a material with displacement, Color shader plain White, Height: 0,5 cm.

Rendered the scene.
Observation #1: The planes render as expected. They "meet" each other in the same height now, causing a pattern of artifacts (which is to be expected from faces takíng up the same space). The more you subdivide the planes, the smaller the artifacts become. Ok.

Observation #2: The cubes need a highly subdivided mesh to show even displacement (faces meeting in the same space), and even then, areas close to "sharp edges" do not displace "fully" to the amount specified in the displacement tab. It kind of explains why the head scene has problems, especially in these areas.

I know that Corona and also Vray prefer high res meshes to render properly. Just a question about displacement: Is this "edge issue" something where anything could be done about, to get more evenly distributed displacement?

CU
Michael

[houska]

Danielsian, we'll check your scene to find out what could be causing the trouble for you and reply when we find something.

Mike, I tried the displacement myself and the difference is very subtle! I've been told it might have something to do with smoothing groups. In any case thanks for testing it

[danielsian]

Danielsian, we'll check your scene to find out what could be causing the trouble for you and reply when we find something.

Mike, I tried the displacement myself and the difference is very subtle! I've been told it might have something to do with smoothing groups. In any case thanks for testing it

Thanks houska, I appreciate your attention.

I'll wait for a solution or some explanation about which is the best workflow to work properly with displacement in Corona.

[houska]

So it's actually pretty simple:

• Use a subdivision modifierwith a render level 4 (basically copy the settings from your C4D displacement settings)
• Double the min and max values in Corona material displacement. Apparently, if you have a height of 2cm in C4D and Intensity (Centered) mode, that means a displacement from -2cm to 2cm...

The Corona version is then even more detailed than C4D Physical Renderer result. As for the ZBrush, we don't have a licence here, so unfortunately we cannot check the workflow for you, sorry :-(

[danielsian]

So it's actually pretty simple:

• Use a subdivision modifierwith a render level 4 (basically copy the settings from your C4D displacement settings)
• Double the min and max values in Corona material displacement. Apparently, if you have a height of 2cm in C4D and Intensity (Centered) mode, that means a displacement from -2cm to 2cm...

The Corona version is then even more detailed than C4D Physical Renderer result. As for the ZBrush, we don't have a licence here, so unfortunately we cannot check the workflow for you, sorry :-(

That's awesome!
So Michael was right.
Thank you Houska and Michael.

[Cinemike]

In any case thanks for testing it

Thanks for caring about your users.

[Cinemike]

So Michael was right.

Being married means to hear this phrase so rarely!

Thank you Houska and Michael.

You are welcome!

[danielsian]

Being married means to hear this phrase so rarely!

Haha indeed. My wife thinks I am right except when she is right.