Complex grid/fence - moucharabieh

[xkauzer]

Hi guys,

I'd like to have your advice on the creation of a "moucharabieh", a fancy grid.  (image 1)
I'm suppose to use this grid on ceiling beams. (image 2)

So far, I've used an opacity map+normal map. (and even a bit of displacement map).
And I've stacked 3 meshes in front of each other, for the moucharabieh effect

But the result looks pretty flat on the horizontal part...  (as expected from plane with opacity...)


Does any of you have tips or tricks for this kind of grid ?

[romullus]

I would try to convert that texture to paths, import paths as splines in 3ds max, extrude them to give some depth, stack few shifted/rotated layers in depth and assign material with rounded corners bump map.