NextPreviousHomeRemove the terraces with HDR displacementmaps



michiel | 8 years ago | 7 comments | 9 likes | 2,963 views

komies, Tintin, vincent and 6 others like this!

BluffTitler version 12.3 supports HDR displacement maps.

All textures in BlufffTiter are stored in LDR (32 bits RGBA), but an exception is made for displacementmaps. If your texture is a 16 bits greyscale PNG with a filename containing the text 'displacement' or 'heightmap', it is stored as an HDR greyscale texture (16 bits R). This prevents the terracing effect when rendering landscapes with heightmaps.

The terminology is confusing:

Displacementmaps, heightmaps and bumpmaps

Displacementmaps, heightmaps and bumpmaps are different names for the very same technique: storing heights in a greyscale picture. Black is low, white is high. BluffTitler uses the name displacementmap. The above screenshot has been rendered with the Displacementmap effect.

HDR and LDR

I believe HDR (High Dynamic Range) is everything that uses more than 8 bits per colour component. So 16 bits is HDR and 8 bits is LDR (Low Dynamic Range)

8 bits and 16 bits

This refers to the number of bits per colour component. A picture with an alpha channel has 4 components: red, green, blue and alpha. A greyscale picture has only one. So a HDR greyscale picture uses 16 bits per pixel. And a normal LDR picture with an alpha channel uses 4x8=32 bits per pixel.

HDR and picture file formats

Not all picture file formats support HDR. PNG supports 16 bits. JPG does not.


Download media files (87.4 KB)outerspace-software.com...

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Michiel can above example possible to download...along with this article, only if it possible.
Looks interesting...........

Dani, 8 years ago


Dani, demo has been added: click on the DOWNLOAD MEDIA FILES button above.

This is a very simple demo. The fun starts with higher resolution displacementmaps in combination with colourmaps and cubemaps. Experiment with the AdvancedMaterials\ColourmapDisplacementmapCubemap effect:

outerspace-software.com...

michiel, 8 years ago


Thank you very much Michiel,

Dani, 8 years ago


Wonderful update Michiel!

IntroChamp, 8 years ago


very useful!

vincent, 8 years ago


Thanks;! Great godfather, michael solved the problem. Launched, BluffTitler12.3! Version.

liuyongcai, 8 years ago


wonderful !michael

liuyongcai, 8 years ago


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About michiel

Michiel den Outer is the founder and lead coder of Outerspace Software. He lives in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

If he isn't busy improving BluffTitler, he is playing the piano or rides the Dutch dikes on his bikes.

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