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Everything about Displacement mapping

Computer graphics technique

Displacement mapping is an alternative computer graphics technique in contrast to bump, normal, and parallax mapping, using a texture or height map to cause an effect where the actual geometric position of points over the textured surface are displaced, often along the local surface normal, according to the value the texture function evaluates to at each point on the surface. It gives surfaces a sense of depth and detail, permitting in particular self-occlusion, self-shadowing and silhouettes; on the other hand, it is the most costly of this class of techniques owing to the large amount of additional geometry. Wikipedia →

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  1. Read the overview: Displacement mappingA 5-minute orientation
  2. Skim a recent paper: Trajectory planning and control of large robotic excavators based on inclination-displacement mappingInfluential work since 2022
  3. Pick up a classic book: Dislocating ChinaThe most-reprinted book on the subject
  4. Read the landmark paper: Single-molecule displacement mapping unveils nanoscale heterogeneities in intracellular diffusivityCited 151 times
  5. Go sideways: Glossary of computer graphicsA closely related topic
  6. Go sideways: List of computer graphics and descriptive geometry topicsA closely related topic

📖 Definitions

Noun A method for adding detail to surfaces by subdivision and displacement of the resulting vertices from a heightmap.

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🏆 Landmark papers (most cited)

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