minRelief
Type: Shaders
Updated: April 1, 2009
Availability: Unreleased
Compatibility
Host Applications: mental ray and RenderMan
Operating Systems: Windows, Mac OS X and Linux
Architecture: 32-bit and 64-bit
Overview
As the name suggests, minRelief is an implementation of relief mapping for mental ray and RenderMan. This shader simulates the effects of displacement mapping without actually affecting the model.
In my tests the shading model was about 2-3x faster than rendering true displacements in high quality settings with very little visual disparity. Moreover, there’s no need to apply surface approximation nodes to your models for this shader to do its work.
Usage
We use minRelief in situations where displacement mapping is overkill but simple bump or normal mapping doesn’t provide enough depth.
Examples
- Detailed cracks are rendered in a single planar polygon
- Objects with checkerboard as parallax map
Compatibility
minRelief is compatible with mental ray and RenderMan on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux (32-bit and 64-bit).