Subdivision Parameters Tutorial (For Techniques Manual)

[Whaat]

Here is a tutorial that explains the different subdivision parameters in Indigo. The intent is for it to be included in the Techniques Manual. It is in PDF format.

@Ben: Let me know what format you want it in for the manual. It was created in MS Word 2007.

Feedback is appreciated.

[benn]

It's awesome Whaat, I didn't realize there were so many options in Indigo myself. A few improvements I could see:

* Include an image of the displacement map (its a bunch of blocks yes?) for completeness so that people can understand it

* Maybe change the very first image because it is not very clear what it is. Maybe a screenshot of the sketchup scene?

* I'll add some other displacement map examples when I put it into the techniques manual.

I use openoffice - but you can send me the word file and i'll convert it over I like your fonts by the way.

[SaphireS]

Very good tutorial!

[djegoo]

nice tutorial.

So, just to check that i have correctly understood : the better is to turn "scene dependant" on, and to adjust the pixel threshold depending on the final resolution of the render?
Last day i was messing around with displacement, and seeing that i had not enough memory for 10 subdivs, i changed it to 6 and divided the geometry in the model. i think with this tut i should be able to avoid this then.

[CTZn]

So, just to check that i have correctly understood : the better is to turn "scene dependant" on, and to adjust the pixel threshold depending on the final resolution of the render?

At least view-dependent is my prefered technique for displacement. I'm sometimes adding curvature optimisation when the resulting mesh is expected to feature (at least some) planarish surfaces.

Here's one method to maximise the polycount, say for 32 bits systems (based on trial and error). It will also give a good sense of managing displacement and ressources together to beginners:

• - Set the subdivisions count to an arbitrary hig value (32 ?)
  - Find the triangle size for wich Indigo do not meet a memory exception
  - Watch in the log how many new triangles are created at each iteration.
  - Prune the subdivisions levels that do not add significant triangles (example: from 32 to 14).
  - final render

I think that it would be safe to call the view-dependent method true micro-polygon displacement when triangle size threshold is below 1 pixel. A value around 2 or 3 pixels is often an acceptable compromise between quality and ressources saving.

[Jambert]

Thanks, useful tutorial