Displacement Map Feature

The Displacement Map featurecan move many vertices within a mesh based on a bitmap.

For most products, changes in the shape of a part are due to your business or engineering rules, not purely from a customer’s preference. For those few parts whose shape changes based on a user’s uploaded image, the displacement map feature is one way to make that change appear.

Displacement maps are one of many ways uploaded images can be used in your configurator scene. Learn more about ways to simulate labels, stickers, etching, and more in this How-To article.

This feature changes the positions of vertices within a mesh, based on an image. The whiter areas in the image lift the mesh, and darker areas lower the mesh. For example, you can see the two white areas in the displacement map image results in the two mountain peaks on the resulting mesh:

This flat mesh

with this displacement map applied

creates this updated mesh

Displacement Map Feature Properties

Tips for using the Displacement Map Feature

Property	Options
Name	Name the feature. Unique names for each feature is not required, but suggested.
Minimum / Maximum Displacement	Define how strongly the bitmap displaces the mesh. In scene units, specify the maximum amount any vertex is raised (maximum) or lowered (minimum) to correlate with white or black pixels from the albedo texture.
Layer List	The Layer List stores the source 2D images which drives the displacement effect. As with any texture layer, properties like scale, offset, and angle control how the image is applied. Learn more about Textures Layers here. The texture layers available for a displacement map are Image Texture (ideal for smooth transitions, as seen in the mountain example above) SVG Texture (ideal for sharp-edged transitions, such as logos embossed or extruded into a surface) Color Fill

1. You won’t see the displacement map feature applied until you close the feature in the stack.  Then re-open the feature (or disable it) to once again see the original mesh.

2. Ensure your target mesh has enough faces to make the displacement realistic. For example, if the mesh has too few faces, then the displacement will have a chunky, low-polygon look.

3. If your target mesh has an albedo image applied (such as an image to give the look of brushed steel), add a UV Map feature before the Displacement Map feature. This will ensure the albedo image will not repeat within each displaced face.

4. Add a Normal Smoothing feature after the Displacement Map feature. This will help ensure the visual transitions between faces is most attractive, even after Snap rules may manipulate them into very different positions.

5. Ensure your source bitmap has a broad range of shades, from black to white. The best way to confirm is to calculate the histogram of the image.

   • If your source bitmap ranges only from dark grey to light grey, with no black or white, then you won’t have as broad a range of peaks and valleys to work with.

   • If your bitmap has only black and white pixels, with no grey pixels, then the resulting displacement will not have the variation in height needed for a realistic appearance.

Image Histogram Comparison
The gaps (white columns) and missing data to the right (lighter colors) in this histogram is from an image that would be less useful for a Displacement Map.	With no gaps and using the full range from black to white, this histogram is from an image that would be more useful for a Displacement Map feature.