Displacement Maps

Displacement maps is where Parallax shines. Using tessellation, a much greater amount of vertex detail can be used. Displacement maps move vertices along their normal direction by an amount corresponding to a specific pixel on the map.

Displacement maps can use up to 4 image channels to store heightmaps in. Here is an example of a displacement map I use in Beyond Home:

The image on the right is the same as the image on the left, but with the alpha channel removed to show the colours.

That image contains 4 displacement maps. The image channels correspond to which surface texture the map applies to

• Low - Red
• Mid - Green
• High - Blue
• Steep - Alpha

The displacement is linearly interpolated between the various height levels to match the surface textures accurately.