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I have a PBR material with a normal map for some surface defects. I'm trying to use Displace to emboss some fonts but I'm just getting an outline instead of full depth.

Reference image:

Ref Image

Node set up:

Node Set Up

Texture: (this is cropped the original is 2048x2048) Also, I've tried many combinations black on white/middle grey/alpha etc.

Texture

Mesh:

Mesh

Result:

Result

Dontwalk
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  • Can you show your source texture? – Scott Milner Jun 21 '17 at 12:37
  • Yes, I had it ready to go and forgot... Thanks! – Dontwalk Jun 21 '17 at 12:45
  • Are you using experimental Microdisplacement? – cgslav Jun 21 '17 at 12:59
  • No, I read threads on it here and decided not to. But I am open to anything. – Dontwalk Jun 21 '17 at 13:04
  • Switch on the "experimental" feature set, then in the material settings, change the displacement from "bump" to "true" or "both". https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/45873/blender-cycles-true-displacement. Alternatively you can use the displace modifier, which will give you more nuanced control. –  Jun 21 '17 at 13:17
  • @cegaton - I have switched on "Experimental" but there isn't any displacement options showing up in the "Object Data". I'm using 2.78 – Dontwalk Jun 21 '17 at 14:16
  • The reason for the outline could be using normal map and displacement map in the same material if addressing this problem. It should be possible including that either in height map or in normal map instead. – Mr Zak Jun 21 '17 at 14:42
  • @Mr Zak - My gut was telling me that might be the reason. Using a Normal Map (As suggested by Crantisz) yields a better result but I think it can be even better. I'll try a height map... I'm still trying to figure out "Experimental" as I cant find any displacement options when I enable it. – Dontwalk Jun 21 '17 at 14:49
  • As to displacement in addition to already mentioned link read this https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/50440/getting-experimental-true-displacement-to-work. Generally this feature is used the same as displacement texture in your setup (Both method only worked for me but maybe it's not important) – Mr Zak Jun 21 '17 at 15:33

1 Answers1

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Add a glow effect in 2D editor like Gimp or Photoshop:

enter image description here

Next, create normal map using this image (in GIMP - normal map plugin)

enter image description here

Normal map gives mach better result:

enter image description here

Crantisz
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