Questions about displacement.

[Smrekish .'/]

Q1: When and where should I make a displacement other than for bumpy terrains, mountains and tunnels?

Q2: Does displacement give better fps? (I was confused when reading this at the developer wiki "They are rendered in batches, making it very cheap: per polygon face actually cheaper than standard brush geometry!")

 

[Da Spud Lord]

1. Displacements can be used to make super smoothly rounded edges and corners thanks to their subdivision feature. I think somewhere you can find a tutorial that shows how to make a displacement sewer... Aside from that, they can also be used to make small piles of stuff. In many maps, you can find small dirt piles that are just small displacement hills. In Snowplow, the pile of ducks on the bomb train is a displacement. Correction:

That's not a displacement, that's part of the model of the train. Displacements can't be tied to brush entities.

But you get the point. You probably could make a pile of ducks from a displacement, if you wanted to for whatever reason.

2. Turning a single brush face into a displacement will not give better FPS, as the displacement will have more vertices than the flat face. However, displacements give better FPS than using tons of brush faces carved to simulate terrain (plus displacements are easier to make look like convincing terrain). But the impact will likely be minimal anyway, unless you do this on a large scale.

 

[FloofCollie]

I know of a part in Hydro where rounded chimneys were made with power 2 displacements. The curved concrete railings in Nucleus are also power 2 displacements.

Basically, if you want curves or geometry that would require lots of brush cutting, maybe a displacement could work instead.

 

[DrSquishy]

I know of a part in Hydro where rounded chimneys were made with power 2 displacements. The curved concrete railings in Nucleus are also power 2 displacements.

Basically, if you want curves or geometry that would require lots of brush cutting, maybe a displacement could work instead.

Yes, if you're interested in doing something like that, you should look into subdivision. This guide is also very useful in showing what it can do for you. Pretty much it allows you to create very smooth curves for many uses of which brushes wouldn't work well

 

[iiboharz]

In Snowplow, the pile of ducks on the bomb train is a displacement.

Sorry but I've just gotta point this out to prevent any confusion people might have.

That's not a displacement, that's part of the model of the train. Displacements can't be tied to brush entities.