VDM - Vector Displacement Map - Sculpt Brush

Hola community,

I would like to propose a new sculpt Brush, call Vector Displacement Map (VDM) in Blender. VDM are similar to Alpha Brush, but working with 3 axis to build any shape you want !

In this RCS, I will explain, with words and pictures, the power of such feature.

Main advantages are :

• You can iterate quickly when you sculpt

• This feature has a ''WOW Effect'' that can sell Blender a lot

• Community can create and share (or sell) set of brushes

• Repetitive task can be speed up

• Improve interoperability between sculpting software

Is there any disadvantage ? Yes, some...

• Mesh you are working on with need to be high poly. Although for simple shape, like and ear and nose, it doesn't really matter.

• You start from a plane and CANNOT remesh. Why ? Because vector map are calculated by subtracting the vertex position of your sculpt minus the vertex position of a base plane. But, you can use a multirez modifier to subdivide your sculpt as you need.

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What are VDM exactly ?

VDM stand for Vector Displacement Map, also known as 3D Alpha.

Vector Mapping is different than Displacement Mapping. Vector Map act on every axis (X, Y, Z). Displacement Map act only the face normal axis (Z axis or Height) . Meaning that vector map can store both distance and direction, so they can create form such as ear, mushroom and horn when they are apply to a flat mesh (see below)

Vector Map may look like a regular Normal Map, because it has a lot of bright color, but it is not. Vector seem a bit blurry because every color is shift to be able to store 3D coordinate inside an image.

In short, Vector Map can create overhang (left) , as Displacement map can't (right).

Whole process is a matter of three stages :

• 1. Sculpt something from a plane
• 2. Bake to a Vector Map (VDM)
• 3. Use as Sculpt Brush on any model

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Edit - October 2021

Here is the test I did :

As you can see, even a super low VDM resolution & polycount can keep the original shape !

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More picture, made with Blender

Left : A plane with a Vector Map as a texture. Inside the viewport, it's just a plane. Now what I propose is to have a Vector Brush in the sculp mode to build model with Vector map stamp, as Alpha Brush

Right : Sculpted plane baked with a Emit shader to get the Vector Map.

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Edit - December 2020

If you would like to bake your own Vector Displacement Map (VDM). Here I provide the file with a node setup you can use. Note that this is Not a custom build, just a file with 2 materials (Source and Target) with node setup.

This is also Not a brush, only you can bake and apply VDM with texture. Having a Sculpt Brush is the whole point of this Right Click Select Proposal.

drive.google.com/file/d/1LNKcMn4PsZ8E5Z_3J0IJAbcq1xptfD-g/view This file contain the following :

1. Node setup on the ear (VDM Source, plane you will sculpt). This need to be a plane with a multires modifier. Then you can sculpt your shape from this plane. Note that you cannot remesh. Only you can add more subdivision.

2. Node setup on the cube (VDM Target, object with Vector texture). This can be any object, as long is has enough subdivision

3. Texture file that was bake with Emit, it is your VDM map.