Image not Displacing Using Modifier

I’m trying to use an image with the Displacement Modifier, but it’s not working at all. I’ve tried setting a material first, but that game me a solid black, flat plane, where not adding the material first returned a white/gray, flat plane. I can include the file upon request.

I can include the file upon request.
Please do.

Ensure your object has sufficient geometry to be displaced by your texture

BarRecEar001_v008.blend (497 KB)


Here is the image I was using and the blender file :slight_smile:

Your object is just a plane, all you will be displacing with any texture is a single face so in effect you won’t see any effect. The dispalcement modifier displaces faces so you need lots of faces to see any real effect with a texture, especially a detailed texture

Also: You’re using a PNG file with alpha as displacement texture. That’s not going to work…
A displacement texture is a map with color codes that tell Blender how to shift the geometry.

50 % grey = geometry stays in place
black = geometry gets pushed down
white = geometry gets pulled up

Alpha = no color information at all, so Blender doesn’t know what to do…
Left = your PNG texture on a subdivided plane, right = black pattern on mid-grey background on subdivided plane:


Oops! I must’ve not sent the version that I’d subdivided. I did subdivide it quite a bit, but it still didn’t make a difference.

But, what if I want the spaces between the black lines to be invisible? That’s what I’m trying to go for.

Then use the texture to influence the plane material transparency.

What renderer ?
Cycles mix a transparent shader with the diffuse shader using the b+w image as the mix factor
Blender Render - Set tarnaspareny alpha to zero and use the b+w texture to influence the alpha in the texture settings

Alternatively convert the b+w image to a vector .svg image in somethink like Inkscape, import the .svg file into blender as a cuvre object and extrude to give thickeness. Convert to a mesh if required for further editing
See attached blend file as an example


Attachments

curve.blend (118 KB)

Thank you! I was worried I’d have to work with nodes and I haven’t even touched nodes yet, so this was quite the time-saving tip! <3

To answer your question, I’m not really making this with the intention to render. It’s part of a 3D printed object. Up to this point, I’ve been modeling intricate designs like this bit by bit, following the original sketch. I was looking for a simpler way to get it done so I wouldn’t have to draw something, then spend all that time tracing over it by extruding and rotating every little curve. Surprisingly enough though, it would only take from an hour to three to do it, depending on the intricacy of the design and they came out well, so I never thought to seek out another method until now!