I recently have been playing a lot with Sub Polygon Displacement and I wanted to show you some of the fun things you can make with it. In this tutorial, I show you how I made the abstract shapes below by starting with a sphere and adding a texture with Sub Polygon Displacement and a noise pattern. Please link to any fun renders that you make with Sub Polygon Displacement in the comments. I would love to see them.
Final Renders
awesome learning explosion in my brain once again…
thx gsg
here’s my gooey mess:
http://vimeo.com/12251377
You are the Bomba Nick !!
Your tut inspired me to do my animation using music to animate the displacement.
Here is the testClip
http://vimeo.com/12282041
downloaded the Cinema demo to try this because it looks so rad. Love the site. Here’s my first C4D Render. Think I’ll try animating the displacement next.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5567442/metaball%20displaced.jpg
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Thx Nick for tut.
Took some inspiration just to play around with a simple scene…
http://vimeo.com/12305688
U’re my preferred C4D teacher!!
here’s my little test, this displacement thing is great to produce some cool explosions of fluids!
http://vimeo.com/12323511
heres an working example of how to map the displacement to the sound
http://forums.creativecow.net/thread/19/864508
Hy! ^^
Cool stuff you’re showing here everytime.
I did a short sequence wich shows a “breathing” letters and sweep nurbs object, hope you like it.
http://vimeo.com/12264383
Quite cool Nick!
Did some testings, also it inspired me to use it for some printwork maybe in the future.
Anyway here’s my test with it:
http://i48.tinypic.com/1zvafq8.jpg
Thank you very much for this tutorial, very inspiring. So inspiring that it actually made me try out cinema 4d for the first time, and I think I’m going to make a lot more stuff with it in the future, thanks to you
Here’s my try by the way:
http://vimeo.com/12396609
Thank you very much
Yours tuts are the best!!!
this is my try: http://vimeo.com/12394161
maaaan i love your tutorial….i am like your biggest fan ever
Here is my test render.Will publish the real thing when its done.
http://vimeo.com/12486427
Here’s something I made with your help:
http://i48.tinypic.com/2ihm7gm.jpg
Thank you for the amazing tutorials!!
Hey this is an awesome video tutorial..I didn’t you could achieve all that with displacement…I was wondering mike, could you help with making a displacemnt for a furry carpet in an interior render..I see all those interior renders with awesome furry carpets..
Please help me..Im massive fan of your site..I bought your Studio kit. Much love..
Regards Roma
Have you seen that before ? It’s just great : http://vimeo.com/9809521
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Here’s my best result…
http://jnonymous.com/art/test-render-000214.html
Loving the tutorial especially the way you’re telling it.
My tries:
Luminance And Displacement combined with Proximal
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFXPtQSVUBQ
Consistent Dent Using Proximal And Tracer
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1gEqGtiGDk
Proximity creates bulge & Luminance in geometry
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RetG__ICTD4
Hi!
Thanks a lot for the great tutorial.. love them all! very helpfull..
here’s my try with this one, ended up using it for a college project
hope you like it..
http://www.vimeo.com/12717515
thats mine! thank you very much for the tutoria!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/16869430@N07/4755348409/
hahaha man the things you say crack me up
“lookit dat, dude, that’s dope.”
Hey Nick!
Thanks for the ‘aha’ moment. After playing around with what you taught, I remembered a really cool animation that Universal Everything created a few years ago. Check it out!
http://vimeo.com/1919768
I think it’s a displacement based project and for the longest time, couldn’t figured out how they did it. Thanks for the inadvertent problem solving.
Cheers!
JM
Hi Nick! Great tutorial, but I have a question, what are your render settings at… I have a fantastic macbook pro 17″ that i bought very recently, but when i do simple textural experiments like this one, I can’t preview without having to wait 10 minutes for the darn thing to render!
Hi, your tuts are really awesome. How can we give an animated texture map for displacement instead of any Image to animate the shape of the object displacing.
but can you keyframe it so it looks like a normal sphere transforms into this?
thnx for that, nick!
check out what stuff i made based on this tut..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqHIERfCebM
cheers
Hey,
I was wondering if anybody has a good tip for rendering? I am using the amazing LIGHT KIT PRO objects i.e. softbox and HDRSky, but whenever I see the final rendering, the reflections on the sphere (with displacement) are a bit jagged/edgy.
Any ideas? I’d really appreciate any given hand!
Sounds like you need to turn up your antialiasing settings.
Hey Nick,
and when I enable antialiasing in my render settings, does this also affect my ‘live’ viewport scene?
I would love to see the antialiasing changes without the need to render/output a file.
I assume it does affect the viewport, as I am currently rendering something with antialiasing on best, 1% 1-16 and it’s taking a while.
Really nice tut, thanks.
Here’s also what I did with the knowledge, not much tho but there you go.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39271229@N06/4905077672/
thank you
I missed this tutorial, although I’m really glad I found it now!
Some time ago, I was wondering why the heck the bumpmap of my stone wall wasn’t working. Now I now that I did it wrong. I’m pumped after seeing this and I’m going to try the displacement feature right now! A huge thanks and greetings from the Netherlands! 
Hi,
I was wondering if it is possible to turn the object with displacement map to polygonal object with all the displacements on it?Instead of a texture. Is it possible to do it without doing all that abstract style modelling?
hi,
i do this with displacement map.
the map is a video (liquid synchronise on speaker)
i explain a the end of the video how i do this.
I love love love the fact that as you get more exposure you keep getting nicer shit. TV, mic, setup. Where’s the crunk Chalice that says GSG on it? Anyway I also love the content. your success (and not the material kind that pervades the background) is well deserved.
thanks
I must say, very well explained and excellent outcome. They look stunning! I’m gonna run along now and read every other blog entry.
Thanks, Leena!
Hey Nick,
I’m using cinema 4d R12 but I think Sub Polygon Displacement could you check it and correct me if I’m wrong. thanks.
Michael
Nice and interesting tutorial, Nick! I really liked the volcanic rock-look on your 2nd render up there
Keep it up, Gorilla, please do 
Thanks again, Nick!
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Hey GSG –
Your site and tuts are fantastic,
definitely an inspiration.
I’m fairly new to c4d – and’ve been using a luminescence plane as a light source. Is there a way to have it’s light shown in the render but not the plane itself? THANKS
Fantastic Tut Nick! Here’s what we came up with:
http://vimeo.com/15789018
Thanks again for passing on this knowledge, you rock bro!!!
Another Great Tutorial.Amazing.
But Whoa! You get stuff rendered so quick! It took ages to come up in my case! What Graphics Card do you use man?!
It’s not the graphics card that speeds up the render, actually. More chips or faster chips are the best way to get faster renders.
This is a little off topic, but im looking to mimic the lighting and texturing that was done in the new start trek title sequence. any suggestions
thanks man
this is my first example.
Next time i will try to change noise with sound.
Do you have any advises?
Thanks.
http://vimeo.com/16210984
After a little more research, I guess what I am looking to do is to make a logo animation similar to legendary films. I have some shapes i want to have some deep scratches in, and bump mapping doesnt cut it. this displacement process is close. any suggestions?
je t’aime beaucoup!!
ace ace ace tutorial im very very new at 4d and i was wondering, how would i go about animating the texture from a standard sphere to the displacement texture, any help from anyone or any links would be massively appreciated thanks
You can animate the strength slider in the displacement. You can also try animating the noise in the shader. Almost everything in Cinema is animatable.
hello
first much respect for this tutorial
I have a question.
where i can found the oversoftbox & the HRR tools for light effect. i browse the web but don’t found.
Thanks
Thanks for watching the tut, Archive! The lighting effects are part of my HDRI Light Kit Pro plugin for cinema 4D. Here is some more info about it. http://greyscalegorilla.com/lightkitpro/
dude thank you so much, feel like an idiot because the answer was so simple, legend thanks alot
hey, nice stuff… did some similar things in maya:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YAu-w7dkec
rock on
kws
I’m trying to achieve this effect using the Typography but with no result. Any chance for help ??
Ok I figured out everything already
My Bad
Heres my try at it (: Tell me what you think.
http://www.vimeo.com/17366036
Hey guys, pretty new to Cinema 4D.
Is there a way to animate this displacment to randomly morph and displacement? Kinda like a wiggle expression in AE?
Thanks
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Hi Nick
You bring the coolness into any Cinema 4D tutorial. I saw some sub poly displacement tut on 3d world but it was so boring so I did not learn anything.
Keep it up!
Hey Guys!
I am new to the Cinema 4D and I am lovig it so far. I have a cquestion about this project. I have been playing around with the keyframes on the height and strenght of the noise, but i dont get that look thats its “moving” Something similar to the fractal noise in AE that evolves durign time. Does anybody have any advice in what could help me out? hanks in advance!
Jorge
sweeeeeeeeeet. too bad when its strong it takes the render time to hell and back… but awesome effect I’m sure I’ll find a use for!
awesome tutorial, thank you for the awesome tips.
here are some of my results:
http://idil.tumblr.com/post/2495033526/3d-testing-out-some-sub-polygon-displacement
This tutorial is legend.. wait for it… DARY!
But I came across this problem. My sub polygon displacement is not showing, it’s nothing there! It’s enabled in render settings and I’am totally stuck!
Got any tips?
Kind regards joe!
hey , joe…im having the same problem.going crazy for two days trying to figured it out!!did you find any solution …im using C4D broadcast…
thanks a lot in advance…
Dear eMTea.
My problem was missing modules! “Installed” advanced render and bam, got it working!
Not sure if I’ll get a reply here, but I’ll try nonetheless:
My sub-polygon render looks fine when i render on screen at 72 dpi, but when i try the exact same render, but render it to 300 dpi and like 30x30cm, it looks completely different?
Can anyone tell me what I need to do in order to make the render look the same in a large (300dpi) format?
Hi, I love it… but why when I merge a fbx camera from Maya my sphere is deformed by the shader!?
For everyone wondering why they do not see the Sub Polygon Displacement in the Displacement Material Option in R12 is because you probably don’t have the right version of C4D R12. Check your version and compare the features here: http://toolfarm.stores.yahoo.net/maci4dr12cob.html
Just another great tut. Cheers man!
Please watch this and tell me what you think.
http://www.vimeo.com/19243793
It was made based on this tutorial.
i got a question this is a noob question ha umm i have like 2 separate rectangles that are Grey around my perspective box so basically when i render i have to render the view within those boxes because if i go out it cuts of the image is there a way to make the thing full screen and take those boxes away?
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Hey bro .. thanks alot for this tut . ur GREAT !
here is a sample i made
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go5c0hoQzy0
What do you do when the polygons are not the same size?. I just can’t figure out how to displace when the polygons aren’t all similar in size.
Huge thanks Nick, it is awesome and easy tutorial.
Cinema 4D is infinite!
Here is what I got – http://vimeo.com/20787860
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Nick you have been a great inspiration to me and it is cuz of ur tutorials and presentations that i have developed the love for c4d.
Teaching style of yours is very well done.
i love this tutorial but i have a problem, im not able to locate the sub-polygon displacement in the displacement tab. there is nothing as such there, im using c4d r12, but yet have problems finding it, can you please help me resolving this problem.
You may not have the correct version of Cinema 4D for SPD.
Hi mate,
Really good stuff!!! a quick question, is there a way to animate between the noise patterns? for example your 3 renders are using three different noise patterns, can u animate one into another.
Thanks dude your my number one learning device!
hi nick.
i made a scene with spheres which include attractor in the middle.in the middle there is the biggest sphere which has the displacement channel.everything works except displacement dynamic things with shader layer.please if you know how to do this combination, let me know.
btw i can see displacement material in my render but can’t see in editor..i just need to know how it works with dynamic (rigid body).
tnx anyway.
this is my biggest sphere..
-null
-shader (displacement added material)
-cloner object (rigid body + vibrate + mograph cache + mograph selection)
-sphere (motion blur tag)
-attractor
-camera target
Here is my go, animated and with some Trapcode Particular.
All put together in AE.
http://vimeo.com/23831899
Hi guys, wanna see the ones I made?
Check’em out!
(there you can also see what the various types of noise look like!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZNsIw1yYxs
Sick tut man thanks I used this for and intro, and LOL at 11:43 I had a good laugh
Hi Gorilla, very good tutorials, but men, i m very new on this and I learned very much because of your initiative. We see you in Chile to!! jaja. I have a problem with this tutorial, because i can t see the sub polygon displacement. Why is that!?
Thanks.
This is great and totally worked with my version 11.5 upgraded to 12 and the sub polygon menu in the displacement menu is not there. i only get the first half so what should i do???
big thx for the tutorial
my try http://cs4133.vk.com/u47830125/122384147/z_19ad9b17.jpg
hope you will like it =)
Hi!
How would you net render a animation done with the Displacer modifier. I have tried “point cache” but still it seems to render only the first frame for the whole animation. Any advice would be appreciated.
M
I think this tip could be useful for creating a transformer
How do you animate polygon displacement in Cinema 4D? I’m new to this software and i really wanna learn how! I really like your works , Nick!
Hi, nice video!
Here is my animation of it
http://vimeo.com/34739098
Hi,
I’m currently using cinema R13 and I can’t find the sub-polygon displacement tab. It’s not under the displacement tab in the material editor. Any idea on this issue?
Thnx.
SSD is available in the Studio Version only. You may not have that.
Nice thing, but one remark. You will not need to convert the sphere into polygons, if you uncheck ‘Render Perfect’ property of Sphere in Attribute Manager. So you’ll get additional parameter to play with displacement on the run — number of segments.
Also, you can just drag and drop texture from bump channel to displacement, you click over noise texture, drag to Displacement lable in Material Editor, wait a little, then put the texture into Texture field (bar).
Hello Nick ,
Thanks for this tutorial !
But i ‘m a beginer and i have a little question , how make a animated texture ?
In my timeline i can not place a keyframe on the texture layer
Cheers
L
Sorry Nick , it’s ok now …
thks
How do you then animate this in After Effects? (total newbie)
Thank you.
Inspired by and created using this tutorial. http://vimeo.com/41082935
Just downloaded Cinema4D, your tutorials are of great help, thank you so much!