Blender Parallax Occlusion Nodesetup

UPDATE 21/01/2024: Full UV support with Version 1-7

UPDATE 16/07/2024: Added a fake Shadow Node with Version 1-8

Hello Folks

This is my small Parallax Occlusion Mapping Node Setup.

Parallax Occlusion Mapping is something in between normal mapping and actual displacement. Hereby the texture of an object is rendered as if it would be three dimensional without altering the mesh in any way. This can improve your scene a lot without adding extra vertices.

The Nodesetup is very easy to use.

The Node Setup consists of four Node Groups while the POM Node group is the main one. Simply plug it in between the texture coordinates and your texture. Update the heightmap in the HeightMap Group and you are almost ready to go.

IMPORTANT: The most recent version (1-7) was saved in 4.0. Downwards compatibility cannot be guranteed.

How to use:

1. Append the POM Nodegroup into your scene.
2. Put the POM Node between your Mapping Node and your Image Texture.
   1. If you use Generated Texture Coordinates: Set the slider at the top to "Gen" and make sure all textures are set to "box"
   2. If you use UV Coordinates: Set the slider to "UV" and make sure all textures are set to "flat" (Alpha might only work to a limited degree)
3. Open the Heightmap Nodegroup and add your heightmap
4. "Min" and "Max" Values help to stretch the heightmap to the Values 0-1
5. Object Dimensions help to correct distortions after applying scale to a model. You can find the Object Dimensions here:

   

6. "Strength" Controls the displacement strength

Additionally with the introduction of the fake shadow node, there are some new options:

1. Vector: Plug in the coordinates produced by the POM node
2. Light Position: Input the position of the light. There are two options:
   1. This setup lets you directly select the desired light / any other object

      

   2. Or you copy the position of your desired lamp/object as driver and paste them into a Combine XYZ node

      

3. Shadow Softness: Higher Values generate softer shadows. Recommended Value: 0.025
4. Shadow Length: Controls the length of the generated Shadow
5. Shadow Threshold: Controls how much the height difference is influencing the shadows

Examples (without/with):

Even though this Nodesetup is free, I would really appreciate a small donation :)