Wait, it's parallax occlusion mapping. It's the same as relief mapping, I think, but then I wouldn't know. If you have a system which you know works, then by no means change it!
Just noting the fact that PixelShader 3.0 is not REQUIRED for such complex procedures...
In essence, it is foolish to rely on new software anyways, best to make all progressive usages of recent software clearly optional and not intertwined to the game's abilities (in my opinion).
(I am quoting here, this is not plagiarism.)
Quoting the readme from the file:
"Parallax Occlusion Mapping SM 2.0 example:
This workspace demonstrates a technique described in the ShaderX3 article:
"Parallax Occlusion Mapping: Self-Shadowing, Perspective-Correct Bump Mapping
Using Reverse Height Map Tracing" by Zoe Brawley and Natalya Tatarchuk
This article will describe advanced parallax mapping techiques implemented using real-time shaders for creating convincing illusion of depth and detailed surfaces without increasing the geometric complexity of rendered objects. Parallax mapping allows approximating correct appearance and lighting of uneven surfaces by modifying the texture coordinate for each pixel [Welsh03]. The effect of parallax is seen by the viewer when portions of a surface appear to move relative to one another due to a change in the view position. Thus parallax is a very important visual cue for viewing
non-flat surfaces. However, creating a complex geometric object to simulate the details of the surface is computationally expensive and thus prohibitive to real-time rendering practices. Instead surface height data can be used for approximating surface appearance using techniques described in this chapter.
For more details about this approach, please see the article in the book.
http://www.shaderx3.com"
elint.110mb.com
