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Defines the height of surface points.
Excepted Data Source | 1 component image |
Data Range | 0 to 1 |
Default Value | 0.5 |
Affected Modules | Graphic |
Linked Properties | height.scale, height.offset |
The height texture property defines the height of the surface. This allows Graphic Modules to improve lighting by taking small scale elevations on the surface into account.
This is also a special texture property similar to the normal map one but this time the height of a surface relative to the mesh surface is stored. This height can be used for different purpose depending on the graphic module used. One usage is to derive a normal map from the height difference. Another usage is to dynamically increase the detail level of a mesh. The new vertices are then offset using this height. Terrain meshes can also use this height information to provide LODing (level of detail reduction over distance).
A value of 0.5 indicates no surface height alteration. Values below 0.5 indicate a dent in a surface while values above 0.5 indicate a bump in a surface. The strength and offset of the height alteration can be set using the height.scale and height.offset property.
The source is typically an 8 bit image with 1 color components inside the range from 0 to 1. 0 represents a point located at the lowest point underneath the surface. 0.5 represents a point on the surface. 1 represents a point located at the highest point above the surface. Using high definition range images values beyond can be used as well.
The default value for this texture property is 0.5 .
( TODO: example image )