V-Ray | PARALLAX OCCLUSION - The better Normal Map?

In this tutorial you will learn how to build a custom OSL Shader that enables you to use Parallax Occlusion in V-Ray for 3ds Max. Parallax Occlusion tries to mimic Displacement Mapping without acutally subdividing and displacing the geometry. Everything is done within the shader itself. We will first talk about the existing way on how to add surface details using traditional methods such as Displacement and/or Normal Mapping. After building our custom OSL Shader we will talk about when it makes sense to use this kind of shader and where Displacement is superior. I am using 3ds Max 2022 and V-Ray 5 in this demo but you can also use the same techniques for older versions as long as they support OSL. A similar workflow can also be used in other software such as Cinema4d, Maya, Blender and different kind of render engine such as Corona, Octane, Redshift, Arnold, Cycles, CyclesX, Eevee and countless others if they support OSL. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction 01:08 - Resources 01:56 - Normal Mapping 04:43 - Disp