20.10.20264 min

Corona Displacement: brick wall relief

For a brick wall with actual relief in Corona, connect a height map to Displacement in Corona Physical Material and set Min level and Max level for your scene scale. A normal map adds fine detail but does not replace geometric displacement. Review the wall close up and from the final camera: deep joints may look dramatic without matching the reference.

Prepare maps from the same surface

Choose a masonry reference and a matching texture set: color, Roughness, Normal and Height. The lesson uses an old-brick material with a separate height map. Do not confuse it with the color map: photographic brightness alone does not describe surface depth.

Give the maps clear names in Slate Material Editor. This helps distinguish similar grayscale Roughness, Ambient Occlusion and Displacement maps before connecting them.

Assign the material to the intended surfaces

Create a Corona Physical Material and assign it to the wall or selected polygons. Connect color and Roughness to their inputs, route Normal through CoronaNormal to Base bump, and connect Height to Displacement.

If Material override is active, exclude the required object so you can see its own material. Before adjusting relief, confirm that the camera shows the wall material rather than the override material.

Height connected to the brick material's Displacement input. 00:22:00

Check texture direction and scale

Set up UVW Map for the geometry and inspect the Gizmo orientation. The lesson demonstrates direction corrections on wooden beams; the wall also needs a readable masonry direction and scale.

Do not copy a projection size from another object without checking it. Oversized bricks may indicate incorrect texture scale rather than a displacement issue. Correct the brick size before adjusting joint depth.

UVW Map and Gizmo orientation on beams in the same scene. 00:17:10

Match Min level and Max level to the height map

Min level defines displacement for black map areas, while Max level defines it for white areas. Intermediate shades produce intermediate displacement. The values use scene units; a wider range increases relief along the surface normal.

The demonstration first compares Min level 0 cm and Max level 1 cm, then tests a deeper range. Its final uneven masonry example uses −3 cm and 3 cm. These are settings for that sample, not a universal brick preset.

Height map and Min level/Max level in the brick material. 00:22:40

Review the relief at two distances

Run interactive rendering close to the wall and inspect the joints and differences in brick height. Return to the final camera: relief should support the material rather than turn the wall into a collection of overly protruding blocks.

Use the reference to judge depth. Regular modern masonry and rough old bricks need different relief. If the result looks too heavy, reduce the Min level and Max level range and compare again.

Improve quality without wasting memory

Displacement changes geometry during rendering, so the colored viewport texture alone cannot validate it. Bump and Normal handle fine surface detail; assess larger relief in a rendered image.

For individual objects, the current Corona Displacement Modifier can override subdivision quality. Chaos documents that lowering Screen (px) increases detail but also memory use and preparation time. Treat it as a separate quality adjustment once the shape is correct; the lesson does not make it a required step.

Technical documentation: Chaos: Displacement · Chaos: Corona Displacement Modifier