Hi Michael,
> Hello Michael, as you already know a lot of textures are already applied with bumpmaps etc,
Yes, but it's also not unusual for there to be "seams" in the result of how bumpmap textures get applied in a rendering, that's where some areas of the mesh end up with different spots of the source texture on them.
For a rendering that just means that area of the rendered image looks a bit odd. For trying to build a solid from it, it means the solid would be basically ripping a type of hole in it right there. But not really a clean cut type of hole either, more like a surface that suddenly tries to jump between 2 different levels right at the same spot on the same surface. That type of sudden jump tends to make for very messy results in CAD geometry. CAD geometry is built from surface patches and it's intended that each surface patch is a smooth surface.
For generating a deformed solid, it works a lot better if the deformation action is continuous everywhere the solid is being deformed, that's why Flow is based on a kind of structured larger overall type of deformation...
What you might try to do depends a lot on the particular result that you're looking for though. If you want something that's pockmarked or kind of randomly eroded all over the place probably you're looking at taking the object into something like 3D-Coat and using their brush sculpting tools to paint pock marks on it. You will then have polygon mesh geometry from there on out so you won't be able to bring that type of method back into MoI again.
If you're looking for more of a kind of embossing effect on a more structured area of your mode (like that follows one particular surface rather than all across the entire model)l, then the ZSurf + flow method could be a fit with that.
If you have any examples you can show for what result you're trying to achieve that would help to narrow the possibilities down even more probably.
- Michael
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