Creating a brick wall with Parallax Occlusion Mapping

In this recipe, we are going to explore one very useful way of adding detail without adding geometry. It might feel similar to using a normal map, but this technique actually pushes the pixels outwards or inwards, creating a real 3D effect that we just can't get with the previous type of textures. What's so special about this, then? Well, as we said, the geometry looks like it's there, but it actually isn't! It's a fake effect that looks real, and instead of making our CPUs work harder by using high poly meshes, we task the GPU with faking the image. This is something they are more efficient at since they were created for this purpose. Let's see what this is all about!

Getting ready

Something basic that you'll need to tackle this recipe is a good texture that contains depth information for the surface on which you want to apply the Parallax Occlusion Mapping technique. For instance, we are going to be talking about a brick wall in the next...