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I am trying to obtain an image like the one above. Looking around I think that this is called a “height map” but I am not really sure.
I’ve tried in Photoshop to remove saturation or add grey scale but the output in not the same.
Basically I am trying to get from an image or 3d model a layer that contain the shadows.
Is this something that can be done in Photoshop? Another software?
What is be the correct term for that type of image?
Thank you
2
Answers
A height map contains the distance of a surface from a given point. In a 3D program a surface map could be used on a flat plain to make it appear raised up to resemble the jumper or more often to create a terrain.
If you use a 3D model to render an image in a 3D program you usually have the ability to access the various passes that are used to create the final image. Using blender as an example, you can access the various passes in the compositor to combine them in different ways or you can output each pass as a separate image.
You can find several tutorials explaining how blender combines the various passes to get the final image like this and this
There is a difference between shadows and heightmaps. As sambler said, you can
get many informations from 3d renders.
In blender, for one object you could use a gradient Texture (black to white)
and map it so the parts near the camera are lighter.
(Use an emission-shader and deactivate “cast shadows” so the heightmap is undistorted.)
Another way is to use the Z output of an render (look at the screenshot of sambler) and connect it to a normalize node. than you can invert it and map it with a ColorRamp Node and you got a heightmap of the whole scene