I am trying to create an ocean shader that uses normal mapping for ripples and smaller waves and World Displacement for larger waves. This material can be incredibly basic, as I am using it simply as a starting point for creating a more advanced ocean shader. For the time being, I am using a Constant3Vector for diffuse, one normal map on a Panner, and a greyscale map on a panner for World Displacement. Tessellation is set to PNTriangles, Crack Free. Tessellation Multiplier uses a constant of two at the moment. This material seems to work (but not well) when applied to shaped objects, but when I apply it to a plane, that’s when the problems start.
When applied to a flat plane, no matter how high-poly I subdivide it before importing, the result is always the same. The entire plane remains flat. If the World Displacement input is multiplied by a constant of a high enough value, it results in vertical motion, but still the entire plane is affected. I have experimented with many options, multiple displacement maps, and a wide range of values for Tessellation Multiplier and multiplication of World Displacement. The result is invariably the same. Wireframe mode shows tessellation, but no offset apart from a whole-object vertical offset.
I feel that I have probably tried the simple stuff, but there is probably something I am missing, so if you have suggestions such as “Be sure your plane has more than four vertices”, I will not be offended at all.
If there is anyone out there who can provide some insight into this, or better yet a short simple tutorial, I would be immensely grateful.
P.S. Adding insult to injury here, I created this same shader (maps, plane, and all) inside the UDK and it works flawlessly!