---
title: "Rendering Vector Displacement with Object-Space PTex"
canonical: "https://documentation.chaos.com/space/VMAX/113575507/Rendering%20Vector%20Displacement%20with%20Object-Space%20PTex"
format: markdown
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This page provides a tutorial on rendering vector displacement using PTex Textures.
## **Overview**
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## **Exporting the Object from Mudbox**
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We will base the render on the subdivision level 0 of the mesh, so we need to export that. Go to level 0, select the object and then go to ***File > Export**** selection...* and choose an *.obj* file name. Then save the .*obj* file.
## **Extracting the PTex Texture in Mudbox**
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Assuming that your object is already sculpted in Mudbox, first make sure that you set it up for PTex textures. To do this, in Mudbox go to the lowest subdivision level and then go to ***UVs & Maps > PTEX Setup...*** and adjust the PTex resolution as needed:
To extract the PTex texture, go to ***Uvs & Maps > Extract Texture Maps > New Operation...*** and choose **Vector Displacement Map**.
Set the **Map Type** to **Ptex,** set the **Texel Distribution** to **Use PTEX Setup**; set the **Vector Space** to Object, and make sure that **Include Mesh Data** is **enabled**. The mesh data is needed during rendering to correctly transform the vector displacement on deforming meshes.
The extract dialog should look like the picture below. Click on the **Extract** button to create the PTex texture.
## **Rendering with V-Ray**
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First, import the level *0* version of the object that you exported to an .*obj* file earlier. Go to *File > Import...* and select the *.obj* file. Make sure that the **Retriangulate Polygons** option is **disabled.** Since the PTex textures are tied to the mesh topology, it is vital that the mesh is imported in 3ds Max exactly as it was in Mudbox.
Next, apply a [VRayDisplacementMod](https://docs-chaos.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/VMAX/pages/113585664) modifier to the object, set the **Type** to *Subdivision* and turn on the **Classic Catmull-Clark** option. Set the **Vector displacement** mode to *Object*. Click on the **Texmap** button and select [VRayPtex](https://docs-chaos.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/VMAX/pages/113575832) texture. Instance the texture to a slot in the Material Editor, click on the **filename** button and select the *.ptx* file that you exported earlier.
If you render now, you will see that the object is smooth, but it is not displaced properly. This is because, for PTex textures, V-Ray cannot figure out the displacement bounds automatically. You will need to specify the displacement bounds explicitly. To do that, go back to the VRayDisplacementMod modifier and adjust the **Texmap min** and **Texmap max** parameters, decreasing the first and increasing the second until the displacement looks correct. For this particular scene, good values turned out to be about *-60* for **Texmap min** and *60* for **Texmap max.**
If the texture displaces the surface quite far from its original position, you may need to adjust the tessellation for the subdivision surface. To do this, decrease the **Edge length** parameter in VRayDisplacementMod to 2.0 or even 1.0.
At this point, the displacement modifier should look like this:
You may notice slight noise or moire effect in the displacement. To fix this, go back to the VRayPtex texture and set the **filter type** to** Bilinear** or** Bicubic**.
Now the object should look the same shape as in Mudbox.
## **Optimizing the Render**
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Depending on the settings, rendering with Ptex vector displacement might be slow. You can speed it up a lot in exchange for some additional RAM if you turn go to the VRayDisplacementMod modifier and turn on the **Static Geometry** and **Cache Normals** options. The **Static Geometry** option will make V-Ray pre-tessellate the object at the start of the frame and treat it like regular geometry instead of render-time displacement. This allows you to use the Embree raycaster to further speed up the rendering. The **Cache Normals** option causes V-Ray to pre-calculate the surface normals, giving an additional speed boost although at the expense of slight errors in the normals due to interpolation.
## **Deforming the Object**
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Object-space displacement generally stores the displacement values relative to the original object mesh. If the object is deformed in some way, then the displacement values are no longer valid. However, since the PTex file can store information about the original object mesh, V-Ray is able to use the difference between that original mesh and the deformed one in order to recalculate the displacement values for the deformed state. V-Ray does this automatically; no extra effort is required from the user so long as the PTex file includes mesh information.