Hi, I posted this elsewhere but someone suggested programming might be a better place to ask.
I'm looking for some info on how best to use the max precision of my data as a map to displace geometry. I have raw data that ranges from 0-1 with 16-bit precision in a huge array. My intent was to create an image where each pixel in the image corresponds to a data point in that array, and then use that to displace the geometry.
At this point I'm unsure of how to store the values in the image itself since I don't know how 3dsmax will read the values in the Bitmap and Map slots, or how they differ since Map allows for a Bitmap type. Should I be storing integer values between 0-65535 or decimal floats between 0-1 in the pixel values? Also, should I store them just in the Red channel? Duplicate them across all channels? Do I have to use greyscale or would RGB of all the same values be the same as greyscale?
So yeah, I'm really just not sure how to go about creating the appropriate image to use in the Bitmap and Map inputs. I should mention that I'm currently creating PNG files, though I suppose I could create tiffs. I'd prefer PNG simply because I already coded for creating PNGs.
Thanks!
