#heightfields posts — Ben Crowder https://bencrowder.net/blog/tag/heightfields/ Feed for blog posts tagged with #heightfields. Sat, 04 Apr 2026 05:22:16 GMT en-US https://bencrowder.net/ New artwork: Wise as Serpents, and Harmless as Doves. This uses the Blender heightfield technique I... https://bencrowder.net/blog/2023/1564/ https://bencrowder.net/blog/2023/1564/ Wed, 23 Aug 2023 12:00:00 GMT New artwork: Wise as Serpents, and Harmless as Doves.

This uses the Blender heightfield technique I wrote about in Prints 2.1. I made a grayscale texture — Figma for the base, Cirque + SVG filters for the circles, textures applied in Affinity Photo — and then used that as a displacement on a plane. I also exported a color map from Figma for the coloring. Little bit of fog and chromatic aberration added in as well.

Wise as Serpents, and Harmless as Doves

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]]> Projects — Prints 2.1 https://bencrowder.net/blog/2022/projects-prints-2.1/ https://bencrowder.net/blog/2022/projects-prints-2.1/ Sat, 21 May 2022 12:00:00 GMT Religious art

Before the World Was VI
Before the World Was VI_. Another take on the celestial yin & yang version.

Follow Me
Follow Me_. I really like the bolder colors here. One of my favorites.

I’ve a Mother There III
I’ve a Mother There III_. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to do another negative space piece but decided to go for it.

In Their Own Image
In Their Own Image_. Finally branched out to some other scriptures for my Heavenly Parents pieces. Initially this one looked too much like a restroom sign. Also, I don’t know that I’ve found the simplest way to represent this idea yet.

A Beloved Daughter
A Beloved Daughter_. I was reading Elder Renlund’s conference talk and realized I hadn’t done this yet.

Prodigal Son II
Prodigal Son II_. Fairly close to the first iteration but without the unnecessary ground.

Other art

Lately I’ve been playing around with making meaningless decorative pieces in Blender, using displacement maps with (for the most part) procedural heightfields. For these I’ve generally textured the heightfield in Affinity Photo and sometimes also textured a separate color map. Looking forward to doing more work in this vein.

Pattern 001
Pattern 001_. This is the one that wasn’t procedural; I made the heightfield in Figma. While I like the way the sun lamp lights things evenly, it still feels maybe a little too harsh to me. I think of this piece as some kind of vintage fabric.

Pattern 002 A
Pattern 002 A_. Kind of going for a Central American archaeological feel here. For this I wrote a Python script that generated rectangles on a grid in SVG for the heightfield. Switched to a spotlight lamp, and added some fog. I added the green in post.

Pattern 002 B
Pattern 002 B_. Same script as 002 A, this time with different textures and lighting. Going for a Middle Eastern archaeological feel. I also added a slight bit of rippling and rotational blur on top to make it feel a little magical.

Pattern 003 A
Pattern 003 A_. New script. Fairly pleased with how this turned out — all the different varieties that come out from random circles. (Since that’s all the heightfield is, really.) I added the lower-level squares on a last-minute impulse and I’m glad I did.

Pattern 003 B
Pattern 003 B_. Same script as 003 A. I love love love the way the heightfield texture makes it look like things are growing, in a creepy way. Added depth of field to make things look more underwater. I’m happy with the old-photograph feel, too.

Pattern 004
Pattern 004_. It still blows my mind that I can take a black-and-white heightfield and use it to generate art like this. Kind of cool how several of these look like they’re bowls even though the interiors aren’t actually rounded.

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