92k Moon Displacement Map

92k Moon Displacement Map 3D model

Description

Need to produce stunning images of the Moon but all you can find are old low-resolution textures on websites long forgotten by time, or a wild maze of links to scientific archives with horrific naming and obscure file extensions? Not to worry, I've done all of that and you can now just skip to the fun part of creating great visuals.

Creating planetary imagery is a strong passion of mine and to produce the best possible results you need the highest quality source material. I've poured countless hours into acquiring, processing and converting planetary maps into formats usable by artists, and that work has translated into what some may call ludicrous textures. I call it future proof.

This height map was derived from the data gathered by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, a probe that has been orbiting our neighbour since 2009. It has provided us with terabytes worth of information and the work is still ongoing.

From this data I've produced a very high quality 16-bit displacement map of the entire Moon. The maximum resolution is ridiculously high at 92160 by 46080, which means the detail level is stunning and stands up to close scrutiny. Every crater, hill and plateau is represented in the map, creating an intricately detailed landscape you could easily admire for hours.

Please note that due to the nature of the projection the accuracy of the map is lower the closer you get to the poles. The resolution should still be more than sufficient for high quality closeups.

Since memory consumption and bandwidth is always an issue, I've divided the download into 92k, 46k, 23k and 8k archives. Grab them all, or pick the one best suited for your needs. The textures are delivered in TIFF and PSB (Photoshop Large Document) formats.

Z
zeus123 2018-12-01 00:15:42 UTC
Pretty sure this map can be found free online from NASA website. Along with the rest of them to make a full, accurate, textured moon. If this is the case, then under the CC0 license this is illegal.
L
LtCannonfodder 2018-12-02 05:09:36 UTC
Hi, and thanks for asking! The textures you can download from Nasa are derieved data products, meaning they use the same source material but are not the same as the files you see here. I've utilized the same source material for my textures, but used the absolute highest resolution versions available and then spent a lot of time cleaning them up manually. The satellite data is far from perfect and has loads of issues like visible seams if you start looking closer. For example, the height map you can easily get from Nasa is only 8-bit, while the one included here is 16-bit, which makes a huge difference when rendering displacements. The color map I have is also not greyscale as most you find online, but merged together from different wavelenghts to capture the subtle colors the Moon actually has. To sum it up: yes, you can download similar textures for free. They usually work okay too, if you don't get too close and are okay fixing manually issues that creep up. My product has been processed way further and can save anyone wanting to render the Moon days or weeks of valuable production time. Hope that answers your question. Best Tuomas
Item rating
4 0
V
vidro 2021-04-25 18:52:41 UTC
Recommended
Best detailed textured I have seen from the moon ! Mesmerizing to just study the details and finally able to make great 4k renders from the moon. Big thanks for making this and sharing it.
S
szabidali 2019-08-01 21:49:22 UTC
Recommended
Amazing details. If you need a hero moon, this is the moon displacement you need.
92k Moon Displacement Map
$30.00
 
Royalty Free License 
92k Moon Displacement Map
$30.00
 
Royalty Free License 
Response 63% in 17.1h

3D Model formats

Format limitations
  • Textures 4.11 GB

3D Model details

  • Publish date2017-02-16
  • Model ID#694101
  • Animated
  • Rigged
  • VR / AR / Low-poly
  • PBR
  • Geometry Other
  • Polygons 0
  • Vertices 0
  • Textures
  • Materials
  • UV Mapping
  • Unwrapped UVs
  • Plugins used
  • Ready for 3D Printing
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