VDISP

[Dune]

Triggered by the stream about vector displacement, I tried drawing my own 'vector displacement map'. You have to think carefully how to draw it, but it works like a dream. Lots of possibilities   

[DannyG]

This is freaking cool

[j meyer]

  Great! 

Is it required to have a new version of PS?
What bit depth? 8,16 32?

[choronr]

Those alcoves and caves are very good.

[mhaze]

impressive

[Dune]

CS3, thats'the newest I've got. I made it in 16 bit RGB and converted to 32 bit before saving as tif, otherwise it won't work. Either painting in 32 bit or opening in TG in 16 bit. 8bit may also work, don't know. Probably a bit cruder.

[Lady of the Lake]

Wow, have been wondering how to make holes in the rocks.  This is great.  I will try it, probably with not much success since I don't really understand much of what I do in TG2.   

[TheBadger]

Thats proof of a rather big break through, Ulco!

The interior walls of the cave appear to show the same displacement as the outside of the rock formation, without problem. Is this correct? Can you post a render from inside the cave, please?

How long did it take you to paint the v map, once you understood the working process? How tedious did you find it? How specific did you find you could get and still be accurate?

Ulco, remember the broken moon tests you did. Wouldn't this be a excellent solution? You could make extreme deformations on a new layer over a layer with a proper NASA moon map. Use it to deform a planet2 object, then apply the NASA provided moon map for the texture. Yes?

Also, this is, I think, the way to go for natural bridges and arches. Yes?

image1 in the op is the one I like Ulco. it reminds me of this:
http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/348535/348535,1309708657,21/stock-photo-cave-paradise-blue-sea-and-sky-relaxation-paradise-on-beach-tourism-tropical-island-80329102.jpg

Good work, Ulco!

[Dune]

Yes, the interior will look good. The only problem is that you might have overlapping surfaces if you displace too much, or the map is not right. This is of course easier with a model as a basis.
On the other hand, the overlapping areas and the one-sidedness of the planet's surface may be used to get see-throughs 
I painted the map in 30 seconds  , but it was just for testing.
For natural bridges this may work as well, I'll have a go at it... maybe.

[Dune]

Another map. Inside cave is now rendering....

[TheBadger]

Its funny. We could do this for how long? But no one ever did.
I remember reading several posts about caves, and that the people asking the questions did not like what they found. And now you can get a perfect cave in 30 seconds or so. Hope they see this!

[Dune]

Inside.

[j meyer]

8-bit works,too.
But I find it hard to get what I want,that's definitely easier with a model.

[bla bla 2]

Géniale ! 

[Dune]

One more render with the VDisp method.