Little question about displacements...

[mesocyclone]

Hello folks
Can you explain exactly how these settings work?
I've tried to use them more than once, but the results never were as I expected them to be.

    *  Along Vertical
    * Vertical Only (Requires Computed Normal)
    * Lateral Only (Requires Computed Normal)
    * Lateral Normalizes (Requires Computed Normal)

Thanks! 

[neuspadrin]

about halfway down this page:
http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http://www.martin-brunker.de/tutorials/ger_tutorial3.htm&sl=de&tl=en&history_state0=

has images showing the comparisons.  right after the 3 colorful stones.

basically vertical only means only go up/down, lateral only means only side to side, etc.  the "requires computed normal" means that it must be placed after a computed terrain area or something like that or it won't know where to displace.

[mesocyclone]

Thanks!

[Oshyan]

This is my understanding:
Along Vertical displaces along the vertical (Y) axis from the planet normal.
Along Normal displaces along the current normal of the surface (for info on the concept of a "normal" see this wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface_normal)
Vertical Only displaces only in the vertical of the current surface normal (I think).
Lateral Only displaces in the lateral, horizontal directions (X, Z) as referenced against the base planet sphere.
Lateral Normalized displaces laterally from the normal of the displaced surface (not the base planet sphere).

These are the kind of specific settings that require some input from development for the documentation. That information will be added to the Node Reference soon.

- Oshyan