Does anybody remember Second Life? They used a similar technique of creating an object out of an image. The maps where called sculpts and consisted of an 64

Does anybody remember Second Life? They used a similar technique of creating an object out of an image. The maps where called sculpts and consisted of an 64 by 64 image. Each pixels rgb value was mapped as xyz coodinate onto a grid. The grid base mesh was either a sphere or flat which allowed for a "closed" or "open" object surface so one could simulate holes (it also influenced the physics). The users figured out a lot of funky tricks. Like having multiple connected objects described by only one such map by having the connection be an ultra thin line which got not rendered. This lowered the "costs" Second Life calculated since it consisted of only one primitive. Or using a bug to create giant ones of these things to create houses and other big objects. On top having an automatic LOD was quite easy just half the number of grid vertices and there is your lower poly object.