Bas Relief

Create Bas Relief sculptures from any image directly in Blender. Import an image, generate a displaced 3D mesh, set up a depth map compositor pipeline and render — all in a few clicks.

Important: This Blender Extensions package contains the Bas Relief tools only.

To unlock the complete workflow, including the AI-powered Height Map Generator (MiDaS), install the additional extension available here:

https://github.com/GuillaumeBissieres/blender-bas-relief-extensions-compatible

Installation order:

1. Install Bas Relief from Blender Extensions.
2. Download and install Height Map Generator from the GitHub repository.
3. Install the required libraries from the Height Map Generator preferences panel.

Installation

Install Bas Relief directly from Blender Extensions.

To add the optional Height Map Generator:

1. Visit: https://github.com/GuillaumeBissieres/blender-bas-relief-extensions-compatible

2. Download the latest Height Map Generator release.

3. In Blender, open: Edit > Preferences > Add-ons > Install from Disk

4. Select the downloaded ZIP file.

5. Enable Height Map Generator.

6. Open: Edit > Preferences > Add-ons > Height Map Generator

7. Install the required libraries.

Access Bas Relief in the N Panel under the Bas Relief tab.

How to Use

Step 1 — Import your image

Click Import Image and select the image you want to use as a displacement source (PNG, JPG, BMP, TIFF).

Step 2 — Generate the relief mesh

Click Run Bas Relief.

The add-on automatically creates a subdivided plane with a Displace modifier configured from your image.

The plane aspect ratio matches your image automatically — no more forced square planes.

Use the Adjust Last Operation panel to fine-tune:

• Subdivision Cuts — mesh density
• Subsurf Levels — smoothness
• Displace Strength — relief depth

Step 3 — Add a texture (Optional)

Click Create Texture to generate a PBR material with an Image Texture node and assign it to the relief mesh.

Step 4 — Set up the Depth Map compositor

Click Create Depth Map.

The add-on automatically:

• Creates an orthographic camera positioned above the relief
• Creates a Suzanne preview mesh for depth visualization
• Loads the Depth_Map_Comp_GN compositor node group
• Sets the render resolution to 500×500 at 16-bit depth

After clicking, two display options appear in the panel:

• Display Device → Display P3
• View Transform → Raw

Step 5 — Render and save

Click Render to produce the depth map, then Save to export the result to disk.

Step 6 — Start over

Click the trash icon next to Create Depth Map to remove the camera, preview mesh and compositor nodes and start fresh with a new image.

Multiple Reliefs in the Same Project

Each click on Run Bas Relief creates a fully independent plane with its own uniquely named texture (HeightMap.001, HeightMap.002, etc.).

Multiple reliefs in the same project never interfere with each other.