Attached Link: Raytraced reflections on a sword blade? by vincebagna

Displacement vary within a polygon - the geometry does not limit the level of detail you can create with displacement.

There is a limitation, however. A displacement can only raise or lower the surface. It can't bend it. But for fine-detail adjustments, this is not a serious limitation.

Have a look at this sword by Vince Bagna:

I helped him make the shader for the blade. He did the displacement map that creates all that fine filigree work. I added noise-based displacement to create the small flaws in the metal, those dark pits. If you were to try to model all that, you'd go crazy.

The attached link points to a thread at RDNA where we worked on this. There are dozens of detailed renders there if you're interesting in seeing more.

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