Can be something like this rendered using image?

[coulteri]

Hello,
I am modeling large deck flooring and want to ask if it is possible to use only png image of flooring with gaps and kind of displacement map to achieve render including also the deck thickness?

Thank you!

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[Rich O Brien]

Yes, but the subdivision needed on the PNG plane would be higher an more intensive to render than your current geometry. Unless your render engine supports adaptive subdivision for displacement and a modifier based subdivision for geometry. Neither of which SketchUp supports.

Here's an example of a PNG wood with displacement with a ton of subdivision...

Here's an example of a PNG wood without displacement and just normal map...

But if you only use a normal map rather than displacement you could do it that way. Depends how far from the camera you are too.

[valerostudio]

It's best to just model it. I would never use displacement in this manner. There are plug-ins that could help with the modeling pretty quickly I bet.