---
title: "Relief Object"
url: "https://help.maxon.net/c4d/en-us/Content/html/ORELIEF.html"
section_path: "Create Menu > Generators > Relief Object"
element_id: "ORELIEF"
command_id: "5173"
description: "This page documents the Relief object in Cinema 4D. It converts an image's brightness into terrain elevation — bright pixels high, dark pixels low — …"
---

# Relief Object

> **Note:** **What is it about?**
>
> This page documents the **Relief object** in **Cinema 4D**. It converts an image's brightness into terrain elevation — bright pixels high, dark pixels low — turning height maps and photos directly into landscape geometry.

> **Tip:** Note: Also note the [Displacer Deformer](https://help.maxon.net/c4d/en-us/Content/html/OMOGRAPH_DISPLACER.html.md), which does something similar but offers significantly more functionality and works even faster.

The relief map interprets the different grayscales within the image as altitude values. If you choose a color image, the grayscale is formed from the average value of the red, green and blue components of the bitmap picture. The brighter the pixel, the higher the elevation; the darker the pixel, the deeper it lies within the scene. In other words, darkness defines valleys, brightness is for mountains.

![Image: 001462.jpg](https://help.maxon.net/c4d/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/001462.jpg)\
Patterns (left) for different reliefs (right).

# Interactive editing

The relief initially has three handles:

- Drag handle (1) to change the width (X).

- Drag handle (2) to change the height (Y).

- Drag handle (3) to change the depth (Z).

  ![Image: 001469.jpg](https://help.maxon.net/c4d/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/001469.jpg)\
  The handles of the relief primitive.

If you enable **Spherical**, only two handles appear:

- Drag handle (4) to change the globe's radius (half the width — the first **Size** value).

- Drag handle (5) to change the height of the elevation (height - the second **Size** value).

  ![Image: 001470.jpg](https://help.maxon.net/c4d/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/001470.jpg)\
  Alternative handles for the relief primitive.