This is done in a polygon world but should be just as applicable here. In this thread, Stefan Morell gives many examples of the raw models and the multiple decals he applies to create realism with simple objetcs. At this point in the thread he shows displacement on one poly that is mind blowing. Hope this helps - I know it gave me a lot of ideas.

Stefan Morell Details theliving hell out of one Poly / Patch

Unfortunately depth maps like that have issues in AM. There is a popping that occurs when you animate it. But for stills its fine.

In my tank treads test I found that I could eliminate the popping by rendering at a higher res. While that is time consuming it hints that there may be a fix possible.

Here's another I don't think I had to up-res at all

http://youtu.be/vfELq-sBSpI

WOW Rob.....I missed that one when you did it. That is over the top cool. What was the render time per frame on it...do you remember?

Was the texture animated?

I dont' recall what it was when i did that with v15 but I just tried it again and a 2562x1440 render takes 2:02 for 3 passes in v17

After i scrunch that down to 1/3 the res ( same as 1/9 the pixels) that would be like 27 passes for anti-aliasing purposes.

This is simple scene with lots of white space so it renders quickly anyway, but triple sizing and resizing down might be a usable option when you really need something.

Click to view attachment
Click to view attachment

Yes. It's a "combiner" material that is rotated on a model that is actually circular, then reshaped to tank-shaped with a pose.

Click to view attachment

Well....for what it's worth now way after the fact.....I'm impressed. That's awesome. I'm sorry I missed it when you first released it.