@love2draw: Grasshopper is absolutely the LONG way to go about doing this. Though it can be done it’s just way more work than needs to be done.
This is 100% perfect for something like zBrush. I’ve long said that the CAD world is severely lacking behind some of these VFX application when it comes to applying textures like this on geometry. Take a look a this vid just to see how this works. Keep in mind this can be 2D or 3D displaced geometry and still go to manufacturing.
