/3/ - 3DCG

Not sure if what I'm asking here is fucking retarded or not since I can't find anything on Google.

I want to have the normal map of this model automatically "sculpt out" part of the mesh I guess? I saw that you can do that with displace modifiers but it turns my head into a balloon if I do that even at 0.05 scale and doesn't seem to really effect the mesh in any meaningful way.

I basically want to have those holes actually be dug into the mesh and same with the lines etc. without having to manually sculpt it out. Is this possible or am I asking for a lot here? I am a total noob if it wasn't super obvious already.