Rendering haptic textures seamlessly out of triangle meshes just by using geometry requires heavy work and does not allow high sampling rates for detailed, rugged models. Better approaches simulate surface texture without increasing much the complexity or processing cost, at the expense of fidelity of perception. We propose a method for rendering local height field maps out of an underlying triangle mesh, which relies in a space subdivision representation based on octrees for collision detection, and rendering individual surface detail by modulating force response using local height fields. We compare our method against a force mapping implementation for rendering/perceiving the same models with textures using normal maps. The proposed technique allows for real time perception of 3D surface detail, allowing the user to perceive the best haptic rendering alternative for a given model. Some experimental results are presented to show the goodness of the approach.