ZB3.5 to MAX/FinalRender Displacement for Dummies

[phloog]

Forgive me, but I'm likely to come off a bit 'grumpy' in this.

I've owned ZB for a while, but haven't used it much. I decided to try to use it in conjunction with Max and FR. Obviously GoZ, which will solve all the worlds problems, has not been announced for Max, so who knows when or IF it will ever happen..that's not the problem.

The problem is that apparently ZBrush, and the workflow between Zbrush, has changed so rapidly that I can't find any videos that actually show the things that are on my screen in ZB.

Oh! Here's one...wait, it says using ZMapper...no longer applicable.
Hey! Here I see...nah...that's talking about v2 of the displacement
Here's one...nope, that's talking about something else I don't have.
I've found one that seemed close in these forums, but it's telling me to click on buttons in the Alpha menu, and I don't have those buttons.

It seems like either ZB, Max, or both are changing so quickly that I'll never actually find a tutorial that is current (Max 2010, ZB3.5R2), or am I just missing the obvious? It's almost enough to drive me to Mudbox (ALMOST).

So I try things, and get horribly distended meshes, and now I'm worried that the two-day-old R2 of 3.5 has made other changes, and no tutorials will match my screens. I've got about $200 worth of books that all tell me to use utilities/scripts that no longer exist in ZB.

This is the Grand Origin of the Grumpiness....any links to a tutorial where the buttons match my own?

[RawSunlight]

I'm in the same boat! :cry: But then the plug-ins/ scripts don't work for anyone now. Apparently they will all be rewritten for 3.5r2, though so...

[phloog]

Mr Sunlight (or do you prefer to go by Raw),

Does this mean that until these scripts/utilities are updated for 3.5r2 that there is NO workflow for this? Or just a really rough/tough workflow?

I had kind of hoped that there would be easy (not as easy as GoZ, but still) workflow to move normal maps, geometry, etc. from ZB to Max "out of the box"...it sounds like out of the box it doesn't play nice...?

[phloog]

Sorry to bump my own thread (that's sounds like a euphemism for something that can harm your eyesight)....

Until they do restore scripts or build a manual or whatever, is the best solution (or only solution) to bring the insanely heavy mesh into Max AS-IS, and use Max's Normal mapping workflow to do this...basically just use ZB to create the fully detailed topology, PRAY that Max can hold it long enough to do the job and finish in Max...????

[Kerwin]

http://www.pixologic.com/docs/index.php/Creating_Normal_Maps
-K

[eldany]

Hi there!
Let me try to help you with this:

1) Export your Displacement and Normal maps from lowest subdivision
level in zbrush a shown below

01 a zbrush.jpg

DISPLACEMENT:

01 b displace.jpg

NORMALS:

01 c normal.jpg

2) Export your model from lowest subdiv level as OBJ and then
import it into MAX

02 base mesh.jpg

3) Add Turbosmooth Modifier to your model. And set a few render iterations
(i put 3 in this example) but 0 in main iterations for good performance in your
project.

03 turbosmooth.jpg

4) Add Displace Modifier to your model.
Strength: 0.1
Tag Luminance center
Insert your displacement map in de map slot
Tag Flip V tile
Tag USE EXISTING MAPPING

04 displace max.jpg

Now the model looks displaced but with no little details

05 without normal.jpg

Assign a material to your model and then add a Normal Bump
in the bump slot. Set it's value to 100 as shown

06 material a.jpg

Inside the normal bump slot add your normal map created in zbrush
Tag Flip Green (Y)

07 material b.jpg

Inside the bitmap attributes from normal bump set V tiling to -1

08 material c.jpg

In render settings from final render i suggest to tag enable details detection
inside global illumination advanced controls for better results.

09 finalrender.jpg

That's it!

10 final.jpg

I hope it helps!
Happy Zbrushing!

EL |) /\ /\/ )/

[AbandonGfx]

vERY NICE Step by Step TUTORIAL THERE ! :rolleyes:

Grabed 1 or two things that i already didnt remeber how xD :)

Alot of Thanks for that !..:cool:

Keep the greathness and have fun!

:tu:

ABG

[phloog]

Awesome! Thanks!

Questions generated by this, and maybe the source of my original problem. You don't seem to be using fR MTD at all...I've been focused on that, and failing miserably..off to try your thing.

EDIT to clarify: the earlier tutorials all had me entering MTD settings, bumping up a number to 220, etc, and exploding anything I touched...I've tried this and it seems to work well..not sure if there are any limitations/drawbacks to this method over fR MTD, but right now it's between this which works and the nonsense I've been getting.

Thanks again!

[eldany]

no MTD ;)
glad to help!

EL |) /\ /\/ )/

[badassembly]

Thanks for the tutorial!

[shadwell]

Awesome! Thanks!

Questions generated by this, and maybe the source of my original problem. You don't seem to be using fR MTD at all...I've been focused on that, and failing miserably..off to try your thing.

EDIT to clarify: the earlier tutorials all had me entering MTD settings, bumping up a number to 220, etc, and exploding anything I touched...I've tried this and it seems to work well..not sure if there are any limitations/drawbacks to this method over fR MTD, but right now it's between this which works and the nonsense I've been getting.

Thanks again!
Hey do this tutorial http://209.132.96.165/zbc/showthread.php?t=61434 you wont have any problems. Also the code for DE3 works on all versions on max. DE-LAGK-EAEAEA-D32 .
Mental Ray works best with displacement then Vray, then Scanline. But using scanline is a crap option, use mental ray. Enjoy