ZBrushCentral

3.1 Displacements Are Still Broke

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Sorry for the shouting but im pritty angry…iv been trying to get the displacment to work in 3.1 for weeks . messing and messing…with no luck…
The process…
import model with my uv.s and iv tried auv…sub,divide and do the sculpt…then add a tex with the same rez… set the subd back to the lowest level and create displace… with adaptive on and tried smooth and non smooth…same size setting as my tex…create displacment…
zbrush does its thing…and spits out the map in the alpha tab…

upon looking at it there not much to see… so i flip and take into max…add the vray displace mod and render with vray… and nothing, only messed up artifacts…now iv tried this a hundred times all with different methods… tried to see the displacment in zbrush using the alpha depth factor and apply displacement…and nothing but a slight movment in polys…so iv been pulling my hair out for weeks thinking why it wont work…so tonight i thought id try it in ver 2 of zbrush, and guess what it worked perfect…lovley displacments…so what the hell is goin on…3.1 is broken when it comes to displacments…i thought they fixed this in the 3.1 update…jeez has anybody else had this problem or is it only me??? does your displacment work in your ver of 3.1???
so it looks like im gona have to do all that end in ver 2…what a joke…
has anybody else been trying to get displace to work in the past few weeks with no luck…please share…:evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

#2

I agree with you there. I have a model i imported from XSI with UVs. I sculpted and painted texture. I had problems with creating the texture as an image (new texture, col>tex, blah blah, followed instructions from some training materials) didnt work as it was suppose to. I also then tried doing the normal map creation with Zmapper, again following dif tutes. Didnt work as shown. I also tried almost every option to create displacement maps. Both standard ZB disp maps and DE3. nothing worked. I created a morph target at start when imported as well. Tried on both morph target and Lowest sub d for zb mesh. All disp maps seem to come out plain grey, i actually got some col variations (not usuable to any degree) on some of the settings. I have tried some of the DT tutes and other forum posts i found. I havent tried going back to ZB2. Id also like to know what is going on and what i have done wrong. Thanks.

#3

Works fine for me. and has since vers 2

Here are my steps: TO MAKE A DISPLACEMENT MAP:


  • Create a mesh that has multiple sub d levels.
  • Go to the lowest sub d level
  • Under tool – displacement set the DPRes to 4096
  • Turn on adaptive
  • Turn on smooth uv
  • Hit Create DispMap
  • After it is done creating the map it will throw it into the alpha slot, but it wont select it
  • Select your displacement map in the alpha panel

  • Under alpha, DE Options, D16 button Quick Code DE-FDEK-EACADA-D16
  • You want to create a 1 channel, 16 bit, vertical flip yes, scale- auto plus adf, smooth –no, seamless –no, ch 1 range – full range ch1 res – full
  • Then export active set as a .tif to wherever you want on your computer
  • Do not edit this .tif any further in PS or any other program

To apply and view your Displacement map in 3ds max


  • Export your lowest sub d level from zbrush as an obj with mrg turned on. and group turned off. Import your .obj to max
  • Import your .obj to max
  • Convert it to an editable poly
  • Assign a turbosmooth modifier to it with its render iterations set to match the same poly count as the highest sub d level in zbrush (remember zbrush counts in quads and max counts in tris)
  • Add a displace modifier above that in the stack
  • Turn on luminance center leave it at .5
  • Load your displacement map in the image – bitmap
  • Turn on use existing mapping.
  • You will have to mess around with the strength under your displace modifier until you get it look like how it did in zbrush. Should be anywhere from .05 to 5
  • Now you can render it or start cranking up the iterations in turbo smooth on the view port to see it real-time in the view port.
Hope that helps. If not, then most likely your UVs are jacked up

#4

thanks fella but iv tried that and the uv.s are fine…trust me iv been doing this thing quite a long time…so i know when the uv.s are sweet…but the the export options iv tried a load of different settings but not yours persay so ill have a bash and let you know…the thing is…i cant even get the displacment to show in zbrush never mind max…i can do a normal map ok and cavety but dis…no way…ill tri your settings… funny how the process work perfect in zbrush2 though,can u show me a pic of your a good dis map in zbrush and max please…
cheers…

#5

Max 9 has a problem screwing with point order on obj export, which has caused no end of grief for people. Could this be your problem?

#6

That might be it. I am using Max 8 SP3. I have seen people with the same .obj problem in max 9 which is a big reason why I haven’t upgraded.

Here are some shots of it working for me. in 3.1 and max 8


#7

Hey --E–, i tried the process you posted. for some reason it didnt quite work for me, also i use XSI, so the setup for disp maps is a lil dif. Question: Why do you create disp map, then load in alpha then DEoptions it and export that way? rather then using DE3 and create all??

I was doing more searches and found this yesterday, http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=51709 and also this today, which uses the same code http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=50873 i havent tried the 2nd process, but the first worked for me last night, after a bit of playing. I hope this helps if you are still having probs. And trying to get the setup to look good in XSI, sheesh, took a while, even following steps from DTs etc.

#8

yea im using max 9…maybe thats it…hmmmm well ill have to revert back to 8…the thing is max 9 has been speeded up dramaticly in viewport poly count rotation… or was that in the max 8 updates…cant remember…
my ver of vray is for max 9 aswell…autodesk is one pain in the ass with upgrades then having to upgrade the plugs… o well thanks for showing me that its working for you in 8 and 3.1… ill keep you updated in my progress…
also one other thing i remember is that i can not get the displacments to show in zbrush much…maybe the uvs are messed up with max 9 …then again i do my mapping in unfold3d… which is an amaizing program for those not in the know…auto mapping very much like modo…check it out if you can… but its then taken into max and re exported out ready for zbrush…ill have another play about and let you know… cheers fellas:+1:
peace out

#9

Just a hint: prior to generating normal map, press the cage button next to the subdivision level slider. It will recalculate a subdiv cage. It is even better than the original mesh. If you calculate the displacement based upon the cage you will recieve back almost all of your details.

#10

jester were on about dis maps not normal, i dont have a problem getting the notmal map, zmapper seems to do a good job at that… does zmapper do displacment maps aswell ??

#11

E YOU DA MAN :slight_smile: … THERE WAS A COUPLE OF THINGS I MISSED LIKE MRG AND GRP… I GOT IT WORKING GREAT IN MAX 8… just let me try max 9 and ill let you know…real big thanks brother, iv realy needed the dis maps to get the stuff into max for the good renders,big big thanks bro :+1: :+1: :+1: :+1: :+1: :+1: :+1:
big thanks…peace out

lol works even better in max 9… the displacmens look a lot better… we heeee im on my way now…BIG UP —E---

DIS XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.jpg
DIS XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.jpg1437×900 156 KB

#12

No problem jadesoul, glad I could help you -

Can you post a render of the displacement differences between max 8 and max 9? I am curious to see what the improvements are. Thanks :D And maybe be a little bit more careful on your wording of post titles from now on ;) Too many people are quick to slam zbrush as of late, when all they really need is a bit more info on what they are trying to do.
#13

I THINK one of the problems with zbrush is that theres so much info non info going around its hard to sift through the garbage…an the manual is well weird to say the least… one person says this one person says that… im learning of of a meats dvd and his methods did not work for me…in 3.1… yours did… so as i followed his methods from ver 3 it did not work… i think they should have export codes specialy for say , maya max, xsi, and all the other leading packages…i know it could get a long list like , hey why aint truespace in there, but u got to draw the line somwere.i dont know… just a better manual would help i think…

#14

The problem is that every time any other package updates, it can cause necessary settings to change. This can immediately invalidate any published information pertaining to that package. And software packages change constantly. What works today can be completely broken tomorrow, through no fault of Pixologic.

It is simply not possible for Pixologic to continuously update documentation every time another program changes. Nor is it possible for us to keep track of which user tutorials are current or not.

It’s just the nature of the industry.

This is actually one of the reasons why we’re putting a lot of effort into the Wiki. Once that framework is in place, users can help keep the documentation current as various packages change.

#15

So basiclly there is no good max 9 info and max 2008 is a week away?

I’m finding it very difficult to get things from zbrush to max.
One of the most difficult things I’ve expirenced in 10 years of doing cg.
It’s not that it is rocket science, it is becuase nothing is standard.
It’s like vodoo. I feel like I should be throwing chicken bones on my desk and get the settings off of those.
If I make a displacement map in photoshop I just save it and bring it in max. The process has never changed. Why do you have to jump through hoops to do it in zbrush?
Like E said people slam zbrush becuase they need info. But there is no info.
It’s the lack of info and the fact you have to do 50 things to even get anywhere close to getting a useable map that people slam it.

Hopefully I’m way off base here and somebody can post a link on a easy way to do it in 3.1

#16

My steps don’t work for you? jadedsoul was using 3.1 and max 9.

#17

I don’t know if I was missing something in your steps.
It would not texture correctly until I wen back to the begining and used GUV then followed your steps and it looks like I’m getting close.

Thanks big time E !!!:smiley:

#18

Why would I export the displacment map at the lowest sub d level?

I thought it was up 2 or 3.

#19

A displacement map in zbrush is also known as a difference map. This is because you are creating a texture map that shows the difference between your current sub d level and The highest sub d level in zbrush. If you create your map at sub d level one. That is creating a map that displays the difference between sub d level one and the highest sub d level.

So normally, you would create the displacement map at the level at which your model is in max. The level that you want as your lowest sub division level in max so that you can unwrap and skin and animate that lowest sub d level easily. and then at render time you apply the displacement map to that lowest sub d level and subdivide it to match the poly count of zbrush, at render time.

If you want level 2 or 3 to be your lowest sub d level in max then by all means create your displacement map from level 2 or 3. But imo you are just slowing down max by having sub d level 2 or 3 be your lowest level.

In short. you want to create your displacement map at the same level at which your model is in max. For the vast majority of people that is level 1.

Of course there are specific cases where the lowest sub d level is just too different in shape from the highest sub d level, and in cases like that, then you would most definitely want to use level 2 or 3 to get a better match to the highest sub d level at render time in max.

Hope that makes sense.

#20

Thank you, Thank You.

I can’t say it enough you just taught me more possibilites than anybody has ever taught me.
After I went through your steps a few times and your last explaination I am able to get all maps working in 3ds max.
The thing that was confusing me that I 've never read a good description of is: That exporting the displacment map at the lowest levels exports the details of the higest level.

Thanks again. I’m extremly in love with Zbrush as of now.