ZBrushCentral

normal map "breaks"

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

I generated a tangent space normal map with default zmapper settings in zbrush 3.1 and i noticed i needed to use the projected normal map option because the normals weren’t coming out clean. so i set projected slider to about 1/2 way then generated the map.

when i do a preview hirez mesh in zmapper its perfect, but when generating the map i get some areas where there is banding or hard lines in the normal map when viewed in photoshop, especially when viewing the green channel. this is the first time i’ve run into this issue with this geometry (ive normal mapped this geometry before no issues)

attached a screenshot of whats goin on in zmapper, green channel in photoshop, and previewing in maya with high quality rendering (normal map mapped to bump channel with tangent space checked)

thanks for any help or clues

Attachments

normalmap_problem.jpg

#2

On the Misc tab, try increasing the Raycasting Max Scan Distance slider.

#3

thanks aurick

i gave that a shot and had similiar results. i guess im going to have to hand paint the red and green channels to get rid of the distortions, which is frustrating. the polygon layout where the problems happen seem to be bigger polys, which might be causing the problem. im stuck with using this base mesh so I dont have much of a choice.
im goin to rty to push the polys closer to gether on level 1 then try again.

thanks