same here…
3DBOXX 8300
2 x Xeon E5345 (quad) 2.33GHz
quadro fx1500
4GB RAM
Vista ultimate 64-bit
well said…couldn’t agree more
Well, I successfully got my displacment map out of ZB3 but then ran into this issue with the normal map button not working.
Just adding my “Why is the normal map button not working?” question to this stack. 
There is probably a good reason we don’t know about that kept this from happening (development time/ further delays/ stability issues?), but I’m in total agreement Incorporating the major feature adding plugins/scripts into ZB3 would be ideal… as would a very simply Max, Maya, XSI normal/displacement export option. Then you just “set it and forget it”.
For the time being, any 32-bit displacement option and normal map export option would help…even if it’s just a hack or a beta. It seems kind of crazy to not have this kind of functionality built right into ZB3 as it’s a major part of any production pipeline.
I’m pretty sure if anyone at Pixologic is reading the forums, then they’ve gotten the message.
Yeh, Z3 has lots of nice stuff in there - but until I can generate normal maps within it, it has very little utility for me as a production app. I was very surprised to note that a critical bit of functionality had been left out.
Anyone from pixologic ? is there a way to create normal maps?
So the same probleme here with normal map button not working…and nobody answer to us…
They’ve said that zmapper will be released “soon”. I guess it had some issues? We’re also missing Zapplink, and the proper displacement exporter.
For people who live in ZB this isn’t a big deal…but to many of us who live outside it (XSI, MAX, MAYA, LW, C4D, Houdini, using renderman…) well it sucks. I’m not saying they should have waited to release it- just that they should have been straight up about its current limitations. I modeled a few things for our project in it before realizing these options were omitted. You’d figure if the wiki has it splashed on the front page it should be there. So now I wasted time making these amazing models…that have no where to go.
Basically I’m left using ZB3 for polypaint until I can figure out a work around. I wish that ZB3 files were compatible with ZB2 on some level (like if you flattened your sub tool layers down etc.) just so I could get out a good displacement map and normal maps out of ZB2 with my ZB3 models…ugh.
Someone talked about a work around using a displacement map to generate a dot3 normal map using a PS plugin- but I haven’t tried it yet- and fear that it will be far inferior to zmappers results. Maybe this would work? http://developer.nvidia.com/object/photoshop_dds_plugins.html
ARG! Yes, I am busy trying to get a normal map out right now and would like a comment from pixologic on a workaround. 
a work around is generate a displacement map, take it into Photoshop, make it RGB, make it Monochrome, save it out and use Crazy Bump.
Not perfect but works for now.
You’d think they would have tested this before the release. Normal map generation is very important.
Another work-around in Maya is to take your high poly object into Maya and generate the normal map there. That’s what I’m going to do.
Strangely quiet from Pixologic.
i tried to load 380mb obj to max, but it’s not working :)
Export your high rez and lo rez out of ZB3 as objs and use XNormal. I think XNormal does as good of a job if not a better job than Zmapper with Normal maps. And it can handle way higher amounts of geometry than Max or Maya (on my machine anyway).
Try it out…a good option for now anyway.
I had the same problem, what i did was exporting every level into zbrush 2 and use zmapper from there… i export level one into ZB2, then i divide the mesh, then i import level 2, divide and import level 3 and so on…
Funny that you mentioned this idea. I was trying the same idea and it works! Depending on level of deformation you can just export out the lowest and highest, to save some time of course.
Of course if there’s allot of deformations, exporting out every level works the best.
whew!!! I guess this method will have to do until the new Zmapper!!
So this would be a solution for displacement as well? Not the most elegant…but at least it’s something that will work! Thanks for sharing!
Create a displacement map and export it, load the image in photoshop and use the nvidia normal map plugin for photoshop to convert the height information into a normal map.
Could you please give me some general settings that have worked for you Pieisgood? I’m trying it out but I’m getting some seriouse erros…and I’m not sure what the “correct” values should be in terms of intensity on the displacement map in ZB and that of the Nvidia plug.
Thank YOU!
I’ve been doing the same things in Modo. XNormal is cool too (it’s free isn’t it?)
-K
Please don’t quote me on this , but,
I think Both Nvidia , and ATI have a free commandline tool for this.
you take a low poly cage, and a high poly mesh… it poops out the proper normal map…
please forgive me for not knowing the name , I have Zbrush 2 for all my normal map needs for now… Last time I tred one of them must have been back in 2002 or 2003.
look in the developers section…
personally I am just going to keep using Z2 , and wait for the Normal mapper plug-in.
the way it shows it in the manual as “the” way to make normal maps, hints me in the direction that we should probably just wait until the plug-in is complete.