What is happening to these Normal and Displacement Maps?

[Deo85]

Hey there fellow 3d artist,

I been working on my portfolio, sense I got layed off from my IT job, in hopes to follow my dreams… I know kind of lame right? I figured with all the time I got now I might as well spend most of it on actualy getting a job in what I love to do and that’s model organic forms.

Either way I just finished modeling the high res map of one of my models and was ready to go to town and create the displacement and normal maps for it but I forgot I needed to make some UVW unwrapps first. So I did the following:

2. Deleted the lower layers when I picked my new lvl 1 layer (I tend to pick 2 or 3 pending on the poly count of these layers nothing more then 1k)
   


3. Exported the new lvl 1 layer to 3DS Max 2011
   


4. Unwrapped the model in 3DS Max 2011 and converted it to a editable poly this way the stack would be collapsed
   


5. Re imported the UVW Unwrapped model into the ztool I exported it from in the same layer I exported it from
   


6. Generated a Normal and Displacement map from what I learned on line for 3ds max to render in mind
   

Now I still need to make a Diffuse map but after generating these two maps I found something odd going on and was wondering if any one knows what happened here. The faces in the normal and displacement map look like they were flipped and moved around like a jigsaw puzzle.

I prefer to unwrap things in 3DS Max using its pelt map and packing tools but I am starting to think I will have to reside to just using Zbrush 4 UV Master plug in though I feel it dose not unwrap things the best its handy in a pinch.

Please take a look at the links below and tell me what you think thanks fellow artist!

UVW Unwrap in 3DS Max 2011:

http://i1089.photobucket.com/albums/i355/deo85/3DSMaxUnwrap.jpg

Normal Map generated in Zbrush 4:

http://i1089.photobucket.com/albums/i355/deo85/NormalMap.jpg

Displacement Map generated in Zbrush 4:

http://i1089.photobucket.com/albums/i355/deo85/DisplacementMap.jpg

I think I need to generate also a spec map past the displacement and normal map but any other maps I should create? Parts of the finished product are metal so I may also need to make a alpha map to dictate what is going to be shiny and what is not going to be shiny.

How much of my model should I re-topo also? I was thinking anything that will be moving that is organic parts.

Attachments

[oofnish]

I think this is posted in the wrong forum, (this one’s for sculptris) but I’ll try to answer your question. You also didn’t post a pic of your actual model so its hard to see what you’re talking about

A bit advice that you don’t want: Get a job with what you know now, and pursue your dreams when building your portfolio isn’t accompanied with the stress of not knowing how you’ll pay for dinner. Art is a lot more competitive and usually less compensating than IT.

The thing that normally causes the jumbled look that you’ve described is a flipped map – Zbrush’s map orientation is flipped vertically compared to other apps. So, when exporting a map generated in zbrush, it will look weird in other apps, and when generating a map in another tool it will look weird in zbrush. Try flipping your displacement images in the vertical and see if that helps. I almost always have this problem myself, I just can’t keep it straight until I do an export

Are you getting good distortion from your map? Every time I’ve generated a map that came out circular like that there was much uglyness coming from the pole where the polygons are stretched into long thin triangles. You might find that creating a UV seam down the back of the model gives you a nicer result (but perhaps not)

Shininess is normally dictated by a specular map, I think. Not sure if an additional alpha will do anything for you, just make the matte areas black in the spec map. (Not my area of expertise here so I might be off base)

How much to retopo is entirely up to the model. The animation concern is rarely much of one I’ve found. Unless you’re dealing with really low polygon counts, most toplogies will deform acceptably. The bigger need for re-topology is to get detail resolution where you need it. If you need to put lines on a face, you don’t want to subdivide a character’s thighs far enough to put them there too – so you retop to get poly density high on the face (relatively) and low on the legs. It also gives you the chance to line up your polygon flow with detail – for instance, putting two close edge loops around a character’s waist gives you a very nice edge for a belt with a very efficient polygon count. I almost always retop the whole model. I suppose if you pull in a low resolution mesh as your starting topology you might be able to edit it, but for me, the initial low resolution mesh is usually practically unusable in enough places that its faster to just redo the whole thing. Later, tweaks to the initial attempt can be made at some sacrifice of the highest level detail.

Anyway hope that helps!

-oof

[Deo85]

Thank you for the reply! I would agree that my low res models tend to become so messed up that I can not able to use it at all. I come to the conclusion that re-topoing would be in my best interest to keep things clean and simple.

Sorry if I put this in the wrong form sense I tried to put it originally in the help form but they never posted the images I attached. If you look at the link it will take you to the unwraps I saved in my photobucket account just in case if Zbrush is buggy to include pictures.

I know I tend to have to flip H on maps I generate in Zbrush to go to Max for the reason you posted but then why are the maps coming out fa-sited and faces flipped around in random directions? Its like all the polys decided to mix them self up into a jumbled mess.