ZBrushCentral

Anyway to generate normal map from different level 1 geometry?

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

So you load in your mesh, and subdivide it up. Then sculpt away in a high subdivision level. All is good.

But this high subdivision level sculpting makes alterations to even subdivision level 1. But I want to bake all my high res sculpting to a normal map that will match the original, unaltered, level 1 model that I imported.

Is there someway to make it so that the level 1 division on a mesh will remain completely unchanged by higher level sculpting?

Or is there some way to tell the high res sculpt to project it’s normal map onto the original, unaltered, level 1 mesh I imported?

#2

Yes, there are two ways:

  1. Before subdividing your mesh for sculpting, store a morph target by pressing Tool>Morph Target>Store MT. When you want to create the normal/displacement map return to the lowest subdivision level, press Tool>Morph Target>Switch and then generate the map. (Switch the morph target again before moving back up the levels.)

  2. If you didn’t store a morph target at the start you can use this method: go to level 1 and store a morph target. Then import your original mesh and then create the map. Be sure to switch the morph target before going back up the subdivision levels.