Beginner doubt: Normal, UV, displacement and texture maps

system · December 20, 2013, 4:01pm

Hi, guys, Ive been studying Zbrush for some time and Im getting a pretty nice knowledge about sculpting and rendering, but just until recently I began to wonder what is the role of the maps (normal, displacement, texture and UV).
I was able to learn some about UVs and texture already, but I`d like to know exactly what are roles of all the maps on the design of some model in 3D. Could you explain me why could I have the need to create each one of these maps?

_4Z4R · December 20, 2013, 5:14pm

Zbrush rendering and modelling does not require any of these maps. Although you can use displacement maps for some sculpting effects. But if you want to render or animate in other aplications you need those textures applyed in a lower polycount model with UVs. So with those texture maps you keep a lot of information about your model details. That will be used to emulate the higher polycount you sculpted in Zbrush.

system · December 20, 2013, 5:45pm

Thank you very much for the information. Ive found a very cool utility for texture maps with UV, to be able to place an image along each polygroup flow in the mesh, but I dont know those sculpting effects with displacement maps. Could tell me briefly what it is or give me a link to someplace that can explain it?

_4Z4R · December 21, 2013, 2:38am

Here you can download some Greebles and create a very nice Scifi effects like LUXIFER does.
Basic workflow is:
Create Greebles 2.5D texture and Grabdoc. It will result in a black and white texture with depth information.
AUV or any other Auto UVMap in square tiles
Apply the Greeble texture to the Displacement and play with the values to achieve a nice result.

system · December 21, 2013, 8:58am

Thanks for the tips. Ive understood it until the UV square tiles, but Im not very familiar to Displacement maps, but I`ll search for information about how to operate them. Thank you very much! ^^

_4Z4R · December 21, 2013, 1:59pm

Ops sorry i forgot to link the IMM greebles thread:
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?170167-Insert-Multi-Mesh-Repository/page24&highlight=greeble

Here is an example of how you can use it:

Also consider storing a displacement Map with the output value slider so it can be used to restore your details in some cases for example in clothing.

Regards