hi guys im currently working on a model and i want to export it out as a displacement map. for some reason it cretes a blank sheet. im using auv and im creating it on its lowest gemetry level.
pleae help
i have noticed that 54 ppl have been to my post regarding this topic and know one has replied.
Maybe i havnt explained myself properly. I have created many many displacement maps for models in the past but for some reason when i create my displacement map for this particular model… there is a blank texture in the alpha palete…
please help.
cheers.
dude, if u want someone reply u, just put the details of ur problem on the surface… what code have u used to generate Disp. map? how uve exported ur map? Alpha or MD3? ill try to help.
thanks dude… i got it sorted out, i now have a problem in rendering out my displacement in maya… i have used the script which has been put on the forum but i still get bloating.
any idea
For starters make a 16 bit disp map either with the plugin or from the sub menu. (when you got this down you can go for 32bit).
You want your uvs to be laid out in o-1 in a manner which looks like something you can recognize in 2D… the UV methods in ZB are not used in the industry within pipelines.
DE-HBEK-EAEAEA-D16 is what I use.
Open this map in photoshop then using the “adjustment curves” change the value of your map.
You will see that the image (disp map) from ZB has the its values around the mid grey area…you need to take the left point (black) and bring it to the edge of where the corrosponding value is and do the same for the right, which is white.
And move the mid point to the mid point of the maps value (half way up vertically and in the middle of the value horizontally).
After which apply an “unsharpen mask” to the map and adjust curves further if needed. (you don’t want pure black or pure white in your image use photoshops info panel to see the numerical values of the map).
After that your map will be ready and its values will have been expanded to encompuss a wider range…(more detail).
In maya weither using Mental Ray or Renderman the values you put into the alpha gain and alpha offset will be derived from AG = 2 AO = -1
Therefore a value of approx AG = 0.8 AO= -0.4 would work on a disp map which has been tuned.
Note any numbers with the same relationship as AG = 2 and AO = -1 will work.
Its totally a matter of adjusting these values to what looks right…there is no magic number.
Personally I have acheived results in RM and MR which look near identical in maya.
Hope this helps
thanks a lot morph division. im Not having a problem with converting the maps from zbrush to be used in maya… i currently use a convertfile.bat. My problem occurs in the render… i was rendering in maya 2008 and i constantly was getting exploded renders. so now im using maya 8.0 and it seems that even my normal maps are screwing up… it looks like maya has inverted the bumps.
see below for my process.
[
](javascript:zb_insimg(‘118347’,‘7.JPG’,1,0))
the bump seems to be inverted. please help
Attachments
I would say the particular attributes your using are the problem. (unless this works for you).
If so check your uvs in maya…make sure they are cycled correctly.
Select ‘shade uvs’ from the uv texture editor to see the uvs colour coded.
Blue is good (facing out) red is bad and purple is overlapping.
If the code hasn’t worked before then I would change your settings
scale = AD factor
ch 1,2,3 range = full range
obvious but I’ll say it anyway
Alpha gain = 2
Alpha offset = -1
These are the values which set the tonal range. tweak until the disp looks right i.e not enough detail higher…too much drop it down.
These suggestions are based on what works for me, using Mental Ray or Render Man.
btw my last post was more intended as a guide to acheiving good disp in maya (2008, 2009).
If you check your disp map in photoshop for 16bit or nuke for 32bit, then you’ll see that zbrush generates maps with tonal values ranging near mid grey, which is why the fine details always disappear.
I used to use normal maps but have found tweakn the disp map works better.
Also I should add, in mental ray I use a subdv approximation on the mesh and turn off feature displacement.
settings i use are
spatial
3,5 or 4,6
length .01
in render man you just add a subdiv scheme and its good to go.
Displacement maps can and should be tweaked to give best results, so long as the app you use can handle the bit data of the map.
Just as any other maps would be.
P.S if you seperate the fine details from the broad details or low and high freq (with layers), you can then generate a map for each and back in maya use a plusminusaverage node to connect them both to the disp node, then tune the apha gain and offset indipendantly for each map.
let me know if any of this helps.
nice model.
cheers