hi big folkz
in Games we normally make models with more than one material IDs( UV layouts)
wen we export full mesh to zbrush and we use Zmapper for normal map baking
it doesnt regard our UV layouts and it just renders the normal map overlapping
all IDs and messes up the whole thing.
Question is> DDoes Zbrush and/or Zmapper recognises multiple UV channels and IDs on a single mesh exported from 3Dsmax (or anyother 3d aplication)
i m in my office right now and encoutered this problem just right now. and it wil b great if some1 can help me for this.
thanx
taemee
Art Lead
Wireframe Interactive
www.wf-dev.com
Zbrush can recognise UVs as seperate layouts if they are placed in seperate regions of the UV space. For example, UVs placed inside the coordinates 0,0 to 1,1 would be one layout and inside coordinates 1,0 to 2,1 would be anouther UV layout, 2,0 to 3,1 another, and so on.
To see if ZBrush has detected the UV regions you can press Zplugin > Multi Displacement 2 > Get Mesh Info which will list the regions detected (called tiles in ZBrush).
Now, Displacement map creation using UV regions is supported in Zbrush through the Multi Displacement zplugin, but an automated process does not yet exist for ZMapper. Instead you should select your model and press Tool > Polygroups > UV Groups. This will assign polygroups (selection sets) according to the UV regions. You can see the effect by turning on polyframe viewing (Shift + f) which will show your model with seperate colors designating each UV region.
If you are still with me it is a simple matter of Ctrl + Shift clicking a polygroup and running ZMapper. I would suspect this will become streamlined in Zbrush 2.5.
Thanx TVeyes for ur reply but my problem is still there
i have been using zrush for last one year or so and i know it recognises UV regions. and i also understand its Polygroup feature.
but there is another scenario at the moment.
these are not just seperate peices of one mesh layed out in a single UV layout(physically detached peices in UV layout which are actually part of a single mesh) this is a common scenario.
in some cases specially max users make Material IDs. it means u can assign more than one texture maps to a single geomatry with single UV channel.
process>> select polygons that u want to assign a seperate texture map. Set ID in numbers e’g 1 , 2, 3 etc. this way u can declair a region within a single geometry that can adopt a different texture map from the rest of the mesh.In materials we use Multi sub object material to assign multiple maps to their respactive IDs. same thing happens in Unwrap editor ,where u can see 3 UV tiles in a single UV channel and u can switch betwean those IDs and u can see All IDs as well. when All IDs are visible those are overlapped to eachother and in max’s default Render to texture menu or in Kaldera u always select a material ID before rendering a normal/ displacement or anyother map.otherwise it will definetly b overlapped and messd up. Now i have a creature having 3 material IDs to have 3 seperate texture maps of different resolution according to my game engine requirement. i exported the whole mesh to zbrush and sculpted desired detail then i started Zmapper there was a pop up which showed me that there is some overlapping in UVs. it certainly means that it didnt consider my Material IDs seperatly and it just knows ONE UV channel with ONE material ID. Now this is my problem. I want Zbrush or Zmapper to give me an option to chose my desired Material ID or UV channel before it bakes Normal or disp map. and if it cant then i must say. DO SOMTHING FOLKZ!! coz almost every modern 3d game uses these features (multiple UV layouts for several purposes for example multi texturing etc.)
If u still dont understand my problem or u r having difficulty in understanding 3dsmax terminology do consult some1 who can explain max’s material/UV setup to u or ask some else to reply this post.
Im expacting lot more than wat u described in reply
thanx
Multiple maps needs to be assigned to different UV regions. For example, one map using the 0,0 to 1,1 UV space and another using 1,0 to 2,1 or 0,0 to -1,-1.
After a model has been mapped this way, you can import it into ZBrush and press Tool>Polygroups>Uv Groups. When the polyframe view is active you will then see the mesh as different colors based on each UV region. You can then Ctrl+Shift+Click on a region to hide the polygons belonging to all other regions.
Now when you launch ZMapper it will calculate the map for that region without difficulty. This is because ZMapper ignores the polygons that have been hidden.
TVeyes…
That’ll teach you to try to help a guy out! Sadly these days, good deeds rarely go unpunished especially from those “expacting” a lot.
Sven
That’ll teach you to try to help a guy out! Sadly these days, good deeds rarely go unpunished especially from those “expacting” a lot.
Sven
we expact a lot from zbrush and its creaters+ zbrush forums because… we respact this software, its creatrs and this forum a lot… and for software developers thats the real test . wen ur software wins all competitions and people start beleevin in and start depending on it… they really expact a lottt…
aurick i really appreciate ur concern that u tried to give me a solution. but thats wat we already know that zbrush can detect UV regions placed seperately in a UV layout (one map using the 0,0 to 1,1 UV space and another using 1,0 to 2,1 or 0,0 to -1,-1.) thats 100% clear and i know how to use polygroups. but wat if i cant move/alter/slide my UVs coz it will create a big problem once my normal map wil be baked. i wil have to mannually adjust/align my UVs and baked maps in another 2d application. and that wil never be as perfact as renderd by Zmapper within Zbrush.seams wil never be a problem for me and my production spead wil never be hurt.
I have a suggestion for those people who can write Zscript and/or alter Zmapper.
i think there shud be an option included in zmapper that allows u to choose ur desired UV channel or ur Desired UV ID inside that channel both or atleast one o those. i dont know IF .obj and .dxf keep multiple UV channel info alongwith ( i always export in .obj from max) but even if they do its useless because Zbrush cant detect multiple UV channels.
I dont know why people here are again and again insisting on using polygroups feature for this problem. it CANNOT allows u to chose UV channel that otherwise normally looks OVERLAPPED by the other UV channel untill u choose one of those multiple UV channels for the same single geomtry.
Duhhhh… 
english is not my native language and i m having serius difficulty to describe my problem if its still not understandeable i can even call on the fone and i can try to explain my problem through a chat engine etc. i use
[email protected] and [email protected]
i looked at the whole thread and this guy had the same experience anyway.
his comments are
I learned alot during this project. I am about 80% happy with the process, stuff I am not so thrilled with is the amount of work to get multi-displacements out of ZBrush. I believe this will be in the best interest for most ZBrush-users if the process was made more streamlined and effective than it currently is. But I am hopefull that ZBrush will have better multi-displacement support in the future.
Hello Taemee - I competely understand your request and your interest in keeping your material ids intact. We are working on a solution.
Ryan
Sure, you do. But those who answer here are users like you and me, and we in germany, expect a “thank you”, if anybody ask you and got an answer, even if it wasn’t perfect.
Why i’m really reading this thread was a similar problem with uv-regions and zmapper, but i will try the tutorial from Svengali first, befor i post a second time. (But i really had to reply to that post - it really angers me somehow.)
To taemee:
originally you posted this:
Question is> DDoes Zbrush and/or Zmapper recognises multiple UV channels and IDs on a single mesh exported from 3Dsmax (or anyother 3d aplication)
TVeyes (who is a ZBrush user just like you who takes his own time to help the rest of us in the ZBCentral community) and Aurick (who is Pixologic’s official moderator) both took time to reply to your question.
Judging from your response you didn’t like those answers.
Tony Jung, in his thread “Lord of Darkness”, explains and generously SHARES how he tried to deal with a related problem.
Now, Ryan has also taken the time to reply. Very likely, you won’t like his answer either (that a solution is being worked on, but isn’t currently available).
Amazingly, all of these people are cheerfully try to help you inspite of the unnecessarily agressive and demanding attitude in your postings.
You said you expect a lot from ZBrush. You also said you have a great respect for ZBrush.
You should try to show equal respect for those members who share their knowledge and ideas at ZBCentral.
To digitalPhoenix:
Tony Jung is the author of the insightful “Lord of Darkness” tutorial. All I did was point to it.
Sven
Ryan thanx for ur response and i hpoe u get a result soon.
i m really sorry if my question or my style of asking a question eventually made a bad impression. thats equally worrying me, may be itssss jus lack of communication skills or probably its because of that frustration i felt during my work coz u know realtime production is always hactic and wen u encoutered with a problem which has no solution yet, u actually have spent enough time already and u cant go back, u cant move further…
i know:) i have loooose temprament but trust me guys i really respact those who spend their precious time in helping community and other artists coz such efforts are mostly go un rewarded. but still i say thank u very much to every one who has participated in this discussion and people who told me about my bad temprament i hope everyone accepts my apologeez. and Ryan please keep me in ur mind wen u get a solution for this.
thanx again everyone.
was this addressed in z3.5? I also have a complex character with 6 mat id’s and moving it back and fourth between z and max can be troublesome and innacurate when trying to re-align uvs from a single sheet back to multiples.