ZBrushCentral

Normal map creation error

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

I am working in ZBrush 3.1. I am trying to create a Normal Map for Maya. I went a head and lowered my Geometry level to 1. I have a viable morph target stored. I loaded the “Maya_TangentSpaceNode_BestQuality.zmp” from Open Configuration in the presets. I then adjusted the settings to the following:

Expert Pass 2: All to the max

  • PostSmooth Nomals
  • On UV Seam
  • On Group Seam
  • Post Smooth Tangents
  • On UV Seam

Then in “Normal & Cavity Map” I up the “Seam Over paint”, “Samples” and “Subdivide” setting all to the max.

Then I try to create my Normal Map. When I do so I get an error message. I have tried to search for this error message on the forums and have come up with nothing.

ZBrush comes up with a Windows dialogue box saying “Plugin Note: memory could not be alloc…”. Then it has an OK button. I hit OK, try to create the Normal Map again and the same thing happens.

Am I doing something wrong? What is going on? I have never had an issue creating Normal Maps before.

#2

What are your system specs? How many polys does the model have at the highest level? What are your Preferences>Mem settings?

#3

My system specs are as follows:

  • Processor: AMD Dual Core Athalon X2 3.2 Ghz 6400+ Black Edition
  • System RAM: 8 GB
  • Video Card: NVidia Quadro 4600 FX with 768 of VRAM
  • OS: Windows XP x64

The Mem setting in ZBrush at the current time are as follows:

  • Compound Mem: 4096
  • Doc Undo: 64
  • Tool Undo: 64
  • Max Poly Per Mesh: 12
  • HD preview Max Poly: 8

When I made the model “Max Poly Per Mesh” and 'HD Preview Max Poly" were both set to 50. I tried to save this in “Store Config” setting but they always go back to to 12 and 8.

The amount of poly’s that my mesh has at the max setting of 7 is 17,463,296.

#4

Part of the problem is that your undo settings are insane. You’re forcing ZBrush to use all your RAM for storing undos rather than for doing what it needs to do.

Scale those back to 4. ZBrush will still always try to maintain more than that. It automatically keeps as many undos as it can without sacrificing performance. But it will never drop below the values that you set, no matter how badly it might need to. 4 is the ideal number.

Contrary to popular belief, maxing out the Mem settings does not lead to better performance. In fact, it almost always destroys performance.