ZBrushCentral

Problems with Normal and Displacement Map

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Hey guys! :slight_smile:

I modeled a Head in Maya, export it to ZBrush and make details and so on.
Afterwards i created a Displacement map and a normal map in ZBrush, the first thing what i doent understand is:

1.) Why are the created Maps on the top horizontally placed.
I rotate these Maps about 45° so that i can use the whole place.

Furthermore the Quality of these Maps are not so good. As i wrote, i need the Maps for a Head. So i used a resolution of 2048x2048, is that not enough. If not, the next Problem is, that mental ray does not accept Maps with a higher resolution.

Maybe it is possible to write a short tutorial/process, so that i see what went wrong.

Thank you, and have a nice day! :slight_smile:

#2

Most maps created in ZBrush need to be flipped horizontally before export (rotating 45 degrees isn’t the same thing so be careful!). Unless your app supports textures that are flipped or has the ability to flip them for you, than you’ll need to do this yourself either in ZBrush using the Flip Horizontal feature in the Texture menu, or after export in a painting app of your choice. This is just how the program works.

As for quality of the maps - there’s a lot involved in that. How are you making these maps? Are you sculpting on each level of subdivision or are you simply going to the highest level and sculpting? You will get better results, I’ve found, if you build up on each level. Additionally, you may need to compensate for the way your program of choice uses displacement information. ZBrush, at default, sets the mid range value to 50 percent gray. So if that’s not what the mid range value is for your app (some apps have the mid value at 0) then you will need to compensate for that either in your app or before exporting the map in ZBrush.

I hope that helped and in the future, you may want to ask questions in the Questions and Troubleshooting forums, as you may get more of a detailed response there.