Ryan - i’ve FINALLY found what was wrong. My UVW map was in channel 3, but i also had UVW map in channel 1 (didn’t know that btw) and that map was messed up. Somehow max always exported map in ch.1 and not in ch.3. So, i cleared bad one and all worked fine in ZBrush…i’m soooo happy…:lol:
Thanks again for help Ryan!.
someone asked this earlier, thought I’d ask again; anyone get their maps to render cleanly in maya software?
frustrating that they look perfect with the ‘high quality’ viewport preview, but fall apart in the software render. Isn’t it meant to be the other way around? :rolleyes:
Just as a sanity check, here’s my workflow:
-generate normal map using maya 7 preset, 1024x1024 map (although the default settings worked fine once the map was flipped)
-in maya, have file -> bump2d with ‘tanget normal space’ -> blinn
-polysmooth cage once, render
I’ll upload a screenshot tomorrow, but basically we’re getting black facets where the normal map hits large curvature changes, like warts. The map itself looks smooth, and the high quality viewport preview looks fine (fantastic in fact), but maya software render refuses to play nice.
I’ve tried exporting 4k maps, using the other maya presets, generating based off level 1 subdiv vs level 0, etc etc… minor improvements with each change, but nothing we could use in production.
Any ideas?
Cheers,
-matt
I’m having that UV problem. How can I unify the UVW map on zBrush? I need to do that on max? Thanks.
Bit of help from the highend3d mailing list pointed me to this:
http://www.pixero.com/downloads_maya.html
http://www.pixero.com/files/JSNormalMapper.zip
I thought Jan only wrote mentalray shaders, but this is for the internal maya software renderer. Works a treat!
Hope this helps someone…
Cheers,
-matt
NenadB - cool. glad you sorted it out. 
mestela - the maya presets are designed for the viewport, not software render. Also, they are designed for when you hook up the map.outcolor to the material.normalcamera. Last time I looked the bump node takes the alpha as an input which would preclude it from listening to the rgb values of the normal map which is really what a normal map is about. Otherwise, Maya is simply converting a normal map to a bump map and then using that.
Best,
Ryan
Hi guys,
I’ve been reading this thread hoping to see some other ppl with the same problem as mine.
My workflow:
Low poly model in 3ds max
import into zbrush
subdivided 4 times
go to first level then zmap…
Here is what I get from the UV morph…
Why is only half my ‘UVs’ showing up?
Here’s the original model…
And here’s the resulting normal map
My uv map…
cwans - it looks like something be problematic in your export from Max. I have seen this before but I can’t think of a solution. Have you read the Max ZPipeline guide here?
r
I had the same problem o na model I made in MAX. the UV would fall apart and look just like that. Solution, I redid my UV’s jsut to be sure then export my OBJ from MAX. Imported into ZBrush then export it using the Tool/export menu item “Not the Export model at the top”. In the tool set there is an option MGR which will fix any issues with the UV like welding lose vertices etc… I dont remember what the exact ZBrush definition was. Now after exporting go back to MAX and import the new OBJ and quickly check your UV mapping in the UV editor. It should look fine with no unwelded vertices. Try importing your original export from MAX back into MAX and I bet it looks just like it does in ZBRush with all the triangles. I dont have an exact answer as to why it happens but I know what I did to fix it. Hope that helps.
Renraku
This is my problem…
I replyd to posts before, but I figured this might be a more appropriate place to post my problem. I imported the lowpoly mesh from 3dsmax, and the uvmapping uses different uv sections, because i intent to overlap faces later(i derived this uv layout from the overlapped one by dragging the overlapping parts to the sides into the other uvsections). In zbrush i first divided a couple of times, grouped on uv sections and hid all but the main one. I sculpted a bit and went back to subd one, and hit the Zmapper, now i first just had it make a normal map, but as that looked strange i looked into the projection tab, and there as you and I can both see, something went wrong. Please help me as I have no clue to why this is happening
Ow and sorry for my bad use of periods, and the big images in the post as i couldnt get the upload image thing to work…
Thanks!
Ow the low poly model is supposed to look like this:
Hello, StJoris
Hmm lets start at the beginning. Your model is in MAX and you want to make different Material ID’s for different parts of the model right? Do you know how to do this with one UV unwrap? Assuming you do then you should only have an “Edit Poly” and a UV Unwrap in the Modifier listing. Going in to the UV Unwrap you should have laid out your material ID coordinates within the frame you see. Then close out the UV Unwrap editor and export your model as an OBJ. Close out your currenty MAX file and then chose NEW. Import the OBJ you just exported, apply a UV Unwrap to it and checl to see if the mapping looks good or not. If so open ZBrush and import the model there, follow my previous instructions on exporting the model from ZBrush, reimport to MAX and again verify the UV coordinates are not messed up. If they are you will see tri’s on all the edges. Post your model here and I will take a look at it for you, if this does not help you.
Ren
No I don’t want different material ID’s for different parts of the model. I want this model to end up with a normal map where uvs are overlapping. So I have one piece of my model that is identical to a piece on the other side of my model and i want them to share the same UV space. Here are my original overlapping UVs:
As you can see the totally white uvchunks in here have overlaps, i dragged the overlapping chunks out to the other uv regions so i could brush on non-overlapping faces. When i would apply the map to the model i would then revert to the overlapping uv set in max, so that i have my end result
Here is how i dragged the overlapping uvchunks out:
Everything went fine when i exported from max to obj and then imported back in max, uv were intact. Polygrouping on uvs worked fine aswell except for one face, it guess tiny part of it was in another uv section.
When I exported from zbrush to obj and imported that obj im max again i got this:
Now when i check the uvs of that imported obj, that was fine, intact.
I included a zip with .3ds of my model and 3 different uvs of my model although the one with no-overlapping uvs in one uv space was only used for testing.
Thanks for the help!
Edit:
This is how it looks when i press preview high resolution
Attachments
elventorch.zip (49.1 KB)
OK I took a look at the model, all your vertices on the model itself are not welded. If you edit the model by selecting vertices you will see that all your vertices are doubled. Click the ignore backfacing under the edit mesh or edit poly and then weld your loose vertices. Thats why your UV mapping is so messed up, you have floating faces everywhere. Also when I mentioned making Material ID’s for different parts of the model it is a technique for making your unwraping easier beacuse you can then assign different unwrap choices for different parts. For example choosing “back to front” might work just fine for the back plate of your torch where as “box unwrap” would work better for the main part. It also will allow you to only display that part of the mapping you are working on so dont accidentally weld a non overlapping vertice to another.
Go back and weld all your vertices on the model then redo the UV mapping it should work fine then. Let me know
That was something strange caused by the .3ds format i suppose, this is not in the original mesh and also not in the .obj version. Ive added the obj version and the 3dsmax8 .max file. This strangeness with the 3ds should not happen here, thanks for helping me out:)!
ow and about the material ID, isnt it easier to just select the faces in the uvw unwrap and then apply a mapping to it:)? That way there is no fumbling with any materials IDs
Attachments
elventorch.zip (96.2 KB)
Umm… sorry for a lamer’s question, but where can you control the colors othe cavity map?
GUYJIN, why do you want to control the colors on the cavity map? I dont think you can but I am no expert yet on ZMAPPER. I think if you wanted to only color the areas affected by the cavity map then you could import that map into Photoshop and paint those areas on your main map by using the Cavity map as a template or guide.
Ren
Renraku,
Have you seen what I reply’d? Do you want to try with the obj/max that doesnt seem to have this strangeness with not welding?
Thanks!
Just as a tip to anyone else struggling with this, I had actually loaded up the Max 8 preset and was getting a fairly good result, but with some small areas of problems where it looked like a seam or a triangulation problem. Turns out if you create your normal map from a level 2 subdiv rather than level 1, you get rid of these problems. Took me a while to realise this so I thought I’d share it.
StJoris -
Is there a reason you are using the projection tab that you don’t state in your note? From what I gather you are not using the projection option but just sculpting your high-rez in ZBrush. If you are not using projection you might need to “Release Captured Mesh” to remove the other mesh. You may have accidently captured it.
Your other images where the mesh is interpentrating itself looks like the vert order got all wonky. I think we have a couple different problems here.
I take the OBJ into ZBrush,
Press UV groups
divide it several times
sculpt away
go back to lowest level
hide all but one uv group
go into zmapper
generate map.
life is good.
Are you doing something different than the above steps?
r
Well it would be nice to have a black and wite cavity map available instead of that green purple thing, so as opposing to using it as a template in PShop, one can tweak the actual map itself. So there is no way to change those colors?
ryankingslien vbmenu_register(“postmenu_271700”, true);
I am doing exactly the same! I just had a look at the projection, because the normal map appeared all weird. Well I think the projection tab is for visually seeing how far your rays should be in order to hit all of your high poly mesh, you can adjust it with the max scan distance. Normally when the normal map turns out fine aswell, the capture also looks fine, now both look bad.
I will try that release captured mesh though:)
It also can’t be this particular mesh because i tested with a mesh i made, did exactly the same as your workflow again, and it went weird exactly the same way…
I dont understand…
GUYJIN
Arent cavity maps always black and white?