Heya, so when I create a normal map, press clone, and export the texture it’s saving in 8bit mode.
When I hover over the texture, the pop up says that it’s 32bit, yet the exports come into photoshp as 8bit. How do I correct this?
They are the same. The 32bit for textures in ZBrush refers to the total bits per pixel. There are four channels of 8 bits each (RGB and an alpha channel which can be used to store material indices). In Photoshop the 8 bit refers to the channel bit depth.
You can’t create normal maps in ZBrush at 32 bits per channel, they are always 8 bits. (Is there a render engine that uses normal maps of higher than 8 bit?)
For displacement maps you have a choice of 16 or 32 bits per channel, and 1 or 3 channels. However note that ZBrush can handle only one 16 bit channel internally, so if you want 3 channels or 32 bit then you must use the Create and Export Map button.
I wouldn’t know if there’s a render engine that supports 32bit maps, I was more curious why zbrush seemed to be telling me one thing while photoshop was saying something different.
I use the normal map as a layer for texturing, and I was just wanting the full color depth that was possible.
Thanks for explaining!