Yah, I saw this too, that Mudbox could do Vector Displacement, looks like it can be generated after the fact too. I was told by a good friend (who is a very smart graphics programmer) that it wouldn’t be possible to generate them after the fact, it needs to be calculated at each stroke, which I assumed would be the reason why ZBrush didn’t support it. This is an interesting development though, guess we’ll see what happens.
This is very cool and would be very useful, but the important question I am trying to find is what renderer supports Vector displacement. Seems Modo does, and MR can support it with a custom shader but not out of the box… but does Renderman (which has the best displacement capability still) support Vector displacements? Does anyone know?
Also, with regards to not being able to generate Vector displacements after the sculpt is done is probably not true. All vector displacements is is using an RGB map to represent each point’s vector from the initial model at the same level to the final sculpt. Its no different than extracting a normal based grey scale displacement map except that you have 3 vectors instead of 1 to calculate and record and all baked into an RGB map for the each point’s 3 vectors. So you really don’t have to record at each paint stroke (not that this would really solve the problem anyway), but it is still a model extraction process.
I can actually confirm this tonight after I get home and test this feature again.
Please, please, please add this Pixologic!
Please, please, please add this Pixologic!
not sure what this link is ?
this can totally be done using any 2 meshes so long as the uvs are exact, i have been using vector maps for the past 2 years. The uvs are the key, they must be identical
edit: i generated the maps from proprietary software
That is cool. Especially when you could just share the image with a team or the world.
look here shader for max maya and xsi now wee need zb support for vector displacement
really waiting for pixologic to include vector displacement feature in their new release.i don’t no why people are not interested in this i have post a thread on new release post but nobody replied to it. 
small_orange_diamond
Yep, nearly 3 years later, and still no word. So sad, because vector displacement is such an awesome feature. I just love the sculpting in Zbrush and would love to be able to get this into other packages. Guess we’ll see what ZB4 has to offer a siggraph.
How goes the thing?.
Vector Displacement Mapping in Z4?
Ya its still not there…this post should be kept alive…
yep its a must at this stage. everyones jumping on board
Let’s get some attention on this topic. Can anyone at Pixo shed light on whether you’re developing the capability to create vector displacement maps?
Big bump! I have wished for this for such a long time!! This is now possible to bake out in Mudbox and there is the ability to render this in Maya as well. Please give us the ability to bake these types of maps out of ZBRush!!!
Peace-NickZ. 
That would definitely be a huge plus for Z. I’ve used mudbox, and while they don’t have as many tools as Z, the vector displacement will be a major reason for people to check out their software.
Come on pixologic, bring us the vector!
You can always export your model to Mudbox and generate maps in Mudbox, bout it will be little burdensome to switching into Mudbox every time. Maybe some kind of updated plugin map exporter with vector displacement Cheers
Especially now, that 3ds max, maya and softimage 2012 support vector displacement maps, it would be REALLY useful if there was a way to create them in Zbrush.
Please, for the love of saving yourselves from the competition against mudbox, pls. include vectorbased displacement map generation in zbrush. Apart from that, the texturing tools in mudbox 2012 seem totally more advanced than anything polypaint or zapplink has been capable of.
Well, it’s starting to look like ZBrush may be the only CG program left that DOESN’T support vector displacement. I’m kind of surprised by that since ZBrush has always been about enhancing the artistic side of things.
The ability to create your own personal collection of displacement brushes, whether they be organic things like ears and noses or inorganic things like bolts and screws, has the potential to really speed up ones workflow, turning hours of work into mere minutes. Map extraction for rendering low poly meshes would be nice too, especially when exporting to applications that can’t handle millions of polys.
When a superior tool comes along that can do things your current ones can’t, you use it to your advantage and ditch those that are obsolete, right? I don’t know how anyone can watch those YouTube videos and not be blown away by all the potential there.
PS: Hands up for Ptex support too, another technology that greatly enhances the artists creativity. All those many hours wasted setting up UV’s can now be spent productively painting instead. Poly painting is similar, but its usefulness is limited to high poly models. UV tiles is also similar, but never renders well in other apps. I predict that all CG apps will support Ptex as a standard feature by this time next year. Hopefully ZBrush, which has been all about empowering artists since 1997, will be one of them! 