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! 
Agreed on all points Zeddicus, although I suspect that even with Ptex and 3D painting I will still be making proper uv’s for my characters for years to come simply because, after having used Zbrush, Bodypaint and Mari for 3D texturing I find that it’s actually more intuitive and just plain easier to do certain texturing tasks with your model from a 2D view of it.
I agree that flattening will still be important in some situations, which is where 2D functionality like we see in UV Master will come in handy. When it comes to simplifying the process of making art, nothing beats the ability to just start painting at the click of a single button. Make flattening and export to apps like Photoshop just as quick and simple (which it mostly is already), and you get the best of both worlds without all the fuss. I doubt I’m the only one that absolutely hates dealing with UV’s. Not only are they cumbersome and difficult to work with, but time consuming and boring too.
What I think a lot of people like about ZBrush, and something Pixologic has clearly always strived for, is turning work into fun. The focus has always been about the creation of art without having to deal with all the technicalities inherit to 3D. It is about freeing the artists so they can be artists, and hence why I find it odd that Pixologic has been slow to adopt some of the new features out there that are clearly headed towards not only being industry standards, but tools that help do exactly that. Tileable UV’s and poly painting are already part of the package, so it’s not like ptex should be disagreeable to them. It is just a better way of doing it, and unlike poly painting ptex actually works well with low poly models. Of course, it does mean they will have to improve the texturing toolset, but that mostly involves making spotlight and various brushes aimed at painting available for more than just poly painting and projection master. Can’t be too hard for them to implement, and I know people here want this already even if ptex support wasn’t an option. Not everyone wants to jump out of Zbrush and into other (sometimes expensive) apps like Bodypaint, Mudbox, 3D Coat, Photoshop, Mari, and others.
Same goes for vector displacement. It is about taking what ZBrush can already do, and simply making it more powerful, giving artists even more flexibility to do interesting things with their art, and all in less time than ever. I can think of all kinds of things I would love to do with it that ZBrush can’t handle at the moment. Zspheres, which became Zspheres 2 and added Zsketch, is a perfect example of making things better and it is hard to imagine ever living without them. It is certainly a wonderful time to be a 3D artist, that is for sure.
Hey Zeddicus,
You seem to have a good head on your shoulders. I’d be interested to see what you’d have to say on the topic of this thread:
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?t=139903