ZBrushCentral

ZB3 to ZB2 normal map generation: exploding OBJ's

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

I’ve quite a lot of Normal maps to generate, and thus far am having little joy with the ZB3 to ZB2 workaround; my workflow is thus:

Z3:
Import uv’d, lo-rez OBJ from XSI into Z3.
Store Morph target of orig level
Divide geometry and sculpt. (Save Z3 tool)
Export highest level of tool as OBJ, export lowest level as OBJ.

Z2:
Import highest level OBJ, reconstruct subdivision to lowest level.
Import low-rez OBJ into lowest level of tool
(and here’s where the problem becomes evident; whilst all appears fine, shuttling between levels of division causes the tool to explode into a random mess. At no point have I flipped the geom, and importing the lo-rez obj, dividing and importing the high rez geom at highest tool division levels causes the same mesh distortion also)

I am able to generate normal maps if I reconstruct the subdivision and then skip the step of importing the lo-rez mesh, but this approach is inaccurate.

Any suggestions gratefully received, as I’d like to use Z3 for the sculpting if at all possible - and Ultimapper isnae producing the nice NMAPs that Zmappper does…

Cheers,

#2

Don’t worry about morph targets and reconstructing subdivision levels. Here’s what to do:

  1. In ZBrush 3, import the model, divide it and sculpt. Save out the model.

  2. In ZBrush 2, import the original model and also load the high res one from ZBrush 3. Use ZMapper’s capability to compare two unrelated meshes and create a normal map.

(By the way, normal maps are not calculated the same way as displacement maps. It’s not necessary to restore your base mesh when you wish to create a normal map. The resulting map will be the same regardless of whether you restore the base mesh or not. Restoring the base mesh is only necessary with displacement maps.)

#3

Hi Aurick. Thanks very much for that. Good to know that Normal maps are calculated differently to Dmaps.