ZBrush + normal maps?

[ximage]

hey johnwoo, im fairly new to zbrush as well mate, but iv been playing around with it to get some normal maps on my characters. when u import ur obj file u have to store the MT's u will fine this in the tools tab. then from here proceed to sub divide it and do what ever u have to do, all the detail so on and so forth.
then take it back down to the original mesh with the low res button in tool/geomatry tab, then where u stored the MT's there is a button called switch press it then create ur normal map.
and then proceed to export ur nornal map which will be in the texture tab!:thumbsup:

hope this helps! :scream: :thumbsup:

sweeney

[johnwoo]

Many thanks ximage :thumbsup:..."MT's" just looked and I would've never have guessed there wer'e morph targerts in ZBrush?...but I'm giving it a try right now....Excellent!!...Thanks again matey:thumbsup:...

-Edit-

Ok...I followed the procedure step by step, and the normals came out as this?...still brought it into 3dsMax tho', it works..but a weird result...also the low polygon mesh before exporting had been unwrapped, and so as much as I understand the Sub-D mesh in zbrush works on the co-ordinates?...which is why I can't understand why I'm getting this result?:shrug:...I also tried saving the normal map out as different file formats (longshot) but that did'nt work...oh and the low-polygon mesh has nothing mirrored or any overlapping UV's...any ideas, similar experiences?

http://img276.echo.cx/img276/8513/huh5na.jpg

Cheers...

[ximage]

well im not doing it on a low poly mesh, but really it shouldn't matter i dont think.:shrug:
mm i thought when an obj. file was exported it took the uv map with it, well it does when i export it, but then i don't know nothing about max iv only been doing 3d for like 8 months and im working in xsi!!

make sure that there are ne overlapping uv's cus zbrush seems to hate it, was crashing on me when i had them.

i cant understand why its not using ur uv's, really wierd!!
before u divide it did u put on suv, which smooths ur uv's, it prob wont do much but have a go and also when exporting the normal map i found not having tangent on makes it look wierd in the packege that u render it in, so switch that on.

like i said iv only been playing around with zbrush for about 3 weeks. so im no expert.
hope fully some wizard in the package will see this thread and help u out, keep me posted dude. hope u find out whats wrong!

oh a by the way ur work rocks :scream: :buttrock: good texturing skills!!

sweeney

[ximage]

oh by the way there is a way to check if ur textures are ok and zbrush has no probs with them.
when u import ur model and draw it on the screen and the press edit. in the tools tab go to textures and there is a button called uv check, if ne part of ur model comes up red u have a problem with ur uv's. hope it helps again mate.
:thumbsup:
sweeney

[johnwoo]

Many thanks ximage for taking the time to reply...appreciated...

Yep..got no overlapping UV's, when I created the normal map I checked "tangent" cos' it's for a character model, I'll use the smooth uv's button also and see if that works...ZBrush has'nt crashed on me yet, so must be doing some right..heh...yep..really liking the sculpting part...it's superb!!...just this brick wall I've come up against :banghead: ...shown below is the mesh exported out from 3dsMax, and imported to ZBrush, I have already detailed it up and saved out the tool and it's ready to the normal map extracted from it I reckon after this problem, below is the result of the uv check and that's all good...I'll keep on it tho'...it's bound to click soon eh?...:)

http://img212.echo.cx/img212/9105/uvcheck6tq.jpg

btw..XSI is a great package hope your enjoying it matey...and thanks for your comments and your advice...appreciated :)

[ximage]

no worries mate....iv got help of other people on here, so i thought i would share what in know :thumbsup: nice model, i dont know if it would be ne thing to do with the tris, it might be, zbrush is wierd!! :shrug:


ne way keep us posted!!

sweeney

[ximage]

hey johnwoo

did u find out whay was wrong with it, u know the pic u posted with the really wierd looking normal map, well i had this similar problem the other day, my normal map came out really shitty, real mad colours just like your, well i could figure out why it was doing it then, i remembered that my comp had been on all day and was saying that i was low on memory, so i saved my tool in zbrush and then just restarted my comp. why io created the normal map again it was fine and came out looking the way they usually do.

hope this helps mate, it just might be a memory problem whats the spec of ur comp??

sweeney

[johnwoo]

hey ximage..

Guess what?...I'm still at it..heh...but pretty much doing some tests on and off when I get time trying to get my head round it all...:)

btw...system spec: P4 2.6ghz, 1gb ram, GeForce FX 5000thingymajig, 80gb HDD...everything runs fine...:shrug:

Cheers...

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