Are cavity maps for production renders necessary?

#1

I guess I’m having a hard time deciding. It generally darkens the entire image if your image is covered in pores or whatever. Plus I have a hard time extracting a decent cavity map. Zbrushes Cavity maps are not always accurate and sometimes leave a bit of grunge on the white areas you multiply out. xNormal’s output is nicer but it uses the normal map. This creates an unnatural lighting effect.

What do you guys do to extract a cavity map and is it necessary when you are using hi end renderers like Arnold, Mental Ray, Vray etc.

#2

It depends what you’re using the cavity map for. If you’re trying to texture a model, then cavity maps can be useful to add natural texture darkening that occurs in cavities. Personally, I wouldn’t use it for a lighting effect though, that’s best left to actual lighting and GI.

  • Neil
#3

That’s basically what I want to use it for is to darken the pores of my character’s face but I’m not getting good results for cavity maps in ZBrush.