Displacement from Zbrush to Modo

#1

How do you export a Disp. map from Zbrush and use it in Modo? I cant find proper settings to where it actually displaces the mesh noticeably in modo.

#2

Did you try increasing the displacement distance in the Modo material ? It’s also a good idea to set the Low/High value of the displacement map to -100/100.

#3

Yup I did that… is there a general rule of how much initial geometry is needed for details to show up with displacement? maybe my initial mesh is too low poly to pickup the details?

Also I looked at an old tutorial of displacement maps from ZBrush to Modo and it used a plugin which exported red and green channels of the displacement, then the red was used as the subtract displace, and green the add. That plugin isn’t around anymore I don’t think, and I can only export a grey displacement map.

Any tutorials out there on displacement that talk about the different maps and usage? Or that describe what settings are good for certain programs such as Maya or Modo.

#4

^^ Those are the settings you have to adjust. Depending on the scale of your scene and the displacement map you might have to increase the Displacement Distance quite a bit from the default value.

Post screenshots of your object, your displacement map and the resulting render in Modo.

#5

There’s no need to export separate channels in Zbrush, 32 bit greyscale should work just fine.

Did you convert the mesh to SubD’s by hitting Tab or Shift Tab ( in case you’re using 501 ) ?

#6

Hi. I made a quick tutorial some time ago on the subject.
http://vimeo.com/17064114

#7

Ok… So I made this real quick to show my problem… Its supposed to be the top jaw of a dinosaur. Not modeled or sculpted well but enough to show the point I think =)

Sculpted, semi-high poly mesh in Zbrush. This is what I want to displaced low poly mesh to look like in Modo.

Low Poly Mesh, exported from Zbrush Sub D level 1. (Is this too low to get the details from a displacement map?) I don’t know any guidelines of how much geometry is needed to get X amount of detail.

Displacement Map, 32bit Tif exported from ZBrush. Originally 2048x2048. Reduced and made a jpg for upload.

And the horrible result it produces in Modo. I played with the settings and it doesnt get any better then this. This pic is without SubD (Shift Tab), however Sub D did not help, only smoothed the base mesh as normal. If I increase displacement any further it pulls my mesh apart at the UV seams and distorts it all over.

Whyyyy??

And Hsanden, looking at your tutorial now… GoZ doesn’t work well for me sometimes. Sometimes when I hit GoZ, it goes into modo but no mesh or anything shows up. Ill see if I can get that to work. But still would like to understand Disp Maps better. I should be able to import the mesh and map myself without such an issue.

#8

Also, for the displacement map… when I create it in ZBrush, it’s grey tones like I think it should be… but when I export it… it turns to the blacks and whites… real dark. I cant find why in any settings. Maybe there is an Issue in the export? when I have the mesh at level 1 in Zbrush and turn on the Displacement it creates, I can see all the detail fine. So the map works in zbrush just not modo

Edit Here is the Displacement Map I get without 32bit selected in ZBrush.

#9

The displacement map definitely looks wrong. As you already suspected, the low poly mesh probably is too low poly to capture the details/ it differs too much from the high resolution version. You probably should not extract it using the lowest subdivision level, but level 2 or 3.

If you plan to convert the model to a subdivision surface in Modo later make sure that the UVs get smoothed in Zbrush when creating the displacement map (activate SmoothUV button in the Displacement Map settings), otherwise the map won’t match the UVs. Also activate Adaptive scan mode and increase the subpixel accuracy (DPSubPix slider) to better capture the small surface details.

#10

Ezekiel - Thanks… I divided the mesh further in Modo and got it to work a bit better with the Gray displacement map. But still a few issues and questions

I had to change with displacement distance to about 5m before it started to work ok instead of like 50mm that I saw most others use. My model is not very large so I don’t see why I needed so much. I tried scaling the model down but it didn’t change anything. is there a way to adjust the size if that’s the issue so you don’t need so much displacement distance?

2nd… Why is the map more black and white with 32 bit? Is that what its supposed to look like in 32bit? whats the usage for the 32 bit and non 32bit?

Hsanden - Thanks for the tutorial, that helped me figure some of it out. However GoZ still just opens Modo with nothing in it. I tried reinstalling the GoZ files from ZBrush options and it didnt work. Any ideas?

#11

looks like there’s something fishy with your mesh, like double or flipped polygons. If you want I can take a look at it, just email it to ronald at toonafish dot nl.

btw, you do need to activate SubD’s to be able to displace a mesh with displacement maps in Modo.

#12

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