Exporting Texture Maps

#1

Hi!

I’m currently making an eyeball
Its got 8 division levels due to the displacement map detail I need
I made my UV’s at division level 1, as seen below;
Due to this, the polypainting looks very blurry and distorted at this level
At division level 8 though, the polypainting looks great

However…when I export the texture, due to my UV’s being for division level one, the texture comes out jagged and blurry

Anybody have the solution for how I can export the texture with smooth uvs and clear detail, without having to delete division levels and such, I’m sure there is an easy way to this but just need help figuring it out?

I seem to always run into this issue with eyeballs/spheres

Thanks

#2

level 8
tool>texture map>create>new from polypaint
then
tool>texture map>clone txtr
then texture>make alpha
then
tool>displacement map and select the new alpha
make sure displ is on and move the intensity slider

making a texture map with lower subd will make it blurry

and you could increase the texture map,
tool>uv map>4096
then
tool>texture map>create>new from polypaint

when you make a eye use lightbox PolySphere
the sphere your using has whats called a pole in the center,
polypaint works better on polygons that are more square like the PolySphere,
the sphere your using the polgons are oblong and less square.

the PolySphere all ready has UV so no need to make uv for it
http://i.imgur.com/ZS5QSH6.jpg

#3

Thanks for the reply informerman.

My UV’s don’t look stretched though, as they would if the issue was oblong polys, (as seen in the picture 1).

Just looks like that my UV’s are made with the low res division that they cannot produce the subdivision level 8 polypaint, hence the jaggy edges like in picture 2.

Now if I bring these low res UV’s into photoshop and actually just place a high res image over them, then apply the texture to my model, that works fine ( as seen in picture 3) but this is just solely an issue I find myself having with polypaint.

I tried both the first and second steps, but the first is more so for displacement maps which I’m not having an issue with, and the second just produces a really high res version of the blurry division level 1 texture map.

I’m creating a photo realistic eye that has 5 seperate objects involved in Maya so I could do the polysphere method, but I know that this way I’m doing it is possible.

Just need to figure out the specifics of exporting the texture map, most polypainting done in zbrush is on mesh’s of 1,8,16 etc. million polys and the UV’s for these are made at the lowest level so surely there is a way, or something simple i’m missing.

Ps. I apologise for the slight low res screenshots, CGsociety is not very kind when it come to my upload size

#4

I would ignore what you think is happening with the UV’s and focus on the texture part of informerman’s reply. You need to create the texture map from your polypainted model at the highest subdivision level to capture all of the detail you’ve painted.

Once you’ve created the texture map you can then drop down to (and/or export) the lowest level of your model along with the texture and everything should be fine. From your original example it appears that the texture is being created at the lowest subdivision level, hence there not being enough information.

So go to level 8, Tool>UV Map>UV Map Size and set the resolution you want (4096 for example).
Then go to Tool>Texture Map>Create>New From Polypaint.

If you drop down to the lowest subdivision level, you should see that the texture information/detail is now all there.

Now you can either hit GoZ to send your lowest level mesh to Maya along with the texture map, or choose Clone Texture from the Texture Map subpalette and then export it (along with the lowest subdivision mesh) manually.

Does that make sense?

#5

Yes that makes sense, and I would of done that already, but UV master will not unwrap a 4 million poly mesh for me due to computer memory

Will I just increase the amount of memory zbrush can use so that it can unwrap it?

I havnt touched theses settings so they are currently just the defaults that come with zbrush

#6

im not talking UV stretched, im saying your polygons are oblong.
turn on wireframe and look at the lowest subdivision level, all so look at the center pole your painting over, there a bunched up points that are not connected as one, the end polys look like tri’s but there all quads because the points are not welded.
hard to see with your eyes but they are.

polypaint on polygons so it will look better on square polygons rather then oblong polygons
http://i.imgur.com/eyebz8d.jpg

 dont over kill your mesh if its not needed, so if sunb 7 looks like subd8 then stick with subd 7
 
 like i said  use lightbox PolySphere it all ready has UV
 if your having problems making uv with UV master then make your UV First and not last,

yes on my instruction i said use level 8 when making a map because any lower is whats causing your problem, i think there getting this confused with the UV master where you have to lower the subd which you do not for creating a texture map

#7

Yeah I can understand what you mean but in my mesh, you may not be able to tell from the pictures as they are front view, there is a hole in the middle where I deleted the poles, so the the part in which you speak of, that you can see, is actually the back of the mesh, not the front where the detail is. So this isnt causing any issues as there is no polypaint data at the back for it to affect

I have double sided activated hence why you can see the back

#8

Please, re-read and follow the exact steps I mention. There’s no need for you to unwrap a 4 million poly mesh, you unwrap the lowest level (which you clearly already have done, unless I’ve missed something) but you create your texture map at the higher level.

Also, I would ignore the advice that informerman is giving you right now. I don’t think it’s relevant to your current problem and will only complicate things at this stage.

#9

Just in case I’m missing what you’re getting at, I’ve made a quick and dirty ZB file with two subtools in it. A high-poly polypainted eyeball and a low poly version with the texture applied.

http://www.moonjam.com/CGT/Eyeball.zip

#10

Hey Aj,

Thanks for the very cohesive reply, what you said actually does appear to be working in regards the detail I need, so I do apologise for not following you the first time.

Although I still seem to still have the issue of the general shape looking jagged instead of round, is there any way around this or should I just use a more rounded/suddivided mesh for unwrap at division level 1?

#11

Exactly what you suggest, you’ll need to have more geometry. If you’re making a super realistic eye, it’s worth pointing out that you should treat the iris as a separate object (with the scelera becoming transparent as it approaches it), which will also give you the added bonus of being able to texture it separately :slight_smile:

#12

Cool, thanks for the advice AJ :beer:

#13

run this zbrush zscript once you open zbrush,
in other words dont go messing around in zbrush then later run it.
if you run the script on the eye it should work good,
if you run it again and you try it on another object before closing zbrush you may need to go to
tool>displacement map and select the new alpha,
running the script on 2 differnet objects it wont select the displacement map
so you need to hand select it.

make sure you copy the hole code below not just part of it.

when its done its going to set your Geometry:SDiv to 1
you can change it when the zscript is done


  //RECORDED ZSCRIPT 4.6
  [IButton,Play,"Press to play this ZScript. ZScript can be aborted at anytime by pressing the ëescí key.",
  [IConfig,4.6]
  [IPress,Draw:Mrgb]
  [ISet,Tool:Geometry:SDiv,9]
  [IPress,Tool:UV Map:4096]
  [IPress,Tool:Texture Map:New From Polypaint]
  [IPress,Tool:Texture Map:Clone Txtr]
  [FileNameSetNext,"texturemap.psd"][IPress,Texture:Export]
  [IPress,Texture:MakeAlpha]
  [FileNameSetNext,"displacementmap.psd"][IPress,Alpha:Export]
  [IPress,Tool:Displacement Map:DisplacementMap]
  [IUnPress,PopUp:displacementmap]
  [ISet,Tool:Geometry:SDiv,1]
  ]/*End of ZScript*/