Great having Kolby Jukes as the moderator here, a title that is well deserved. I’ve been looking to try mudbox yet, but i am just too eager to wait for zbrush 3.0 that i don’t know if i should even start.
By the way Kolby, i sent you an email a couple of weeks back, your PM cache has been pretty full lately, hope you don’t keep too busy.
Looking forward to seeing the forum in action.
If you’re looking for tutorials, download the trial version and the help documents are online. One leads to a set of videos you can download. They’re good.
…and by the way, it’s a cool program, but I’m still new to the concept of normal maps…
I have a basic understanding of image mapping with UV projections, bump maps and so on, but I’m still don’t understand which node of an object’s shader the normal map is supposed to plug into. I’ve found a bunch of tutorials about creating a normal map but not how to apply it.
If I create an object in Maya (that has all it’s surfaces uv mapped), then create a version with much higher polygon count in Mudbox and sculpt my fine detail, then bake a normal map from the hi-res version…how do I bring the normal map back into Maya and where do I to apply it?
Thanks,
Paul
I have just downloaded the trial version. Mudbox import seems to support obj, mud and bio formats.
a) what packages support these formats (I assume Maya, 3DS?)
b) are there any lower end (open source etc) that support or allow conversion to any of these formats?
Gord
Gord-MacDonald:
A) The .obj format is probably the most used file format, used to transfer 3D Models between applications. I would think every 3D Package out there, supports it. Otherwise there can be found free plugins on the net that will allow your 3D software to import and export .obj files.
B) I doubt any free / opensource 3D software will be able to handle models that hit the milion polygon mark. Feel free to proof me wrong though.
I am gonna tryout mudbox shortly.
Been away from 3d for a while. It will be fun to do some projects again.
I just received my copy yesterday. I see what little free time I have left disappearing for awhile.
just got the free trial, and started to use Mudbox, Simpler then Zbrush i would like to know how effective it is compared. The creations look like its pretty much the same. Cant really manouver that well in mub box so have a few questions already!
So great add to the forum, nice one Kolby, though i dont really know much about you, it seems you are the person for the job!
I use Max, but it works the same way in most if not all apps: you load the normal map (image file) in the normal map slot of a material which you apply to your low poly object. A normal map is just like an advanced bump map, so you use it the same way you would any texture/diffuse map, bump map, specular map, etc. The program (or video card if it’s in a game) will know how to read it and render it after that.
well… got the trial but havent had too much time to play around, will soon though 
BTW, welcome back into the Land of 3D Superlayer 
Thanks for reply Big D,
I think Maya must be a bit different because I can enter the file as a bump map, and it renders out with the textures and such, but the model’s polygon faces still have sharp edges.
One tutorial says to make a connection between the bump map’s out colour and the camera normal, which I’ve tried, but I get a circularity error.
Anyway, I suppose I should pursue this over at the maya rendering forum.
I have a question about when you make the uv’s for your model in maya , do you need to keep all the uvs in the first square of the uv space or you can put then next to the other (uv islands) , i dont know if that could work with mudbox, because when i try to export my displacement , it gave me an error at the middle of the process, saying that it is not enough space on the disk, that it can be full, but i try the same thing with another model keeping my uv’s in the first square and it export it perfectly, i dont know if the error its because of this or something else, thx for the help
I just started playing with mudbox, trying to get used to the tools. I’m having problems trying to apply bump textures on the model…but somehow it keeps pulling the surfaces but not showing the textures. Any help is appreciated.