Problem with Alpha details in Zbrush.
polycounter lvl 12
I'm making a weapon at the moment, and doing details in Zbrush. I'm having some problems with using Alpha's for details.
Here is the alpha map I made in Photoshop:
And here is the result. You can see I'm getting all this noise wherever I didn't use either full black or full white. I want it to push out at different lengths. Does anyone know what causes this? Zbrush alphas don't have to be all white or black to work properly do they?
Here is the alpha map I made in Photoshop:
And here is the result. You can see I'm getting all this noise wherever I didn't use either full black or full white. I want it to push out at different lengths. Does anyone know what causes this? Zbrush alphas don't have to be all white or black to work properly do they?
Replies
It's already at 0
I tried a PSD and a Jpeg. With the PSD I had to flatten everything down, as well as the channels.
<edit> read the post properly. oops. is it 16 bit or 8 bit depth?
It was 8-bit. I set it to greyscale mode in photoshop and changed it to 16 bit, but then when I import into Zbrush, it just comes up blank.
I don´t know where it comes from, but I guess you have to look for the sollution in the process of creating the alpha, not inside zbrush.
I would just redo the grey parts, shouldn´t be too much work.
cheers m
Was just going to say, this is more noticeable on the darker grey along the edges.
It's probably just the JPG compression on the uploaded image.
This is just a guess as to what might be causing this pixilated effect you have on this alpha.
1. When creating this alpha did you use the bucket tool and have the mode accidentally set to dissolve on the tool? This could give you bit of a grainy texture that might cause this.
2. Did you ever resize the image to make the image significantly larger? This could cause your image to become pixilated especially in the areas with the gradual gradient. When Photoshop resamples images to make them larger it fills in the image with new pixels of what it thinks should go there and it doesnt always deliver the best results. See: http://www.georgegarbeck.com/Articles/resolution.html under the Resampling section for a better explanation.
Unfortunately, I agree with Thousand on this one... you will probably have to recreate this alpha in Photoshop if you do not want this texture applied to your model. Personally I think the grainy texture could give this mechanical piece a bit of character if you later add some scratches and dings to break up the pretty even texture you have now.
Nope. Didn't use the bucket tool.
I did, but that shouldn't matter as I'm using vectors. I also tried it with a new 512 canvas and didn't re-size and I'm still getting the grain.
I added a bit of blur in the Alpha section in Zbrush and that helped a lot. I can probably continue on with the blur, but its still got me confused as to why its happening in the first place.
I was re-sizing, but I must have done something weird with the vectors. It's all good now.
A noob mistake it would seem, but I learned a bit more about Zbrush at least. Thanks everyone.
I tried with a 50% grey as my base, but it didn't work.