zbrush 4 Multi Map Export issue

Bobby J Rice 3rd

Steps to reproduce the problem.

• create a plane3d in zbrush
• make polymesh3d, teccilate, then sculpt
• then go to plug-in/Multi Map Export.
• turn everything off except Normal map
• go to the options tab under this plugin and go to the Normal map tab
• Turn tangent and flip G on then hit "create all maps"

What I want to do is bake a tilling texture using Multi Map Export. Is it possible to deform/sculpt a plane3d in zbrush, then output that information using the texture options in Multi Map Export?

I know it works for characters and props but i seem to be having issues with a tiling texture approach. Any help, tips, and/or instructions are much appreciated.

Thanks.

cryrid

Out of curiosity, what is the problem you're getting, and is there a reason you're using multi-map to export a single map instead of just using the normal method for generating a normal map in zbrush?

Bobby J Rice 3rd

The problem i get is all that shows up is a blue canvas. I don't normaly bake out of zbrush. It would be nice to not have to mess with an obj in Xnormal and just bake all the necessary maps in Zbrush.

cryrid

By normal method, I meant the Normal Map options in the Tool Pallette in zbrush. But in testing that, it doesn't seem to work either.

Edit: I just tried again, but this time using UV Master to generate new UVs for the Plane. Both Multi-map and the (normal) Normal Map now generates correctly.

Bobby J Rice 3rd

It still does not work for me. I deleted the UV's and used UV master to create new UV's. Are you doing anything specifically in UV master? All i did was turn off symmetry and generated UV's.

If you have time, could you possibly walk through the process step by step of what you did?

Bobby J Rice 3rd

nm, I think i got this to work actually. Thanks for the UV master Tip.

cryrid

But...but I spent all this time taking screenshots for a walk-through

Cheers though :P
AUV Tiles works as well for UVs, so I'm guessing other UV options might also do the trick. Not sure why this is though as the default UVs in 3.5 seem to work, and I can't see anything wrong with the UVs when exporting a default plane from z4.

pior

Why would you even bother with UVs ? Simply apply a 'normalmap sphere' matcap and screenshot from the front view (for a flat lowpoly, that is)

Bobby J Rice 3rd

mat cap is great for normal maps but I've yet to come across an accurate mat cap for AO and Cavity. Having this export feature all in one spot is extremly handy. Just like Ultimapper in XSI. Plus it's exact to the tool rather than relying on cropping a doc in PS.

cryrid, the Pic example is spot on. Thanks for that.

pior

Totally! The screengrab technique is more of a case by case thing. Just thought Id mention it here in case someone didnt know about it.

Along the same hacky lines : You can always try Crazybump for the AO (running it on the fake normalmap screengrab). It can give surprisingly good results.

Bobby J Rice 3rd

Good point.

cryrid

Simply apply a 'normalmap sphere' matcap and screenshot from the front view (for a flat lowpoly, that is)

That was actually the very first thing I tried since it was the method used in Pixo's tiled brick tutorial, but I figured I should try to find out why it was spitting out blank normal maps all of a sudden.

Bobby J Rice 3rd

It works, but there are problems. The results between the mat and the bake are completely different.

Mat gives accurate results

Bake creates a deformed outline around the sculpt and is softer than the Mat.


Is there any way around this by any chance?

cryrid

Mat gives accurate results
Bake creates a deformed outline around the sculpt and is softer than the Mat.
Is there any way around this by any chance?

If I had to guess, I'd say it's because zbrush uses whatever level of subdivision for the bake that you tell it to, unlike a standard 3d application which let you specify a different mesh for the high/low versions. This isn't a problem if you plan on using the lowest level of subdivision for the final mesh, but it becomes a problem because you probably want the final mesh to be a flat plane. That plane you're using has quite a few verts by default (33x33), which is more than enough for some to get displaced/altered during a sculpt (ses pic#5 in my screenshots). Because it is no longer a flat plane when you want to bake, zbrush probably has to consider this depth and angles (especially to get the right tangents?)

That's just my guess though. You can probably test this by comparing the matcap result to an external bake (using a flat plane for the low-poly), or even using a custom plane in zbrush that only has 4 verts (so that sculpting shouldn't have much of an effect on it).

Before turning the plane into a polymesh3d, go to initialize and drop the subdivision to 2x2. You'll have to subdivide it more to sculpt (just turn smoothing off), but level1 should remain a flat plane when you go to bake.

Bobby J Rice 3rd

Initialize in zbrush worked great. The outline is gone and it reads close to acurate depth. The only issue is the depth comparison between the mat and the bake. Its abit off. I'll keep playing with the settings to see what can be done.

But, this is thousands of times better than what I was getting earlier. Thank you Sir.