Cavity map in 3ds max

indra_p

hello everyone this is my first post in this forum..and i have a question..

is there any way to make cavity map in 3ds max...?
i found a way but im not sure
so i tried to apple screen method to my normal map, then bake it with "render to texture", i got a similar result just like cavity map that i ever made in xnormal..but in not sure to call it "cavity map"...what do you think?

Ace-Angel

Max 2010 have something called "Texture Map" baking iirc, you can bake all kinda of special maps like SSS, Dust, Density and Cavity.

In Max 2009- you need Polyboost.

Eric Chadwick

Some stuff here
http://wiki.polycount.net/AmbientOcclusionMap

spacefrog

Rendering->Render Surface Map provides a "Cavity Map" button, but this tool might produce wrong renderings in some Max versions ( i think Max 2013). Seems to be a bug ...
And it works on Edit Poly only AFAIK

indra_p

spacefrog wrote: »

Rendering->Render Surface Map provides a "Cavity Map" button, but this tool might produce wrong renderings in some Max versions ( i think Max 2013). Seems to be a bug ...
And it works on Edit Poly only AFAIK

i just tried that..but seem this tool wont render the normal map...i mean i applied normal map to my model, but when i click cavity map button on "render surfaca map" i just got a flat grey texture..seem this toll ignore the normal map that i aplied to my model... any solution?

Minato

Yes, this tool gathers all it's information from the geometry(vertices) itself, it will not recognize any pixel information, it is a tool to get a very fast approximation of those effect, which might be what you want at times... to get the cavity from the normal map, you should use one of the external apps that have a 'Normal to Cavity' option like 'ndo2' or 'xNormal'...

I haven't been able to find a method to render out a cavity map directly in Max(As in RTT)...

indra_p

okay..thank for the info..

anyway..what you think about this :

this is something i made in 3dsmax..i bake the screen methood of my normal map, just like how i explain in the first post..
http://i.imgur.com/1yVGGSF.jpg

is that look like cavity map for you?...i already made some texture for my models with this method to give more detail to my defaut texture...its look god for me...but i need other people's opinion..
other texture i made with this method :
http://i.imgur.com/FajJO1F.png
http://i.imgur.com/bmYQwow.jpg

Mark Dygert

That doesn't look right to me, it looks like you rendered a diffuse map with a normal map applied and lights and shadows ticked on? Typically cavity maps don't have a direction to the lighting, it's just a pits and peaks kind of thing.

The cavity map baker in 3dsmax only works with the target geometry (typically a low poly object) it won't take into account the high poly to low poly workflow and it won't calculate the materials either, so in that regard its kind of useless. I've seen people unwrap their high poly model and bake out cavity map, apply that as a diffuse and then use RTT to bake out a diffuse only map to get the cavity map transferred over to their final low poly layout.

Personally I think that's a waste, you can get pretty decent cavity maps several other ways typically derived from the normal map, or you can use an external baker like Minato mentioned.

Of course it would be nice if autodesk actually bothered to fully integrate the tools they purchase instead of just duct taping them onto the side of 3dsmax, but I think that's asking a lot out of them honestly, most people hope for a release that just doesn't screw everything up.

Eric Chadwick

The Tension modifier is pretty helpful for making cavity (concavity) maps. Only works on the highpoly mesh, and it doesn't work well if the mesh is small (like under 1 unit). But it's interactive in the viewport, pretty cool.

More methods...
http://wiki.polycount.net/CurvatureMap