Zbrush displacement map issue.

Nathan_D

Hi All! 

I'm attempting to apply a height map I've created in Substance Designer to an object in Zbrush: via the displacement map function(I.E. a brick height map to a flat wall so I can later retopologize with greater detail). Regrettably whenever I apply the height map, it appears very lightly with many awkward steps. 

Does anyone know what may be causing this? Is it an issue when exporting my height map from Substance Designer or some settings aren't properly set in Zbrush? 

Any insight on this issue would be greatly appreciated. 

Thank you, 

Nathan D.

Obscura

Example image plz. My first assumption about the steps is bit depth. You should export a 16 or 32 bit tiff , hdr, or exr.

musashidan

You need to ensure that you have enough resolution to capture the detail. Add enough subdivisions to support the detail. Also, make sure that the 'Mode' button is active. Otherwise, it will just display the texture as a bump effect.

940nmt

I have also run into this issue, and wondered if anyone had managed to find the solution? In the example above I have merely output a paraboloid shape as a heightmap from S/D, and then used this as an alpha within Zbrush. The surface is merely a flat plane in this instance. I too have the stepping / jagged edge problem. I have output from S/D in 8-bit, then 16-bit, and this one is a high precision HDR format. The plane has a million points and I still get the problem. Ideally I want to create to rock sculpts and use these as alphas, but the stepping issue is getting in the way.

 Any help would be very gratefully received...

musashidan

You don't meed to go through all that. Just set your document to 2k square(or whatever res you want) frame the canvas and in the alpha flyout hit 'make alpha'. This will create a heightmap.

940nmt

Indeed it will Musashidan, however in this instance I am wanting to create a few rock like alphas in S/D and then use them to apply surface detail in Zbrush. This is the process I am showing above. My rock sculpting isn't the best and this seemed like a sensible route to take. Despite changing the output resolution in S/D I can't seem to get rid of the unwanted noise in the texture. 

940nmt

It would appear that taking the heightmap from S/D into Photoshop and then saving it without any compression fixes my issue. I am also using the .TIFF file format in this instance.

musashidan

Sorry mate, I thought you were going ZB>SD.
Glad you sorted it.