Need help in texturing my model

kunglao

i have made a character in max 8(4700 tri's inc accessories-not shown)
i created a normal map in zbrush using zmapper
i have thrown on some basic colours to give me an idea.
Ireally want to go crazy with the texturing and would love to add a skin shader to her but do not have the 1st idea on how to.
Please can you guys offer some advice.links on A)what shader to use for skin and B)how to get it onto her.
At the moment in the material editor i have one diffuse meshbitmap and in bump slot i have the normal.
This is my 2nd time using zbrush to create my normal and as screens show thee are some issues with the normal(sleeves0these will be amended.
Hope you can help,


here is a pic of someones elses work and this is the effect i am trying to achieve-

Joao Sapiro

i would recomend starting small, like texturing first sdk and lowpoly models with only diffuse colour and try to achieve as much detail as possible with it .

kunglao

thanx johnny,i aim pretty good with painting textures on diffuse and will get into it soon but,looking at a lot of peoples work they are adding shaders to their pieces and the effects are great,so i wanted to add that to her if poss.
a friend of mine is currently sending a home made video tut of how he uses zbrush to create shaders

I need some answers on these 2 questions please-
1.my lopoly model is in max,when i import into zbrush and load the normal map material it only displays in (blue colours) how can i view her in zbrush with the normal looking correct
screen-

2.In max material editor rolout i have 2 sided checked so her hair is shown from front and back yet in zbrush it only shows from back,how can i get both to show in zbrush
screen-

kunglao

sorry,one last question
how can i import model from max to zbrush so that she is smoothed when in zbrush?
thanks

Joao Sapiro

hm...shaders can add effects, but still if you make a sucky diffuse it will sucks, look at tinmands normal mapping examples at the pimping and preview, shows exactly what i mean.

J.I. Styles

some quick answers for you:

- double sided: in zbrush, under Tool>Display Properties> Double button

- Besides the SH and SV options, zbrush pretty much doesn't use smoothing groups. If you take your edit mode off 'quick', go into the tool> display properties and put DSmooth on 1, DRes on max, and Es on 0, that's going to be the closest you'll get, but it's still pretty arse and is still subdividing your geometry for canvas viewing.

- I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think there's a canvas view normal map viewing material, only the bump viewer material and the rgb normal ripping material.

kunglao

thanx guys,
J.I. Styles -can you suggest an easier and better option,i new to the whole shader scene and if possible want to put it into this character,i have high hopes on this model,all i am looking for is a skin shader that is relatively straight forward in runnning and using in max8 or zbrush,giving me a realistic skin.If i can add plastic look on trousers and sweat on her face i'd "dance 'til the cows come home!"
She has one diffuse map (basic colour marking)and normal in bump it renders well in max and once ironed out those niggles it will hold up well.i plan to texture diffuse in photoshop adding opacity and spec map,as Gary Newman's pic i posted this is the high standard i am trying to emulate.Great work.
thanx

kunglao

Been going crazy trying to find a solution
ok from the beginning-
I will not be able to get a realistic skin shader onto my normal mapped model in zbrush for a number of reasons.1.cannot import lopoly into zbrush smoothed,normal map does not show easily in zbrush.Shame,friend sent video tut on shading in zbrush and involves sub divs etc.+ if i want tro rig her she will only animate in in max(as she is a game model)
so, it looks like i will have to try max.
in max i have lopoly model, in material editor diffuse color slot i have 1 2048x2048 meshbitmap(for painting textures)and in bump slot i have normal bump2048x2048 (these will be scaled down )
in viewports no normal is shown only lopoly model and diffuse color,when i render using default scanline renderer/advanced lighting and raytracer
i get the normal displayed and colors.
I want to add(be it shader or sss,all new to me)a realistic skin to only her head,arms and midriff.The sweat and other stuff i will tackle later,just want to sort the skin first.
so when i render i get a nice skin on her.
Can someone help?

J.I. Styles

Everything you've said there is correct, but I think you need to make a differentiation between a pre-rendered and game res character here -- it sounds like what you're wanting is a cross between the two (normal mapped low res but with pre-rendered shaders). If that's not what you're wanting, I suggest you look into viewport shaders which are going to be your closest bet to game tech without having it in-engine. Both Ben Cloward and myself have written skin shaders in hlsl (both you can download) which is a direct x shader language you can use in the max viewport.

Also, if I remember the cgtalk thread correctly, your example of the hitchhiker girl only uses normal and specular, no custom skin shader, so don't be too afraid of being able to hit that level with those specs.

kunglao

thanks J.I. Styles,
yep, i am looking for a good way(shaders or sss) to create a realistic skin that when RENDERED will look good.
I tried the real time shader but only shows in viewports
If anyone can help

kunglao

Have found and following this tut
http://www.lamrug.org/resources/doc/sss-skin-tutorial.pdf
looks good.Can anyone tell me where i put the Normal map as it is not clear, and 2nd i want the normal to be bold what settings do i adjust to achieve a good normal over skin
thanks

kunglao

can anyone offer help on my last post please?

Eric Chadwick

You'll probably get better responses at a forum where artists concentrate on renders. Polycount is mostly about realtime. Take a look at CGTalk for example.
http://forums.cgsociety.org/forumdisplay.php?f=46

kunglao

have a 3point light setup for my character but i am not happy with the results.
I also have a SSS skin material applied to my character and i am unsure where to place the spec map in the SSS as in under my diffuse texture i am not getting the right effect.
If you are on MSN messenger i would appreciate it if you could pm me
Here are a couple of renders.
Still wip and yet to sort opacity and add spec map for items(axe,etc)
Perhaps i could forward the file via messenger for you to look at the lighting setup (1st time for me)and the sss skinmaterial settings especially the specular options(again 1st time).
I would learn from how you had placed the lights,their settings and the changes you made to bring out the spec map.
I have followed a couple of 3 point lighting tuts and to date have had mixed results

kunglao

UPDATE

Finally finished Tri count 4400,mutliple 1024x1024 textures(diff,spec,opacity,normal)
Seen below are several renders,1 basic render,several renders with Translucent colour(falloff) and tweaked 3point lighting(thanks to Gary)also knocked up zombie texture.

Pedro Amorim

very cool. nice improvement