Tiling Oragnic Normal Maps in Zbrush problem

Dallas Robinson

Okay, So I'm still practicing on my ZBrush work flow and I ran into this problem which i hope you guys can help me solve. I'm sitting here making tiling textures which is really easy in 2 1/2 d mode in Zbrush with the normal map material. I made bricks and metal panels, etc. etc. but when i went to make an organic cartoony bark texture this tiling method seemed not to work, same with a cartoony rock cliff. Now normally I would use another method if I was making a realistic rock or tree but I feel like i can't because I'm making a cartoony rock and tree so i have to do it out by hand.

is there an easy way to make organic tiling normal maps in ZBrush?

Sorry if this is a Noob question but i just haven't found a solution to this anywhere and i know some of you have dealt with this

pior

it sounds very obvious in your head but no so obvious from the other end of the internets hehe
post some pics! damnit!

Dallas Robinson

Oh, i was afraid of that... Even I was thinking that as i typed that up. Okay, hold on a sec while i do some screen grabs

Dallas Robinson

Okay, Here goes. I hope this image shows up




So, i'm using this quick example to show my problem. I sculpted this blob thing (imagin a good model here ;-) ). And dropped it dowm to 2 1/2 d. I then applyed the Normal Map marital on it. The problem I'm having is that when I hit the "~" key and move it so i can fill in the seams it's nearly impossable for me to get them to link up properly. For shallower Normal maps i can fudge it a bit but not for something as deep as this. How do i get these things to connect?

Um, hopefully that will clear up my question.

cman2k

you are looking for wrap mode;
http://www.pixologic.com/docs/index.php/Wrap_mode

I have used this to great effect with tiling organic stuff;
http://carlosmontero.com/media_envtex_sculpts.php

There's a whole bunch of awesome links on tiled sculpting on the polycount wiki as well;
http://wiki.polycount.com/Digital%20Sculpting#Tiled_Sculpting

Dallas Robinson

OH GOD! Thank you! LOL! I was tearing my hair out trying to figure that out! I'm finally getting to the point where I'm comfortable with Zbrush but when i have to do something specific that's not a character or a prop i get stumped on simple process. I know Zbrush can do it i just don't know how. I guess I have to look in all the widgets and corners of the program more.

again! thanks alot! :-)