Planets

j0nchron

Hello there!

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKRCw2pyOUo[/ame]
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBWGS0yaLnc[/ame]
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubj0x58uCB0[/ame]
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4XihmRyDg4[/ame]
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_DJVHhmLmo[/ame]
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XO1TKlyDBY[/ame]
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-A9YLrXWFc[/ame]
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLz5Q0G20Aw[/ame]

So I have done a pretty decent job of projecting the geometry of these models onto their low poly versions. The maps turn out great in XNormal. I have been searching everywhere for a tutorial on how to get the color as well and after a day or so of fidgeting around I am still at an undesirable result.

Are there any ZBrush experts around that could kind of talk me through the process of transferring their poly colors to a diffuse map? Is there a simple way from ZBrush to XNormal?

I've done a lot of research, trial and error with different methods today; I am some what at my wit's end for the night. I'd like to be able to get my UVs from Max into ZBrush without having them go willy wonka on me:



Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

m4dcow

In xnormal baking options you want to use "Bake hipoly's vertex colors". For it to work you need to uncheck the "Ignore per-vertex-color" in the High Definition Mesh section. Keep in mind that if you uncheck this certain other maps won't bake properly, like AO, so best to do the vert colors separately.

In zbrush you also need to collapse polypaint layers before you export your obj for baking, also make sure you are exporting color data, but that is on by default so it should be okay.

j0nchron

Haha! Thanks, m4dcow!

I'm glad it was something as simple as finally noticing a scroll bar and un-checking a box. I feel like a dummy but really glad I get to make art today! Thank you

j0nchron

Here is a bit of an update of how things are rendering in the game engine.

TortillaChips

They're quite cool, are they for a project or something?

j0nchron

Yes. I am going to make about 250 different worlds for a game project. Starting with the ones closest to their stars, which are fractured lava planets. Later on I'll have some ocean, forest, gas giants and frozen worlds etc.

For the time being, I am figuring out my pipe line. Right now it takes me about 1 hour and 30 minutes from start to finish. Hopefully I can improve upon that without getting sloppy! (In fact just the opposite, I'd like to get much cleaner haha)

On a side note, lets consider the fact that I am poly painting, and lets say that I am painting about 2 million polygons in ZBrush. Well, when I convert that to a 1024 texture, how many pixels is that usually? Just trying to calculate how much of my resolution is lost or how I can better resolve pixelation in Photoshop. Maybe I am over thinking it anyway, I wonder how much resolution the human eye really notices?

Thanks!

TortillaChips

Mm not sure if I've read it correctly, but if you're wanting to know the number of pixels in a 1024x1024 sheet, it simply is that calculation (1,048,576).

j0nchron

Alright so if I poly paint 2 million faces and render a diffuse map at 1024; then it is as if I am shrinking my image down in resolution when I bake the map?

Are there any special tips for maintaining the integrity of the higher res poly painting when I bake the map?

Envart

If the low-poly .obj from max has UVs, then Zbrush will use those. Maintaining the detail when creating a texture from a polypaint isn't a problem. If the texture size is high enough it will preserve all the painted detail. Generally the problem )in my megre experience) is in the other direction, with the mesh not being subdivided enough to actually have enough geometry for pixel precision painting. Polypainting will definately help you painting out those seams on that lava planet.

EarthQuake

More importantly that having enough/too much pixels to represent the detail, you need to consider how large these planets will be on screen.

If the planets will be seen up close, and fill the screen, 1024 is likely too small, and if you're zooming in on them at all it is almost certainly not enough resolution, and you'd want to consider some sort of tiling blend terrain texture system, and scrap the whole painting each one by hand in zbrush idea.

You could also experiment with a unique normal map/color for the entire object, but then layering in finer levels of micro detail, this would allow you to view the asset much closer, and possibly even use a smaller(512?) texture for the unique detail.

If you'll only see them from a distance, or say about 400x400 pixels max, I think a 1024x2 is fine. In this case, I wouldn't worry too much about "counting pixels" but instead just do some tests at the correct resolution, and see if you're happy with the detail level you can get out of a 1024.

feanix

These look great! Which engine are you going to use? Some of them can be tricky about texture seams and it's pretty much impossible to avoid seams on spheres!