Mudbox Normal Mapping

Ebonwolf · Dec 2011

Hi, semi new to Mudbox 2012 and the forum.

I have an assignment to create an object in 3DS max, sculpt it in mudbox, recreate a low poly version in max again, import THAT into mudbox, and project the high poly normal onto the separate low poly object. I have the 2 objects sitting together in mudbox and the instructor has basically told us to search online for a tutorial on how to proceed.

I managed to successfully create a normal map after multiple crashes and extraction errors, but have no idea how to get it onto my low poly object.

I cannot find a clear cut tutorial explaining how to do what he wants us to do.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

SsSandu_C · Dec 2011

Hey! Do you want to put your normal on the low poly inside mudbox? If you want that then the process is quite simple. Select your object. After that right click inside the viewport and click assing new material and choose the first one. After that go to :ayers and choose paint and import layer and choose your saved normal map and change the type to normal map. Here is a nice trick. If the normal map does not look good on your model then go to the material settings(the mudbox material you created first) and choose from the drop down menu 3ds max. You'll find it there.

Ebonwolf · Dec 2011

That worked, though it looks terrible even after changing to 3ds max in the menu. But the assignment is complete, so thank you kindly. I'll be working on this kind of stuff more in my free time to see if i can fix it.

ikonane · Feb 2012

I am trying to do the same thing. I want the normal map to show in Mudbox to use it as a guide when I am painting.
But it wont show when I do as SsSandu_C said. I am using Max 2011 and Mudbox 2012. The normal map is a .tga, 2048x2048, 32bit uncompressed.
Thanks!

Fingus · Feb 2012

Can we see some screenshots? That could help us find out what makes the normals look bad.

Mudbox Normal Mapping

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