Sept/Oct Normal - mayafreak3 - Page 5 - Simply Maya User Community

# 61 02-10-2005 , 05:38 AM

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Re: some stuff I did a while back

Originally posted by mayafreak3
I cant reproduce it in mental ray unfortunately. This is rendered out of z-brush.. pre texture.. stuff I did a few weeks ago.

Originally Posted by

Hey, Mayafreak3! Nice to see you back in the saddle!

What do you mean you can't reproduce it in mental ray?
Heres an awsome overview of using ZBRUSH with mental ray if you need it:
https://206.145.80.239/zbc/showthread.php?t=025542

Keep going, dude!

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# 62 02-10-2005 , 12:44 PM

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welcome back and nice attention to detail user added image

Examples of bTraffic - a traffic animation tool for Maya
bFlocking - a tool for Maya 8.5+ to generate flocking and swarming behaviours
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# 63 02-10-2005 , 03:15 PM

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Originally posted by swankymonkey
Hey, Mayafreak3! Nice to see you back in the saddle!

What do you mean you can't reproduce it in mental ray?
Heres an awsome overview of using ZBRUSH with mental ray if you need it:
https://206.145.80.239/zbc/showthread.php?t=025542

Keep going, dude!

Originally Posted by

Thanks.

I've read that thread.. awesome thread agree. I watched the video and it helped me get stuff set up in mental ray.
I can render it in mental ray with a displacement map.. but I cannot get it to reproduce the detail without crashing my computer (only 768 RAM). As I turn up the subdivisions in the subdiv approximations I can start to see the detail.. but can't get a render out of mental ray that is even halfway as detailed as the original z-brush render. If I crank up the alpha gain it just inflates my model...I'm pretty sure I'm hitting a memory limitation. But perhaps not... what I am doing is this:

a.) create document in zbrush that is 2048x2048
b.) draw tool
c.) switch tool to lowest resolution and switch to Morph Target
d.) create displacement map
e.) choose flip in V option and export alpha as a .psd doc
f.) open in photoshop with colormanagement off and save as 16bit rgb tiff doc.
g.) open maya.. run zatt6, which sets up the displacement approx and subdivision approximation nodes on my original model, which has the same geometry as the morph target in z-brush.
h.) now my model does have a polysmooth on it with a setting of 1. this is to ensure that I have all 4 and 3 sided polys, and no 5 sided.
i.) render...now I can see that the detail is coming through in the right spots..but just not enough definition in that detail and when I try to bring out that definition by increasing the min/max subivs Maya explodes user added image

This is an example out of mental ray with subdiv min-3 and max-7 and the same with the displacement approx min-3 and max 7
set to spatial.. and fine, length is 0.000. I have tried 0.01 but no effect. As you can see the detail is coming through.. but not enough of it

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# 64 02-10-2005 , 03:17 PM

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Originally posted by t1ck135
welcome back and nice attention to detail

Originally Posted by

Glad to be back Thanks t1ck135 user added image

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# 65 02-10-2005 , 04:58 PM

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I found this...

https://206.145.80.239/zbc/showthread.php?t=029084

Which is a disp map exporter for z-brush, so gonna try it out and see if i get better results.

I think perhaps my disp map is not high enough quality or not exported right.

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# 66 02-10-2005 , 08:06 PM

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Yeah, I'm not sure either. I've just been studying up a lot on the ZBRUSH subject but I haven't put much into practice yet. It could be a map resolution issue. Unfortunately I'm at work right now so I can't check my 'notes'.

One thing you could try is deleting most of the geometry and just render the head with your displacement map and see how that flies. That should keep your comp from crashing. I've also seen some folks using lower rez displacement in concert with bump for faster renders. I would think you could even use the same map. That way your renders wouldn't be such RAM hogs.

Keep us posted!

Dave

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# 67 02-10-2005 , 11:23 PM

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I've already have the opportunity to see a Gnomon Workshop Training video once, with the genius Meats Meyer, where he explains the workflow between Maya and ZBrush. Even there, I noticed not every ZBrush details remains after he rendered his work in Maya. You get a great aproximation, but not the whole thing. These are details you never would be able to do directly in Maya, and still are good enough for a 3d work, at least in my opinion. The shots you have posted in this thread are simply amazing, with those amount of details. I think when you put the colors here, they will bring details up naturally. I don't remember clearly, but I found he talked something about use a medium level of details in ZBrush to make a displacement, and the highest level for bumps only, like SwankyMonkey have said. Or use various separate maps, one for hands, other for foots and so far.

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# 68 03-10-2005 , 09:38 PM

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Thanks for the comments

Thanks for the comments. I've had some limited success after some research. Things I've changed are:

I am now using a 32bit displacement map exported as tiff and then converted to a .map file for mental ray to read. This works much better I think.

Imported a smaller mesh and using 2048x2048 map still gives me higher defintion. I think this was the main problem. Here are some images.

mf3

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# 69 03-10-2005 , 09:41 PM

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sideview

Still not perfect but im going to start on texture mapping now.

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# 70 03-10-2005 , 09:44 PM

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sideview

With a little tweaking I might be able to bring out more detail.

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# 71 03-10-2005 , 10:38 PM

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Pretty good! Congrats!

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# 72 03-10-2005 , 11:56 PM

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Thanks :)

Originally posted by jramauri
Pretty good! Congrats!

Originally Posted by

Thanks jramauri user added image

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# 73 04-10-2005 , 07:59 AM

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well done with the perseverence of the export, its looking real detailed user added image

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# 74 04-10-2005 , 04:38 PM

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Location: Where do u think I am right now? Alright, I'll tell y' all... I'm at Gnomon Workshop and Highend3d sites...Hehehehe...just kiddin':)!!!!Oh, I'm not a ego member anymore? Cool!!!! I'm a Senior Member now!!!!

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# 75 07-10-2005 , 04:12 PM

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new pics

Originally posted by t1ck135
well done with the perseverence of the export, its looking real detailed

Originally Posted by

thanks man, I still wasnt satisfied with my displacements so I've kept working on it and made some breakthroughs..

I can get a nearly perfect displacement now. The key was redoing my UV's and the DPSubPix setting in Z-Brush.. cranking the DPSubPix up to 1 or 2 when I create my displacement maps gives me a much higher resolution map..well maybe not higher resolution but more definition in the grayscale values?? anyway,

heres some images of where I'm at now..

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