Does anyone know if there is a way to export an ambient occlusion map from ZB using Meats Meirs’ “faked” ambient occlusion material and lighting setup? can this be done either natively in ZB or using ZScripts? thanks!
cavity map…might do the trick
I don’t know but I’m intersted in finding out, particularly if the process is relativey fast.
Considering that you can bake occlusion in Max or Maya with the current versions would you really need to export a faked occlusion?
Yes, ZMapper can be used to create a Cavity Map, which can double as ambient occlusion.
Hi, thanks for the replies!
sketch: just wondering if we can keep our artists in one package instead of having them bake AO data out of max or maya.
aurick: I can’t seem to get a cavity map generated. here are my specs:
P4 3Ghz 2GB ram, winXP sp2 with over 150 GB of hdd space free.
here are my steps in trying to produce a cavity map.
- open Ztool with subdivided / detailed model
- drop subd level down to 1
- load Meats Meirs’ AO light setup and material
- open ZMapper and go to normal map/ cavity map tab
- increase cavity intensity to something higher than 0
- hit the create cavity map button
- exit ZMapper once map has been generated
result is a plain white texture in the texture rollout. i’ve tried a few other things like capturing the mesh and increasing the raycasting max scan distance all to no avail. any ideas why i can only seem to generate a plain white texture when trying to create a cavity map? thanks!!
Yeah, that was a stupid thing for me to ask. You probably would get a tremendous increase in speed by using cavity map instead of baking occlusion. Its slower than Christmas. Just like the fact that you can create normal maps inside of Max doesn’t mean you would actually want to do it. ZBrush handles the number of polys so much faster… and without even crashing!
chan1234, i think your mistake is at step #2, because you don’t have to drop it until level 1, you have to drop in to a lower level which still has the topology of the highest level.
Here is a great video tutorial about cavity maps:
http://www.digitaltutors.com/digital_tutors/video_details.php?v=717
In order to see the tutorial you will need to register, which is a free process.
Regards,
Vali
the model is subdivided 6 times. i’ve tried subdividing again to 7 and dropping to 6, but then i’m over the poly limit for ZMapper. i’ve also tried just dropping from subdiv 6 to 5 and generating the map and again, i just end up with a plain white texture. i watched the video you linked to and the steps couldn’t be easier, but for some reason don’t work for me. at first i thought maybe i was given a model that was not UV’d, but i generateda normal map and it maps on to the model correctly as a texture, so it looks like the model is UV’d. hmmmm…maybe i can post a really short vid of what i’m doing when trying to generate this map. maybe i’m doing something wrong that would be obvious when seen. thanks for the replies guys!!
Ok, cavity map. Made one yesterday and it was awesome!!!
Load model.
Go to lowest level, or second lowest. I go for lowest usually.
Make texture (I did, not sure if you have to) plain white, 4096x4096. Bigger better, scale smaller later if too big. At least you get all the detail…
Open ZMapper.
Go to cavity tab. Intensity to half or three quarters. Better to see it and back it off than it not show at all.
I add more samples and whatever, turn it all up for better map : )
On a mesh with 3 million polys and everything cranked, from level 2 it may take a while (half hour) but you can see the timer on left side.
Exit and save file and look at it… should work.
Hope this helps