hello guys and girls
i have a pretty serious problem:
when I generate dispmap from ZB to apply it in maya the image generated by ZB is banded (a solarization effect) and there’s nois in it… I have some rends on this post
http://www.pixolator.com/zbc/showthread.php?p=263789#post263789
on the hands it’s horrific… kind of stair elevation field on the geometry… not smooth at all… kinda erroneous samplig of an image with an ega graphic card… anybody can help me???
please
HOW DO YOU EXPORT A SMOOTH DISPLACEMENT MAP FROM ZBRUSH WITHOUT BANDING AND NOISE???
PLEASE REPLY
…HELP 
:b4:
I was having this problem when I was using photoshop to adjust the intensity of the displacement map. Im not sure why this happens im going to assume its the subpixel accuracy. Id kinda like to know the exact reason myself. Im using maya and the multidisplacement2 plugin and adjusting the intensity with the alpha gain attribute and I dont see the banding anymore.
don’t know why but I cannot upload a test image… it says me server error… anyway i didn’t use photoshop… i do it from the files alpha attribute settind alphaOffset=AlphaGain*-.5; to constrain it to the original values…
and I get that awful effect… anybody can help?
come on…
Hello Maya User,
I think the problem stems from the fact that you are using Maya’s Software renderer. I am assuming you are exporting your displacement maps using the Multi-Displacement 2 in Zbrush. If you are not, then you should download the Multi-Displacement 2 Zplugin and see its power. The Multi-Displacement 2 creates maps that are 32 bit, which means Maya Software renderer will not render them properly.
The solution is to use Mental Ray. I know, you probably hate MR but it is your friend when it comes to rendering displacement maps.
Oh, and you need to convert your displacement maps from a .tif file to a .map file. You do this to insure that MR will not crash. Read this for more info http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=32540&page=1&pp=15
Don’t forget to setup the approximation editor for your model and turn off “feature displacement” before you apply any displacement.
Good luck,
Hamzah
I AM using mental ray surface approximation 4 subdivs in spatial mode 4to5 subdivisons…
my problem is not the renderer but the generated dispmap wich shows bandings… i didn’t used yet the multidisplacer… maybe it is the solution to this probl…
let’s see
thank you 4 your reply dude!
I got it… the problem is simply that the dispmap generated by zbrush is a 8 bit image… i tryed using the multidisplacement plugin but i get just a light gray map instead of my contrasted dispmap when I generate it in the standard zbrush way…
but why the hell i export 8 bit instead of 16???
that’s normal that i get stair bandings with 256 shades of gray -_-
please help me with that and i’ll be fine!!!
thanks
Hey Buddy,
I think I understand your problem.
First of all, you probably know that as you increase the bit-sampling rate (8, 16, 32 bits) you get better displacement maps. Simply stated, you are squeezing more information into a map if it has a higher bit rate, which means you will get finer details when you create your displacement map. If you are using the MultiDisplacement exporter you will get a 32 bit, light gray map that looks like a gray square to the naked eye. Don’t worry. All the information you need is stored in this map.
Second, you might still get some banding if your map does not have enough resolution. The map size (resolution) for a head model is usually 2048x2048. If you are doing one map for the whole body you might consider creating a map that is at least 4096x4096. This might slow things down when rendering but you will get better results at the end.
Third, once in Maya all the maps you created using the MultiDisplacement exporter should have a 2.2 alpha gain and –1.1 alpha offset. Why? Because that’s how the guy who designed the MutiDisplacement exporter wants it to be.
If you do these three things, you should get pretty good results.
Good luck,
Hamzah