ZBrushCentral

Displacement Map Painting In ZBrush

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Hi,
I have a diplace map applied on my obj in Zbrush. Can I paint on it directly and see the displacement effect, or do I have to paint it as an image/texture then reapply it as an alpha?
Thanks,

Jamie

#2

You could convert it to an alpha and then paint through it to get what you want. Many of us do things like that. After all it is just a texture.

#3

Hi,
Paint thru it? Not sure what you mean…
Cheers
Jamie

#4

An alpha is a mask. Black to white and shades between. Either black or white will give you the greatest displacement, the opposite colour the least. And every shade of grey a different level of displacement. So if you loaded the Displacement texture into the alpha palette and applied (under masking for the particular model), when you ‘paint’ over it with the standard tools for sculpting you can get the same or different result than your original.

However I think, after re-reading that you want to apply your displacement map to your base model in Zbrush (like other apps do) and yes you can do that. Do a search here on the forums as it came up a few months ago. However - why? You already have it, don’t you??

#5

Hi,
Thanks for the help. Basically I have the mesh ready, and the displace map already painted/exported from zbrush. however i want to make adjustment to it. so i have the map loaded as an alpha in zbrush, with displace on and mode set. so i can see the displaced mesh in realtime in zbrush. the question is, how do i adjust the displace map now? i know i can collapse it into the geom at a high subd level, adjust the geom and re-export the displacement, but all i want to do is adjust the map, and i’m wondering if its poss. in zbrush, or do i have to paint in CS and update the file to see the results?
cheers,
jamie

#6

Paint it in Zbrush is the same as in Photoshop - but better.

I would do the work on your original on your model to be absolutley shure of what you are doing and not introduce errors.

However if you want to do it other ways, you will have to try them.

I would reload my model and paint the changes to the geometry and re-export my displacement map.

#7

Hi, I think this is what you are looking for…i tried like hell to find the link so I wouldn’t have to type this out but durn it…:evil: I couldn’t find it. Any way this was a reply by Aurick to someone looking to reedit their displacement. 7/27/04

:–

  1. Apply the disp map to the alpha channel while model is selected in tools menu.

  2. press alpha>make tex, select a white color, then press
    texture>clear.

  3. You should now have the alpha and a white texture of the same size applied to the model/tool.

  4. turn off quick 3d edit button on top shelf, and in tool> display set dsmooth to 1.

  5. now divide your model/tool as many times as necessary to match your original hi-res mesh.

  6. go to tools>displacement map> mode so that full displacement is activated.

  7. set the intensity value to give the right amount of displacement.

  8. add additional subd levels if necessary to get to the quality of detail you need.

  9. At bottom of disp map menu, you’ll see the apply disp button, press this to convert the displaced details into actual geometry, which you can then model however you please.

phew!!! that hurt hahaha…gotta get that links to important but forgotten info site up and running already…yikes!

hope this helped.