Normal Map / Zbrush Question

[alan9000]

I noticed oddity made a comment about normal maps produced in z brush were not working well with the game engine ..has any one had success or failures using this production method. I was going to detail the noble man with zbrush and generate the normal map this way but now I am having second thoughts..

[oDDity]

I'm no expert on Zbrush though. Maybe it was becasue it was using local space instead of tangent, the normal maps were totally messed up.

Which 3d app are you using, I'm sure there will be a normal map pluging for it. THe ATI normal map plugin has a plugin for Max, Maya and XSI, and there is already a normal map plugin based on the ATI one for Lightwave.

Yreah, it would be nice to add all those uber details in Zbrush though and then norma;l map it. Maybe I should look into it a bit furthur, or you could make a post on the pixologic forums asking if you can make tangent space N-maps compatible wioth doom.

[Fingernail]

there is a checkbox called 'tangent space', but then again the horrible UV mapping in ZBrush (it works great within the program itself, but is no good for games; it uses lots of random tiles), always stopped me in it's track.

 

But yeah, you could detail it, export and then generate a normalmap elsewhere.

[alan9000]

I think I will give it a try with zbrush. So it’s the tangent space I need for doom I thought as much.

What I have done in the past is unwrapped the mesh and imported the uv coordinates into zbrush and then back out after generating the n map / colour map ..you have to remember to press flip vertical on the texture though if you save as a psd / jpeg.

Your right about zbrushes native uv mapping fingernail ..its great in zbrush but try and get that working elsewhere it’s a nightmare !

I think zbrush holds great potential for detailing for normal maps as the level of detail is unsurpassed t by any other software.

 

well wish me luck I am going to give it a go