I have some problems with displacement maps, but I finally take out some solutions, I hope this small tutorial will help for max users, enjoy. This is a test of some mountains I’ve made so check it out is very simple displacement maps, you can also share more information to encourage knowledge also as best quality in your artworks and artworks of other colleges

Part 1

http://i41.photobucket.com/album...dbox%20tutorial/part1.jpg

I model a low res, a basic rough of the mountains I am going to use.

Part 2

http://i41.photobucket.com/album...dbox%20tutorial/part2.jpg

after that I unwrap it. You have to WATCH OUT that every vertex in the model has to be inside of this 0,1 coordinates in the Unwrap Browse, that is what mudbox is going to use for generating displacement maps and normals maps, so you have to watch out for this is very important that the unwrap be very very well work before going into mudbox, so take your time to unwrap it well.

Part 3

http://i41.photobucket.com/album...dbox%20tutorial/part3.jpg

Checker test of proper textures applied, and when I feel satisfied, I export a new OBJ of the mountain with the unwrap information in Mudbox.

Part 4

http://i41.photobucket.com/album...dbox%20tutorial/part4.jpg

YESSS Mudbox modelling tools, I start modeling peacefully and happily with now worries. This is the beautifull part. . .nice

Part 5

http://i41.photobucket.com/album...dbox%20tutorial/part5.jpg

I use the settings that you see in this picture. Make sure you have smooth cords ON so you don’t have problems with facetaded displacement results. Also make sure that the low mesh resolution target is at LEVEL 0, but you can also try other levels, in this case I’ll use LEVEL 0. Set your high res mesh target at the latests subdivision you have, in this case is at LEVEL 6.

Click at Creat Displacement map Icon and put a name to your displacement map file. Make sure that in the Search Distance is a number calculated by mudbox itself we are going to use this number later, so remind this number, also mudbox make a cache of the baked texture so you can go back and see the number again.

Put the resolutions at 2048 x 2048 and displacement map at 16 bit, and then START OPERATION. Wait a few moments. . .

CONTINUE IN THE NEXT THREAD

Part 6

http://i41.photobucket.com/album...dbox%20tutorial/part6.jpg

Back into max. . .I start to set Mental Ray’s displacement features. Remember that we unwrap this so there’s no need to export the low res at level 0 from mudbox back into max, or if you don’t feel total confidence export a new OBJ from mudbox into max.

In this picture fo into Render mode in max and set Mental Ray

Part 7

http://i41.photobucket.com/album...dbox%20tutorial/part7.jpg

In this step, after set Mental Ray in rendering, go to Material Editor and assign a standard material to the mesh. Go down in the browse when it says Mental Ray Connection and activate the Lock so it can unblock the feature, select 3D DISPLACEMENT MAX and enter.

Part 8

http://i41.photobucket.com/album...dbox%20tutorial/part8.jpg

here you’ll take your displacement map file and load it into the EXTRUSION MAP browse. Then in the EXTRUSION STRENGTH put the number that appear in Mudbox, in my case was 37.64 that I told back in PART 5, but I prefer to use 40.0 for have a round number. After setting this, exit this panel.

Part 9

http://i41.photobucket.com/album...dbox%20tutorial/part9.jpg

Then I went to my Render panels and in Mental Ray go to the label RENDERER and search for label Shadows & Displacement. Follow the settings:

1. in Extrusion Length: put it at 1.0 in max I think that this feature is at 2. . .

2. in Max Displace: put the same number that appear in mudbox’s Search Distance and in Extrusion Strength back in part 5 and 8 of this short tutorial. I put 40.0 so you can vary in this numbers.

3. Max. Levels: I put the numbers of my highest subdivision level so I put 6

Part 10

http://i41.photobucket.com/album...box%20tutorial/part10.jpg

put some bump maps and generate a render and this is the result.

I hope you like this tutorial, any information, please share with other, any comment please put it in this thread.

Keep On,
Rubens

Looks like a very good result. thanks alot, I will try it after work :)

Thanks for tutorial Ruben,

- there is old “MB displacement->mental ray” thread somewhere on this forum too :)

- If you use 32 bit displacement format you can just leave Extrusion Strength on 1 by default - Mental Ray uses actual values from 32 bit tiff file.

Hi,

Thanks alot for this tutorial. But where do you put the Normal map? I put it in the bump map slot and imported it as a normal map bump in max 9. But my maps look really wierd.. and not that much like the ones in mud. I used the same settings as you did.

Matt

very good, Ive been using similar settings to get between mudbox and max too.

Hi,

Thanks alot for this tutorial. But where do you put the Normal map? I put it in the bump map slot and imported it as a normal map bump in max 9. But my maps look really wierd.. and not that much like the ones in mud. I used the same settings as you did.

Matt

You don’t necessarily have to put the normal map anywhere. Generally speaking, you’ve got three main maps for geometry (or the illusion of geometry). Displacement, Normal, and Bump. Displacement is typically used anytime you’ve got major geometry changes (the rule of thumb most people use is ‘if the silhouette changes, use displacement’). Normal maps are for higher frequency details, and bump maps are for the tiniest details that are visible on your model (pores, etc).

At any rate, how do you mean your maps look really weird? Bulgy? Blocky? Different weirdness can mean different things.

Hi,

well they looked really streched out or something, and really blurry, and they had no depth to them at all. But, I was using a plain box, unfolded in the UVW, then I applied a mesh smooth, then imported to mud. Im unwrapping my character now, and I might bring him in, and see what I can do.

Matt

For some reason now, Ive imported my characters head, I detached it after I unwrapped it, and all the verts are inside the 0,1 box. But when I try to create the normal and disp map or whatever, it always says cannot create temp files??

EDIT: Ok, I got it to work, I found 2 faces way off to the side not in the box. But… now when I view the model in Max, you can bearly see any bump effect happening at all. Not even close to as good as the example above. I must be doing something wrong??

Ruben,
Vary nice and informative tut. Cheers!

Admin,
Would it be possible if the forums structure allows to place a sticky on this thread or even better yet create sub topics that relate to individual applications?

-Rod

Hi,
Does anybody know what settings do I need to use for normal maps, so that the vectors are oriented properly. What do I need to flip?, because when I import into max the directions are wrong.

I know I can use the ‘Normal’ map in 3ds to flip channels, but how do I get a ready-flipped normal map out of mudbox, so that I can use my normal map with MR’s 3D Displacement map?