How can I create a Height Map in Arnold 5?

[giandosopaolo]

Hi

A question for the Arnold5 for Maya users:

Is there a way to create a Height Map (Substance Designer style) from a 3D model in a orthogonal view, like a AOV?

8 bit or 16 bit, similar to the "Grab Doc" command in Zbrush?

Many thanks

Paolo

[madsd]

You can do it in multiple ways.

- Z-Depth like you mention straigh up/down.
- Ramp over v channel and use as texture input on emission, this way you can also control the curve and the displacement texture can be scaled internally over the entire distance which is 0-1 where 1 is the top of the highest mountain.

[giandosopaolo]

The second option seems the best. I hoped there was a "normalized" zdepth pass in 8 bit hidden somewhere but this is also very doable thanks :}