As I 'm not an English native speaker, I'll try my best to make my question clear.
Due to the project that I'm currently working at, I have to use vector displacement map rather than displacement map.
And if anyone ever uses or has to mess with all the setting in zbrush multi map exporter, and also is a maya user like myself, with the setting in zbrush, and all the setting for different nodes in maya, you got like a million possibility to try out.
I try to put together all the bits I found and learned from all the youtube video and post from all sorts of forum and blog. Well, being a pain in the ass like vector displacement itself, of course it still doesn't add up.
So if anyone has already had a working workflow and setting for all the steps, I really appreciated if you share your knowledge with me and all the others might just looking for an complete guide step by step tutorials as well.
I'm using mtoa 2.1.0, maya 2018, running on windows 10.
1. the number of zbrush import/export setting of vector displacement
2. multi map exporter vector displacement setting
3. in maya, the setting for the ObjectShape under arnold-subdivision tab and displacement attributes tab.(specifically adaptative space, uv smoothing mode, and whether or not I should check the smooth tangents box)
4. in hypershade, the file node setting. (do I need a color correct node? if yes, what are the setting)
5. the connection from file node to displacement shader
6. the displacement shader's setting. displacement value,ratio,vector space,bounds padding,auto bump?displacement mode, etc.(if you can explain the differences between adjusting the displacement result from the shader and from the object's arnold attributes, that'd be very helpful)
If I was missing anything, please fill it up.
Solved! Go to Solution.
Solved by daniel.xiaohong. Go to Solution.
Hello Daniel,
I had this discussion before and I got it to work pretty flawlessly with Zbrush 7 but zbrush 8 is a whole nother story. This guide that Lee Griggs pointer out has old instructions. Their temple to get right number to export the vector is outdated. There is something different about how Zbrush exports in Zbrush 8. If you get the right number from Zbrush then this link will help with Arnold.
https://support.solidangle.com/display/A5AFMUG/Vector+Displacement
TED
I follow the same old method( Lee Griggs). It works fine in my zbrush 8. I am using 47 value for arnold 2.0.1 and OBJECT vector displacement mode.
Thers no issue if object animates, it does not affect the texture. Tangent mode is still under RnD.
Hey,
I spent a little time on this and seems that Arnold 5 isn't as good with tangent space vector displacement. I went through all the setting in zBrush for world space and tangent space. Then I took my model into mudbox to compare the displacement maps. For world space the number is 47 and they match pretty exact. But tangent space doesn't produce good results for both mudbox or zBrush. Here are my results.
Its not working with Zbrush 8. Object and world space is good but Tengent space is not working.vdm-check.jpeg
with the release of zbrush 2018, Now I finally cracked this problem.
here is the solution:
software and plugins used, maya 2018, arnold 2.1.0, zbrush 2018
zbrush vector displacement map export setting number: 7
this time the diagnostic file created from zbrush 2018 was correctly render in this particular version of arnold, and the number of a perfect sphere is 7.
zbrush multi map exporter setting: 16bit tif file. vd SUV, vd Snormal(disable vd Tangent)
it seems pretty obvious that if the diagnostic file render correctly, it's much more guarantee to work if it's the same thing.
maya node setting: file node color space set to raw, displacement ratio 0.5
do notice that the displacement ratio value does not have to be 0.5. you can test a bunch of different value to see what suit you the best, in my case, the when i set it to 0.5, it looks almost exactly like displacement map that i previously tested(but with displacement map, once the geometry is animated, the displacement map loss all effect on the geometry, that's why I have to use vector displacement map)
hope that'll help anyone who is looking for an answer.
You need 32bit map for more detail and accurce map, you not need use zb diagnostic if you use arnold VectorMap node, becouse his make flip axis direction.
Using vd SUV or not depends on how you subdivide geometry in zbrush or render engine... If you have deformation asset, exporting with vd Tangent, if static use vd Object.
Mid parameter in multimap export/ displacement, you can set any value depending on the scale or desire of asset. Also this value need set in Scalar Zero Value in displacement parameters in arnold render or another render engine...
Hi guys, bringing back to this topic, is the tangent Vector displacement fixed on Arnold 6? I was doing some testing and object works perfect but still I have problems with tangent. Any thoughts? thanks
Arnold Vector Displacement Tangent space worked well in my testing in the latest Arnold.
Here is whats worked for me from ZBrush.
World - 47 FlipAndSwitch
MtoA - 25 Tangent FlipAndSwitch
HtoA - 41 Tangent FlipAndSwitch
So, 47 worked for World in MtoA and HtoA both.
If you use Maya displacement shader, then 25 will give you the correct result, but if you use aiVectorMap you have to go with 41.
hey @yuto yamada,
I am going with default settings in ZBrush, just changing Tangent FlipAndSwitch value, here are the settings.
Tangent FlipAndSwitch value 25
Let me know if anything is unclear or anything else you are looking for.
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