Convert to File Texture 16 bit?

[smb]

Tiff16 is missing from the file format list when I use Convert to File Texture, even though the documentation indicates that it should be there. All the remaining options seem to be 8-bit. Is it possible to export a 16-bit texture?

In rendering options, I've set the Maya Software image format to Tiff16. is there something else I should be looking at?

I'm searching for the best way to export heightmaps from Maya and have assigned a ramp shader to a surface. Convert to File Texture ought to be the simplest way to export the resulting map, but it needs to be greater than 8-bit.

[sean.heasley · Accepted solution]

Hi @smb

This is a known issue and has been logged to our dev team.

In the meantime there is a workaround to this! Our dev team noted if you use our Turtle plug-in you should be able to achieve this!

You can find our documentation on Turtle here!

Please let me know if this helps or if you need any more assistance!

If one or more of these posts helped answer your question, please click Accept as Solution on the posts that helped you so others in the community can find them easily.

Kudos are greatly appreciated. Everyone likes a thumbs up!

[smb]

Thanks for your reply. Good to know I wasn't imagining this. I ended up using an orthogonal camera and rendering a Z-pass with Arnold, which worked out OK.

On a side note, I do have a question about the Tiff16 format: Is it floating point or integer? One advantage of using Arnold is that I know that I'm getting floating point with a 32-bit rendering.

[sean.heasley]

Hi @smb

If I'm not mistaken Tiff 16 bit is integer while Tiff 32 is floating.

[smb]

OK, thanks. I did try rendering it through Maya Software to Tiff16 with an orthogonal camera and got some banding, so that explains that. Sounds like using Arnold to create a 32-bit depth pass may be the best solution then.

[brurpo]

In great Autodesk fashion, over 6 years later and a known bug is not yet fixed.

[damaggio]

Thanks , that worked well with the ramp node.👍