How to Export Normal Maps from Zbrush 4

http://dnguyenart.blogspot.com/

This video goes over how to export normal maps from Zbrush 4

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Zbrush
• Normal Maps
• 3d
• exporting
• instructions
• tutorial
• computers
• howto
• gaming
• arts
• tips & tricks

[eleszar1]

hmm got a question my model is 3 milion and when i click create a normal map it says turn it to the lowest first. so if i turn to the lower will i have the hightest resolution at my exported map??

[DNguyenArt]

@eleszar1 If you plan on using a displacement map along with a normal map then just got one subdivision lower and it will still let you bake a normal map. If you don't plan on using a displacement map then go down to the subdivision level you wish to use in Maya then export your normal map. My video Displacement Mapping Zbrush to Maya goes over it.

[eleszar1]

is this for: when i have a model of 2 milion polygons and i want to do an animation with my model, i have to export the normal map and load it on my low polygon model so i can have the same result with the hight polygon modeL?? plz reply!!

[DNguyenArt]

@eleszar1 Yes, this technique is typically used for games more then an animated film or short. What you can do though is export a displacement map to get your silhouette, then export a normal map between the 2nd highest and highest subdivision level to get your surface detail. You then can take that into your 3D application and animate that and it should render and look just liked your 2 million polygon ZBrush model.

[OrdoMalleusArchive]

Excellent guide buddy, all the tutorials i have are for 3.1 using Zmapper which is now gone from 4. Thankyou so much again dude.

[Kaelidian]

Dude, while watching this I was looking for my gmail chat cuz I heard the noise lol and was like what who the hell is messaging me didnt see anything and had to watch the video twice to make sure lol.

[KYwhatever]

Hi, thanks for the video =D. So the final output is at a huge 4096pixel, what is the best way to reduce to 1024 or 512? using photoshop? I found out photoshop loses details when reducing sizes using the "image size"..

[ZebastianAsp]

Thank you so much good sir! Been wanting to learn this for a while now :D

[Foxylady87]

Thank you! This is exactly what I needed. :D

[aidentheodd]

@DNguyenArt Great tutorial!! Just one question: for some reason when I hit create normal map, once the normal map has been generated parts of the detail are missing, so when I attach the normal map to my low poly model in Maya, the model has all these random smooth patches where the normal map hasn''t done anything. Do you, or does anyone else reading this know how I can fix this?

[zmemula]

thank you.