displacement

VDB as displacement / December 9, 2021 by Xuan Prada

The sphere is the surface that needs to be deformed by the presence of the cones. The surface can't be modified in any way, we need to stick to its topology and shape. We want to do this dynamically just using a displacement map but of course we don't want to sculpt the details by hand, as the animation might change at any time and we would have to re-sculpt again.

The cones are growing from frame 0 to 60 and moving around randomly.

I'm adding a for each connected piece and inside the loop adding an edit to increase the volume of the original cones a little bit.

Just select all in the group field, and set the transform space to local origin by connectivity, so each cone scales from it's own center.

Add a vdb from polygons, set it to distance VDB and add some resolution, it doesn't need to be super high.

Then I just cache the VDB sequence.

Create an attribute from volume to pass the Cd attribute from the vdb cache to the sphere.

To visualize it better you can just add a visualizer mapped to the attribute.

In shading, create an user data float and read the Cd attribute and connect it to the displacement.

If you are looking for the opposite effect, you can easily invert the displacement map.

Detailing digi doubles using generic humans / October 24, 2021 by Xuan Prada

This is probably the last video of the year, let's see about that.

This time is all about getting your concept sculpts into the pipeline. To do this, we are going to use a generic humanoid, usually provided by your visual effects studio. This generic humanoid would have perfect topology, great uv mapping, some standard skin shaders, isolation maps to control different areas, grooming templates, etc.

This workflow will speed drastically the way you approach digital doubles or any other humanoid character, like this zombie here.

In this video we will focus mainly on wrapping a generic character around any concep sculpt to get a model that can be used for rigging, animation, lookdev, cfx, etc. And once we have that, we will re-project back all the details from the sculpt and we will apply high resolution displacement maps to get all the fine details like skin pores, wrinkles, skin imperfections, etc.

The video is about 2 hours long and we can use this character in the future to do some other videos about character/creature work.

All the info on my Patreon site.

Thanks!

Xuan.

Dealing with Ptex displacement / September 22, 2015 by Xuan Prada

What if you are working with Ptex but need to do some kind of Zbrush displacement work?
How can you render that?

As you probably now, Zbrush doesn't support Ptex. I'm not a super fan of Ptex (but I will be soon) but sometimes I do not have time or simply I don't want to make proper UV mapping. Then, if Zbrush doesn't export Ptex and my assets don't have any sort of UV coordinates, can't I use Ptex at all for my displacement information?

Yes, you can use Ptex.

In this image below, I have a detailed 3D scan which has been processed in Meshlab to reduce the crazy amount of polygons.

Now I have imported the model via obj in Zbrush. Only 500.000 polys but it looks great though.
We are going to be using Zbrush to create a very quick retopology for this demo. We could use Maya or Modo to create a production ready model.

Using the Zremesher tool which is great for some type of retopology tasks, we get this low res model. Good enough for our purpose here.

Next step would be exporting both model, high and low resolution as .obj
We are going to use these models in Mudbox to create our Ptex based displacement. Yes, Mudbox does support Ptex.
Once imported keep both of them visible.

Export displacement maps. Have a look in the image below at the options you need to tweak.
Basically you need to activate Ptex displacement, 32bits, the texel resolution, etc)

To setup your displacement setup in Maya and Vray just follow the 32 bits displacement rule.

And that's it. You should be able to render your Zbrush details using Ptex now.

Combining Zbrush and Mari displacement maps / June 7, 2015 by Xuan Prada

Short and sweet (hopefully).
It seems to be quite a normal topic these days. Mari and Zbrush are commonly used by texture artists. Combining displacement maps in look-dev is a must.

I'll be using Maya and Arnold for this demo but any 3D software and renderer is welcome to use the same workflow.

Using Zbrush displacements is no brainer. Just export them as 32 bit .exr and that's it. Set your render subdivisions in Arnold and leave the default settings for displacement. Zero value is always 0 and height should be 1 to match your Zbrush sculpt.

These are the maps that I'm using. First the Zbrush map and below the Mari map.

No displacement at all in this render. This is just the base geometry.

In this render I'm only using the Zbrush displacement.

In order to combine Zbrush displacement maps and Mari displacement maps you need to normalise the ranges. If you use the same range your Mari displacement would be huge compared with the Zbrush one.
Using a multiply node is so easy to control the strength of the Mari displacement. Connect the map to the input1 and play with the values in the input2.

To mix both displacement maps you can use an average node. Connect the Zbrush map to the input0 and the Mari map (multiply node) to the input1.

The average node can't be connected straight o the displacement node. Use ramp node with the average node connected to it's color and then connect the ramp to the displacement default input.

In this render I'm combining both, Zbrush map and Mari map.

In this other example I'm about to combine two displacements using a mask. I'll be using a Zbrush displacement as general displacement, and then I'm going to use a mask painted in Mari to reveal another displacement painted in Mari as well.
As mask I'm going to use the same symbol that I used before as displacement 2.
And as new displacement I'm going to use a procedural map painted in Mari.

The first thing to do is exactly the same operation that we did before. Control the strength of the Mari's displacement using a multiply node.

Then use another multiply node with the Mari's map (multiply) connected to it's input1 and the mask connected to it's input2. This will reveal the Mari's displacement only in the white areas of the mask.

And the rest is exactly the same as we did before. Connect the Zbrush displacement to the input0 of the average node and the Mari's displacement (multiply) to the input1 of the average node. Then the average node to the ramp's color and the ramp to the displacement default input.
This is the final render.

Clarisse UV interpolation / April 8, 2015 by Xuan Prada

When subdividing models in Clarisse for rendering displacement maps, the software subdivides both geometry and UVs. Sometimes we might need to subdivide only the mesh but keeping the UVs as they are originally.

This depends on production requirements and obviously on how the displacement maps were extracted from Zbrush or any other sculpting package.

If you don't need to subdivide the UVs first of all you should extract the displacement map with the option SmoothUV turned off.
Then in Clarisse, select the option UV Interpolation Linear.

By default Clarisse sets the UVs to Smooth.

Zbrush displacement in Clarisse / January 12, 2015 by Xuan Prada

This is a very quick guide to set-up Zbrush displacements in Clarisse.
As usually, the most important thing is to extract the displacement map from Zbrush correctly. To do so just check my previous post about this procedure.

Once your displacement maps are exported follow this mini tutorial.

In order to keep everything tidy and clean I will put all the stuff related with this tutorial inside a new context called "hand".
In this case I imported the base geometry and created a standard shader with a gray color.
I'm just using a very simple Image Based Lighting set-up.

Then I created a map file and a displacement node. Rename everything to keep it tidy.

Select the displacement texture for the hand and set-up the image to raw/linear. (I'm using 32bit .exr files).

In the displacement node set the bounding box to something like 1 to start with.
Add the displacement map to the front value, leave the value to 1m (which is not actually 1m, its like a global unit), and set the front offset to 0.

Finally add the displacement node to the geometry.

That's it. Render and you will get a nice displacement.

If you are still working with 16 bits displacement maps, remember to set-up the displacement node offset to 0.5 and play with the value until you find the correct behaviour.

Vector displacement in Modo / April 22, 2014 by Xuan Prada

Another quick entry with my tips&tricks for Modo.
This time I’m going to write about setting up Mudbox’s vector displacements in Modo.

Check your displacement in Mudbox and clean your layer stack as much as you can. This will make faster the extraction process.

The extraction process is very simple. Just select your low and high resolution meshes.
Set the vector space to Absolute if you asset is a static element, like props or environments.
Set the vector space to Relative if your asset will be deformed. Like characters.
Always use 32 bit images.

As I said export the maps using EXR 32 bits.

Before moving to Modo or any other 3D package, check your maps in Nuke.

Once in Modo, select your asset and go to the geometry options.
Check Linear UVs and set the render subdivision level.

Assign a new shader to your asset.

Add a new texture layer with your vector displacement map.
Set it up ass Displacement Effect.
Set the low and high value to 0 and 100.
You will see a displacement preview in viewport.

Set the gamma to 1.0 Remember that 32bit images shouldn’t be gamma corrected using Linear Workflow.

In the shader options set the Displacement Distance to 1m this should give you the same result than Mudbox.

In the render options you can control the displacement rate, which is your displacement quality more or less.
1.0 is fine, play with that. Lower values will give you sharper results but will need more time to render.

Finally render a quick test to see if everything looks as expected.

Zbrush displacement in Modo / March 29, 2014 by Xuan Prada

Another of those steps that I need to do when I’m working on any kind of vfx project and I consider “a must”.
This is how I set up my Zbrush displacements in Modo.

Once you have finished your sculpting work in Zbrush, with all the layers activated go to the lowest subdivision level.

Go to the morph target panel, click on StoreMT and import your base geometry. Omit this step if you started your model in Zbrush.

Once the morph targer is created, you will se it in viewport. Go back to your sculpted mesh by clicking on the switch button.

Export all the displacement maps using the multi map exporter. I would recommend you to use always 32bit maps.
Check my settings to export the maps. The most important parameters are scale and intensity. Scale should be 1 and intensity will be calculated automatically.

Check the maps in Nuke and use the roto paint tool to fix small issues.

Once in Modo, import your original asset. Select your asset in the item list and check linear uvs and set the amount of subdivisions that you want to use.

Assign a new shader to your asset, add the displacement texture as texture layer and set the effect as displacement.
Low value and high value should be set to 0 and 100.

In the gamma texture options, set the value to 1.0
We are working in a linear workflow, which means that scalar textures don’t need to be gamma corrected.

In the shader options, go to the surface normal options and use 1m as value for the displacement distance. If you are using 32bit displacements this value should be the standard.

Finally in the render options, play with the displacement rate to increase the quality of your displacement maps.
0.5 to 1 are welcome. Lower values are great but take more time to render, so be careful.

Render a displacement checker to see if everything works fine.

Zbrush insufficent memory error! / December 7, 2013 by Xuan Prada

You have probably experienced this error a few times already, haven’t you?
It is quite common specially when you are working with huge assets.

It happened to me last week a lot of times when working with a 40 UDIM asset and trying to export a 32 bit displacement maps.
My machine couldn’t handle it and Zbrush started to giving error saying “Insufficent memory error”.

If this happens to you and don’t know how to extract your displacement maps out of Zbrush, don’t worry, this small trick could help you.

Execute Zbrush using your root account in Mac or Administrador account in Windows.
In Windows just right click on the Zbrush icon and select “run as administrator”.
In Mac start a terminar and logging as root.
Then execute Zbrush.

Then in Zbrush go to Preferences -> Mem and increase the Compact Memory.

That’s it. It should work now.
Unfortunately this trick only worked for me with simple displacement, but it didn’t work with vector displacement :(

Zbrush to Maya and Vray 2.0 / December 1, 2013 by Xuan Prada

I know how tricky can be sometimes to make your Zbrush displacements look great outside Zbrush.
Maya, Softimage, Vray, Renderman or Arnold, just to name a few treat Zbrush displacements in a different way.
Let me explain to you my way to export displacement from Zbrush to Maya and Vray 2.0

- First of all, if you are working with a final asset you will have to export your displacement using your base geometry imported in Zbrush. If you did the scult from scratch in Zbrush you may want to export your lowest subdivision mesh, create a good uv mapping and re-project your sculpted detail in that mesh.
If this is the case, check this.

Go to the lowest subdivision level.

Turn off all your layers.

Export as .obj

This is the object that you are about to render. If you had imported a base mesh before, you won’t need to export it again, it would be in your 3D application already.
Go back to the highest subdivision level.

Turn on all your layers.

Go down to the lowest subdivision level.

Store a new morph target and import the previous exported .obj or your original base mesh from your 3D application.

Your sculpted model will be substituted by the original mesh with no sculpt information.
Click on switch morph target to activate again your sculpted mesh.
You are ready to export the displacement maps, just check my settings below for 16 bits, 32 bits and vector displacement.

Finally to set-up your shaders and render settings for Zbrush displacements in Maya and Vray 2.0 check my previous post about it.

Projecting details in Zbrush / August 18, 2013 by Xuan Prada

Export the lowest subdivision model.

Export the highest resolution model.

Work on the uv mapping using the lowest resolution model.

Go back to Zbrush and import the high resolution model.

Now import the low resolution model.

Select the high resolution model and go to Subtool -> Insert -> and select the low resolution model.

Once inserted you will see both models overlapped in the viewport.

You need to be complete sure that only the two models that you’re interest on are shown. All the additional stuff that you would have in your zbrush scene should be hidden.
Select the low resolution model and subdivide it as much as you need.

Store a Morph Target so you can always come back to the starting point in case that you need it in the near future. (and you will).

With the low model selected go to Subtool -> Project -> Project All
The most important parameters are Distance and PA Blur. Try to use low values as Distance and keep blur to 0. This is a trial and error process. Default distance value is a really good starting point.

Once the projecting process is done, check your model.

If you find big errors in the mesh try to use a Morph brush to reveal your original mesh. Remember that we stored a Morph Target while ago. Revealing the original model you can easily remove projection artifacts and sculpt quick fixes.

You are ready to export the displacement maps for this model. Just select the low resolution model and go back to the lowest subdivision level.

Check the screenshots to see the parameters that I’m using for 16bits 32bits and vector displacement.

Check the final displacement maps.

You can watch a detailed video tutorial with all these steps here, only available in Spanish.

Si quieres puede ver aquí un videotutorial con todos estos pasos y explicaciones más detalladas.

Zbrush displacement in V-Ray for Maya / February 10, 2013 by Xuan Prada

It is always a bit tricky to set up Zbrush displacements in the different render engines.
If you recently moved from Mental Ray or another engine to V-Ray for Maya, maybe you should know a few things about displacement maps extracted from Zbrush.

I wrote down here a simple example of my workflow dealing with that kind of maps and V-Ray.

First of all drag and drop your 16 bits displacement to the displacement channel inside the shading group attributes.
Maya will create a displacement node for you in the hypershade. Don’t worry to much about this node, you don’t need to change anything there.

Select your geometry and add a V-Ray extra attribute to control the subdivisions and displacement properties.
If you exported your displacement subdividing the UV’s, you should check that property in the V-Ray attributes.
Edge lenght and Max subdivs are the most important parameter. Play with them until reach nice results.
Displacement amount is the strength of your displacement and displacement shift sould be half negative than your displacement amount if you are using 16 bits textures.

If you are using 32 bits .exr textures, the displacement shift should be 0 (zero).

Select your 32 bits .exr file and add a V-Ray attribute called allow negative colors.

Render and check that your displacement is looking good.

I’ve been using these displacement maps. 16 bits and 32 bits.

xuan prada