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is the height map in xnormal what we call the displacement map?
June 1, 2010 - 9:06am
- 4723 reads
hi ,, for some reason i hav to use other app rather than zbrush for creating displacement map ... and i tried the height map from xnormal(always thought the height map in xnormal was displacement map just with different name), but map turned out to be not right...
just wanna know can i get displacement map out of xnormal?? do i use height map in xnormal for that?? how come the output map doesnt seem right???
what i done was in your "no" section then, jogshy. maybe i should be more specific and tell you what i m plan 2 do.
i m gonna finish the model in zbrush, then retopo in another app then UV(the new topo is meant for in game use, i just need the displace map for some reason),.. i m planning not to use all quad for my retopo, which means it might not be good to bring the new geo back to zbrush and use that as the lowest sudiv, so to think on the safe side, i was wondering if xnormal could also do a displacement map for me just like other maps i used xnormal for ....
so in this case, can i get displacement map from xnormal??like the one make from zbrush?
Just pass the lowpoly a bit subdivided, it does not need strictly to be the highpoly subdivided down. It can be completely different model ( although you'll loose the MatchUV feature's benefits in that case ).
If you pass the lowpoly not subdivided you'll get some strange edge artifacts ( unless you're using tessellation/parallax and not true subdivision in your 3D engine ).
Yes, they are the same IF you pass the lowpoly already subdivided to xNormal ( just 1 or 2 times, don't pass a subdiv 6 or xNormal will explode! remember lowpoly == not many polygons ! )
No, they won't be the same IF you pass the lowpoly unsubdivided. If you pass the lowpoly unsibdivided you'll notice there are like "edges" painted over the resulting output map.
xNormal just computes the height map as the signed distance between the lowpoly and the highpoly model following the cage/normal direction. Nothing more and nothing less.
I don't automatically subdivide the lowpoly model because there are techniques like parallax mapping or my DX10 tessellation implementation that require tessellated meshes. Notice that tessellation != subdivision.
Btw, if you are using vector displacement maps(VDM aka "direction map") for a DX11 engine I recommend you to use the MatchUV feature because it's more precise and you usually don't need to setup a cage. See the "spiked ball" example for more info.
I hope it helps.
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