Hello,

I got ZBrush 2 some days ago, and I am really impressed with the possibilities. The image uses a Zbrush generated displacement map and texture on the DAZ M3 Tunic. The different look of the metal and leather where done with a complex P5 shader tree.
There is only one problem: A 8 bit grayscale has only 256 shades of gray, to little to get really smooth displacements. Zbrush exports 16 bit, but Poser uses only 8., I assume because the Image node only supports 8. The effect can be seen on the armor scales.

Does anybody know a program that can separate the upper and lower 8 bits of a 16 bit TIFF and save them as two 8 bit bitmaps? I assume it would be possible to recombine them to 16 bit values with math nodes (that seem to use more than 8 bit) in Poser.

Stefan

Impressive, most impressive... :)

That makes up my mind, I am getting ZBrush 2. That program is rocking.

Stewer would know more about this than I would, but I'm excited about the possibility of working in Poser with a LOW res versions of Mike or Don, and just applying a Zbrush displacement map to give them the hi-res details. I don't know if you'd be able to do that without being able to utilize the 16 bit maps, but if it worked, then that would be most incredible. Same thing with Vicki. Think of working with a low res vicki in the P5 environment (how much faster workflow would be) but come rendertime, your displacement map made in Zbrush would add the hi-res details to the model. Something like that could open a whole new world of possibilities with P5. This is possible in other programs with Normals mapping, and might work here as well.

Ok, I figured out a way around the 8 bit problem. I will write a tutorial as soon as I find the time, but that are the basic steps: Open the 16 bit tiff in Photoshop and save in RAW fromat, ignoring all warnings. Open the RAW file. In the dialog that appears tell photoshop that it has two interlaced bit channels. You have now a file with two channels, one containing the lower and one the upper 8 bits. Add one empty channel and change the mode into RGB. Save as this file. In Poser load this file in a Image node. Plug this node in 2 component nodes, setting the component in first node to 0 and in second to 1. With math nodes divide the second node with 256 and add that the first. Subtract 0,5 from the Sum (because Zbrush uses 50% gray as neutral and Poser uses 0). Plug that in displacement.

The jaggies still there are caused by the fact that I did my Zbrush model at a bit low resolution: Only 450000 Polys.

Stefan

The shader:

Credit to Michael 2, TJS Muscle Maps and Quinlor's 16-bit solution from Photoshop (image 50% jpeg quality, and the skull bone should be under the muscle, but what the hey) -- Poser 5, of course.

Okay, now THAT is scaaaary...

Cool thread. Yes displacements rock antonfindmelater

This is really cool. How much is ZBrush again?

Wow this is pretty exciting_having just got ZBrush2 this is a great tip. Does anyone here know whether DAZ Studio intends to support displacement mapping and if so at what bit-rate? (I must go and ask over there but thought some-one here might know?)

The jaggies still there are caused by the fact that I did my Zbrush model at a bit low resolution: Only 450000 Polys Ouch ... just checking to see if that might be a typo and that perhaps you meant 45000? Considering that the Millenium 3 figures are about 20-25% that size, 450,000 would be "hi res" in Poser's eyes. Still -- this is one of the most intriguing aspects of ZBrush 2, and one that I will DEFINITELY be playing with very soon. 8-)

Want another cool ZBrush 2 new feature recommendation? After you load or create an object, check out the Tool > Deformations > Smart Resym option. It will add symmetry back to models that are out of symmetry. I tested it on P5 Judy's face and it worked remarkably well. 8-)

Hi Deecy, the 450000 polys where the Zbrush hi-res mesh I used to create the displacement map, in poser I use the original DAZ mesh with the displacement map applied. 450000 would be the death of poser. Zbrush would be able to handle much bigger meshes, but I got a memory problem, because I am still on Win Me. You need big meshes in Zbrush to create smooth displacement maps. With this maps you can add the details to the low res models in Poser (even V3 could qualify as low res in this context). And thank you for the tip, that will be useful, for doing morphs and for other things. Stefan

AKmaterialroombookmark

Sorry, but I'm a mite confused about how to handle the whole RAW thing in Photoshop. Specifically: "Open the 16 bit tiff in Photoshop and save in RAW fromat, ignoring all warnings. Open the RAW file. In the dialog that appears tell photoshop that it has two interlaced bit channels. You have now a file with two channels, one containing the lower and one the upper 8 bits. Add one empty channel and change the mode into RGB. Save as this file." #1: If I tell it that it has two interlaced channels it gives me a warning that this is smaller than the original file, and ends up looking like a TV image that has lost the vertical hold. #2: "Save as this file" - in what format? TIFF, TGA, RAW,what? #3: If this is for distribution, where it really should be a jpg file, is this method moot, anyway?

Hmmm ... Poser also reads PNG files, which can hold alpha information. I wonder if that would work?

#1 - load in as width and height of the original image, count 2, interlaced, 8 bit. #2 - Any format - doesn't matter. I save as jpg. #3 - see 2 above.

Okay, I need a more in-depth explaination here... I took a 16 bit tiff of the map I'm working on (on the left), and saved it as a RAW, interleaved. I loaded it as the correct height and width, count 2, interleaved, and it looks like the image on the right. Ergo, what happened?

Are you using Photoshop? PaintShop Pro won't do the same trick.

I'm using Photoshop 6. Do I need 7 or CS to pull this off?

I'm using 7. Did you use the parameters I listed above in #1 when opening the RAW file?

Yep. The correct height and width, count 2, interleaved.

Mmmmm, well something very strange is happening. You can email me the original file if you like and I can convert it.

Eh, it's not quite finished, yet. And I'd rather figger out how to do it myself in case of future scenarios... But thanks, anyway!