Does anybody know how to set up the groupings for v4 in zbrush based on its material groups? IE when I ctrl click on the face, the ears and back of head are still visible. Those areas belong to the torso material group. I tried exporting her from poser into zbrush with all different export settings but still no luck. Basically I want it split up like this - limbs, torso, face. So when I ctrl click torso, limbs and face are invisible. So when I create displacemnt map, I have for torso only. See vid below. Sixus doesn't show how he grouped via materials in zbrush, so if anybody can tell me how to do that then I'm all good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2pAKTDEDxI

Attached Link: Displacement maps for Daz figures

cool, will give it  go..

I remapped v4 into an 8192 map with face, body, and limbs in in there own quadrant.

In other words you might have the face in the upper right and the limbs in the lower left etc. This provides you then with a complete 4096 map of each material/map group that you can edit in photoshop.

Works very well for me

But wouldn't your all-in-one map have to be cropped before applying to the model in poser? eg face section just for the face?

Absolutly, You would have to bring it into photoshop and break it into the individual maps. But Z Brush can only use 1 map at a time. By creating 1 large map you can work on the complete model, generate your displacement maps as a complete model, it greatly simplifies things.

I ve been working with this same issue for several years now and have found this to be the best solution Ive found so far.

I have found that if I dont generate one complete disp map, I will end up with seams at various locations. Displacement maps will show up any varience.

Also I have found that the new ZBr2 is much better at generating large disp maps, it seems to use memory more efficiently

I have found after years of screwing around with this, the very best and ultimatly easiest solution is to take the base mesh v4milwom, remap it this way, I use Lithunwrap its free and I find it is 1000 x better than uvmapper.

Yes you will have to do all custom sculpting in ZB without the benefits of Poser dials, but you end up with a superior finished model that will export morph tagets into Poser perfectly.

You can use an unwelded v4 from poser, but I got sick and tired of trying to work around seams

Quote - I remapped v4 into an 8192 map with face, body, and limbs in in there own quadrant.

In other words you might have the face in the upper right and the limbs in the lower left etc. This provides you then with a complete 4096 map of each material/map group that you can edit in photoshop.

Works very well for me

Can you post a tutorial of how to do this method? Aswell as exporting from zbrush, if possible. I will try this method and the conventional one. Thanks for this alternative workflow.

Here's one method. Works for me.
There's an option in Tools>UV Map>UV Map Border. Set that a "10" or above gives results that should eliminate the seams that Zbrush produces on meshes like V4.

I really dont have time to make up a whole tutorial on this right now, I'm trying to finish a project. It is much easier to do this with V4 exported out of Poser unwelded because you have body part names to work with. Using lithunwrap or uvmapper(maywork Im not sure) You go in select all the body parts that belong grouped together, invert your selection and hide. What your left are the components you just grouped, with these selected you scale them to .50 then move them out of the way so you can work with the rest of your model, continue to do this so that you end up with all the face components isolated and scaled to 50%, then all the limb components isolated and scaled to 50% etc. You then take each grouping as a whole and position each in its respective quadrant doesnt matter where each goes.

Then save the model and save the map. Litunwrap will export a max 4096map

so I bring it into PS and resample to 8192. Use this model to work with in ZB.

If you crease the model before sudividing and avoid using the smooth brush around seams this should work ok

Thanks man. Just checked out the vid. Looks like there are many interesting ways to achieving the same result. Awesome..

The one major difference though is that when you work with one whole map for everything, you can do all your seam matches with zbrush, you can inflate your model against the map so that it takes on all the texture of the map etc.

Nice..:) I will definately try this method. Infact I will try all the ones mentioned above just so I can understand various methods of material grouping. Thanks for all your help guys:)

Ok I am all sorted. Howerver I get small line at the seams when I create high displacement across two material groups. Both groups have the same displacement settings in the material room. Any idea how to eliminate this? My v4 has been exported with weld at seams. Lower displacement effects come out perfect, its just when I go extreme I see the line at the seams.

It might be coming from "fix seams" if your using it.

You may try not using fix seams and see if that helps.

Fix seams creates a ribboned pattern at the seam which works fine for color but the changes in brightness will effect the displacement map. I know this seems weird since its outside the perimeter of the map, but it still effects it

also you have to have perfect  positioning of your maps when you prepare them for Poser. I place a copy of the "lined map" under my color maps, then zoom in so that I can make a 1 pixel verticle and 1 pixel horizontal cross hair. Then when you copy your map over to your poser map file you reduce opacity so you see the lined map underneath and line up to the same pixel. Its gotta be accurate to 1 pixel.

Photoshop has a handy tool for this a 1 pixel selection line

I use "weld at seams" on export from poser because without it, the mesh breaks up at the seams in z-brush after sub-division. If there is an alternative fix for that then please let me know. Could it also be because I am not saving my displacements at a high pixel count? Would saving it at like 4000 pixels perhaps solve it? Also I checked my alignment of my maps, they are precise.

I'm not sure what to tell you. I output mine from ZBrush at 8192x 8192 then break that apart for Poser which gives me maps at 4096x4096. You might try setting Displacement bounds in Poser render settings to .o1

When you generate your map from ZB are you doing the intire model at once? and break it apart in PS

No..The models UV has been regrouped to match v4' materials on export. Eg face, torso and limbs. So when I export a displacement map, it alignes perfectly with the colour map if I drop the opacity in photoshop. I will check my displacement bounds settings. But I am going to do a few more variations, and will post screenshots if the problem persists. Thanks again for all your help.

Quote - also you have to have perfect  positioning of your maps when you prepare them for Poser. I place a copy of the "lined map" under my color maps, then zoom in so that I can make a 1 pixel verticle and 1 pixel horizontal cross hair. Then when you copy your map over to your poser map file you reduce opacity so you see the lined map underneath and line up to the same pixel. Its gotta be accurate to 1 pixel.

Photoshop has a handy tool for this a 1 pixel selection line

Why not use the Image>Canvas size... command in PS. Set the origin to a corner, set the units to percent, enter 50% and it should crop exactly; save as, undo and go on to the next segment. You could make an action for this.

Problem at the seams has been solved. The pixel count I used at first was too low. saving UV at around 4000 fixed the problem:)