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Texture To Mesh


stevej
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Hi all. I'm looking for a tool/process to convert normal or displacement maps back into to a mesh. I ran across the following article regarding the process using ZBrush. I was wondering if a similar process is possible in 3D-Coat (as it would save me quite a few dollars).

 

http://www.surlybird.com/tutorials/textogeometry/index.html

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Hi!

 

 

Unless Andrew has added a new feature, I'm pretty sure this is not possible. I think it would make a really good feature for 3DC. =) I'll put this up on Mantis.

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Hi!

 

 

Unless Andrew has added a new feature, I'm pretty sure this is not possible. I think it would make a really good feature for 3DC. =) I'll put this up on Mantis.

 

I was pretty surprised at how difficult it was to find a tool to do this - definitely seems useful. I thought there might even be something standalone, but it doesn't look like it. I'm hoping to use the process to just create simple geometry to sit underneath decal textures in games.

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I can't quite follow. Most mesh modellers allow you to apply a displacement map to a subdivided mesh and to actually bake the displacement into,

also free ones like Blender (here one would just use a Displace Modifier and load the image).

It's actually a very straightforward process, also in Zbrush (the tutorial you refer to is made for a version of Zbrush which is about 10 years old!).

One can do so with a tiling map and a plane or on arbitrarily complex object but matching UV's are required for the latter.

 

In 3DCoat one of the possible processes was File / Import / ImagePlane. You could deform more complex objects with UV's by importing to the Paint workspace

and importing a matching Displacement map through Textures / Import / Displacement Map. Afterwards the result can be exported out as a HiPoly mesh.

 

If you are looking for a specialized tool for just this purpose there's quite a few options, including Artcam or RhinoEmboss (a plugin for Rhino).

Edited by polyxo
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Your title is somewhat confusing. "Texture to Mesh"

 

Are you just looking to create a normal map which only needs a single plane to create the illusion of depth. Of course more polygons can be use.

 

A displacement map needs a large amount of quad polygons to displace the polygons from the greyscale height image.

 

The article covers creating depth details in the above fashion.

3DC has no problems creating depth details like the article... There a few ways to go about it...

Edited by digman
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What the OP is talking about, is importing a map (normal or displacement), applying it to a mesh, then exporting that displaced mesh out with all of the details as actual geometry.

 

 

Modo can do this by freezing the displaced mesh.

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Javis, got a question...

 

3DC can export a high polygon mesh from a height map using MV mode. It sounds though that you are saying that you create a true low polygon mesh based off the height map by freezing the displaced mesh in Modo. Is this assumption correct?

Edited by digman
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Hi all. I'm looking for a tool/process to convert normal or displacement maps back into to a mesh. I ran across the following article regarding the process using ZBrush. I was wondering if a similar process is possible in 3D-Coat (as it would save me quite a few dollars).

 

http://www.surlybird.com/tutorials/textogeometry/index.html

If you have a base mesh, and want to use a displacement map to deform the object, then export the displaced mesh, that is totally doable in 3D Coat.

 

FILE > IMPORT > Microvertex Painting

 

TEXTURES > IMPORT > Displacement Map

 

FILE > EXPORT > Hi-Poly mesh (try the first option before the others, because it will likely be dense enough and the others could bog your system down)

 

This video shows this process...in order to take image map sculpting done in the Paint Room, into the Voxel Room....so you can carry all that work into the Voxel Room to use the advanced tools there, if you prefer.

 

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Thanks for all the tips guys - I'll try everything out.

 

@Javis - it's interesting that you mention modo as that's my current modelling package. I've been discussing this same topic on their forum and have a couple of things to try there too.

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Javis, got a question...

 

3DC can export a high polygon mesh from a height map using MV mode. It sounds though that you are saying that you create a true low polygon mesh based off the height map by freezing the displaced mesh in Modo. Is this assumption correct?

 

Hey man!

 

I haven't used MV mode in a while, so I'm not really sure how that room functions these days.

 

Basically you have your low poly mesh and an existing texture map that displaces the surface. If you see the results in the render window or preview in Modo, you can freeze the mesh you see, exactly as it is in the render or preview. It wont be a low poly mesh, but rather a pretty high poly one.

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Thanks for all the tips guys - I'll try everything out.

 

@Javis - it's interesting that you mention modo as that's my current modelling package. I've been discussing this same topic on their forum and have a couple of things to try there too.

 

Cool! Modo and 3DC go hand in hand. A great combination. :)

 

If I remember right, to freeze displacement it's under Geometry>Freeze, which brings up a prompt. There should be a tick box there for freezing displacements, deformations, etc..

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