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[Solved] Sculpting from normal map


philnolan3d
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I made a normal map texture for a client and he wanted it on an object for renders.That was fine and done but now he wants to 3D print the object so he can actually feel the texture.  Is there some way I can use the normal  map to get real depth on the object? I thought there was a way, maybe with the smart textures, but I don't remember.

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You have a Sculpt mesh where you did the sculpt for normal map baking ?

Bake into Scene Microvertex could help, but need to export high resolution mesh to keep details.

Millions of polygon is internally what 3DC is going to use to create the displacement map.  Multiply the texture width by the texture height to get the minimum number of polygons needed to create the displacement map.

2k x 2k map would equal 4 million polygons.

Display mesh resolution-- 3DC will auto decide the subdivision level for the bake. You can choose other sizes but you should subdivide the model for displacement creation.

You can still export the low polygon model from the paint room.

image.png

bake_settings.PNG

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I don't have a sculpted mesh that I started with. I did a 3d scan of a bracelet to get the texture and in 3DC I duplicated it a bunch of times then baked that onto a single polygon to get a flat normal map that I could tile in LightWave. Now I need to apply that to the model that I made in LightWave. But it needs to have actual depth.

gold_nmap_tile.png

 

This is what the render looked like from LightWave. I just need to to give it real depth.

normal_deform.jpg

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Have you tried exporting the depth information from the paint layers as a Displacement Map (Paint Room > Textures menu > Export > Displacement Map of Visible Layers), then applying that displacement map to a high poly version of your model in Lightwave?

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3 minutes ago, Fluffy said:

Have you tried exporting the depth information from the paint layers as a Displacement Map (Paint Room > Textures menu > Export > Displacement Map of Visible Layers), then applying that displacement map to a high poly version of your model in Lightwave?

 I have not. I will try that, thank you.

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I don't use Lightwave myself but according to this post from the Newtek forums

Quote

In layout go to File>Save>Save Trans Object

This will save out your object as it is seen in layout.

you can save out the visible geometry as seen in layout (so assuming Lightwave is capable of displaying displacement maps on models in the viewport it should be possible to export the displaced geometry).

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Oh yes, Save Transforned is very common, we actually learned that back in school. I just have to get it displaced first. Thanks.

That's actually what I was trying to do before with the Normal map, but it wasn't displacing, so I thought maybe there was a way to do it in 3DC. Maybe with an actual displacement map it will work.

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Import model in Surface sculpt mode, subdivide as desire.

Switch to Paint room > Use fill tool > Fill w/freeze = on

Pattern Type > Add custom, select your texture > Fill Layer

Switch back to Sculpt room, use Noise tool to add details.

 

 

 

Noise.jpg

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Oh wow, that did the trick. I never would've though of going to the Paint room and freezing. Actually the Noise tool didn't fill it evenly but i just used Absolute and painted it on. I just wish I could make the freezing invisible so I could see where I'm painting for sure.

Noise:
normal_freeze_01.jpg

Absolute:
normal_freeze_02.jpg

 

Edit: Oh wait, after some more experimenting I can make the Noise work, Just have to put both sides of the curve at the top and set the dropdown box to Normal.

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  • Carlosan changed the title to [Solved] Sculpting from normal map

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