How do you bake a disp map from a voxel model to a low poly model?

[indigosm]

I apologize for asking this, but i've looked ALL over the forums and I've fiddle with the app for hours and hours and just can't get it to export a proper displacement map and so I'm just curious what I'm doing wrong.... Here's the case :

-i've got a voxel model

-i've got a low poly model created in another app.

when I import the low poly model, it's lying exactly on top of the voxel model, so it's in the correct position and it's definitely bringing in the uvs with no problem, so those two important necessities are working fine... Here's the techniques i've tried and so far all have failed.

1 :

-load voxel VB scene

-go to retopo view

-fire toolbar-->retopo-->import and choose my low poly model

-fire toolbar-->retopo-->merge into scene per pixel

-click on paint tab

-fire toolbar-->texture baking tool and tell it to export a disp map.

When I do this, the disp map does get exported, but it's mostly covered in a flat grey and it looks like it's tracing to both the low poly and high poly models and that's of course, something you don't want it to do... I want it to not trace and hit the low poly model, of course... Also, if I try to export out a normal map using this same texture baking menu, it'll be just as error prone as the displacement map, so obviously I'm doing something wrong.

2 :

-load voxel VB scene

-go to retopo view

-fire toolbar-->retopo-->import and choose my low poly model

-fire toolbar-->retopo-->bake texture and bake the disp

When I click ok, nothing happens. (so apparently, the part of the application that's expecting a low poly model isn't actually seeing the retopo one..??)

3 :

-load voxel VB scene

-go to paint view

-fire toolbar-->file-->import-->model for pixel painting

I was thinking that importing the model through the retopo menu might be what was breaking the disp bake because it was thus accidentally storing the low poly model in the scene twice somehow, so I figured I'd try this instead, but this is obviously wrong because if I use that import feature, it deletes all the voxel data from the scene.

One last note.. I have successfully generated a normal map before, but it's not from using the texture baking tool. The texture baking tool has two problems. A : it's tracing to both the LP and HP models and that's wrong. B : it's writing out a world space normal map, even though I'm explicitly telling it to write out a tangentspace normal map. So either I'm completely confused, or that texture baking tool seems very broken. What DOES work properly is if I press the toolbar-->retopo-->merge for pixelpainting with normal map button. that creates an error free tangentspace normal map... (but of course, it doesn't create any displacement maps)

So what am I doing wrong? ...and thanks in advance....

ps.the official docs probably need to be updated because I couldn't find any useful information on this topic there or anywhere in any of the forums.

pps. btw, this app's just beyond amazing... I've been in the computer art industry for almost 13 years now and getting to sculpt in voxels blows my mind..

[digman]

Hi, I been out of town for the holidays so would have answered this sooner.

I have posted a bug report about this but till it's resolves here is what you can do.

1. When merging your imported low polygon model into the voxel room for voxel detailing choose not to keep the scale. If you keep the scale then displacement mapping will not work at least not on my version (windows non-cuda 32 bit)

If you have already sculpted a high detail model out of your low polygon model then export from the voxel tree menu the voxel model as a obj file. Then in a new scene merge the voxel model but do not keep the scale.

Next in the retopo room import your low polygon model with the uvs. If your low polygon model is smaller than the voxel model use the transform tool to increase the size.You can also snap the low polygon to the high detail model if the voxel extrusions are not to extreme. The voxel extrusions can not be too extreme, you will get pieces of the model missing on the exteme edges. There is a few ways to work with a low polygon model from the start but I havn't the spare time to put a tutorial togther.

Next choose merging into scene (microvetices) and choose a high sudvision level.

Once that is done, Now you can use the texture baking tool for a displacment map either from the retopo room or the paint room.

3dcoat does make nice displacement maps. I just need to send Andrew a video of where the problem lies so he can clearly see what is happening in the problem with displacment mapping.

I have a few more detailed post about this but can't seem to find them at the moment. I hope this helps you.