trying to match vrayDisplacementModifier scale effects when applying same displacement map to mesh in zbrush to bake out geometry for fluid sim

[dangerweenie]

Hi there -

Can anyone tell me what the exact math is that the vray displacement modifier is doing to the incoming displacement map when rendering a mesh in maya? Or, better yet, any techniques or workflow on how to bake out the displacement effect onto hi-res geometry?

The map is 16-bit , in maya the vray displacement modifier is applying an offset of -10 and a scale of 20 (which is standard for 16 bit images, i understand)

unfortunately, i believe zbrush is expecting a 32 bit displacement map and/or lacks the same controls as the vray displacement modifier in maya. generally this workflow goes in the opposite direction, which is a bit ironic.

ive tried a bit of the renormalization math in earnest, but its a bit beyond me. to normalize the min/max 16 bit values to a 32bit image, as well as simply converting to a linear 32 bit EXR for zbrush, but i cant seem to get a good match.


any help is greatly appreciated.

thanks!

[Morbid Angel]

what kind of map is it? i believe you can apply 16 bit map just the same in zbrush as you can in maya / vray. With that said you need a proxy geo for fluid sim you can use texture deformer in maya and displace the mesh that way which is essentially same with offset and value, then you can export the high res to zb for decimation.

[dangerweenie]

thanks for the reply.

i neede dto apply the displacement in zbrush, not maya. i was able to get it in the neighborhood but not perfect. zbrush has a max scale of 8 so it needed to be lined up to that.