I’ve spent the last year trying to figure out how to make good Blender models. I’ve finally discovered the secret everyone’s been hiding. One word: zbrush.
When I transfer the model to Blender with displacement and normal maps, it doesn’t look as good as in zbrush. For my displacement, I did not use zbrush’s adaptive and smoothuv modes. I’m not sure what they do, so I didn’t use them. Would that improve the quality? Is there a way to make a 100% perfect displacement map?
As a general rule - if it deforms the silhouette / profile use a displacement map. If it is just surface detail - use a normal map. Took me a while to figure that out but it makes sense really.
Smooth UVs is a setting you either want to have off in both Zbrush’s exporter and Blender’s subsurf modifier or on in both. Sometimes the seams line up better than others. Still looking into that.
I’m also keen to get the best translation between both programs, will post more results in my thread as I figure them out.
Thanx - I didn’t realize they had that displacement exporter 3. I have a problem with the 32 bit tif though. I only have GIMP and I can’t change the file to exr. I haven’t tried that sub pixel accuracy thing yet either. I think the main issue is probably that 32 bit thing. I notice banding on my model. Thanks though - your post is very informative!
Was as simple as using google with words like 32 bit, tiff, open exr, that sort of thing. Didn’t take too long. Nice to keep up to date on what the free software alternatives can handle anyway.