7.19.09__Alright....now we are getting somewhere!

Ok...the problem with the displacement map was a single option that I needed to turn off. It was smooth target model. I had it on for every extraction from mudbox. I turned it off and the map seems ok, the only problem now is that it doesn't render. I get about a few minutes in and it crashes. I get the mental ray out of memory and it stops the render. I looked at some threads on this issue and I followed them completely and now the render crashes Maya. Now I know that everything works....I just need to find the right options in Maya so I can get this done.

7.14.09__Still the same!!

So I am having the same issues as before. I redid my UV's using Maya instead of UV layout. I had some normals that were flipped. Then I went into Mudbox to do a test, made the map, brought it over to Maya, and rendered. My displacement looks huge, and some of it is cutoff. I am starting to wonder if the texture size is off, or if there are some setting issues in Maya that need to be changed. I am going to figure this out....I have to....my style of modeling depends on it.

After looking at the maps in Photoshop, it looks like the problem is either the way it is unwrapped or Mudbox. The displacement map shows the cutoff.....I don't know what the problem is, I have done this for characters, and never had a problem, know I'm doing a hard surface and nothing works.

I took the obj file into Zbrush; did a test. Its very obvious that the displacement file is much larger. When rendered in Maya I was missing some scatches.....because they were so big they didn't even show up. I don't know why. I Mudbox I set it up as 2048x2048. Is there a way to set it up in Maya so it is the same size. I will keep plugging away.

7.8.09__UV's.....what to do about them!

I have the finished displacement map, and I have everything set up right, but there is something off. I think its the UV map, my displacement shows up fine, but some of the detail looks large and some of it is cutoff. I have always assumed that when you unwrap something and put it in a sculpting package; once you create your displacment, it will put the detail according to the uv's. Now with that said, it shouldn't matter how the uv's are layed out....I have them done and when it goes back on my model you would think that it would turn out right. I guess after all this time, I just don't know them like I thought I did. I used UV layout and I did each panel separately, like using a planar projection.

7.7.09__Yeaaaaah....Progress

Ok, finally. I got the displacement map working. I created the displacement map in mudbox using the openEXR file. Used that inside of maya with all of the settings that I had....and....presto....it renders without any errors. Now that was on my test model. Now I need to do this with the main model. I will keep posting all of my results.

7.7.09__Glichy

So after looking at some posts and getting some feedback. The .tif problem was due to lzw compression setting. So I turned it off, or I thought I did. It still gives me a problem rendering. So I am just opening the .tif file in Photoshop and resaving the file without compression. When I render now, the model subdivides, but doesn't show the displacement. So some of it is working. My new issue is that Maya is giving me a C++ runtime error. It closes Maya out, it does it half way through my render. I will just keep plugging away at it, and keep hitting the forums until I can find the solution.

I might have solved the problem with the .tif. After I resaved, I then converted to a .map file. That worked, but now I am getting runtime errors while I am rendering. I am almost over the hump. As soon as I can figure this out, this will open all the doors for me. I can't move on to any other projects until I get the displacement map issue right. Since my style is hyper real and I use digital sculpting to add detail; the displacement maps have to work before I can proceed.

7.6.09__Issues and more issues

Well, I decided to redo some of the UV's, I'm guessing that is half of my problem. I did two different types. Redid it using UV Layout, and then used Maya's automatic mapping. Another problem is that I keep watching all these tutorials, and everyone makes it seem so easy. 32 bit Floating point RGB.tif displacement, bam, it renders. Maya gives me an error saying...."chestTestDisplacement.tif: file format subtype or version not supported." So, I saw another tutorial telling me to use the convertfile.bat file from zbrushcentral(I think)and convert the .tif file to a .map file. Problem, it won't convert it. I get a flash from the command window, and nothing is created. So I am really pulling my hair out. This project was suppose to take a day or two, look nice, and be a fun one to do. Its been a week and I am back to where I started.

7.5.09__Some MINOR issues!

This is the beginning post of my new model that I am working on for my portfolio. I thought this would be an easy model to work on; pretty basic, but like everything that I do, it is getting complicated and I am having issues. I created this treasure chest in Maya. Did the UV's in UV Layout. Took the low poly model and added some extra edges to it so it will hold the shape in Mudbox. Exported to Mudbox. Then did the sculpting. Created the displacement map the way that everyone has been suggesting(32 bit floating point, RGB.tif). Afterwards, I created the shading network in Maya(again, using what I saw in the tutorials from "The Area,"(thanks Wayne). When I render I get all kinds of opacity, most of the model is see through, and the displacement map doesn't show up. I then converted the .tif file to a .map file, still nothing. I redid the displacement as an .exr. It shows up in Maya, with some opacity, but the map doesn't match up like the mudbox file, it looks inverted. So, I then reversed the normals of the model, still the same. So the last thing I did was use the .obj file from Mudbox(the Level 0 model), still the same result. I am thinking that there is something wrong with the displacement map(don't know what it is), and there might be an issue with the UV layout(its...driving me insane).