the sculpting tool iamcresay refered to is in mesh > sculpt geometry tool > []

there are ways to use it in the maya tutorials
(i suggest you go take a look at those)

i just read the first page of that dudes tutorial and he's got the theory pretty much right. I'm not sure that you would call a vector a line though :p but thats not really important for artists i guess

your book must be really old if it doesnt have anything about normal maps. i dont remember who it was or when they developed normal maps ( I did know last year..) but i know it wasn't around when the playstation 2 came about

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that's a "Ch" pronounced as a "K"

Computer skills I should have:
Objective C, C#, Java, MEL. Python, C++, XML, JavaScript, XSLT, HTML, SQL, CSS, FXScript, Clips, SOAR, ActionScript, OpenGL, DirectX
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This is not a line it is a vector the 2 things are different i study maths @ the university :p

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Art Director
www.sevenbullsgames.com

I will look at those tutorials about the sculpting tool, if I find a good one!

I think I have a basic understanding of what a normal map is and what it does but I don't get what is the difference between normals and an easy bump map?

by the way: Isn't it a bit "bad" to use normals in a movie, because it just "simulates" the detail geometry which doesn't exist, right?

the difference between bump and normal other than bump being monochrome and normal being colour is the efficiency of calculation

normals maps are basically just bump maps but they have been through the step of calculating the angle of the normal. this preprocessing stage saves on valuable calculation time and thus makes it a better alternative to bump mapping in GAMES

why you would use it for a movie... hmm... that's actually a good one, you would use it, to be easy on your computer so it doesn't have to do so much if it were all just polygons

you can use displacement maps. those are monochrome maps but they actually raise the surface. it's not an illusion like normal and bump maps. displacement maps take a lot more effort to use (i've yet to use one without it distorting either the model or the colour of the model), but are worth it if you get right.

you can make displacement maps from zbrush too

technically, since a movie is prerendered you can go all out on the polycount, provided the computer can handle it.
since your objects aren't animated i don't see why a high concentration of polys would be a problem. sculpt something in zbrush, import the high res mesh into maya, and you'll probably be almost done... although, Maya, being a truely 3D program wont take as kindly to a 10 million polygon mesh as zbrush can. (zbrush isn't a 3D program, it's a 2.5D program)
so yeah, you will want normal and displacement maps, if you want something to the detail of those reference pictures you posted earlier

also, since you are rendering for a movie you'll be prerendering scenes and compositing your live footage with it. it would be best for you to learn about render layers (or render passes as they should be called i think?)

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that's a "Ch" pronounced as a "K"

Computer skills I should have:
Objective C, C#, Java, MEL. Python, C++, XML, JavaScript, XSLT, HTML, SQL, CSS, FXScript, Clips, SOAR, ActionScript, OpenGL, DirectX
Maya, XSI, Photoshop, AfterEffects, Motion, Illustrator, Flash, Swift3D

I hate to be the barer of bad news, but there's a lot to cover if you wan't to make it look convincing. You said you didn't know about bump mapping so you probably don't know about UV mapping which in this case is quite crucial. You're going to have to lay out UVs to make sure your textures don't stretch and pinch.

The scratch you speak of is a seam. Think of it like trying to wrap a pic of the world map around a can of soup. You'll see where the edges meet if the info near one edge doesn't pick up exactly where the last one finished.

Edit: spelling correction :x

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- Genny
__________________
::|| My CG Blog ||::
::|| My Maya FAQ ||::

Like GecT said it's a lot of material and you better start reading and working.

Good luck with it

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Art Director
www.sevenbullsgames.com

In the POLYGON MENU set....

MESH > SCULPT GEOMETRY TOOL

Hey there,

yeah i recognized, that it could get hard for me... I can't even get a good normal map out of zbrush... I think it has something to do with the UVs. Well, I read the UV part in my book and then I will write back.
I also found some cool stuff about global illumination, which could get my cave into the right lightmood.

greets, kimsay

Don't try to bake normal maps with Zmapper ... it just can get a good normal map or just don't work for me fine ... Download Xnormal and read the manual. Make the normal map with Xnormal just my XP shows that Xnormal bakes normal map perfect for Maya to use it.
If you bake a normal map from Zbrush sometimes you need to flip the green channel because in Maya that channel is flipped compared to Zbrush.




But 1st read and learn how to UV layout !!!!! VERY IMPORTANT !

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Art Director
www.sevenbullsgames.com

Hi!

I read the UV chapter in my book and I made a good looking UV via the UV Editor in maya. I saved the model as an OBJ. Imported it into ZB and edited it a bit. But the same! Zmapper doesn't make a good normal map texture, only some stupid stuff and xnormal says, that the low poly model is invalid because it has no texture coords assigned! Please Export them.

Don't know what to do ?! a bit confused I am

OK!
Solved the problem by initializing zb. Now xnormal mada a real normal map but I think the UV I made in Maya isn't that good or why is it looking so crappy again?

Attached Thumbnails

Originally posted by kimsay
OK!
Solved the problem by initializing zb. Now xnormal mada a real normal map but I think the UV I made in Maya isn't that good or why is it looking so crappy again?

Originally Posted by

...because you are trying to run before you can walk?

hmm you are absolutley right!
well anyway a learned a lot with zbrush, not bad at all. I think I will make some scene which is easier to model.

want to know what to do?
start from the beginning

it sounds like you've jumped ahead to something that's more advanced than your level of understanding

start from the beginning... open up the maya tutorials about texture mapping. watch that link to mike's texturing video, watch the other video about texturing here (free one about a door?)

how old is that book you're reading from?

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that's a "Ch" pronounced as a "K"

Computer skills I should have:
Objective C, C#, Java, MEL. Python, C++, XML, JavaScript, XSLT, HTML, SQL, CSS, FXScript, Clips, SOAR, ActionScript, OpenGL, DirectX
Maya, XSI, Photoshop, AfterEffects, Motion, Illustrator, Flash, Swift3D