ZBrush Tip: Accurate ZBrush Displacement Baking Workflow

Bake displacement maps correctly so your renders match your sculpt—without guesswork.

Pre-flight checklist

• Create clean UVs (no overlaps/tears). UDIMs are fine; keep consistent texel density.
• Keep a proper subdivision stack: lowest level for render mesh, highest for detail.
• Confirm world scale before export. Consistent scale avoids extreme displacement values.
• If you used DynaMesh, retopologize and project details to a multi-subdivision mesh first.

Baking settings in ZBrush

• Go to the lowest SubDiv level of your model.
• Tool > Displacement Map:
  • 32Bit: ON for EXR workflows (preferred for film/VFX). If using 16-bit, set Mid to 0.5.
  • Adaptive: ON to capture sharp transitions.
  • DPSubPix: 1–2 for extra sampling (watch memory).
  • SmoothUV: Match your renderer’s “smooth on subdiv” behavior. If your renderer smooths UVs during subdivision/tessellation, enable this; otherwise leave OFF.
  • Scale/Intensity: After “Create DispMap,” note the Scale/Intensity value ZBrush reports—use it in your DCC/renderer.
• Map size: 4K is a good start; scale with asset needs and camera distance.
• Export: EXR (32-bit) for linear, unclamped data; TIFF/PSD (16-bit) only when EXR isn’t supported.
• UDIMs: Use Multi Map Exporter for tiled sets; enable UDIM naming. FlipV as needed for your target app.

Renderer setup quick guides

• Arnold:
  • Subdivision: Catclark 2–4; enable Auto Bump if desired.
  • Displacement Height/Scale: Match ZBrush Scale/Intensity. Keep Bounds/Padding generous to prevent clipping.
  • 32-bit EXR: Ensure linear (no gamma) and no color space transforms.
• V-Ray:
  • VRayDisplacementMod: 3D mapping; Subdivision/Tessellation enabled.
  • Amount = ZBrush Scale. For 16-bit maps with Mid 0.5, set Shift to -0.5 × Amount. For 32-bit EXR, Shift typically 0.
  • Keep Continuity ON to avoid seams.
• Redshift:
  • Enable Tessellation and Displacement on the mesh.
  • Displacement Scale = ZBrush Scale. Use Object space; Auto-Bump can help micro detail.
  • Load EXR in linear color; no gamma.

Troubleshooting by symptom

• Puffy/ballooning: Mid value/Shift wrong, or UV smoothing mismatch. Verify 0.5 mid for 16-bit; SmoothUV parity.
• Flat/no effect: Scale too low or displacement disabled; confirm EXR is linear and the correct map is connected.
• Stepping/grain: Use 32-bit EXR or increase map resolution/DPSubPix; ensure adequate renderer subdivision.
• Seams: Enable Keep Continuity, match SmoothUV, ensure UDIM tile order and tangent basis consistency if mixing normals.

Best practices

• Render a gray-surface test at extreme close-up to validate silhouette and pore fidelity before lookdev.
• Lock your scale early and document Scale/Intensity per asset.
• Use normal maps for mid-frequency detail and displacement for silhouette-critical forms.

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