Displacement Map Extraction options
For task instructions, see Extract a normal or displacement map.
Expand the following headings to find descriptions of each area in the Extract Texture Maps window.
Target Models
Displays the name of the model to receive the extracted map. The map produced will represent the difference between this model (low resolution) and the source model(s) (high resolution).
The target model is usually the lowest subdivision level of a model with multiple subdivision levels. You can click the displayed subdivision level (next to the target model name) to select a different subdivision level from a drop-down list.
Use the Add All, Add Selected, and Remove buttons to change the model listed as the target.
- Smooth Target Model
- Smooth Target UVs
-
Smooths the positions of interior UVs of the target model during the texture extraction. Smooth Target UVs only smooths when the Smooth Target Model option is on.
This can be useful if your image rendering software (for example, Pixar’s RenderMan®) can smooth the UV texture coordinates on a mesh during rendering to improve the results.
- Use Creases & Hard Edges
-
For target models with creasing or hard edge data (see Import and export objects with creasing and hard edges), lets you set how Mudbox handles the creasing information when extracting texture maps.
When on, Use Creases & Hard Edges affects the operation of other map extraction options. If you are smoothing your target mesh (Smooth Target Models is on), it ensures that the creases are maintained in the smoothed mesh. If you are using Ray Casting, it ensures that vertex normals are used to map the surface together (rather than face normals). If you are creating a normal map, it ensures that the local tangent space calculation takes the creases and edges into account, rather than interpolating smoothly over the model.
Source Models
Lists the model(s) to extract maps from. The source model (high resolution) typically contains the sculpted details to be extracted into the map(s). This model does not require UV texture coordinates.
You can click the displayed subdivision level (next to the source model name) to select a different subdivision level from a drop-down list. Use the Add All, Add Selected, and Remove buttons to change the model listed as the source
Image properties
(Available only when you set Map Type to Texture.)
- Generate one map for all targets
- Generate one map for each target
- Image Size
- Antialiasing
-
When on, improves the quality of the final extracted image map by applying a filter comparison between pixels in the image. Higher values increase the amount of antialiasing that occurs and the time to extract the image map. For initial test extractions, use a small Image Size value and leave the Antialiasing property turned off until you produce a final image.
PTEX resolution options
(Available only when you set Map Type to Ptex.)
Set these options to determine the number of texels in your final map, and how they are distributed across the mesh.
- Uniform
- Based on Face Size
- Based on UV Size
- Use PTEX Setup
-
(Only available when the target mesh is set up for PTEX painting - see Prepare a model for PTEX painting.) Applies the same texel distribution you defined during PTEX setup.
Displacement Map Options
- Normalize to Search Distance
- Preview As Bump Map
-
Automatically imports the generated displacement map as a new paint layer within the Bump Map channel of the assigned material. This lets you preview the displacement map on the selected model(s) and iterate the generated map with different settings if required.
When off, the extracted displacement map is saved to the directory you specify without displaying as a paint layer on the model.
Output options
Available when Map Type is set to Texture:
- Base File Name
-
Enter a name for the extracted map(s). To have Mudbox automatically append the target mesh name to your filename, use the wildcard characters %s.
IMPORTANT:If you are extracting a map for multiple target meshes and Generate a map for each target is on, ensure that you use %s as part of your Base File Name. (Otherwise the map generated for each target will have the same name and overwrite the map output for the previous target.)Click the browse icon
to set save options (including file format) in the Save As window.
- Bits per Channel
- Preview as
Available when Map Type is set to Ptex:
- Include Mesh Data
-
When on (default), Mudbox also saves general data about the mesh (vertex positions, list of faces, and so on) in the output PTEX file. This can be useful if other tools in your pipeline can use this type of PTEX data, for example if you will use a PTEX viewer to inspect the output file. It is recommended that you keep this option on when extracting PTEX files.
- File Name
- Data Format
-
Depending on the type of map (or maps) you're generating, lets you specify the bit depth for the extracted Ptex file. (Options include 8 bit integer, 16 bit integer, 16 bit float, or 32 bit float.) The larger the bit depth you select, the higher the precision in the extracted files, and the larger the file size.