ZBrush ZMazpper Problem - Things Turn Out Reversed

[Tom Burns]

Hello:

I posted this question on ZBrush Central and CGTalk.com bust so far I have not found a solution to my problem.

Which is:


Despite the fact that I am using the 3dsmax8modifiedE.zmp custom configuration, my Normal maps seem to be "reversed" (see screenshot). I have tried other ZMapper presets and the same thing seems to be happening.

The normals from the original Max model are all in the correct orientation so I know it's not a flipped normals problem. I am dead certain on this point. Beyond that, I am lost.

Things like the pitting in the stone surface seem to be appearing correctly but things like the direction of the gently "bowed-out" flatter surfaces seem to be "bowing-in". I am terribly confused as to what I am doing wrong.

Can someone please help out a non-technically-minded newbie to ZBrush?

Thank you in advance.

Oh, I am using:



ZBrush 3.1

3DS Max 9

[shadowmonkey]

when you say normals in max I take it you mean the face normals of the mesh?
it looks like the Y need inverting not sure if there is function in zmapper for this.
Try inverting the Y layer information in photoshop.

as maph explains about the prob Ace-Angel had with xnormal
http://www.gameartisans.org/forums/showthread.php?t=10831

also this thread might help http://forum.mentalimages.com/archive/index.php/t-5617.html

[Ace-Angel]

Yep, ingenious bastards over at Autodesk flipped the Y channel. Most programs don't have these issues apparently (including ShaderFX).

And thanks to Shadow here and Maph, was able to understand it better...

[shadowmonkey]

No worries Ace I would have been banging my head for weeks if I hadnt found out about it from a xnormal tutorial.

[Ace-Angel]

Also, Santiago was generous enough to give a quick run-through of most used programs and how they interpret Normals, in his Doc file with Xn.