■ Exporting Directly from ZBrush to Maya Using GoZ 297successful when combined with displacement maps. See the section “Applying Bump Maps in
Maya” later in this chapter for more information.
Normal Maps
Normal maps are similar to bump maps in that they do not alter the profiles but they offer
more realistic shading on the surface details. While bump maps perturb the surface normal,
a normal map replaces it entirely with an RGB value. This vector value can represent the X,
Y, and Z coordinates of the surface normal of the high-res mesh and allows for highly real-
istic detailed surfaces but won’t affect the low-poly faceting of the shape’s edges. Normal
maps are used heavily in video game applications.
Exporting Directly from ZBrush to Maya Using GoZ
GoZ is a new toolset within ZBrush that creates a seamless connection between ZBrush
and your 3D application of choice. As of this writing, GoZ supports a link with Cinema 4D,
modo, 3ds Max, and Maya, with more application support in development. GoZ allows you
to transfer your work to and from your 3D modeling and rendering application with a single
button press. All maps are sent from ZBrush to the application and any changes made in the
application can be transferred back to ZBrush. We covered GoZ for modeling in Chapter 3,
“Designing a Character Bust,” but now we will examine GoZ as a pipeline rendering tool.
Installing GoZ
GoZ comes preinstalled with ZBrush. All you have to do to enable it is to click the GoZ but-
ton. ZBrush will run through, looking for all the applications that are capable of connect-
ing with it through the GoZ plugin. When you encounter an app that ZBrush cannot find,
it will give you the option to browse to its location or select Not Installed. So if you do not
have, say, 3ds Max installed on your machine, select Not Installed. This installer will copy
scripts into a common folder for the 3D application to use. This will require that you use
administrator privileges on your machine during the install.
Exporting to Maya Using GoZ
In this section we will look at how to export a mesh with color, displacement, and normal
maps to Maya using GoZ.
We will begin by loading a new ZTool and generating color maps from polypaint as
well as displacement and normal maps from the high-res details. GoZ will automatically
export any active texture maps with the mesh and link them correctly in the Maya shader
network.
- From the accompanying DVD, load the ZTool alienForGoz.ztl. This is a ZBrush sculpt
with multiple subtools, polypaint, and high-resolution details applied. - Generate a color map from the polypaint following the steps detailed in Chapter 5,
“Texture Painting.” Any maps you have created and applied to the model will export
to Maya with the mesh and be correctly linked in the Maya shader. When the map fin-
ishes generating, make sure it is loaded in the Tool → Texture slot (Figure 9.3).