Configuration Options
From ZBrush Info
Below is a set DE options for a single DE configuration. The title (name) of each option is given in light lettering on a darker background, and the value of that option is the underlined text to the right.
Each option has a certain number of values it can take (for example, the Smooth option can be Yes or No, while the Channel(s) option can be 1 or 3). Click on an option to cycle through its allowable values.
You will not be able to change a configuration’s options unless the configuration’s Status button is on.
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Configuration Options Layout
It’s easier to understand the configuration options panel if it’s considered as an upper half and a lower half. The upper half consists of various options affecting the exported file as a whole, while the bottom half consists of three pairs of settings, one pair for each of (up to) three channels in the output file. Visually, the grouping is like this:
With the possible exception of Scale, the options in the top half are fairly simple, so we’ll start with brief descriptions of them.
File Options
- Channels: Determines the number of channels in the output TIFF file. Possible values are 1 and 3. If the value is 1, then the settings that for channel 2 and channel 3 do not apply and will be disabled.
- Bits: The resolution of each channel. If Bits is 16 while Channels is 3, then the output file will contain three channels, each with sixteen bits. Allowable values are 8, 16, and 32 Float
- Vertical Flip: Yes or No. If it is Yes, then the output image will be flipped vertically, which is necessary when importing into some other programs.
- Smooth: Applies a slight smoothing algorithm to the alpha before exporting it. This may be useful depending on how the alpha was created.
- Seamless: Set this to Yes if Smooth is Yes and the alpha is intended for use in a seamless tiling. It ensures that when smoothing done at an edge is done with consideration of the same point on the opposite edge, so that edge artifacts are not generated by the smoothing process.
- Scale: Scales the intensity range of the alpha in various ways. Allowable values are Auto, A.D. Factor, Auto+A.D.F., and Off.
- Auto: Adjusts the contrast of the alpha to maximize the intensity difference between light and dark values. Many of the alphas you will work with or generate in ZBrush are automatically contrast-maximized, and in such cases you will not see a difference.
The effect of the Auto setting also takes into account the range of values in the AlphaAdjust curve (found in the Alpha palette) and of the baseline intensity of the alpha. These settings will affect the range of values over which the alpha is scaled.
- A.D. Factor: Adjusts the alpha contrast taking into account value in the Alpha Depth Factor slider, which is found at the bottom of the Alpha palette in the main ZBrush interface. Depending on the circumstances, the alpha depth factor many not have an effect on the alpha, even if this setting is on.
- Auto+A.D.F. : Adjusts the alpha using both Auto scaling and the alpha depth factor.
- Off: No adjustment is made to the alpha.
Per Channel Options
Each channel has two settings, identical across the channels; Range and Res.
Channel Range
The allowable values for Range are Full Range, Positive, Negative, Baseline, and Zero.
- Full Range is used when creating a displacement map for a program that calculates displacements from a single grayscale map. Such programs typically use a 50% gray to indicate no displacement, and lighter or darker shades to indicate displacements in to or out from the original surface.
- Positive or Negative. Other programs might use two grayscale images and combine them to produce a full displacement map. One image indicates positive displacements, i.e. displacements coming out from the object’s surface, while the other image gives the negative displacements, going into the surface. When Range is Positive, the channel will be adjusted so that it includes only positive displacements from the original alpha, and similarly, Negative causes the channel to include only negative displacements.
- Baseline causes the channel to have a single intensity throughout, which is the baseline (no displacement) intensity. In ZBrush, this will normally be a 50% gray. This can be used to pass the baseline value to an external program
- Zero causes the alpha to be black (all pixels 0). This can be useful when there is a need to visually check the generated image file or to edit by hand, as 12 unused channels can be set to black so they do not affect the viewed data in unpredictable ways.
Channel Resolution
The Res setting is normally set to Full. Its other two possible values, Major and Minor, are used only when you want to achieve the quality of 16 bit displacement maps while working with a program that uses only 8 bit displacement maps. If you do not work with such a program, you do not need to read the next section.
Major and Minor Channel Resolutions
DE allows easy application of 16 bit displacements to external applications supporting only 8-bit displacements, by generating two files, a “major” file and a “minor” file. The major file contains 8 bits of data that represent the large displacements, and is applied to your external program first, with an appropriate scaling factor. If you were using displacement maps to generate a mountain range, this would cause all of the mountains and valleys to appear, but there wouldn’t be much in the way of detail, and the slopes might have a bit of a “stairstep” appearance, due to the low bit depth of the displacement map.
The minor file is then applied in a second displacement pass, using a much smaller scaling factor; it fills in the details by making smaller adjustments to each previously displaced area.
