Cavity maps without ZBrush

BDelacroix

So, I am looking around and see this thing called a cavity map but its a feature of ZBrush. I've already spent much money on 3DS Max. So I was wondering if anyone here had ideas on creating cavity maps the hard way.

The only way I can think of is to unwrap a texture map and manually shade the cavities. For all I know, that's the only way to do it manually.

[Deleted User]

by cavity map do you mean a bump map or a displacement map?

[Deleted User]

i'd say, it's a displacement or normal map, he'S talking about.

BDelacroix

ZBrush calls them cavity maps. I suppose it appears to be similar to a normal map but it is extracted from the geometry of the object. Rather than making a bitmap and applying it as a normal map, it takes the object and creates a normal map. You can then mess with it to make changes.

It is useful for making dirty objects as it will show exactly where the bumps and corners and scratches and holes are. That's why I had thought the only way to do it would be to make a texture map and paint on it the old fashioned way. Unwrapping complex objects is such a pain.

I will try messing with outputting to a normal map to see if this works.

Howard Day

Behold! This was something made the rounds of our office last week.