Overview of sculpting with maps

 
 
 

You can apply a Ptex file or an image file as a displacement map to sculpt the surface of your model in Mudbox.

If you’re applying an image map, the model must have well-defined UV texture coordinates. (See UVs overview and Prepare a model for sculpting.) If the target mesh has no texture coordinates, you can use Ptex to sculpt the surface, however the topology of the target model must match the topology in the Ptex file.

Mudbox supports displacement maps of 8, 16, and 32-bit images. For best results, use displacement maps that are 16-bit or 32-bit floating point as they better represent the fine details on a sculpted model. See also Image bit depth and texture extraction.

Sculpting with displacement maps lets you:

TipPre-subdivide the target model (that will receive the displacement map) to a sufficient level. The map detail can appear soft or blurred if there is not enough resolution in the target model. If you are applying a displacement map from an earlier version of Mudbox (1.0.7 or earlier), pre-subdivide the base model to the same subdivision level (or as close as possible) as the model you extracted from before applying the map. This process can take a few iterations.

Related topics

Sculpt using a displacement map

Sculpt using a vector displacement map

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