Turn ground object into a height map image file?

RexRed

I have a uniquely shaped landscape plane in DAZ and I would like to export it as an image file so i can load it into ultra scenery.

What is the easiest way to do this?

I was thinking about using Bryce, clearing my scene in Daz and opening it in Bryce and seeing if I could load it into the landscape editor but I thought I would ask first.

Is there a way I an just export or save a ground plane object scene subset as a jpg heightmap?

(I tried Bryce, it did not recognize it as a native landscape.)

WendyLuvsCatz

maybe render a depth canvas from above?

RexRed

Thanks for the response Wendy!

Hmmm, that sounds difficult, I would need to get the lighting right. I wonder if bringing it into Photoshop as a .obj might be easier.

A .dem exporter would be nice but I am not sure how I would convert a .dem into a bitmap/jpg either.

 

I just found this:

Generating Height Maps in Photoshop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw1c_duc4Cg

 

chris-2599934

RexRed said:

Thanks for the response Wendy!

Hmmm, that sounds difficult, I would need to get the lighting right.

Lighting is irrelevant to Iray depth canvases, you could do one with no lights at all. See my tutorial on how to make one.

I think the difficulty you might have with that approach is the distortions introduced by perspective, but it's worth a try.

RexRed

 

chris-2599934 said:

Lighting is irrelevant to Iray depth canvases, you could do one with no lights at all. See my tutorial on how to make one.

I think the difficulty you might have with that approach is the distortions introduced by perspective, but it's worth a try.

That is an amazing tutorial Chris, thanks for sharing it! :)

Gordig

chris-2599934 said:

RexRed said:

Thanks for the response Wendy!

Hmmm, that sounds difficult, I would need to get the lighting right.

Lighting is irrelevant to Iray depth canvases, you could do one with no lights at all. See my tutorial on how to make one.

I think the difficulty you might have with that approach is the distortions introduced by perspective, but it's worth a try.

Would turning the camera's perspective off make it better?

Sevrin

The depth map you will get will be in a very narrow range of grey tones.  You'll need to use at least one curves layer to expand it to something useful for Ultrascenery.