Render what's in the viewport to texture in Softimage (Is this even possible?)

[synergy11]

Hey folks, I have an interesting problem here and I am curious to find out if this is possible.

I have a model (high poly) I created that I want to render to a 1024x1024 texture so that I can reapply it to a polygon plane to then reconstruct a larger plant using the planes. (Low poly)

http://img853.imageshack.us/i/rendertotexture.jpg/

I would like to use this technique to build branches for my low poly trees and bushes. So that I don't have to paint and warp each leaf in photoshop to create the illusion of leaves pointing in different directions.

What settings would I use to get the proper look. I just want the diffuse and shadow information.

I was reading up on Softimage's rendermap but I'm pretty sure that is not what I need to use.

Any help would be great!

Thanks.

Chris.

[cryrid]

Ultimapper would be what you'd normally want to transfer information from a high-poly object to a low-poly (textures, normals, AO, etc). For something like this though, since you just want it on a plane (and don't seem to want a normal map?), you could probably just do a normal render and set the Pass Output Resolution to 1024x1024 with a pixel ratio of 1. Pick a format that has an alpha channel (.pic, targa, psd, etc) and that should be created as well.

[synergy11]

Ok good so it can work!

Great, so how would you suggest setting up the lights and the render. I want a flat render that does not add and brightness to my texture?

Thanks for you reply!

Chris.

[cryrid]

Do you want any lighting/shadow added, or just the color information from the texture you're using to be baked? If you just want the pure texture, give it a 'constant' material.

(If you're using Ultimapper, I think albedo only takes into account the texture, not the scene lights or mateiral)

[synergy11]

Great thanks. I'll give it a try.

If I did want to get the normals as well, could I bake the model (see first image) to a flat plane? Ultimapper would give me a color map, normal map, and alpha map? In this case it would take into account the shadows being cast in my scene?

Nice website by the way. Those models are nice. Is the human model in your header one of your works as well?

[cryrid]

If I did want to get the normals as well, could I bake the model (see first image) to a flat plane? Ultimapper would give me a color map, normal map, and alpha map? In this case it would take into account the shadows being cast in my scene?
It will give you a color map + alpha, and a normal map. It wont take into account shadows or lights however. If you want the shadows included, again I think it would just be easier to render a single frame and use that for the diffuse color.

Thanks, and yup (it was mostly a test at using Zbrush's Zapplink)