Baking normal map problem.

polybob

I am trying to figure out how to bake High-poly model "details" to low-poly model normal map.

3ds Max 2012 (PU12)
XNormal
XoliulShader 2


Tried baking normalmap in 3ds max (Scanline renderer) with same result.

High Poly





Low Poly (Hard Edges)



Normal map



Low Poly+Normal map



Has anybody an advice for me?

Psyk0

Make your bevels way chunkier and add a lot more edge padding when baking.

polybob

Hi Psyk0, I have already tried these things with no success.

Psyk0

Your edge padding looks ridiculously small, make sure you are using the outpout map from your hard drive and not the preview window. Also, adding smoothing groups will give a tiny seam and shouldn't be n noticeable unless you zoom in insanely close like you are doing right now.

MrOneTwo

Yeah those are something you have to live with (as far as I know). Even with 1 smoothing group and synced normal map I get those seems where I split the uvs. I would like to be proven wrong because I really want to see perfectly normal mapped object but I thing you can't get rid of it.

EarthQuake

Solution: Don't zoom in 100x closer to your asset than you would ever see it in game. At normal viewing distance(your first lowpoly shot) it looks perfect.

You'll always get visible seams along uv borders if you zoom in far enough or if your texture resolution is low enough.

CrazyButcher

what EQ said, however if you want better quality of normalmap display then use 3pointshader with "quality normals" combined with 3dsmax baking the tangentspace map.

with these extreme angles you will always get issues if baker and realtime display are not synchronized (think of encoding/decoding). Despite all tangentspace maps looking "blueish" there is various minor flavors, so that encoder/decoder mismatches can happen
http://pixeljetstream.blogspot.de/2012/06/tangent-space-can-cost-extra-money.html

polybob

So looks like I'll have to live with it. Thanks to all who took the time to help.

polybob

James Ordner

Are you using a cage? Because your low poly has hard edges, the rays from the bake may be missing some of the rounded corners without a cage. If you are, you'll just have to live with it. Beveling your low-poly's edges and setting the entire mesh to one smoothing group will help. Modern game engines can more than handle the small number of polys added by beveling sharp edges, and the increase in quality is more than worth it.