HELP GETTING RID OF THE DAMN UV SEAM (Normal Map Seam??)

MonkTiger

Hi, can someone help me with those black lines? I think they are UV seams, im not sure. I've been researching everywhere, however I'm still lost. Thanks!

Macebo

Are you baking the normals in Marmoset Toolbag? Did you aplly smothing groups (3ds Max) or hard/soft edges (Maya) to your low poly before baking?

The issue here is meticulously explained in this thread: http://polycount.com/discussion/107196/youre-making-me-hard-making-sense-of-hard-edges-uvs-normal-maps-and-vertex-counts/p1

MonkTiger

MonkTiger

@Macebo
Hi, thank you for your relpy. I have read the article but It is extremly difficult for me to grasp what they are saying. I used Maya to create the low poly, and high poly was sculpted in ZBrush. 
Basically, my work flow is Maya(low poly creation)-> ZBrush Sculpt -> XNormal Bake

That being said, before I bake normal map, do I soften the edges of the ENTIRE mesh of the low poly? 

Thankyou!

Macebo

Try to bake using a cage inside Xnormal. This method is called "averaged projection" (refer to the article i mentioned). The method you are using, i believe, is without a cage, called "explicit projection", and usually it results in those black lines along the hard edges. 

But before baking using a cage, make sure that there are hard edges where there is an angle superior to 90 degrees and (the golden rule of perfect bakes) to split the uvs along the hard edges, so that no further artifacts appear. 

If you want more visual help, take a look at this tutorial that Leonardo Iezzi put togheter explaining the problem and the possible ways to overcome them: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/nNXyK

The thread i mentioned is important because it explain it in depth, it is important to understand it, it'll make more sense of the baking process and help you to become a better professional

MonkTiger

AHHHHH! I SEE! THANK YOU SO MUCH!

MonkTiger

@Macebo
Thank you so much for your help. I'm only about 4th month into game Dev, and I'm having some serious struggles with texturing.

Can you give me any more of the golden rules of perfect bakes, and such? Right now, everything I am is being self-taught, and I need a proper guidance and continuous critique.

MonkTiger

Fixed it! Thank you for the UV island rule!

Macebo

I'm glad that i could be of help!

Well, one of the most important things for me when doing a low poly is to maintain it's silhouete as close as possible to the high poly. Maintaining the same form without too much geometry is an art by itself. Never neglect the low poly, because, in the end, it is the actual model used in game engines!