[MODO TUTORIAL] Mastering Vertex Normals in Modo

Theodoric

Hey everyone!
Just released my first tutorial! https://gum.co/vertexnormals

Shading errors? Normal maps with huge gradients and top of that compression artifacts? Tons of support edges but still not perfect? Your flat panel still not perfectly flat?

In this tutorial I will show you how to get rid of those nasty shading errors on mid and low poly models in Modo.

Why is this important?

- Because in case of low poly if you have big gradients on surfaces which supposed to be flat - for example - then the lower the normal map resolution is the worse how it looks. And if you have an aggressive game engine normal map compression then top of all of that you will have blocky compression artifacts.

- In case of higher tri count, AAA mid poly assets, if you have shading errors, you have to add a lot of control edge even in a small area just because those damn vertex normals are not facing to the good direction.

What is the solution? Having control over your vertex normals. You can achieve faster modelling time, lower tri count and perfect surfaces with this little trick in Modo.

Obscura

Yee bro  

Obscura

Wait. Its 10 bucks? Come on....

Theodoric

Come on what?

Obscura

Hey. Sorry if that sounded like an insult, I didnt mean it like that. I was just surprised because the information about the theory itself, and its application, is already available on the internet for free. And in my viewpoint, thats the actual value in this, not the button press. Also, if people dig a bit further, they can probably find a description about how to do this in each and every modeling package now. So I think its a bit overpriced.

Theodoric

In this case most of the tutorials, which has at least 1 usd price are overpriced, because every info can be found in the manual - especially if you dig a bit further.

Well then this tutorial is not for you.

The video is not about just theory, I actually show how it's done.

Before I recorded I tried to find the similar solution in Maya and Max. In maya I was able to do half of the process and have fixed normals but after that it just works differently as Modo does and could not connect back to the rest of the mesh properly.
In Max I had to ask my college to find relevant tools because it was very long time ago when I used it the last time. We did not find. Does not mean it's not exists tho.

I have around 14 years of experience, I am making game assets every day. If someone want to know how to deal with this specific issue then can decide to dig deeper or buy this tutorial.

And just out of curiosity, how do you judge the tutorial if you don't even know what is inside? I don't see any purchase in the past hour

Obscura

http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/VertexNormal

This has a lot of useful links, scripts, and software specific descriptions (not for all of them) related to this topic.
I didnt judge it though. I didnt want to go into an argument so im out. Good luck.

Theodoric

It definitely looks like you did want to go into argument and you did post the vertex normal tutorial collection here - which is a must-see for everyone in the industry anyway.
But does not contain the info and pipeline what I share in the video, especially the Modo part in this link, only talks about one plugin which was updated like 5 years ago and not even relevant

But hey, thanks to stop by and share your thoughts
Have a nice day!

Axi5

I don't have a problem with people trying to sell their work. People can look at their options and pay or research themselves. Paid options usually just have a nicer flow to it is all.

It's common on here that we see people saying that prices should be lowered or be free but I don't think that's very respectful to the creators. If you don't want to pay for anything don't pay! Just because Blender is free doesn't mean everything short of it has to be

Anyway that's not on topic. Thanks for this Theodoric, not going to purchase it because I know enough about it already (and use Maya) but I hope someone finds it very useful.

Cheers

Theodoric

Thanks for sharing your opinion!

Blender by the way has really awesome paid plugins. I am thinking about to buy at least one of those and integrate it to my pipeline, it makes one step so easy and fast.

WilliamVaughan

Thanks for putting this together and sharing what you've learned. I'll share this around for sure!

Theodoric

Thank you!