Solution for normal mapping on a slow computer?

Carl Brannstrom

Hi there.

I wanted to try to make a normal map so I made a high-res model of a man in zbrush3. When I wanted to import it to 3dmax, I realized that my computer is too slow to handle the model in max (about 350000 polys).
I can split the body in parts, head, arms, torso and render them one by one but it will make big seams, right?

Do you have a good solution for this? Or can I just continue the old fashioned way without normal maps?

It would work if the character is wearing clothes or some kind of armor but if I decide to make a whole organic model, it won't look good..

Rob Galanakis

Try xNormal.
http://www.xnormal.net/

Ryan Clark

When you say your computer is "too slow," I suspect the problem might be that it needs more RAM.

Does your hard drive whirr while software is trying to work?

I second the professor's recommendation of xNormal. But if you still have trouble, consider that RAM is a cheap upgrade for most computers.

Carl Brannstrom

Same problem with xNormal. When I import the high-res model, the program freezes. It only works when I import parts of the model like the head, but not when I try to import the whole body.

I guess I need more RAM...

EarthQuake

What sort of system do you have? You likely wont be able to render normal maps on grandma's old pentium2.

Ryan Clark

Do you know how much RAM your system has?

If you open the "System" control panel, that should tell you how much is installed.

Carl Brannstrom

Pentium 3.2Ghz
1024MB RAM
Geforce 6800le

vahl

add 1024 ram, the vidcard may be an issue too

MoP

I did the normalmapping for our Dominance War II entry on a Pentium 4 3.0ghz with 1gb RAM and an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro, the main character model was over 1 million triangles for the final high-res mesh, I had it in my Max scene but hidden most of the time, used a mid-high mesh (about 200,000 tris) to match up the lowpoly to the sculpted mesh, then baked with Max and XNormal ... the full scene contains nearly 1.5million tris and I could run it in smoothshaded view in Max (although only a few fps).
Try importing the mesh into a hidden layer in Max, then apply a single smoothing group to the whole model, collapse that and set your 3d viewport to smooth shaded, it should run ok - hide any wireframe stuff though or that will get slow (including ortho views, and "edged faces" on the 3d model). Should be good for baking since you don't really need to see the model in max.

As long as that wasn't a typo of 3.5 million polys in your first post, Max should handle 350,000 triangle meshes with no problems on that spec machine.

Carl Brannstrom

Hmm.. It's weird.. I tried to import it to a hidded layer but it still doesn't work!

When you wrote that you had about 1.5million tris on your system I thought it was weird that I couldn't do it so I made a sphere and added some mesh smooths to it untill it was over 500k polys but I could still use it in 3dmax :S

Why can I use an 500k polys model but cannot import a 350k model?? So annoying!

The exported model is in .OBJ-format, does it have to do something with it?

StJoris

You could try using the guruwareObjIO plugin
http://www.guruware.at/main/index.html

When importing if you tick "unify" off with the native importer, it tends to go faster.

MoP

So er, it seems the issue here is actually that you can't IMPORT the mesh, not that you can't view it in max?
Does it even get past the OBJ import stage? Does it give you any warnings or errors? What are the settings in your OBJ importer in Max?

Carl Brannstrom

@StJoris
I was going to try the plugin but it seems like the link for downloading it is broken right now..

@Mop
Yes, that's correct.
No, it doesn't pass the import stage when I try to import the whole body. I don't get any warnings or errors.. The 3dmax just freezes. First, I thought it just would take a while to import it but I waited for 30minutes and it was still not imported.

These are the settings for the obj-importer:

MoP

Try changing the settings to these:

"Single" instead of "Multiple".
Un-check "Unify" and "Obj smooth groups", in the Smooth Group box leave it as "1".
Probably a good idea to turn off Center Pivot too, to preserve the pivot between apps. Try turning off "use materials" too - those are the settings I use (everything else same as yours) and it works fine on Max8 bringing things in from ZBrush and Mudbox.

However, the problem might be ZBrush3 exporting bad OBJ meshes. I seem to recall hearing that it was going to be fixed in a patch.

Edit: Yeah I think this is the issue, I just tried exporting a mesh from ZB3, not many polys, Max chokes on the import and hangs... I guess ZB3 is screwed somehow, maybe read up on export options or check the pixologic zbrush forums to see if anyone knows a workaround.
Still I would use the settings I mentioned above, I think it makes for a cleaner and more predictable import.

Carl Brannstrom

It's working!

I changed to your import options and I can import it now!

Thank you very much

MoP

Heh, cool ... now it seems mine's broken though

pior

"Solution for normal mapping on a slow computer?"

Paint the maps by hand! It actually works and makes you cooler.