small normal map problem I can't get rid of.
greentooth
I'm sure I'm missing something basic here, but for the life of me I cannot get rid of this error.
I'm getting some kind of 'glare' like effect in the red channel. I thought it might be max, but I replicated the problem in xNormal.
The top images are the normal map and the red channel of the normal map, the image int he middle is my high and low poly mesh. As you can see, this should be the simplest bake in the world!
I'm thinking it must be something to do with my mesh being in one smoothing group, but I don't want to split up my texture...
The last image is another problem... It comes out worst in max, it's alot less visible in unreal.
Any help much appreciated! I feel like I'm going to be learning about normal maps for years, they always stump me!
I'm getting some kind of 'glare' like effect in the red channel. I thought it might be max, but I replicated the problem in xNormal.
The top images are the normal map and the red channel of the normal map, the image int he middle is my high and low poly mesh. As you can see, this should be the simplest bake in the world!
I'm thinking it must be something to do with my mesh being in one smoothing group, but I don't want to split up my texture...
The last image is another problem... It comes out worst in max, it's alot less visible in unreal.
Any help much appreciated! I feel like I'm going to be learning about normal maps for years, they always stump me!
Replies
A few solutions :
- Using object space normals if you can (universal)
- In maya : baking in Maya, and displaying using the default Blinn or any other shader using the same tangent basis.
- In max : baking in regular RTT, but displaying using the 3Point Shader quality mode, or rendering using Renderbump (not realtime)
- In Xnormal : Baking with Xnormal, and displaying in its viewer.
- Id tech 3 (doom3) : Baking using the command line tool, and displaying in the game.
Also if you need to export your stuff out of your 3D app, you need to make sure that the exporter and the engine you'll display your stuff with write and read vertex tangents in a compatible manner. Ask the team who wrote the exporter and/or the engine to make sure.
Anything else would need some very specific hard edges/ UV splits to avoid such warping. Even many commercial engines are cursed with the problem you are seing here (basically : if an engine does not come with its own baking tool, or is not specifically synched to the baking specs of a given 3D app, then youll get problems like that with Tangent Space normalmaps)
Good luck!