3DS max Normal map help

Benjam

Hey Polycounters,

Im probably the hundreth guy to post something about normal maps on here but there is something i cant get my head around. I have followed a couple of tutorials to the letter and set up my rendering options exactly like they have but i still get the crappiest normal map ever. AND its green, not like normal map slightly green i mean like super green and has come lines ive never seen before present on it. Maya never used to kick up this problem with normal maps when i used to bake with it so im guessing im doing something wrong?

I have posted up a couple of screens of my issues has anyone come across this before?

Goat Justice

Is this the image the appears in the output window when you render to texture? Max pops up a window so you can watch it render in real time, but the image that appears there isn't the baked map. In fact its usually not useful at all. The actual normal map image file should end up at whatever location on your drive you set in the RTT dialogue. bit confusing if you're new to it.

Benjam

i figured it out, i was saving the render window version instead of just leaving it. The detail im getting is still pretty pants though any tips for a decent normal map bake in Max?

Goat Justice

Are you viewing the results in max? if so, be sure to set the bump map strength to 100% instead of the default 30.

beyond that. turning on super sampling can make for a nicer result. Also, if you're not planning to add anything else to that texture, there's a lot of unused UV space.

Benjam

yeah am jus previewing the results in Max, the texture is a shared texture with a couple of other objects to go on there and is 1040 x 1024. Im getting terrible results with all of my objects i am trying to bake i just tried to do a phone box for part of my scene and this is what i ended up with and below that is as in depth as i can get with the render settings i am using (the tutorials said they were right) but i might have missed something. Im new to baking in max

JonathanLambert

Looks like the texel density is too low on the phone box. Also, remember the normal map doesn't contain depth information, only normal direction. A shallow detail with a fat bevel will show up better than a deep detail with tight edges.

Goat Justice

For normal maps I use the max Default Scanline renderer with hammersly super sampling. The max star one is probably fine too, but you might check to make sure it's doing scanline and not mental ray.

Could you post up the normal map texture? without seeing it its hard to say if the problems are there or in the material that's using it.

EarthQuake

Looks like you have the normal map applied as a bump map. When you go to apply the normal map you have to pick "normal bump" and then load the image into that, or something of that nature(been I while since I used native max materials).

You could try 3point shader or Xoulio's shader for realtime display.

Ott

Bet dollars to donuts it's Gamma and Lut.

Customize > Preferences > Gamma and Lut tab > Turn that shit off.

http://renderstuff.com/publication-files/0045/Gamma-LUT-settings.gif

Benjam

Hey guys, i took your tips and applied all the settings especially turning off the gammma and lut. I didnt know you had to apply a normal bump before you plug in the bitmap thanks for the heads up.

Here is an image of the phone box with all the new settings applied



Thanks for the help!!