Exporting a cage from Max into XNormal?

Zepic

I'm a bit confused as how to actually get a cage out of Max and into XNormal.

(Before I just exported my low poly and then used the 3d viewer in Xnormal, saved my meshes and had them auto assign into the slots. )

Anyway, back to MAX... I tried putting the projection modifier in Max around my low poly, I resetted the cage, pushed it out a bit, added an edit mesh modifier onto it and then used the SBM exporter. The thing is, I'm not really sure it's actually exporting the cage correctly. I see the checkbox for low poly and export cage with the SBM exporter. However, I'm still getting some in-accurate bakes and I'm not sure if there's a step I'm missing.

How do you guys normally get your cages out of Max and into XNormal?

Dylan Brady

what i do is once I have my final low poly ready to export. go into vertex mode, select all the verts and hit connect. too triangulate your model. then export (sometimes you have to unify the normals using edit normals modifier. after that use the push modifier to get the cage distance right and export.
that will keep your triangles consistent and vertex number.

I use .FBX btw

Zepic

Dylan Brady wrote: »

what i do is once I have my final low poly ready to export. go into vertex mode, select all the verts and hit connect. too triangulate your model. then export (sometimes you have to unify the normals using edit normals modifier. after that use the push modifier to get the cage distance right and export.
that will keep your triangles consistent and vertex number.

I use .FBX btw

Thanks for the hot tip Dylan.

I'm also noticing if I make a bunch of edge loops to my low poly (just for sake of baking and getting a texture, not actually using that particular low poly model in game). I get way more accurate bakes as well...

Another thing, the Ray Distance Calculator seems to make a HUGE difference as well. How long do you guys let that thing run?

Zepic

Another thing I've noticed, if you let the Ray Distance Calculator calculate for a long time (over 5 mins) it seems to give me more in-accurate bakes. Does anyone know why? Is there a sweet spot with the calculation time?

nyx702

The Ray Distance Cal. shouldn't make any difference when you are using cages. The hole point of cages is that it sets the ray cast distance.

But if I do use Ray Distance Cal. usually 30 seconds is fine.

passerby

ray distance values do nothing at all when useing a cage

Zepic

nyx702 wrote: »

The Ray Distance Cal. shouldn't make any difference when you are using cages. The hole point of cages is that it sets the ray cast distance.

I thought the same thing about cages, but it IS making a difference with my bakes. Am I screwing up XNormal by using cages and the Ray Distance Calculator combo?

Zepic

passerby wrote: »

ray distance values do nothing at all when useing a cage

No, it's making a difference for me.
I can see my cage exported correctly from Max when I use the 3d Viewer.

Does XNormal just drop all cage info when you use the Ray Distance Calculator?
I'm a bit confused here...

Froyok

Zepic

Froyok wrote: »

Doh, forgot about that... Thanks.

trebor777

You can also simply clone your lowpoly mesh and put a push on it and work it out and export it in whatever format and use it as a cage.