[NoobQuestion] Baking normals in 3ds max/xNormal

bnosam

I'm having a bit of a problem with baking a normal map of an object.

LowPolyCylinder is just a simple 18 sided cylinder, no modifications.

HighPolyCylinder is a 48 sided cylinder with both the top and bottom edges chamfered 1.3 with 3 segments.



I've tried to bake HighPolyCylinder onto LowPolyCylinder (I unwrapped LowPolyCylinder in UVLayout).

So next step was to bake it (click each image for a larger version).

So I baked it in Xnormal and got this result:



Baked it in max and got this result:




Any time I try to bake anything with a lowpoly simple object with a high poly simple object, I get errors in the normal map like this, or it doesn't work at all (baking AO is 10x worse for me).

Any tips or ideas?

Thanks

EarthQuake

Xnormal bake looks fine, what is your issue with it? Apply it to the model, you can't tell how well a normal map works from looking at the image itself.

Max bake looks like you need to enlarge your cage or something.

_Erik

What might fix that max bake: Add a push modifier to the model with a very low value (like 0.001).
Im not sure what causes the problem, but someone at work had the same issue and this is the way he fixed it.

Jabberwockxeno

Is the max one you posted actually the outputted file, or is that the preview that you copied and saved as an image?

I've noticed the preview max put's out when baking maps is misleading.

Also, have you tried just baking the normals of the high poly without projecting it onto the low poly, then just editing the low poly so the UV's are functionally identical to that of the high poly?

bnosam

EarthQuake wrote: »

Xnormal bake looks fine, what is your issue with it? Apply it to the model, you can't tell how well a normal map works from looking at the image itself.

Max bake looks like you need to enlarge your cage or something.

I tried it in Marmoset and it was glitchy, but I just retried it and it looks fine, I guess it may have been a glitch or setting.

I have tried to enlarge the cage, and fiddled with it, but I still get those random tears in it. Does Max suck at baking normals or something? Because any time I've tried to bake more complex objects they always get horrible tears even if the cage looks perfect around it.

_Erik wrote: »

What might fix that max bake: Add a push modifier to the model with a very low value (like 0.001).
Im not sure what causes the problem, but someone at work had the same issue and this is the way he fixed it.

I tried that and it didn't seem to fix anything.

Jabberwockxeno wrote: »

Is the max one you posted actually the outputted file, or is that the preview that you copied and saved as an image?

I've noticed the preview max put's out when baking maps is misleading.

Also, have you tried just baking the normals of the high poly without projecting it onto the low poly, then just editing the low poly so the UV's are functionally identical to that of the high poly?

That is the outputted file that is in my folder, not from the preview window.

And no, I haven't, that seems like a huge work around for this. I am new to 3d stuff, so I wanted to practise normal mapping on a rather simple object like a cylinder, so I can take what I learn from this and apply it to simple objects.

The cylinder is no part of a project, its just me learning how to bake maps because it's a functionally simple object. I've tried to bake more complex objects and they don't work out, so I figured I was getting ahead of my self and I'd start off with something simple like a primitive, then a higher poly version of the primitive and then do that so I can learn

Thanks for the information so far guys.

EarthQuake

It might be the weird geometry you have on the top/bottoms of the cylinder in max, those quads might be triangulating in a weird way. Try standard topology there(no center vert) or manually triangulating those quads maybe?

Jabberwockxeno

bnosam wrote: »

I tried it in Marmoset and it was glitchy, but I just retried it and it looks fine, I guess it may have been a glitch or setting.

I have tried to enlarge the cage, and fiddled with it, but I still get those random tears in it. Does Max suck at baking normals or something? Because any time I've tried to bake more complex objects they always get horrible tears even if the cage looks perfect around it.



I tried that and it didn't seem to fix anything.



That is the outputted file that is in my folder, not from the preview window.

And no, I haven't, that seems like a huge work around for this. I am new to 3d stuff, so I wanted to practise normal mapping on a rather simple object like a cylinder, so I can take what I learn from this and apply it to simple objects.

The cylinder is no part of a project, its just me learning how to bake maps because it's a functionally simple object. I've tried to bake more complex objects and they don't work out, so I figured I was getting ahead of my self and I'd start off with something simple like a primitive, then a higher poly version of the primitive and then do that so I can learn

Thanks for the information so far guys.

Well, you should try just baking the high poly without the projection, just to be able to rule out the projection is or is not causing the issue.

Can you post the max file? (in 2012 or earilier)

bnosam

Jabberwockxeno wrote: »

Well, you should try just baking the high poly without the projection, just to be able to rule out the projection is or is not causing the issue.

Can you post the max file? (in 2012 or earilier)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/usnezr0io0ni7fn/cylinders.max?m

Is the max file.

Thank you

Jabberwockxeno

bnosam wrote: »

https://www.dropbox.com/s/usnezr0io0ni7fn/cylinders.max?m

Is the max file.

Thank you

Getting an error from dropbox.

bnosam

Jabberwockxeno wrote: »

Getting an error from dropbox.

Try this link:

http://www.mediafire.com/?c605dc6539h5i6o

_Erik

Just checked the file. Switch the renderer from Mental Ray to Scanline and your normal map comes out fine.

bnosam

_Erik wrote: »

Just checked the file. Switch the renderer from Mental Ray to Scanline and your normal map comes out fine.

Just changed my renderer to default scanline and this was indeed the issue. You are great, thanks so much!