Creating Object Space Normal Map with Floaters?

Autocon

So I wanted to test out dDo and use an Object Space Normal map. However, the asset I was going to test it with was created using floaters as it has a lot of complex curves to it.

Now with a regular normal map painting these issues out isnt too big of a deal, but with an object space normal map its a colorful mess and there are not large patches of purple you can easily paint out like you could with tangent normals.

So is there a way to bake with floaters that wont cause too many issues? Or is there a easy way to paint out things as it seems really difficult to paint out those issues.

ZacD

If the floaters match the curves there shouldn't be anything that would need to be painted out. I'd suggest remaking the the outer flat parts of the floaters.

Autocon

yeah they don't at all hahaha that is a shame, I guess I will have to refix a lot of these floaters.

is it preferable to bake with a extra cage mesh in xNormal for OS Normals or just use xNormals built in ray casting?

Harbinger

If you model your floaters carefully you shouldn't see issues with tangent space or object space bakes, as they both project the same way. If possible, use a cage projection for the best results for every bake, unless it's something super simple like a flat bake for a tiling texture or something. For clean normal bakes I actually prefer using Transfer Maps in Maya, as cage (envelope in Maya) generation is pretty simple.