normal problems

pmiller001

Hey everyone! I've been here with a question before, and you guys all helped with great answers. I looked on the forum, and I wasnt able to find an answer. Although I'm not too sure if I was searching with the correct question. That being said. I've posted images on imgur better explaining exactly whats going on .

http://imgur.com/a/LcxfH


http://imgur.com/a/LcxfH

Bartalon

Looks like a projection error. Are you using a cage?

.Wiki

A Cage should help and your UV´s look really distorted.

pmiller001

ah ok.
so if i'm understanding this correctly.
I need to
1. Use a cage,
2. probably redo my uv's no?


I'm not sure how to use a cage, Could you offer any suggestions with that? i'll do a quick google search in the meantime.

pmiller001

AFter a quick google search, I think I found out how to use the cage. More on this later.

pmiller001

http://imgur.com/8HDnYIV





Ok, I got some good results, but I still am not sure on how to use a cage. Any help with this small smooshing error that I highlighted in my link?

Bartalon

Could be a UV and cage problem. You can tweak individual verts on your cage to make sure the cage doesn't overlap with itself in really tight corners like that.

Generally, you want a smoothing/UV split at inward or outward "corners" that are close to or exactly right-angles. You have a lot of extra supporting edges which helps mitigate the baking issues that would arise at these corners, but perhaps you should still try separating the section of UVs that make up that top plate piece on your model.

pmiller001

Ok, so I solved the problem regarding that first piece you all saw. So thank you for the help It's been great. Now that the first part has been settled. This is an intersting problem. I posted pictures putting you all thru my process. Now What is the deal with the normal map? Do you think I can get it cleaner?
Once again, I want to thank you all ahead of time.










http://imgur.com/a/0TI3y

pmiller001

Ok, so I think I got a solution. I went ahead and put in a height map. and it looks pretty good if you ask me. Thoughts?

Neox

it's giving you trouble because you can bring a 90° angle into a texture

insetad of building your highpoly like this
___
_|

you should build it this way
___
_/

Bartalon

Your normal map should be able to hold itself up. Adding the height map just covers the problems up. If there are any discrepancies showing through with just a normal map applied, chances are you have some sort of configuration wrong.

From what I see in your pictures, your high poly looks to have hard edges: these will bake into your normal map. You also have a LOT of really sharp corners in your high poly, which will also cause poor bake results. This can be seen in the last image if your Imgur album where the crevices are barely showing up.



I can also see in your images that your UVs aren't utilizing the full area but rather about half of it. Scale your shells up, make them fill the entire 0-1 area.

pmiller001

@Bartalon What do I do to solve that problem with the crevices not showing up? I was thinking retopologizing it again, and putting extra poly's in the crevices.

@Neox I cant see the pictures you posted

Bartalon

You shouldn't have to retopologize if you make the details more visible in the high poly, which is where the problem lies. Your crevice walls should be diagonal instead of perpendicular to the outer surface.

In regards to Neox's pictures, he didn't post any. The lines you see are visual representations of a surface cross section. Sloped surfaces bake better than cliff-like surfaces.

pmiller001

OH boy, this just became a lot more clear.
So I would need to remodel the hi poly to get a clean normal bake going on?
Ok that makes sense.
Once I get there I'll post the pictures. But thanks for all that info you guys.
I'll post here with any more question ahaha.

Quack!

The best bake comes from exaggeration. Modelling objects as they would appear in the real world doesn't yield the best results for games, due to resolution issues.

With that in mind, when you make your high poly exaggerate, everything from bevels, to chamfers to support edges. When you make these in this way they become much more expressive with our limited resolution.

Another nice example of thicker edges: