Advice for a first timer?

B_Korth

This is my first high poly practice model. I'm wondering if people had advice for the step of baking my normals. (which programs are best/free) I'm using Maya 2012... and haven't had much luck with the built in baking. I will post low poly and textures as soon as possible.

Here is my reference:



Also any advice on my topography? I tried to make it flow fairly well.

Joltya

First of all, never use vibrant colors like orange and red in the background. It hurts peoples' eyes and distracts them from your artwork.

Is the wire frame in the image supposed to be the lowpoly or a base mesh? If it's just the base mesh, it should be okay as long as it subdivides correctly, but if it's your lowpoly it's way too dense. General rule I use is if it doesn't hold a shape, you can get rid of the geometry.

There's a program called Xnormal that bakes normals and it's free. The thing is you have to "explode" your model so different pieces don't have normals baked onto each other.

B_Korth

The smoothed high poly.

B_Korth

@JoltZero: It is my high poly, I just realized it wasn't the subD model. and I'll change that background. I see what you mean!

B_Korth

Is this a better background?

DireWolf

The grey one looks best I like the vignetting.

felipealves

Like JolZero said, this background is disrupting your knife.

Your model is too high poly, clean the loops that don't affect the silhouette.

ScottHoneycutt

Yeah a dark gray background like in your reference is a safe way to go. You can certainly try Xnormal if you like as many people like it a lot. Having said that, when I was first learning how to bake and I found that advice online, trying Xnormal just confused me even more. That was me at least. The issues you are having in Maya baking may or may not be about the baker. The lesson learned was that it isn't nearly as important to use the "right baker" as it is to simply know how normals and baking work ... which is a huge topic to address in itself. So while I'm not arguing against trying another baker if you really prefer to change, you need to know how normals average, have your models accurately placed together, model them appropriately, understand cages, and understand the role hard edges and UV sets play in order for your bakes to be successful. I offer this advice because this was a huge issue for me when i was learning normal baking.

DWalker

It might be easier to learn using a very simple model - the ubiquitous crates & barrels. That way, you can concentrate on the baking process before moving to more complex models. Despite its simple appearance, there's a lot going on with the knife - the complex texture of the handle is most obvious, but even decisions about how to handle the hole and cut-out in the blade will require some consideration for the low-poly model.

B_Korth

Thank you for all the feedback so far!

@ScottMichaelH : I'm will definitely be keeping all that in mind when trying these other bakers. I'll also look over some normal mapping set up tutorials before I go on!

@DWalker : I've been practicing with more simple shapes so I think I have the basics down but we will see.

PyrZern

Post wireframe of the real lowpoly for presentation. Not the basemesh.
Usually, make lowpoly from scratch.

B_Korth

Ok so I think I'm ready for baking this weekend!



Here is my UV unwrap

GrungyStudios

Thought of sculptin in zbrush? You could probally get some really good details in your bake that way. I understand you are a beginner but there is never a wrong time to start learning zbrush

B_Korth

It was my 21st this last weekend put a little damper on my work, but here is my map.

It comes out with hard dark lines on the edges but it is getting there. The lines aren't in the normal map so I'm not sure where they are coming from..?

billymcguffin

Did you bake with a cage? Where are your smoothing groups and uv splits?

B_Korth

I didn't bake with a cage, I through the high and low into xnormal with the envolope settings from maya that I thought carried over. I didn't think maya had smoothing groups, and I'm not completely sure what uv splits are.

B_Korth

Some little fixes to the smoothing got rid of those hard lines.

ScottHoneycutt

B_Korth wrote: »

I didn't bake with a cage, I through the high and low into xnormal with the envolope settings from maya that I thought carried over. I didn't think maya had smoothing groups, and I'm not completely sure what uv splits are.

Maya's smoothing groups are called "hard edges" and "soft edges", if you haven't figured that out already. Be aware that Maya's cage doesn't affect the normals direction, only distance, unlike Xnormal's and 3ds Max's, which can change direction. Having said that, if you modeled and smoothed it well and lined the two models up to each other correctly, then you shouldn't need to adjust the direction. I never do, I simply push the cage (envelope) out a bit to encompass both models. Just some info.

UV splits are simply where the edges of your UVs are divided in the UV layout. Whenever you place a "hard edges" on the model, you want the UV to be split there along the same edge.

That last one is much better. I wish my "first-timer" bakes looked like that.

B_Korth

@Scott: Thanks for the info! These little tips have been what are driving me along and helping my research.

Next hurdle texturing.. I think I've got a good idea how it'll go so let's see!

p.s. Is there a free version of Zbrush out there like a trial or something?