xNormal alternatives for OS X

Seehr

Hello, so i was listing the supported software that we MAC folks have to work around and i came to the same conclusion i already had in the past. There is basically no alternatives for xNormal. It doesn't surprise me since its the King of the normals in the industry.

So i would like to know from you fellow os x users which is your pipeline for baking normals. Just curiosity. I personally have been baking those precious maps in ZBrush itself or within Maya Transfer system. For textures i use CrazyB. I just felt curious to know what do you guys do. Cheers.

Owers

There aren't very my options, sadly. In the past I would bake straight in Modo or bake my maps in xNormal when I get home. I've been using Substance Designer a lot over the past year and have found its baking tools to be a very close alternative, though doesn't give as much in-depth control as xNormal does (if you need that). xNormal 4 is supposed to support Linux and OSX and is expected to be released before the end of the year. If that ends up being true I would definitely use that in the future.

Seehr

Hi Owers! thanks for answering.
I never used the Substance Designer baking tools before. Do you recommend me giving a try?.
I hope the xNormal rumors on OSX are true because i really want to get back using it.

Owers

It's certainly worth a try just to see if its baking tools are up to your standards. Allegorithmic have a free trial on their website (http://www.allegorithmic.com/download) and they have a video that outlines its baking options: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXU-4KyjcEg

Just keep in mind that Substance Designer is a big package and does a lot more than just bake textures. It might not be the best option purchasing software if you're not going to use it to its full potential.

ScottHoneycutt

Normally I'm on a PC using 3ds Max to bake. If I'm on my Macbook Pro, I use Maya.

Ponk

If normals are what you want the answer is Blender. To be exact- new cycles baking in blender. It supports cage and gives superb results, sometimes better than xNormal. Check this out:

http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?326534-Cycles-baking-is-here&p=2664500&viewfull=1#post2664500

Sadly, current workflow is fu*ked up. No way to use it without manual. But I'm working on it atm.

Seehr

That looks very powerful Ponk. I will give it a try too.

Will be baking the exact same High Poly to Low Poly with Maya's baking tools, with Substance designer baking tools, with this blender tool also and i will do the same with Topogun or 3D Coat. I think i will post the results and the amount of customization i could control in the process. Maybe we can argue about it. Thanks for answering everyone.

Ponk

Make sure to learn node based texture assignment workflow. As I said, its unintuitive as hell but works fine when you need bake normals.
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?326534-Cycles-baking-is-here&p=2686317&viewfull=1#post2686317

I'm working on proposal of new bake workflow and UI. If they decide to implement it baking with blender will be much easier.