Normal map workflow (Mudbox).
interpolator
So I've been learning mudbox recently and have to say I love it so far. That said, I need to know the following.
Say I modeled a car in 3DS Max, with both a hi poly and low and I want to use Mudbox to add additional things like scratches, damages, wear and tear etc.
1. Which mesh is better to take into mudbox: the hi poly or low poly?
2. When I'm done with Mudbox, does the mesh I made get re-imported back into 3DS Max? Any performance issues or is it feasible to bring it back?
3. Would I need two normal maps? The one from the regular hi poly car and the normal map from Mudbox? Would they require blending like in photoshop or a game engine?
Say I modeled a car in 3DS Max, with both a hi poly and low and I want to use Mudbox to add additional things like scratches, damages, wear and tear etc.
1. Which mesh is better to take into mudbox: the hi poly or low poly?
2. When I'm done with Mudbox, does the mesh I made get re-imported back into 3DS Max? Any performance issues or is it feasible to bring it back?
3. Would I need two normal maps? The one from the regular hi poly car and the normal map from Mudbox? Would they require blending like in photoshop or a game engine?
Replies
The high, unless you intend to completely re-model it in mudbox?
Baking it in max or xnormal would be your best options, xnormal will be able to handle larger files without crashing etc.
Only if you intend to make edits after the fact, like to mask out some of the work you did in mudbox? Otherwise the mesh you sculpt in mudbox will be your final highpoly mesh.
Also make sure not to change the shape of the highpoly too much or you will have issues when baking to the low. If you plan to make sweeping changes to the shape of the high you will need to edit your lowpoly to reflect those changes too.