ID maps

Alex262

I'm using Max to bake color maps, the problem is that in some places I get blended colors instead of consistent colors. This works with ddo but makes masking in Photoshop more tedious because in areas where two different colors met there are often pixels that are missed by the selection. I tried adjusting the render settings, disabling AA or supersamplers makes a difference yet there are still some pixels that are blended. Any advice to get rid of them all and bake a "perfect id map"? If I wasn't clear I can post some images.

For the hp I have submaterials assigned, last time I checked xNormal didn't work with them, I tried assigning different materials when baking the base texture but I still got the same color across all the map. Maybe I missed something? It doesn't matter if I use Max or xNormal, I just want to get rid of those blended pixels if it's possible.

Chimp

Please post the ID map so we can better identify what you mean exactly by blended pixels. Better questions = better answers, more information in = more information out

Alex262

Sure. I'm using select color range in Photoshop, in the second picture I assigned different colors and you can see the "blended" pixels that don't get selected.

kaptainkernals

You're not likely to find an easy way of overcoming that using select color range.

I'd advise you to use the magic wand - and increase the tolerance quite a bit - perhaps 100-200, that will allow you to select the blended pixels.

Alex262

Indeed, the magic wand is better and works most of the time but there's still a limitation though, in some cases you need a high tolerance to cover those pixels but increasing the tolerance you end up selecting an entire additional color. Also fixing the map manually takes some time, it would be nice if we could find a way to bake a flawless map right from the start. Anyway thanks for the tip, the magic wand is enough for now.

iconoplast

If you accidentally select another color, the fastest way to fix it is probably to drop the tolerance relatively low and deselect the second color. That way you aren't tweaking numbers for ages and you have low odds of losing the pixels that you want to keep. You can also try the quick selection tool. It's often more accurate, and the more you use it (and correct it when needed) the more accurate it gets at doing what you want.

sulky

Hey are you using targa 32bits to save your images ? Because those look like compression artifacts. If its not the case those can be color bleed occurring from intersecting geometry. To get rid of the later try an exploded bake or manual fixing in photodhop is a good option but can be frustrating :poly124:

Alex262

@iconoplast: I'll spend more time playing with the tools though I'm not sure yet how to fix the gradients (see below).

@sulky: I don't think that's a compression issue, at least not one that can be solved, I tried almost all the formats with different settings. The model is exploded and the normals are fine.

The most annoying are gradients, it's easy to miss them and you may notice some awkward stuff when you're previewing. Of course you can patch those areas pretty fast but still I would rather spend a few more days trying all the possibilities to get rid of these problems.

I attached the areas with gradients, maybe rings a bell. :poly121:
I gave it a go and tried colors that are less similar and the problems become even bigger.

One thing to note is that this doesn't necessarily happen at the UV seams.