Best normal map software?

DataDragon

I'm trying to figure out which software is best when it comes to creating normal maps.

Does Maya, XNormal, or Substance Designer produce similar results? Or is one superior?


Thanks.

ghaztehschmexeh

A lot of people swear by the results of xNormal. People use other software for a particular workflow, but xNormal's quality is really good.

Knald's baker is certainly looking like it might compete though.

Der Hollander

I use XNormal myself, as it's kind of a great "one-stop shop" for baking, and I'm leaning further to it since UE4 as of 4.8 uses XNormal's native tangent space. It can be kind of a pain to setup though (Admittedly I'm not what you would call a wizard at the program, there are probably quite a few folks around here that can really make that program dance).

3DS Max will give you pretty damn good normal bakes, and the "Hit only Matching MaterialID" function is a huge stress-reliever on complex meshes. That being said, it's slow to bake.

Substance seems like it could be super handy by having baking right in your texturing software, and the object-name sensitive baking seems like it could also be super helpful, but I haven't used it yet.

ghaztehschmexeh

Admittedly it's been a while since I've used it, but as far as I remember I didn't think much of max's baking. The only time I've used it is when I need to bake a shader eg gradients for foliage. The ID thing is useful but I don't think it compensates for quality. I suggested to knald that it integrates that, and if they do it'd probably make me switch to that.

slosh

I have used xnormal exclusively for most of my career...works great for me!

Gheromo

Personal Experience:
I have used xnormal for a long time. Works great, a bit slow at times.
Knald baker is great too, way faster than xnormal and just as good.
Modo 901 baking is good too. Great quality all the time. Thats what I use now.
Maya terrible quality and extremely slow.

Bartalon

Quack! made a post that compared Substance Designer, 3Ds Max, and xNormal a while back. Link:

http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=137579

As for me I think xNormal produces quick and accurate results. I use it exclusively as well.

DavidCruz

XNormality!

ghaztehschmexeh

Gheromo wrote: »

Personal Experience:
I have used xnormal for a long time. Works great, a bit slow at times.
Knald baker is great too, way faster than xnormal and just as good.
Modo 901 baking is good too. Great quality all the time. Thats what I use now.
Maya terrible quality and extremely slow.

The problem for me with knald is you can't batch bake. Which is an issue for my workflow (separated bake rather than an exploded one)