cool trick for baking exploded meshes in Modo
polycounter lvl 10
It's not a trick really and most of you propbably know about it but for those who don't it can be a real timesaver if you work with complex meshes which need to be exploded.
So you have a mesh with like 100 parts which some of which are really close to each other. Something like this:
You need to explode it of course. But the real problem with that is that if you find some nasty errors or you decide to change something, or redo UVS you'll have to take these exploded parts and move them back to your assembled mesh. It may not take much time (still it takes it) but what if your UVs are already packed for some reason? you have to repack it again.
So to avoid this situation you can explode your mesh with two morph maps - one for exploding and the second one for cage if your mesh needs it.
Steps:
1)Make an explode morph (to not move individual parts select all polygons of both high and low poly, choose local action center and move stuff).
2)Add morph influence to BOTH high and low poly meshes and set it to 100%
3)Select your low poly and create a second morph which will be your cage (don't explode your mesh with that one), push polygons apart
4)bake with a second (cage) morph . But your morph influence applied to the item should be with "explode" morph map.
This way you can easily edit your mesh, redo UVs and be more flexible in general.
I hope it will be useful for somebody.
So you have a mesh with like 100 parts which some of which are really close to each other. Something like this:
You need to explode it of course. But the real problem with that is that if you find some nasty errors or you decide to change something, or redo UVS you'll have to take these exploded parts and move them back to your assembled mesh. It may not take much time (still it takes it) but what if your UVs are already packed for some reason? you have to repack it again.
So to avoid this situation you can explode your mesh with two morph maps - one for exploding and the second one for cage if your mesh needs it.
Steps:
1)Make an explode morph (to not move individual parts select all polygons of both high and low poly, choose local action center and move stuff).
2)Add morph influence to BOTH high and low poly meshes and set it to 100%
3)Select your low poly and create a second morph which will be your cage (don't explode your mesh with that one), push polygons apart
4)bake with a second (cage) morph . But your morph influence applied to the item should be with "explode" morph map.
This way you can easily edit your mesh, redo UVs and be more flexible in general.
I hope it will be useful for somebody.
Replies
@EarthQuake: I knew this could be even more simple!