What is wrong with this Normalmap? (purple) 3ds max

AllinRisks

Hi!

I did my first normal map in 3DS max, But it turns out like this when i apply it to my lowpoly. How come?

Note: There were some red dots appearing when the normalmap were being created

First image is from 3ds max and there you see the model(far right) getting its purple color.
Second is the normalmap itself (why white colors)

Thanks for the help

SleepyRosenborg

I won't lie to you, I'm not sure what you're asking for here. Could you elaborate on what results you wanted or so?

AllinRisks

SleepyRosenborg wrote: »

I won't lie to you, I'm not sure what you're asking for here. Could you elaborate on what results you wanted or so?

Well, I dont know if this is a good result. Have succeeded or not

1) the normalmap "picutre" has a white background. All other normalmap pics I have seen has been the normalmap of the object with a purple background.

2) The object itself, gets purple, when I apply the normalmap to it. Is this wrong? I thought that normaly they stay the same color but just get the details from the Highpoly model. This made me think of the reason for the outcome; red parts was highlighted when the normalsmap was rendered.

Thanks for telling me that it was too unclear! dont know if it is clear still :P

SleepyRosenborg

I'm going to assume you baked these inside of 3Ds Max, if so the red dots and such are areas on your highpoly that are outside of the projection-cage that is created when you bake an object. As for the white-stuff around, I'm not totally sure, but that could be some setting like "background colour: <insert colour>" where you need to change.
I can recommend looking into using xNormal though, very efficient and free, and it would probably fix both of the problems you mentioned.

As for the normal map showing up as the diffuse, I'm not sure to be honest. Try attaching any map to the diffuse and see if it fixes it, might just be some sort of preview thing.

Quack!

AllinRisks wrote: »

Well, I dont know if this is a good result. Have succeeded or not

1) the normalmap "picutre" has a white background. All other normalmap pics I have seen has been the normalmap of the object with a purple background.

2) The object itself, gets purple, when I apply the normalmap to it. Is this wrong? I thought that normaly they stay the same color but just get the details from the Highpoly model. This made me think of the reason for the outcome; red parts was highlighted when the normalsmap was rendered.

Thanks for telling me that it was too unclear! dont know if it is clear still :P

Make sure you are at the 'Parent' level of the material when you apply it to your object. If you are in the normal bump section it will come out like that. There is a button in the material editor that is 'go to parent' click that until you can't click no more, then apply the material.

In your baking options make sure the background is set to 128,128,255.

happybell

2) The object itself, gets purple, when I apply the normalmap to it. Is this wrong? I thought that normaly they stay the same color but just get the details from the Highpoly model. This made me think of the reason for the outcome; red parts was highlighted when the normalsmap was rendered.

If you do a render the purple thing does not appear, because it's just a preview of your normal map only.

This happens if you press the button to preview map without exiting the normal map window. Use the "Go to Parent" to return to start and click preview map again.

edit: Quack got it earlier than me, just saw it

AllinRisks

F**K YEAH!!! I managed to solve it! sorry im just so happy was close to go really mad, and reinstall 3ds max etc. Yeah I have done it now with XNormals and tested on other models (just a two planes with one of them including small detail) but I got the same result of having my model in the nomalsmap. Then thanks to you guys (applause!) I realized that it indeed was the "child" that was active. When i changed back to the "parent" The model just got gray. Struggling a bit with it, i found that you needed to select "show realistic material in viewport" I had it on "shaded material in viewport" (yeah it shows up when i render the viewport) Thanks again for the help guys!!