Displacement and normal Map bakes issues

Zaina

Hello everyone,
I have been try to learn more about baking displacement, vectordisplacement and normal map bakes using Zbrush into Xnormal but I've run into so many problems and I do not know what to do... I've search and searched for about 8 hours now and i'm still stuck. If you have any knowledge about what im doing wrong please let me know.

I know about baking out textures in zbrush however when i do i run into the problem of the normals looking too "weak" and this unusual problem with the displacement and vector displacement
#1
#2

Which leaves a mark on my model like this:



I tried to get around it by going to Xnormal but also ran into so many more issues... Such as:
#3
And
#4

I know I have a lot of problems but if you can help me or even just point me in the right direction i would greatly appreciate it.

Cube Republic

I used to have a tonne of bacon issues too and I spent a week digging through forums for answers, so here's my amateur opinion.

All my issues were solved by using a cage. This is my work flow for making it.

Make retopology mesh in you preferred method - I use topogun. I then export the lowpoly mesh to blender and UV map it. This mesh is then triangulated and set smooth. I average the normals (not sure of the terminology for other apps). I export this as my bake mesh. I then make a copy and use a displacement modifier to puff this mesh out, but this could be done manually, just as long as it envelopes the low poly. I export the cage. In xnormal, under the low poly mesh, I right click and select browse external cage file and add my cage. If I still get errors I adjust the amount of displacement on the cage in blender and keep re-exporting until I get a clean bake.

Zaina

The cage helped a lot for the cleaner bakes however, when it comes to the displacement and vector displacement maps gave it a cleaner back with all the topology baked in as well. I pretty sure i am not fully understanding these maps and how to go about baking but i always thought they would come out smoother. Do you happen to know why this is happening?
Normals = Clean


Displacement/vertor Displacement still as all the quads baked in. I am so confused.

Zaina

Ok well i figured out why Zbrush's Bakes are coming out with those lines baked into the maps.
This explains why... just how to fix is the question.


Ohhhh..... my the corners of the UVs that are distorting like that are ever so slightly out of the bounding box.

Cube Republic

I'm completely confused, what are you baking from to?