Grenade - Normal Map issues

d3ltus

Hi there,

I modeled a simple grenade so that I could make a low-poly version and a high-poly version that I would then use to bake out a normal map.

I am using Maya and xNormal at the moment. I hope to use the Quixel Suite with this asset, as this is more of a learning exercise than anything else.

Right now I do not have much experience with xNormal and have run into an issue.

I started with a low-poly which I unwrapped. Then I added edge loops to reinforce the edges when I smoothed the model. So I duplicated the model with reinforced edge loops and applied a smooth to it. I then used that as the 'high-poly' and baked a normal map to the 'low-poly'. But as you can see once I apply the normal map it looks terrible.

I am not sure what caused this. I set the texture size to 2048x2048 with edge padding set to 16 and the bucket size set to 32. The renderer was set to 'Default bucket renderer'. And lastly the Antialising was set to 4x.

Any tips and advice would be greatly appreciated!

Stinkfoot

did you smooth the low poly model with a smoothing group?

d3ltus

No, Maya doesn't use smoothing groups like Max. At the moment the low poly has hard edges. I will go ahead and try using soft edges.

d3ltus

Went ahead and tried switching between hard/soft edges...It looked bad.

Edgar T

Did you export the high and low as .sbm?
Did you split each hard and soft edges on differents uv islands?
Did you use a cage?

d3ltus

I exported the high and low as .fbx.

As for the UVs they are not as packed as they could be. I just wanted to get the model unwrapped quickly while minimizing stretching. I have attached a photo of the UV layout.

And lastly, I did use a cage. From what I have read the cage needs to have the same topology as the low poly mesh.

Again thank you for the help! I appreciate it!

Stranger

Throw me the mesh. Il try to see whats wrong.

Poinball

Yeah, give us the mesh we will spot the problem
Ah, And can you show us the Normal ?

d3ltus

Hey guys, here is a picture of the normals. And here is a link to the high poly, low poly, and the cage. Thanks again.

-d3ltus

Link to meshes:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/jm90nph45xpcyh2/AACZCx3ZL0YocMsJ9bCS746ia?dl=0

Stranger

need the .obj or something alike. cant open SMB files.

d3ltus

Hey guys,

Got the .obj's uploaded. Here's the link:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/jm90nph45xpcyh2/AACZCx3ZL0YocMsJ9bCS746ia?dl=0

Thanks again for the help!

m4dcow

It looks like you may need to set "Use As" in your bump2d node to tangent space normal instead of bump.

Also, I'm not digging how you split the cap parts into separate UV shells

Stranger

Your smoothing groups are pretty bad. thats why your getting faceted faces in your bake. I fixed your LP. heres the DL http://dropcanvas.com/#724Km841S0sL33 Heres the normal after.

Also this was baked in modo. but should be fine in Xnormal etc. also your UV map like m4dcow pointed out is pretty rough. EDIT: Also i forgot to say, your edges ARE reeeeeally tight, this never bakes well.

d3ltus

Yeah Maya doesn't use smoothing groups, I might drop it into Max to take a look. And looking back at it I have no idea why I separated the caps...

Thanks for the help you guys! I will post new pics as I progress.