Solved: Adding nDo2 Detail Over/In Existing dDo2 Project

Democaliber

Hello! I seem to be having issues adding normal details into my dDo project. I have a grate that I created on a plane completely from scratch that I was able to get normal detail and texture detail on in the matter  of minutes. I have another piece (a screw head) that I want to add. It seems that no matter how I add the shape layer, when I go to convert it into a normal I don't get the options to change the type (bevel, direction, etc) as you'd normally expect when adding normal detail. All I get is 5 layers that are part of the normal, but no layer with the 3 dots (to select to change the normal type) or any ability to change it to my liking. Can someone go over the process of adding normal detail into an existing texture project? I am relatively sure I did it the same way I did my other detail...Thank you! Also, I'm unfortunately unable to share the project I'm working on for work reasons, so hopefully if someone details the process, that will be enough to solve this for me. Cheers!

Synaesthesia

Hey Demo, are you converting a smart object by any chance?

Democaliber

I've tried it with a smart object and just a brush stroke. When I converted a smart object is when it did work fine. I built my object in Illustrator, imported into my dDo project, and made it into a normal and textured it with no issues whatsoever. I'm merely trying to make a simple cross on a screw head and I make the strokes, press the convert stroke to normal (have also tried smart object shape and selection to normal). The follow screen in nDo looks like this:

  (Every time I click that, it just duplicates the stack and gives me no option for editing the normal. It ends up just coming through looking like this:)

I get 5 layers that control individual parts of the detail...but in my case, I want it to cut in, but am missing the layer that I could select to force nDo to provide me those options...

I'm not sure what I'm doing incorrectly, but I don't feel I should have to use illustrator to make this shape. Any help troubleshooting would be great...I wouldn't think I'd have to have any sort of special process to add normal detail during a dDo project. I should seemingly be able to just open nDo, make my shape and convert it and have it add it to the Photoshop document, just like in 1.8 and just like when I did my Illustrator shape in 2.0.

Synaesthesia

Was this object a smart object? Or was it a standard path in Photoshop? If it was a smart object, NDO currently doesn't handle them. They'll need to be rasterized before they can be worked with.

Paths should function with no issue, additionally. If you could possibly show me a short video of the object and the workflow to the point of the error, that would be helpful - or possibly just sending me a *.PSD containing the problem.  

Democaliber

I'll see if there is something I can send you tomorrow. When it worked, I brought in the Illustrator object, rasterized it, and converted to normal with absolutely no problems. With the present detail I'm wanting to add, I can't do it properly with a selection, rasterized shape, or native brush stroke. I'm seeing if I can replicate the problem at home right now; if I can I'll try to either send you the PSD or make a video. Cheers! Thanks for being so responsive and willing to help me get past this. I've had no problems up to now with the 2.0 suites. I really want to be able to use the 3D painting features, but I have to make sure all the other usual parts of my workflow still function as I expect them to, otherwise using 2.0 instead of 1.8 will inevitably slow me down.

I seem to have figured it out, at least for now. I think what I was doing wrong was creating a layer (in Photoshop), drawing a shape on that layer, then going to try to turn that layer's contents into the normal detail. Just now, I created a test project with a UV mapped and ID defined cube. Without making a layer, I just directly made the shape, then in NDO, the dialogue popped up asking if I wanted to make it normal detail...once I did that, everything showed as expected, allowing me to edit my normal detail. I don't know if my computer at work was being weird or if it was purely because of the order I was doing things in. If I run into the problem the next time I'm working on the project I'll holler. I do still think a nice video for the Quixel gurus to do would be to have some sort of very short project (like a simple few part model) where they show the entire process of exporting with IDs, bringing it into Quixel, adding some texture information, editing the resulting normals inline with the project, and then making modifications with the 3DO painter. Overall, I think that would be a wonderful to showcase 2.0 and would also give people a nice quick reference spot when running into weird quirks. Coincidentally, if we get new artists that might have not used Quixel before, it would be a nice place to point them to for them to get a taste of the workflow. I guess since I couldn't produce the problem at home, we can consider this solved...but if you have any clue as to why a simple stroke on a new layer wouldn't convert properly to a normal, please let me know. Also, if this information helps...a few times when I tried to do it, the process directly resulted in my computer going into BSOD.

Synaesthesia

I understand that you need to use 1.8 in the meantime, but please be aware that 1.8 is essentially incompatible with dDo in Suite 2. Projects from 1.8 dDo will very likely not function in dDo 2. Normals should be no issue as far as I'm aware, so nDo projects should transfer with no issues between the versions. Just something to be aware of!

If you encounter any more issues in the future, please don't hesitate to let us know on the Quixel Live Support group!  

Thanks for detailing everything out - here's hoping the rest of your Suite adventures are smooth sailing!

/Also, we do have a series of beginner tutorials planned out - so expect something similar to what you requested soon!  

Democaliber

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B5zeoPMzUv0ha3FNT3FMSmtqbVU&usp=sharing

Jon,

When I got back into work this morning, I tried the same exact process I did at home and it replicated the issue I had yesterday. After I make the shape and choose to convert to normal, it just gives me the shape to normal dialog again with the 5 layers, rather than the Group, layer with the shape and the '3 dot' normal layer from nDO. The link has all the PSDs in the project (I removed any sensitive material). You should have everything you'd need to troubleshoot the problem. I don't know if it's some sort of specific project issue or what, but if you're able to figure it out, that would be great. I have myself and my team lead looking into it too. Thanks!

Synaesthesia

That's really odd, Demo. I created a shape and converted it and nDo threw several errors at me. I'll pass this on to the development team - this sort of issue is out of my league.

Are you on Quixel Live Support? If you want to post your files there for Teddy to take a look at with a description of the issue, that would be wonderful - I can also post your problem there for you. Although you seem like the kind of person who would absolutely love to chat about these bugs with the developers directly.  

Democaliber

I'm not, but I'll sign up later. Great to know it's not just me. I suppose for now, I'll just finalize my normal map then create a new project and do it as a normal overlay. Cheers!