Solved: How do you link nDo for auto-preview in 3DO?

ichabodcole

I'm trying to link the 3DO automatic preview to the normal map I have created from a seamless image. This seems to work fine if I create a new nDo project from scratch, then drag my seamless image in and create a normal from that. If I then launch 3DO the preview works as expected and updates when I make changes to the normal map, etc.

However, if I just open a seamless image I have created then click on the convert image to normals button with that layer selected, while the normal is created correctly, 3DO does not apply it in the preview. The only way I can see it in 3DO is to manually export the normal to a image file, then import it in to 3DO and set it as the normal channel.

Additionally, even when I create an nDo project from scratch and the normal map is previewing as expected, if I then create additional maps based on the normal map they are not applied to the 3DO preview either.

Is this a software limitation or am I missing something in setup?

Synaesthesia

Set the name of your PSD to BaseMaterial [Normal].psd and replace Normal with the type of map for each input, and it should auto-link to 3DO while you work on it.  

ichabodcole

Ok, thanks for the info that did the trick.
There are a few things that I'm still finding a little confusing, which may just be my overall texturing newbness. I'm trying to figure out how the maps created by NDO map to the 3DO channels. Normal, AO, Height, and Specular all have direct equivalents in the 3DO channel settings, but Diffuse and Cavity do not. Are Diffuse and Cavity used in 3DO? Do I need to rename them to something else? If I rename BaseMateral [Diffuse ] to BaseMaterial [Albedo] it get's picked up, but I'm not sure if that is actually a good idea or not... any help or pointers to reference that would clarify the above would be greatly appreciated.

Synaesthesia

Diffuse and cavity are not used by 3DO. 3DO uses albedo maps, which could be diffuse maps for your purposes. Cavity maps are not used in the renderer, but it does bake them for you!

Here's an example of the difference between albedo and diffuse maps: http://www.marmoset.co/toolbag/learn/pbr-conversion

ichabodcole

Thanks! Really helpful link too.
Sending you Karma points now, should arrive on a rainbow in the next 4 to 6 weeks .

Synaesthesia

Cheers! Let me know if I can do anything else for you.