Sorry to ask but..

skillstrengthorluck

Sorry to ask guys but i've searched and searched and can't work out what the problem is. It's probably quite simple to you lot but I'm still figuring all this stuff out.

I have successfully managed to complete the high to low poly workflow using 3dsMax, Zbrush and Xnormal before however this time I have some errors in my normals bakes. I have tried creating custom cages in max, I have tried using the built in Xnormal one and have exported over and over to try and get the correct settings but i'm obviously still missing something. If anyone could help i'd be very grateful. 

Burpee

Did you smooth your low rez mesh ? Split your UV on hard edge ?

Gazu

Download TexTools and set your Smoothing Groups from UV Shells before you bake.

skillstrengthorluck

@BurpeeI did apply a smooth to the low res mesh yeah.

I shall take a look at textools @Gazu thanks.

RaptorCWS

what does your low poly wireframe  looks like. and what does your cage look like?

skillstrengthorluck

Hey @RaptorCWS - I've actually since deleted the cages I've been trying to use. What I did though was apply a push modifier in 3dsMax as recommended in this link - http://docs.cryengine.com/display/SDKDOC2/Common+XNormal+Baking+Errors+and+How+to+Solve+Them 

Here's the low poly wireframe:

RaptorCWS

can you post your normal map too? I think you can get a way with welding a few verts in the places where there is not a change in shape or silhouette.  they do not appear to be adding to the shape of the model and are creating poles, which can sometimes cause errors in a normal map. I'm not sure if its causing the issue on your model (since i don't know how you have your uvs laid out), but it could be something to watch out for.

Jaston3D

Can I see your main export settings in 3ds max when you export as fbx? Make sure split per-vertex normals is NOT checked. I had a similar problem that had come out of no where kind of like your situation and that seemed to do the trick!

skillstrengthorluck

@RaptorCWS
 

@Jaston3D Hey man, I've been exporting as an .obj - I shall have a look for the split per vertex thing you suggest anyway. I can also take a screenshot of the export settings for .obj if that helps?

skillstrengthorluck

I tried re-doing it using an .fbx file format and making sure that split per vertex was turned off and triangulate was turned on etc but sadly the mesh still looks the same as in my earlier screenshot.

armians

I think it would be best if You just uploaded Your low poly model so someone could open and check what's wrong (unless it's a super top secret xxx project You're working on). A minute and that someone will find what's wrong x] I somehow believe there's something wrong with the mesh (might be smoothing groups) or the UVs, but it's really hard to pin point from the screenshots alone

skillstrengthorluck

Ok @armians you're probably right. Hopefully people can download it from here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/tv6selfuqnd0bgp/stylised_pillar_lp.OBJ?dl=0

armians

ok, so first of all, 3ds max says that this obj does not have a smoothing groups info. When You export Your obj, the settings should look like this:


other thing to keep in mind. If this model was imported from another software, You should always put EditPoly or Edit Normals modifier to reset vertex normals information, because it's always locked after import.  

skillstrengthorluck

Hey again @armians. Yeah I removed all the smoothing group information as someone else suggested trying this. Should I go about re-applying the smoothing back to how it was in the first place? 

Also when i open the same file in my 3dsMax it doesn't look the way it does for you.  
These were the settings I exported it out with. The main thing I can see different to yours is the optimize section. Could that be the cause maybe?

armians

the "comment will appear after it's approved" thing..

armians

what the hell.. don't know what happened, but forum said "my comment will appear after it's approved" and got deleted...
anyway, here it goes again:
"Optimize" does brake things, You should turn it off.
If You removed all the smoothing groups information, this means that now every poly has it's own smoothing group, which means now You have to split all the edges in Your UVs.. I don't think You'd want that x]
Like GAZU mentioned, You should split Your smoothing groups according to UV splits. It should then look like this (green edges are hard edges, just like Your UV borders):
 
Keep in mind though! If You do this, You Must bake with cage in Xnormal! x]

skillstrengthorluck

My issue is, as you can see in my screenshot my viewport is not displaying these smoothing errors correctly / the same as it's showing you. When I try to make changes to the smoothing groups I can literally see no difference whatsoever no matter what I change. I just tried reinstalling 3dsMax hoping it might be an issue with the program itself (having troubles with 2016 that I never had with 14/15) but alas it's remained the same.
[Edit: Applying the edit normals modifier has fixed that]

Eric Chadwick

armians said:

what the hell.. don't know what happened, but forum said "my comment will appear after it's approved" and got deleted...

We have info about this in the Sticky: Information About Polycount & New Member Introductions.