Question about uv seams and texture painting
vertex
Hi there, this might be a noob question, but since im also fairly new to this stuff, im gonna ask anyway. So im trying to figure out how things work together, and learnt that in order to texture a 3d model, i need to uv unwrap it. So this brought me to the next problem. Around the uv seams i see clear borders (seams) which i can't figure out how to get rid of. I guess i understand why they are there, but then i don't know how to deal with them.
The stuff im currently trying to model right now, is just some rocks. While i can often place them in cracks or so, i often find that the seams will be visible from some angles. So i read somewhere that people use different techniques to minimize the seams, but can't really figure out what is the easiest approach.
I use ZBrush for my rocks, and 3dsmax for uv unwrapping, and bake normals and AO maps in ZBrush as well. I then take my lopoly model + maps to Quixel suite and do the textures, and then i get stuck with the seams. So can i paint over them with ZBrush Projection Master? Or Photoshop CC 3d painting functionality? Or i hear that MudBox also has something similar or even better? What would you guys do? If i use ZAppLink in ZBrush, what about my normals then? Is there a way to make them seamless too?
Hope this is not too silly a question, and hope someone out there can point me in a good direction. Also let me know if you want pictures of what i try to do and what kind of seams i get. I can make a little video showing what i do right now. Maybe someone can spot some mistakes?
The stuff im currently trying to model right now, is just some rocks. While i can often place them in cracks or so, i often find that the seams will be visible from some angles. So i read somewhere that people use different techniques to minimize the seams, but can't really figure out what is the easiest approach.
I use ZBrush for my rocks, and 3dsmax for uv unwrapping, and bake normals and AO maps in ZBrush as well. I then take my lopoly model + maps to Quixel suite and do the textures, and then i get stuck with the seams. So can i paint over them with ZBrush Projection Master? Or Photoshop CC 3d painting functionality? Or i hear that MudBox also has something similar or even better? What would you guys do? If i use ZAppLink in ZBrush, what about my normals then? Is there a way to make them seamless too?
Hope this is not too silly a question, and hope someone out there can point me in a good direction. Also let me know if you want pictures of what i try to do and what kind of seams i get. I can make a little video showing what i do right now. Maybe someone can spot some mistakes?
Replies
p.s. that doggy!!
To make normal maps seamless, you will need to make sure your baking app is synched with your display app.
http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Normal_Map_Technical_Details#Synched_Workflow
I'd suggest baking in Xnormal.
I think a lot of 3d software designers have implemented texture baking without fully understanding how normal maps work, or at least how game artists use them. So there's a big patchwork mess of incompatibility.
I found this tutorial on viewport canvas and trying to follow that now.
http://consoul.org.uk/view-port-canvas-3ds-max/#more-680
However, i now see a one pixel line a few places now. Think that can be an artefact from the viewport canvas painting? If i unplug the normal map it still shows up.
The angled pixels are a natural artifact. Mostly can't avoid. But won't cause issues for most models, due to your regular viewing distance and texture filtering.
About ZBrush normals, i agree, after checking a normal map from xnormal i got much better/crisper normals out of it.
And yes i forgot to check the model with UV grid texture applied. To be honest im not sure what to look for and how to tweak it yet, so that's probably why i skipped it. Trying to tackle each problem one at a time, but sometimes it seem to be several things hehe. I'll see if i can search for some good tuts on what to look for to avoid distortions. Oh actually one thing i did, was to check with the angle and area distortion settings in the UVEditor in 3dsmax, and they seemed pretty grey for the most part (so not too much red or blue).
http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Texture_Coordinates#UV_Map_Grids
Reversed UVs means any text in your textures will be reversed. Some reversing is desirable, like if you want to reuse parts of your texture to save UV space and thus increase texture resolution. You can use mirrored UVs, like down the centerline of a face, or left/right arms/legs using same texture just mirrored. It all depends on what you need.
Fixing distortion is done with Relaxing UVs, Pelting, splitting, hand-massaging, etc.
Fixing reversed UVs is done by flipping.
Best way to learn these things is to try them, see where things fail, and thus learn why they matter. Make a simple 3d model, texture it, get it into a game engine, examine it, see where it fails, then fix those failures. You'll learn a ton this way, much more than by asking questions without doing it.
About the single line artifact, i dont see how it can be a QS thing, but i'll try tonight to make a texture without using QS and maybe even use max's texture projection to wrap the texture and see if i still have this artifact.
Im about to record a video of what i do now, and maybe there's something you can spot that i do wrong. Once again, thanks for all the assistance.
In summary, here's what it found out. After doing a relax on my uv, the distortion got better. I baked normals and ao in xNormal and used the render to surface in max to project a tiling texture onto my model, in ue4 it produces a seamless rock. But when i then try to use QS to make a texture and paint out the seam using viewport canvas, it dont entirely go away. I also try to mask out the unused texture and add edge padding in photoshop using xNormal Dilation filter, but it dont quite fix it. So maybe i did a bad job at painting out the seam. Anyway i'll keep fiddling with it tomorrow.
Hope for some feedback on what else i can do
Finally i did a test paint in ZBrush too to compare the results, and there i don't see the 1px seam, but it is quite cumbersome to switch back and forth between ZBrush and Photoshop with ZAppLink while rotating around the model piece by piece. So for now, im pretty satisfied with the 3dsmax approach.
I've also installed Mudbox to see if it can do something like this, but so far i can only see i can project a flat texture onto a model, but i haven't spent more than an hour playing around with it. So i'll update if i find a good way.
Anyone feel free to suggest other approaches or thoughts you might have regarding this.
See above post i just made regarding the 1px seam.