XNormal Normal map issues!

Elri

Hey guys,

I've been using XNormal for a while now but I am running into a problem with my maps. I've uploaded the normal map in questions, and I am aware that my UV unwrapping is a little dodgy but still I can't work out why the maps are producing this strange error. It seems to affect where two faces are close to each other.

Please help me out because this is very frustrating haha.

Thank you kindly.

vertex_

It would help to see your mesh, but it looks like you need to break your mesh up into more pieces and make sure to use a cage if you're not already.

This is a good tutorial on exploded baking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgYoXF6QmWw

Elri

Hey, I've attached a couple of screenshots of the Low poly model and the high poly in Blender. Thank you for the tutorial but how can I translate that to working in Blender and baking the maps externally in XNormal?

Thanks

vertex_

First off, you'll need to break up your mesh smoothing wherever you have a UV seam or hard edge. That's where those nasty gradients are coming from on both your low poly model and normal map bake. Generally wherever there is a 45 degree angle you'll want a hard edge and split UVs, use your discretion; if you're seeing those gradients on your low poly on a hard angled object that's an indication that it has incorrect smoothing.

For that mesh it shouldn't be necessary to do an exploded bake. Just export your low and high poly, making sure to have the low poly smoothing broken up by the UV seams (in 3ds Max these are smoothing groups, unsure of Blender) and make a cage in xNormal. Also the cubes in your mesh should have UVs split by face, right now it looks like you've got multiple faces on one UV island.