Help Normal Map Artifacts arround edges.

Mathwel

Hi!
I made a simples sword, keeping the lowpoly vertex count really low...  but im getting these strange artifacts arround the borders when i bake the hp in substance (or blender).
Im using 16x padding, x2048, tried with and without cage and AA. the model has sharp edges arround the seams in the borders. 



I actually dont know if it is because the edges are a bit jagged, or if both faces are two close to eachother.
Tried making the hp borders smaller too with similar results..
also i tried scaling the models (hp/lp) since the originals where about 84cm tall.. so i scaled the hp/lp to 70m and i got this results after baking:

the artifact its less noticiable.. but i know im doing something wrong...
lastly here is the normal map and the material in the 2d plane:


srry the amount of images, hopefully i could get some help...

ZacD

The artifact is smaller than a pixel, is this noticeable at all when you see the entire weapon or in "in game" camera angles or portfolio screen shots? Sharp edges are the hardest things to get a perfect bake on, and this seems like a situation where you are worrying about a tiny problem that's not going to be an actual issue on the finished asset. 

It's likely and issue where the lowpoly and high poly are not matching up perfectly. 

Mathwel

ZacD said:

The artifact is smaller than a pixel, is this noticeable at all when you see the entire weapon or in "in game" camera angles or portfolio screen shots? Sharp edges are the hardest things to get a perfect bake on, and this seems like a situation where you are worrying about a tiny problem that's not going to be an actual issue on the finished asset. 

It's likely and issue where the lowpoly and high poly are not matching up perfectly. 

Probably not.. but if i put it on marmoset or an engine and the light gets behinds i can see those minors artifacts as a little dots of light... also im getting this kind of artifact too often.. i've checked some models from mods of skyrim with similar topology (exported then to substance or marmoset), and they dont have this problem.

instg8r

How "sharp" is your high poly for the sword edge? Many times its advantageous to make the edges softer than they are in real life for the purpose of getting a nice bake. It could also be a matter of if your cage is a bit too big.

Mathwel

instg8r said:

How "sharp" is your high poly for the sword edge? Many times its advantageous to make the edges softer than they are in real life for the purpose of getting a nice bake. It could also be a matter of if your cage is a bit too big.

i actually tend to avoid making it ultra sharp for the same reason, and for realistic sake... and well with cage and without it i get the same result...
also how can i improve the edge jaggines of my lowpoly models without altering their form too much?

throttlekitty

Is that shot of your normal map edited, or do you not have edge padding? You say in the OP that you are, but it doesn't appear that way, and it's good practice to keep the "gutter" color as flat normal blue.

Mathwel

throttlekitty said:

Is that shot of your normal map edited, or do you not have edge padding? You say in the OP that you are, but it doesn't appear that way, and it's good practice to keep the "gutter" color as flat normal blue.

substance painter doesn't show the padding in the 2d view (padding 16x) (same as the uvs, tried 32 even)