xNormal - normal map baking - distortion

YebYebYeb

Hello. I have problem with baking normal map in xNormal. I created model in 3ds max, then i exported low poly, high poly and cage. High poly have attached "stars".Then i import objects into xNormal and bake. Now i have problem, because normal map is distortioned. It's just test, because i have always problem with baking.

I know the trick in 3ds max, where tessellation is added to consolidate the grid. However, when I add this modifier normal map looks even worse.

1. High poly from 3ds max.



2. Normal map on mesh into Unreal Engine 4.


If you need more screenshots just let me know

 Cheers

Obscura

Instead of randomly tessellating, you could try subdividing a few times with "smoothing groups" enabled. You can also try manually inserting some verts on top of the details . If you want to avoid the distortion, the normal direction on the details areas on the lowpoly should be perpendicular to its surface.

YebYebYeb

Thank you for the quick reply. I understood that low poly must have a thicker mesh. I did as you said and it gives you better results. I baked normal maps in 3ds max and xnormal. The two maps look jvery good and im satisfied with the result. I added a dozen vertical and horizontal on low poly and started baking a better normal map. I am very grateful for the valuable tips. Can you add anything else that could help me bake better normal map? Is it necessary to compile the grid to properly bake the normal map?

Obscura

This is only necessary when your lowpoly mesh it too lowpoly and there are no verts at the place of highpoly details. The ray direction upon baking will go along average normal directions. So imagine this same mesh with averaged normals displayed. That is the reason for why did you get the distortion, because the "view direction" was "bent" when it was capturing. So in case when you want to bake details to something lowpoly and hard surface kind, you may need to add some extra  verts here and there to correct the ray direction. There is an entire thread about this by the way, its a sticky in the main technical talk thread. 
http://polycount.com/discussion/147227/skew-you-buddy-making-sense-of-skewed-normal-map-details/p1

YebYebYeb

Thank you for tips