Normal/Bump map in Arnold Shader Maya 2017
polycounter lvl 6
Hi!
I'm starting to pull my hair out with this problem so I was hoping someone here might have a solution to some technical difficulties I've been having with the Arnold shader and render software.
I'm working on a 3D character model that I want to render with fur and SSS material for the skin.
I'm using xGen in Maya 2017 for the fur and Arnold to render a Subsurface Scattering. I've never rendered fur or used the Arnold shaders before so that's were I ran into issues.
I have a lowpoly that I currently have set up in Substance painter with a baked Normal map.
First issue I ran into was setting up the SSS Shader. How the hell do I get the Normal map to work correctly?
I've exported it from Substance Painter 2, tried flipping the Green channel but it still looks messed up. I've set it up like I normally do in Maya using a "Tangent Space Normals".
I attached one screen shot of the material with only the bump map in Maya with an Arnold aiStandard material (inside Viewport 2.0) and one rendered in Arnold renderer. One of the Normal map 2D image and one of how it's looks in Substance Painters viewport, how I want it to look.
Doing some research it seems that most SSS materials are set up with a Displacement map, I've never used that before and I'm unsure if it's going to have the same result if I would try to convert the Normal map into a displacement map. So far that has only made the whole process even more tedious because I can't get the result that I'm looking for.
I would love to hear what workflow you guys use since I've looked into several different softwares like using Vray and Yeti, but I'm pretty sure that Maya 2017 xGen and Arnold should work fine as soon as I figure out how to make it work. Maybe I'm setting it up the material wrong in hypershade or there is something else I'm missing..?
I appreciate the time!
///Sabina
I'm starting to pull my hair out with this problem so I was hoping someone here might have a solution to some technical difficulties I've been having with the Arnold shader and render software.
I'm working on a 3D character model that I want to render with fur and SSS material for the skin.
I'm using xGen in Maya 2017 for the fur and Arnold to render a Subsurface Scattering. I've never rendered fur or used the Arnold shaders before so that's were I ran into issues.
I have a lowpoly that I currently have set up in Substance painter with a baked Normal map.
First issue I ran into was setting up the SSS Shader. How the hell do I get the Normal map to work correctly?
I've exported it from Substance Painter 2, tried flipping the Green channel but it still looks messed up. I've set it up like I normally do in Maya using a "Tangent Space Normals".
I attached one screen shot of the material with only the bump map in Maya with an Arnold aiStandard material (inside Viewport 2.0) and one rendered in Arnold renderer. One of the Normal map 2D image and one of how it's looks in Substance Painters viewport, how I want it to look.
Doing some research it seems that most SSS materials are set up with a Displacement map, I've never used that before and I'm unsure if it's going to have the same result if I would try to convert the Normal map into a displacement map. So far that has only made the whole process even more tedious because I can't get the result that I'm looking for.
I would love to hear what workflow you guys use since I've looked into several different softwares like using Vray and Yeti, but I'm pretty sure that Maya 2017 xGen and Arnold should work fine as soon as I figure out how to make it work. Maybe I'm setting it up the material wrong in hypershade or there is something else I'm missing..?
I appreciate the time!
///Sabina
Replies
My god that final image is nightmare fuel haha!
Have you tried looking at the Arnold documentation for this? I recall having an issue with this before as well, it's worth browsing through.
You might also try updating to Arnold 5, it's free with your Maya/Arnold 4 license.
Here's the workflow for bump/normal mapping: https://support.solidangle.com/display/AFMUG/Bump+Mapping
Here's the latest documentation for Arnold's own normal map utility node: https://support.solidangle.com/display/A5AFMUG/Normal+Map
Pay attention to the red notice, Maya 2017 requires you to set the image to "RAW" in it's type.
Best of luck!
I feel like such a noob haha! Thanks a bunch for the help Axi5!