Shading/Smoothing Issue [3DSMax->Substance->Marmoset]

Moofy

I'm having an issue with smoothing pinching in Marmoset that I can't quite seem to fix and would really appreciate it if anyone could help me out.

I made the model in 3DS max, baked my maps in Substance Painter and am rendering in Marmoset Toolbag 3.08. Here is the wireframe


When I import the model into marmoset with all the smoothing groups set to 1 and averaged vertex normals the model looks like this. I get what looks like smoothing pinching from the corner edges of the belt strap and buckle.


However when I address smoothing groups, double check to make sure everything is planar and the polys around the holes are planar, and fix the weighted vertex normals (running the IFWNormalsFree script) the reflections still show a pinching effect and the models look slightly concave which is strange.


I've tried exporting as an fbx and an obj, changing the world space normal settings in marmoset and double checked to see if all the edges are welded. It could be a topology problem? Is there any other solution to this problem that you can think of?

EarthQuake

A few things here:

• You can try setting up smoothing group splits where your UVs split, if you do this you'll need to re-export and re-bake the normal map
• Make sure you triangulate the mesh on export so quads/ngons have the same triangulation in all apps
• In Toolbag, make sure you're using Mikk/XN tangents in the mesh settings (you can change the default setting in edit > preferences too)
• Check the normal map handedness, if you've baked in Substance in "Direct X" mode, you'll need to flip the Y channel in Toolbag in the normal map settings.

Moofy

EarthQuake said:

A few things here:

• You can try setting up smoothing group splits where your UVs split, if you do this you'll need to re-export and re-bake the normal map
• Make sure you triangulate the mesh on export so quads/ngons have the same triangulation in all apps
• In Toolbag, make sure you're using Mikk/XN tangents in the mesh settings (you can change the default setting in edit > preferences too)
• Check the normal map handedness, if you've baked in Substance in "Direct X" mode, you'll need to flip the Y channel in Toolbag in the normal map settings.

I've done the other three options, however, I have a feeling that its an inconsistent triangulation issue between substance painter and marmoset when baking. So I'll have to re-bake those sections and chalk it up to a learning experience if you're right. Thankyou very much for your response.