Shading Issues on curved surfaces

no1nja

Hi, long time lurker here.  Been modelling for years, but only just got into low poly modelling for games

I usually like to look for solutions in the forum before posting, but I haven't found a solution yet.

I'm having shading issues as shown in the images - I'm only allowed to use one smoothing group and weighted normals. 

The best solution I found in the forum is using "noors normal thief" - the problem is while trying to transfer normals  to problem parts, it creates multiple smoothing groups and only allowed to use one.

Any suggestions? Thanks

Kanni3d

Try using a FWN script and apply it before you bake. Otherwise, remove the chamfers and give each cylinder a separate smoothing group (with a separate UV)

Ghogiel

The normal thief really should be the answer here. I can't recall it adding extra smoothing groups personally. What does the normals/shading look like on the source mesh you are stealing from?

FWN modifier might work ok, but from experience I could imagine it making it look worse too on these types of cylinder, worth a try considering it's just a modifier.

no1nja

Thanks for the replies
@Kanni3d,  yes, I use the FWN script. I'm only allowed to use one smoothing group, so the chamfer is necessary for when I use weighted normals. 

@Ghogiel,  yes, normal thief helped in the end. Smoothing group issue was due to an oversight on my part. FWN alone caused some problems - it resolved some shading issues but caused problems on other parts of the model. So normal thief was used to extract the clean parts from model with different FWN setting  to problem areas of main model.

I think adjusting the topology a bit also helped