Could you assist me in reaching a conclusion as to why my bake is malfunctioning?
Hello there. I'm currently working on creating a barrel plank and wanted to conduct a test bake, but unfortunately it's not working correctly. The least artifacts in the bake I get when using the 4k version, but I'd like to avoid using a 4k normal map due to the model being intended for a game.
Here's my workflow for creating the plank:
First, I created a low poly version of the plank in Blender, setting Auto Smooth to 60 degrees and marking hard edges at seams. Then I transferred the model to ZBrush and used the Detect Edges function, followed by zremeshing the model to achieve uniform topology. Next, I brought the model back to Blender, where I added a bevel modifier, and then back to ZBrush, where I started sculpting on the bevel after mesh subdivision. After sculpting, I used Decimation Master to reduce the vertex count, and then transferred the model back to Blender. In Blender, I used a Shrinkwrap modifier to best fit the low poly to the high poly, and then created UVs with a texel density of 20.48 and a padding of 32 pixels. Next, I moved to Marmoset Toolbag and attempted to bake with a custom padding of 32, a 4k texture, and 4x samples, which seems to produce good results, although minor artifacts can be seen up close. However, my goal was to create a smaller UV, so I tried reducing the bake size to 2k and 1k, but these look significantly worse.
I've tried to fix this problem by taking the following steps:
Removing hard edges and trying smooth shading,
Adding a bevel to the low poly versions of the models,
Manually reducing the map size from 4k to 2k.
I tried increasing the texel density from 20.48 to 50.48, and the bake looks much better.
I'm new to baking and I admit it's giving me quite a problem. Is retopology my only option? Sculpting only involved edges, so I thought I could get away with it.
Finally, I'm leaving a visualization of how it looks:
Low Poly:
High poly:
Close-up of the low poly:
Close-up of the high poly:
Low Poly and Low Poly with a modifier Shrinwrap:
Low Poly UV:
Baking:
50.48 texel density
32 padding
4k resolution
4 samples
Bake 2k resolution, 16 paddding:
1k, 8 padding bake:
Additionally, I wanted to mirror the UVs on both sides so that textures like diffuse are the same. However, I also want them to have unique sculpting on each side, and I'm not sure how to achieve that because I assume the normal map won't generate correctly if I have different sculpting along the mirrored edges, but that's the lesser problem.
I would appreciate any help, as I'm exhausted from ideas. Ultimately, I'll resort to retopology, but I'd prefer to avoid it to keep from adding extra topology to this model. After all, it's supposed to be a game prop, so I wouldn't want to further burden it.
Replies
I can't see the seam almost at all, at 4k.
What's the use case for this model? Can you exaggerate the edge wear and make it bigger, so it holds up at lower resolutions? The polycount, to me, implies the model is fairly small, and that this scale of edge wear will be more or less invisible at game-res.
If you apply the normal map as a diffuse map, and turn off filtering so you can see individual pixels, it will be very clear where the seams are coming from at low resolution.
You're expecting too fine detail, and I think, thinking at much too minute a scale-- these details won't be visible in game in the way you're imagining.
Thank you for your input. I apologize for any confusion, but I'm not entirely sure if I understood your suggestion correctly. Were you suggesting that I should create a bevel to increase the size of that edge? If I understood correctly, the issue seems to be that the sculpted bevel is too small, causing Marmoset to struggle with generating a high-quality map, is that correct? Indeed, the bevel would be invisible in the game, as I set it to a size of 0.1 cm, which was my mistake. On the other hand, I'm unsure how to determine the appropriate size of this bevel. I'm planning transitions in the game from an isometric view to a first-person perspective during cutscenes, and I don't want the bevel to appear too large or too small in either of these perspectives. I'm not sure how to precisely set the size of this bevel, especially since it concerns a barrel plank, and I didn't think that a large bevel on the plank would make sense.
This is how the whole model looks:
I changed the bevel values to these three: 0.1, 0.3, and 0.5.
I did as you suggested, although I'm not entirely familiar with what the colors are supposed to indicate, but based on the sections, I assume the violet pixels represent issues
The shading looks worse with a larger bevel size, increasing the bevel segments doesn't help much. I would appreciate any corrections and further suggestions. Best regards!
But on the other hand, do you really? My guess is, even in first person, the camera rarely gets this close. So you will have to test the asset in engine with both your cameras, then extrapolate rules from that. I would generally avoid creating assets in isolation. In the end, it just has to look right, even if that means exaggerating features.
Also take a look at assets in various games (similar to yours?). Some barrels are baked down onto a simplified cylindrical shape. Other barrels might be textured by generic trims/tiling textures and further detailed using masks.
https://polycount.com/discussion/comment/2785534#Comment_2785534
( ..also the usual hint: color-space should be: non-color )