Normal map seam problem

I_R_Hopo

Hey guys, I've been looking all night for a solution to this, and I just can't figure it out. I've finally figured out how to do normal maps, and am quite happy, but this one problem is ruining my excitement. I'm only getting this problem on one part of my normal map, and the problem is a giant seam running down the center of my gun handle, as seen below:



Now, I'm fairly sure I did everything correctly. I remembered to offset the mirrored UV's, and everything on the handle is one smoothing group. I've tried the fixes that I could find (mainly the one showing the Duke Nukem type backpack), rebaked a few times, but still no luck I even checked to make sure everything was welded correctly, and it is. Does anyone know what could be causing this and how to fix it? I was really looking forward to finally texturing today, but I guess I can scratch that :P

In case it is of any importance, I also took a quick screenshot of the normal map itself on the handle, as maybe the issue is in there?

Harry

lol exact same thread already exists bro

hint: it's the next one down

I_R_Hopo

They seem like completely different problems to me... His doesn't look like he's getting a seam error on a single smoothing group. His is on a smoothing group split it looks like, but mine is on a single smoothing group which, from my understanding on what I've read, should eliminate the problem. His is also one one area. The seam I'm getting runs all along the entire mirrored UV edge.

If I'm wrong and they are the same problem though, sorry about that. I just can't find any answers anywhere for this problem, or none that seem to work anyways.

MALicivs

It's quite acommon issue, theres one or two big topics about it, or that address the issue at some point.
try and bake the normal map before mirroring the model or splitting the mesh, and then, mirror it.

Piflik

MALicivs wrote: »

try and bake the normal map before mirroring the model or splitting the mesh, and then, mirror it.

I think that is exactly the problem. If you bake your Normals with half the Lowpoly, the Vertex Normals on the complete welded handle would be different along the seam to the mesh you baked with, resulting in a seam. To fix it either use different SGs on the complete Mesh, bake with the whole Lowpoly or fix the vertex normals on the half Lowpoly before baking.

waedoe

yes make sure you bake your half first, then mirror and use the symetry modifier to weld down the center. maker sure the symetery is perfect other wise your uvw map will be messed up

I_R_Hopo

Well, I used the symmetry modifier to copy the one side over and it worked! There is still a slight line where the verts have been welded (not a seam, but a slight bump), and I had to add in a couple tris, but it's much more preferable to having a nasty seam. Thank you very much guys!

And a big sorry to Harry, as both problems did end up having the same solution.

Now, I'm curious as to what causes this problem. Can anyone lend any insight? Is it just a bug, or is something else causing the problem?

waedoe

its a normal map, normal maps are a problem haha, they are just very finicky. one wrong pixel can ruin them

sama.van

please commit your bake configuration (hipoly + lowpoly)