What am I doing wrong? (Another) Texture Seam/Lighting Question
polycounter lvl 9
Hello,
First and foremost, I appreciate your time to read and respond to my question. I've searched multiple forum's post histories regarding similar problems, but nothing has proven helpful. Below, you'll see to examples of my current problem:
At first, I thought I wasn't producing a quality tile seam using the offset/healing tool in photoshop. So, to debunk my problem, I created a basic solid color and it still produced the same result.
I'm using a single static mesh and duplicating it in order to create a plan corridor. Would it be better to just scrap this and use BSP, or continue trying to fix my light problem?
Here's my detailed work flow step by step with images:
1. Create an object using the above parameters.
2. Right click on the object, selecting Convert To: Convert To Editable Poly
3. Press "M" for Material Editor, scrolling down to click Maps directory. In the Diffuse Color slot, click Checker. Set the tiling to 5/5 and apply it to the object. Click Show Standard Map in Viewport.
4. Select object and use modifier Unwrap UVW. Expand the Unwrap UVW modifier and select Face.
5. Control+A to select all faces of the object. Under Map Parameters, I click Planar and Best Fit.
6. While in Map Channel: 1, I click Edit... under Parameters to open the Edit UVWs window.
7. Click Mapping, Flatten Mapping. Use defaults and click OK.
8. Click Tools, Render UVW Template, and save the file as Wall.bmp
9. Open the Wall.bmp in photoshop and apply a basic red box across the entire uvw screen on layer two. Save the file was wall.tga
10. Press "M" for Material Editor and select a second material option. Then, scroll down and click Maps directory. In the Diffuse color slot, click Bitmap and locate the wall.tga file. Apply it to the object, click show Standard Map in Viewport.
Flatten Mapping:
11. Save the model and then export as Wall.ase - Next, import it into UDK. Import the wall.tga and create a basic material (texturesample -> plugged to Diffuse). Apply the basic material to the wall mesh. (NOTE: Wall Mesh only has 1 UV Channel at the moment.) Bake All.
12. Static Mesh has visible seam while testing in "play here", so double click the static mesh in the Content Browser and click Mesh, then Generate Unique UVs. Uv Channel to save results to Channel 1. Click Apply. Failed, the seam is now much more visible.
13. Return to 3ds Max and select Editably Poly modifier with your object selected. Place another Unwrap UVW modifier. Under Parameters, Channels, set the Map Channel: 2.
14. Under the new Unwrap UVW modifier, select Face. Control+A to select all faces of the object. Under Map Parameters, I click Planar and Best Fit.
15. While in Map Channel: 2, I click Edit... under Parameters to open the Edit UVWs Window.
16. Click Mapping, Flatten Mapping. Use defaults and click Ok.
17. Under CheckerPattern, I select Pick Texture, Bitmap, and located wall.tga
18. Press "M" for Material Editor, scrolling down to click Maps directory. In the Diffuse color slot, click Bitmap. Locate the wall.tga file and apply it to the object. Click Show Standard Map in Viewport.
19. Save the model and then export as wall.ase - Next, import it into UDK. Import the wall.tga and create a basic material (texturesample -> plugged to Diffuse). Apply the basic material to the wall mesh. Bake All.
20. Better, but the static mesh still has a visible seam while testing in "play here". Double click the static mesh in the content browser and the object is now displaying 2 UV channels by default.
Seam Result, notice almost clean blending, but the obvious shadow/bleed occurring at the top.
20. Return to your object in 3ds Max, click channel 2's Unwrap UVW modifier. Click Edit... under Parameters to bring up the Edit UVWs window.
21. Click Tools, Pack UVs... and select 'Linear Packing' then click OK.
Pack UV results
22. Save the model and then export as wall.ase - Next, import it into UDK. Import the wall.tga and create a basic material (texturesample -> plugged to Diffuse). Apply the basic material to the wall mesh. Bake All.
23. Same as before with 2 UV channels by default and visible seam/bleeding on the object while testing in "play here".
24. Return to 3ds Max and Pack UVs in channel 1's unwrap UVW modifier.
25. Save the model and then export as wall.ase - Next, import it into UDK. Import the wall.tga and create a basic material (texturesample -> plugged to Diffuse). Apply the basic material to the wall mesh. Bake All.
26. Still seeing the visible seam/bleeding on the object.
Result:
27. Return to 3ds Max and select both Unwrap UVW modifiers and collapse. Export again to see results.
28. Same results.
29. Return to 3ds Max and select the object, convert to editable mesh. Export to test. Same result.
So, what am I specifically doing wrong? Would it help to have my 3ds max file? I have not been using a normals map, is that the reason I'm having problems? I've only been using a diffuse texture. I really appreciate everyone's feedback, suggestions, and advice.
Then, I created a normal map and applied it to the material in UDK, here's the result:
Here's the normal map created in photoshop using nvidia's plugin:
Thanks everyone, I really appreciate your assistance. If you need further information, please let me know!
First and foremost, I appreciate your time to read and respond to my question. I've searched multiple forum's post histories regarding similar problems, but nothing has proven helpful. Below, you'll see to examples of my current problem:
At first, I thought I wasn't producing a quality tile seam using the offset/healing tool in photoshop. So, to debunk my problem, I created a basic solid color and it still produced the same result.
I'm using a single static mesh and duplicating it in order to create a plan corridor. Would it be better to just scrap this and use BSP, or continue trying to fix my light problem?
Here's my detailed work flow step by step with images:
1. Create an object using the above parameters.
2. Right click on the object, selecting Convert To: Convert To Editable Poly
3. Press "M" for Material Editor, scrolling down to click Maps directory. In the Diffuse Color slot, click Checker. Set the tiling to 5/5 and apply it to the object. Click Show Standard Map in Viewport.
4. Select object and use modifier Unwrap UVW. Expand the Unwrap UVW modifier and select Face.
5. Control+A to select all faces of the object. Under Map Parameters, I click Planar and Best Fit.
6. While in Map Channel: 1, I click Edit... under Parameters to open the Edit UVWs window.
7. Click Mapping, Flatten Mapping. Use defaults and click OK.
8. Click Tools, Render UVW Template, and save the file as Wall.bmp
9. Open the Wall.bmp in photoshop and apply a basic red box across the entire uvw screen on layer two. Save the file was wall.tga
10. Press "M" for Material Editor and select a second material option. Then, scroll down and click Maps directory. In the Diffuse color slot, click Bitmap and locate the wall.tga file. Apply it to the object, click show Standard Map in Viewport.
Flatten Mapping:
11. Save the model and then export as Wall.ase - Next, import it into UDK. Import the wall.tga and create a basic material (texturesample -> plugged to Diffuse). Apply the basic material to the wall mesh. (NOTE: Wall Mesh only has 1 UV Channel at the moment.) Bake All.
12. Static Mesh has visible seam while testing in "play here", so double click the static mesh in the Content Browser and click Mesh, then Generate Unique UVs. Uv Channel to save results to Channel 1. Click Apply. Failed, the seam is now much more visible.
13. Return to 3ds Max and select Editably Poly modifier with your object selected. Place another Unwrap UVW modifier. Under Parameters, Channels, set the Map Channel: 2.
14. Under the new Unwrap UVW modifier, select Face. Control+A to select all faces of the object. Under Map Parameters, I click Planar and Best Fit.
15. While in Map Channel: 2, I click Edit... under Parameters to open the Edit UVWs Window.
16. Click Mapping, Flatten Mapping. Use defaults and click Ok.
17. Under CheckerPattern, I select Pick Texture, Bitmap, and located wall.tga
18. Press "M" for Material Editor, scrolling down to click Maps directory. In the Diffuse color slot, click Bitmap. Locate the wall.tga file and apply it to the object. Click Show Standard Map in Viewport.
19. Save the model and then export as wall.ase - Next, import it into UDK. Import the wall.tga and create a basic material (texturesample -> plugged to Diffuse). Apply the basic material to the wall mesh. Bake All.
20. Better, but the static mesh still has a visible seam while testing in "play here". Double click the static mesh in the content browser and the object is now displaying 2 UV channels by default.
Seam Result, notice almost clean blending, but the obvious shadow/bleed occurring at the top.
20. Return to your object in 3ds Max, click channel 2's Unwrap UVW modifier. Click Edit... under Parameters to bring up the Edit UVWs window.
21. Click Tools, Pack UVs... and select 'Linear Packing' then click OK.
Pack UV results
22. Save the model and then export as wall.ase - Next, import it into UDK. Import the wall.tga and create a basic material (texturesample -> plugged to Diffuse). Apply the basic material to the wall mesh. Bake All.
23. Same as before with 2 UV channels by default and visible seam/bleeding on the object while testing in "play here".
24. Return to 3ds Max and Pack UVs in channel 1's unwrap UVW modifier.
25. Save the model and then export as wall.ase - Next, import it into UDK. Import the wall.tga and create a basic material (texturesample -> plugged to Diffuse). Apply the basic material to the wall mesh. Bake All.
26. Still seeing the visible seam/bleeding on the object.
Result:
27. Return to 3ds Max and select both Unwrap UVW modifiers and collapse. Export again to see results.
28. Same results.
29. Return to 3ds Max and select the object, convert to editable mesh. Export to test. Same result.
So, what am I specifically doing wrong? Would it help to have my 3ds max file? I have not been using a normals map, is that the reason I'm having problems? I've only been using a diffuse texture. I really appreciate everyone's feedback, suggestions, and advice.
Then, I created a normal map and applied it to the material in UDK, here's the result:
Here's the normal map created in photoshop using nvidia's plugin:
Thanks everyone, I really appreciate your assistance. If you need further information, please let me know!
Replies
1. Create larger seamless modular pieces which are combined versions of the single piece. See Minotaur0's explanation in this thread.
2. Make sure you've got at least a 2 pixel pad around each shell on your lightmap UVs (4 pixels between each shell).
And for the love of all that is made with verts and pixels don't use imageshack as your image host. Clicking on images to see full res versions isn't fun...
I hope that helps.
And if your normal map is gonna be that sparse, you should consider not using one at all, as it isn't worth it for what you got there (Plus, the instructions count will be lower on your material) and thus be more efficient than having one...since your normal map has such little information, you might wanna just consider painting into the diffuse what your trying to get across with the normal map, using shadows etc on the diffuse.
Here's links to problem threads very similar to yours...
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=76476&highlight=udk+lightmap+seams
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=81740&highlight=udk+lightmap+seams
I think I fixed my problem, here's two screenshots:
NOTE: The texture used in the below images contain a TEXTURE seam from photoshop, not a UDK/Static Mesh seam.
Note the dark shadows still existing on the floor and ceiling to the mesh:
Up close:
As you may notice, the shadow is nearly gone when up close to the static mesh. Here's what I did differently:
1. Increased pixel padding from .02 to 0.4 in the UV Unwrap menu inside 3ds Max, then further scaled the entire face selection to be absolutely sure of enough extra padding space.
2. After importing the mesh as an .ase file, double click it to bring up the Unreal Static Mesh Editor window. Under LODInfo, disable 'Enable Shadow Casting'
Now, I just need to figure out how to minimize the shadow edges on the ground and increase the size of my modular pieces. There is a thread with a similar problem where the shadow increases as the player moves away from an edge, but decreases as the player becomes closer. I'll search for it and update this thread with it to help out anyone else with my initial problem.
Thanks guys!
EDIT:
Here's the link I was thinking of at the time of the post:
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=76058&highlight=floor
There are a bunch of different threads and methods about how to get rid of it, try searching.