Baking ormals - Black Parts?

martynball

For some reason i have got black parts on the object when I apply the normal maps. I'm guessing this is from the normal map as there are no other textures applied.



Here is the highpoly.


And what the cage looks like.


It is all a simply bake really. The texture size is 2048 x 2048, and below is the template.

aajohnny

Usually from my experience the max viewport is bad at displaying normals, why not try to see the mode in marmoset or udk? even xnormals 3d viewer.

J.D.*

How does the normal map look? You may not have enough resolution on the uv shell to capture such small details.

Racer445

looks like you simply don't have enough resolution to display those small details... you can see the individual pixels!

the only real ways to fix this are:

1. enlarge and simplify the details on the model so they bake down better
2. allocate a larger map size for this project (though 2048 is already pretty large)
3. give the UV shell more space and risk density issues

Ace-Angel

Those details aren't going to fit on a 2K map, sorry. You have to have a 4K map minimum, and even then, the smaller details might not show up clearly.

Why not keep the model high poly with all modeling instead of normal maps? Is it an game model? If so, why not mirror some parts to save up on texture space?

martynball

Dammit man, here is the normals. Your right:


There is no room to make parts bigger on my UV's Too many parts, it is for a University project. We can only have one texture so can't split it up into more

Also, why is it baking wierd like this.

You see the black at the top of the circle, which means the normals are saying that there should be no light on this part, although it should have direct light hitting it.


As you can see it not thinks light should be hitting these pixals.

Here is the highpoly:

gsokol

What does your cage look like? If that is off it could be causing problems. You can always paint something like that out in photoshop as well.

You can get a little bit more uv space if you would overlap UV's. I see quite a few duplicated pieces in there. Just overlap them and move all but one 1 unit off of the uvw grid.

martynball

Most things are overlapped, but I wanted to give some their own UV space for the AO bake, but I suposse I could just overlap some more, more pixal's on areas takes priority to a bit of unique AO tbh.

I personally would prefer to split the tank into two textures, as there is a lot of stuff on the tank, which I would like to have a good amount of detail. Butfor this assignment I can't

martynball

Okay, put the baking issues asside for the moment, quick question about UV's. is there an easy way to straighten all of these? Only way I know is to select each vert along the edge and then use TexTools to straighten it.

Mark Dygert

In max2012, click the "Straighten selection button" this will square off the loops and rings, does a great job on pieces like that.

Since it looks like you're using max2011 or lower:
Select a vertical edge, Click loop, click ring, click straighten vertical, (its the up/down arrow to the upper right of the "Stitch button" in the window attached to the bottom of the UVeditor window.)

Do the same thing for the horizontal edges.

martynball

Awesome thanks, didn't think of that. I also didn't realise that max actually has a funtion to straighten edges in the UVW Editor. Which is the only real reason I got TexTools lol.

Thanks, and I need to save some money up for max2012

iconoplast

martynball wrote: »

I need to save some money up for max2012

Didn't you say this is a university project? If you're a student, you can get a free 3-year educational license.

Also, you don't have to loop -- shift-clicking the align button with a ring of edges selected will automatically go through each loop for you.

EarthQuake

One big thing that you're doing wrong here: You need to have UV breaks wherever you use hard edges(smoothing groups) or you'll get these nasty seam artifacts.

Mark Dygert

It also looks like your floaters are casting shadows.

EarthQuake

Mark Dygert wrote: »

It also looks like your floaters are casting shadows.

afaik, this is only normals, not AO.

EarthQuake

martynball wrote: »

Dammit man, here is the normals. Your right:


There is no room to make parts bigger on my UV's Too many parts, it is for a University project. We can only have one texture so can't split it up into more

Also, why is it baking wierd like this.

You see the black at the top of the circle, which means the normals are saying that there should be no light on this part, although it should have direct light hitting it.

Top of the circle is fine here, its black because light is hitting the other side of it, basic shading etc. You'll note on the shot below, the top is being lit correctly.

As you can see it not thinks light should be hitting these pixals.

This looks like a problem with your cage, ie: that bottom part is stickout out of the cage and not getting hit. You're bakes are also generally wanky because you likely do not have enough supporting geometry, and your rays are being cast at weird angles. See: http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=81154

martynball

Okay thanks, makes sense now. And I will take that advice into account next time I work on a project.

Here are some images of the tank, any thing you could quickly tell me to change? Need to bake and texture by the 4th. Changes which will make baking results good ect...

martynball

Thanks, a thread on the Uni website has also been made about that video, looks good.