Normal Map seams

Nemlet17

First and foremost...sorry, sorry, sorry. I found other threads on this but though "what the hell does that mean?" So I'm having problems like the picture below were you can clearly see my seams. If someone could possibly explain it to me in layman terms, I would be very appreciative. I know it has to do with my normals but I've been tinkering with it for about 3 hours and am getting exhausted. This is my first night in UDK so I'm confused and feel so behind the times. Thanks!

Froyok

Invert your normal map's green channel.

tristamus

This is probably the best source to help you with these troubles...

http://wiki.polycount.com/NormalMap?highlight=%28%5CbCategoryTexturing%5Cb%29

Read it all!

Also, for the Unreal Engine, you gotta invert your green channel in ur normal map.

Nemlet17

Ah, got it to work. I flipped the green channel and didn't import it as a TC_normal. Thank you guys!

Froyok

Nemlet17 wrote: »

and didn't import it as a TC_normal.

Hmmm... why ?
If I remember correctly, you need to use this for avoid any bugs with normal maps.

feanix

Perhaps he's sugggesting that he didn't import as TC_normal at first but now he has?

Nemlet17

Yeah feanix, you are correct. Never knew there was the option when importing the normal.

Here are my results (rocks are only mine)

feanix

They do look like rocks but they are a touch blobby! Would be nice to see some sharper angles.

Nemlet17

Totally agree feanix. Here are some rocks I did yesterday (before seeing your post). Hope the next batch will turn out like the wiki rocks.

Round 2:

nordahl154

I think the first batch of rocks were perfectly fine; there are plenty of round boulders in the world.
They look pretty good

Nemlet17

Thanks nordahl154, I made sharper edges though :P

I have a new problem now. I'm trying to do foliage but when I have it in-game and when I move it is all grainy. Hard to explain but their default fern, when moving in the level does not have a static/grainy feel when moving but mine does. I know I'm screwing up something in the material editor and may have to do with the fact that they use texture2d? Maybe could be a anti aliasing problem?

Any explanation and maybe walk through would be appreciated.

Fern pictures (was to lazy to turn off 3rd person mode >.<)




Thanks,
Zack Dembinski

tristamus

Hmm...not sure what you're describing by the pictures or what you said but...I've gotta say....that third picture made me laugh. It's just such a random, weird situation lol.

"Robot laying next to Rock and Fern" should be the title to that piece there. Hang it in the museum!! under dada-ism! lol...

Oniram

wait. you arent using a standard texture2d? can we see the material plz

Nemlet17

Haha, I would have to charge the museum $1,000,000.00 for the piece.

Oniram, I am not using texture 2d.

Made you guys a video of whats happening and the material.

http://s415.photobucket.com/albums/pp234/Nemlet101/?action=view&current=Fern_question.mp4

Thanks,
ZAck Dembinski

Oniram

ah. nevermind i misunderstood. mind uploading the .upk?

Nemlet17

Oniram, I feel like such a noob. How does one export a .upk? I've tried looking online briefly but came up with nothing.

Oniram

typically whenever you save a upk, it goes into the

C > UDK > UDK-20XX-XX > UDK Game > Content

unless otherwise specified, thats where all of your .upk files will be. just go in there and make a copy or zip it or whatever, then upload to dropbox or whatever you use.

Nemlet17

Thanks Oniram, link is down below. All my test rock materials and such are in this .upk too.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=VZEWY0A3

Zack Dembinski

Oniram

so i just took a look at it.. seems there are a few odd things. 1 of them is that your alpha map seems to have blurred edges. maybe take that into photoshop and just really sharpen it up. also.. for how big the image is.. it seems a bit low quality. as if it were smaller and just scaled up. also keep in mind anything that is imported bigger than 1024x1024 will not display as such. you'll have to change the LODgroup to RenderTarget for full quality.

Nemlet17

Thanks for taking a look at it. I just did everything you suggested and bumped the map down to 1024, rendertraget, sharpened alpha, and it still get's that grainy/static feeling when moving around as a player or inside perspective mode. Did you experience this? When you place the default fern from within the content browser and lets say a plane with my texture on it, you can really tell.

Zack Dembinski

Oniram

i did notice it at first. but it seemed to be the SSAO taking over a lot.. causing it to look fuzzy. i didnt drop in the default fern however.

Nemlet17

What would you say the best solution would be to fix the fuzziness? If turning off SSAO, how?

Thanks,
Zack Dembinski

Oniram

well you can edit SSAO through the main post process chain. just go into the content browser and search for "chain" then find the UTPostProcess_Console and edit the SSAO inside of the Ambient Occlusion (or UberPostProcess.. i forget if they were merged) parameter.

my solution however would probably be just find another image of the plant. i went to cgtextures yesterday to look at some of what they had. brought 1 in for testing and it was fine. we're also using them in the level that my friends and i are making.

this is a shot from my own test level.. so i dont have to load a big level when programming, but plants are the same.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v666/Oniram/TestLevel.jpg

Nemlet17

So I'm faced with a new problem. I just created this log and when moving around I see this slight white seam in it. I checked my maps and they seem to be ok. Could it be a lighting issue? middle picture shows it, towards the end/bottom by ground. A slight white line it appears.

EDIT: I found out what my problem was. When rendering in xnormal I had a white background. Instead I changed it to a brownish green so when that seam pops up it's not white and brown and unnoticeable.