Good Settings for Xnormal Curvature Map?
greentooth
As the thread title suggests, I'm trying to find the magic numbers that'll get me a decent curvature map out of Xnormal. I'm getting something out but the results are too subtle to be useful. I'd like to get something similar to the vert curvature shader for Maya (sorry, can't find the link to it right now, search-fu is weak). Any help appreciated.
Replies
I am trying to generate a Grayscale Curvatures Map like Blender's Dirty Vertex Paint (pic), or Lightwave's Dpont Curvatures node (pic-top row, second from left) so:
Black=Concave | 50%Gray=Flat | White=Convex
I know that there is a 'monochrome' option in the settings, but the problem is; even when I bake with Two Colors and default settings, the map doesn't even look like Post#2 of this thread (was that done in xNormal?).
If I replace the colors channels to get a Grayscale or bake in Monochrome, I get something like something like the 1st Attachment, a DifuseShading/AO Map. While i should be getting something like the 2nd Attachment \/.
I'm using the same High-Low Definition Mesh setup I used to bake good Normal and AO maps, so I don't think it's a mesh problem. AO is unchecked in my Baking Options list.
From my understanding a Curvatures Map would be generated in the High Definition Mesh as a vertex color map, where each vertex would have input from their neighbours, and then baked out to the Low Definition Mesh UV.
I tryed to bake again with "ignore-per-vertex-color" option UNchecked, and it still sme result.
Anyone had go through these hoops before? Ty for any light
Cheers
xNormal is great at a great number of things, and bless the binary codes of said program, but if it has one major issue, is proper documentation about curvature maps, and why they don't work.
I wish the Real-Time height map feature in Xnormal could be also be made available for curvature maps.
To me xNormal only needs 2 things in the Curvature Map department.
1: To actually render a Curvature Map. The example I posted shows it doesn't actually do it.
2: Scale input like Convexity. So you decide the contrast. And yeah that decision would be nice to be done in Real-Time tone-mapping, like Height map.
Another solution would be to import the model into Blender, use the Dirty Vertex script, which computes easy, and export it back with the vertex color map and bake it in xNormal.
But like your suggesting I would have to decimate the model, since 11Ml polygons in Blender are a but too much in my PC. I'm not happy about decimating, though
Thanks again.
Cheers
you can use it to get grey scale masks of concave and convex areas, very usefull for masking dirt and grime into certain areas, and what it is mostly used for is getting easy edge highlights to put in your spec or for masking scratches for your edges.
Notice that Occlusion gets really dark in those internal areas and really bright on the exposed areas. It reveals where there will be more loss of light in the mesh.
It's blended as Multiply.
Curvatures has nothing to do with light/rays, it reveals every change on the flatness of the mesh. And many times where AmbOcc gives you no detail, Curvatures still have something to say.
It can make dirt in concave areas and give a sense of less thickness in the convex areas.
It's blended as Overlay for color, or used for specularity/reflection.
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=74251
Used a Curvatures search distance around the same figure as the one I would use for Ray Distance, if I weren't using a cage to bake.
It seems that "Bias" should be as default to get good 50% gray flat areas.
Cheers
Thanks,
Wilson
So, it works! Thanks! I still get the same error with the assign bake-material though. But now the Calculate button does something for me!
Cheers.
The images are from the wiki, which we moved in the last year when we upgraded. They don't show settings though. http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Curvature_map