Maya normal baking problem
I'm having some trouble baking normals in Maya, I've never had problems before, but I can't seem to get it to play ball anymore, even with really simple meshes.
So here is a low poly crate next to a high poly version:
Here are the UVs for the low poly crate:
Using envelope, making sure both meshes are covered:
Aaaaannnd failing:
Does anyone have any idea why the baked normals are so badly broken and covered in weird lines?
So here is a low poly crate next to a high poly version:
Here are the UVs for the low poly crate:
Using envelope, making sure both meshes are covered:
Aaaaannnd failing:
Does anyone have any idea why the baked normals are so badly broken and covered in weird lines?
Replies
Do you have any overlapping UV's on your low poly model? If so, move all but one of the overlapped uv shells out of the 0-1 uv space.
Make sure your hi-poly normals are all facing outwards. I've had this happen a few times to me. If the normals are facing inwards Maya will make that part of the normal map that yellowish green color like you have in the upper left corner.
Lastly, make sure you have 'Geometry Normals' set as your search method in the Advanced Options tab at the bottom of the Transfer Maps window. (Personally, I've never been able to get Surface Normals to work properly)
Also, you may want to check out XNormal. In my opinion it is much better for baking maps than Maya's Transfer Maps tool. It is also MUCH quicker at baking normal maps.
Hopefully that helps you out.