High poly baking process, questions

JoshWilkinson

I aim to model my full rifle with the free time I have between classes, but really want to nail down this high poly baking process before I dive too deep into this endeavor. To begin, I started with the simple shape of the muzzle brake.



I have the high poly and the low poly meshes (A & and I'm trying to give the edges of the low poly mesh that subtlety smoothed appearance that C has. I assume normal maps are the way to do this?






I have created normal maps using maya's transfer maps and xNormal but neither really deliver on the results I'm looking for. For the most part, the normals came out fine along the main surface, but the edges along where the muzzle break has it's cuts create some funky results.

Butthair

I didn't read any mention of adjusting the projection cage, so you might want to try that. xNormals I know, usually makes a "cage" based off the low poly, however, the cage is expanded only in the direction of the vertex normals, so it might be pushing outward more on that opening, than to the surface.

JoshWilkinson

Butthair wrote: »

I didn't read any mention of adjusting the projection cage, so you might want to try that. xNormals I know, usually makes a "cage" based off the low poly, however, the cage is expanded only in the direction of the vertex normals, so it might be pushing outward more on that opening, than to the surface.

Ya projection cages are something I see mention of quite a bit on these boards but don't fully understand, is that a Max thing? In maya, when I use the transfer maps, I bake with an envelope; Is that the "cage"?

Pola

Maya's Envelope is the same as a cage. I think your angles are too harsh on the low poly, get a bevel in there if you want rounded edge in normals.

JoshWilkinson

Pola wrote: »

Maya's Envelope is the same as a cage. I think your angles are too harsh on the low poly, get a bevel in there if you want rounded edge in normals.

Thats a lot, Pola. for the most part that fixed my issue.

My next question is about the process of high poly baking. I have the muzzle brake modeled and next will be the barrel, but when I go to create the normals should I create a separate cage for both pieces? Or will a single mesh bake the normals just fine?