HELP with normal map?

SquashedTomato

Hi guys.

I'm currently working on a module that requires us to create a prehistoric creature; it then has to be rigged using CAT and exported to UDK with suitable animations.

While testing my normal map on the model I noticed that it it looks terrible. What is causing the problems at the seams, especially the seam between the body and tail?

Thanks.

almighty_gir

uncheck flip green?

SquashedTomato

Sorry I should have mentioned that I have tried that.

The tail in the normal map is upside down compared to the body and I have a feeling this might be the issue however I have isolated it, inverted green and red channels (separately and together) and it is still messed up.

I even applied the normal map as a diffuse to see if they align properly and even when they do the normal map is still horrible.

EarthQuake

What did you bake in?

Your normal map generally will not "align" at the seams when looking at the texture as a flat diffuse, its just not how normal maps work. The color a pixel is in your normal map is a combination of a bunch of things, highpoly angle, smoothing(lowpoly mesh normals), uv direction etc etc.

SquashedTomato

Ahh ok, I baked it in xNormal following this workflow:

http://eat3d.com/free/zbrush_xnormal

Ace-Angel

Flip Y channel and Disable Gamma/Lut? Those two are the main culprits.

SquashedTomato

Thanks Ace that worked, it looks far better now.

Cheers for your help.