How do I normal map with overlapping UVs and fix artifacts?
polycounter lvl 11
Hello, I was trying to do a contest entry for DS2 but it appears that it is too late now to get everything done right. However, I still want to learn how to correct this problem I am having.
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1552624&postcount=2
When I mirrored geometry, I encountered an issue where there was a hard edge where I did the mirror and so I tried to simply average normals. I think that was a mistake though as it now looks too soft in some areas and also creates a dark shadow around the sides too. I believe this is what caused those weird spots on my normal map. How can I fix this problem? Thanks.
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1552624&postcount=2
When I mirrored geometry, I encountered an issue where there was a hard edge where I did the mirror and so I tried to simply average normals. I think that was a mistake though as it now looks too soft in some areas and also creates a dark shadow around the sides too. I believe this is what caused those weird spots on my normal map. How can I fix this problem? Thanks.
Replies
Do not bake first and then mirror, always simply offset the uvs. Baking first and then editing the geometry in any way can effect your lowpoly mesh normals and cause smoothing errors or seams.
OP: The weird stuff in your maps are from ray trace errors, either your ray distance is too large or too small.
What are you baking in?
Using a cage or a simple ray distance?
Also you need to re-bake after offsetting your uvs.
What have you done? Where are you baking now? What settings have you changed? Saying "still" without any reference to what you've done isnt very helpful.
In general, you want your lowpoly to match your highpoly as close as possible, so if the high is significantly larger or smaller than the low, you should edit the low.