Normal Map Seam Appear Only When Posing Character
polycounter lvl 6
when the model is in neutral pose , i have no normal map seam.
but when it is posed , normal map seam starts to show.
So,
1.how to fix this issue
2.Why Normal map seam appear only when it is posed.
One more thing ,to get a clean normal map i seprated the arm , legs ,torso and face then baked normal map ,combined in photoshop,merged the model back.
Seam only appear where i had seprated the model.
Character with normal map in neutral pose.No normal map seam
Character with normal map Seam when posed
but when it is posed , normal map seam starts to show.
So,
1.how to fix this issue
2.Why Normal map seam appear only when it is posed.
One more thing ,to get a clean normal map i seprated the arm , legs ,torso and face then baked normal map ,combined in photoshop,merged the model back.
Seam only appear where i had seprated the model.
Character with normal map in neutral pose.No normal map seam
Character with normal map Seam when posed
Replies
I also have a UV split where there is a hard edge or different smoothing group.
So there shouldn't be any reason why this seam appearing.
This Normal map concept is driving me crazy.
This is a really strange workflow and likely the cause of your problems. There just isn't any reason to do this. Keep your mesh as one solid chunk and bake the normal map again.
@EarthQuake I did what you have said and here are the result
A. Baked the normal map without splitting the model. This does reduced the appreance of seam
around the arm, But its still there. Although if you are not that close to the model seam wont be noticable.
So this much apperance of seam is acceptable or i have to completely remove it (which i dont know how?)
B. 1.Right arm UV's are mirrored and they have been moved by 1 unit.
From this view left arm seems to be fine but on right arm (mirrored uv) there is a noticable seam.
2.Also on legs there is a noticable seam(its also visible from a distance). These are not mirrored UV's. This portion of the character wont be visible , But i would still like know the solution and cause of this problem.
On Left arm and on both legs seams are not visible when the character is at default pose, But when i pose the character they become prominent.
To a certain extend you're always going to get visible seams along uv borders, if you zoom in close enough. This is just a matter of precision/texture resolution. You can try to placing your uv seams in more logical places, ie: following the shape of the muscles instead of cutting into them, this will help a little.
Yes the whole model is at soft vertex normal. so there shouldn't be any reason for seams on legs. here are the uv's if that helps
Which version of Maya?
In Max 2012 for example, if you using a real-time shader and rig your model in a specific way, you'll end up with seams when you pose, the only way to get rid of them is to Reset your XForm (I'm not sure what they call it in Maya).
So yeah, maybe they're broken in Maya too? I don't know, but it could be a chance.
No i am not using a real time shader just the standard Blinn.
I am using Maya 2013. I dont know what "Reset your XForm" is equivalent in Maya.
@kodde After Posing i detach the skin by baking history option then used relax brush in maya to smooth out some areas and cleared the history.
Tried few things but no luck:
Baked normal map in maya viewed in maya same result(not posting pic its exactly same).
I thought its a maya display issue so did a render in marmoset render with just Normal Map but the problem still persist.On the Legs very harsh seam is visible.
I gonna mess around with my uv now and will post back .
Yes, after editing the vertex normal i have baked the normal map and after that i have not modified the vertex normal,uv and geometry . In fact i have baked the normal map around 20 times just to figure out the problem.
I tried several changes in my current UV's also laid out the UV's again but no improvement.
How come i am the only one who is having this issue
know what i am doing wrong or may be that's way normal map work i.e you bake you pose you have seam . I would appreciate if someone can post their character with only normal mapped applied.
If you're baking using ray projection, the hard edges will cause a split....
That's really all I can imagine it being. But I'm nowhere near an expert....
So, soften all the normals, or keep the hard normals and use an averaged cage.
Its possible the "handness" tangent setting in your maya object got corrupt from the separating and merging and what not.
@EarthQuake Flipping green channel just worsen the result. The last shot was rendered in "Marmoset". Even i thought its a maya problem but the result in the marmoset were same.
One more thing i did took my hig res model apllied dynamesh then qremesher then projected the detial back on model smooth out the areas on the leg then baked the normal map, But again no improvement. I know its stupid to think of this as a reason but i am running out of options.
I really appreciate your help but i wont be able to share the model.
It looks to me that the shading is correct, just more extreme.
I used to have a tank mesh where, each time I opened Maya I had to toggle the Winding order detection or it wouldn't work, no idea why, and just that one model.
Edit: oh wait, that still wouldn't explain why it looks wrong in marmoset...ah well, I noticed something else, you never showed us any rigging, are you just moving verts by hand? In which case your normals would have some issues if FWN is still on, which it most likely is...navigate to Shape node>Mesh Controls, in vertex normal method, change that to Unweighted (make sure you do this before you pose).