Tangent space sync list

Dave_W · Jan 2013

Hi everyone,

I'm slowly getting into realtime asset creation and I've read a lot about people having trouble getting good results at render time due to sync issues with the engine.

I know Handplane can be used to help overcome these problems, but out of curiosity I was wondering if there is a list detailing which baking engines (Maya, Max, XNormal etc.) are synced to game engines (UDK, Marmoset, Source etc.)

Cheers

AlecMoody · Jan 2013

Off the top of my head:
Maya, max, and xnormal are not synced to UDK, Source, Unity, or CE3. Not sure about Marmoset.

I know of a few engines synced to maya but they are only being used in house. I have never baked for idtech but it is my understanding that they have their own baking tools and everything syncs correctly.

Additionally, I think people underestimate how many things need to be synced up in order to get perfect results. Another list of the top of my head:

Normals need to be generated the same way
Quads needs to be triangulated the same way
Mesh tangents generated the same way
Tangents interpolated across the triangle the same way

In addition to all of that, the result can get messed up by something funky in the render engine or pixel shader. I have been told by people with unreal source access that their render code throws away precision at some point that can't be compensated for. I can't verify that since we don't have any access to unreal code and don't know any specifics beyond that.

ZacD · Jan 2013

UDK is kinda synced to xnormal, better than not using xnormal, but it is not perfect
Xnormal does have sync options for CE3 and Unity as well. (You'll have to search for them, but the options are there)
Marmoset and maya are synced as far as I am aware.

AlecMoody · Jan 2013

I wouldn't go so far as to say Xnormal is synced to UDK- UDK just added the option to import both tangents and normals. The only thing that is actually being done the same on both ends is probably the interpolation of the tangents and would guess that is coincidence. That workflow also only works for static meshes which rules out anything rigged (guns, characters, vehicles, animated props).

James's xnormal unity plugin works well, I forgot about that one.

Has anyone posted results and tests with the CE3 plugin for xnormal?

Ace-Angel · Jan 2013

Just use Handplane, that will synch everything 1:1

Dave_W · Jan 2013

Yeah once I get into it more I'll use Handplane, it was more of a curiosity thing really. It does seem crazy that none of the software for creating assets matches up to any of the software for displaying assets. God bless Handplane I say.

AlecMoody · Jan 2013

When most of these game engines and baking tools were written, few artists were actually baking anything other than characters (which are usually a little more forgiving). Also, all of these engines already had code for handling normals and I would guess the normal mapping stuff got tacked on.

ZacD · Jan 2013

AlecMoody wrote: »

When most of these game engines and baking tools were written, few artists were actually baking anything other than characters (which are usually a little more forgiving).

and flat walls and floors.

Tangent space sync list

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