Home› Technical Talk

Exporting a cage from Max into XNormal?

Zepic
polycounter lvl 11
Offline / Send Message
Zepic polycounter lvl 11
I'm a bit confused as how to actually get a cage out of Max and into XNormal.

(Before I just exported my low poly and then used the 3d viewer in Xnormal, saved my meshes and had them auto assign into the slots. )

Anyway, back to MAX... I tried putting the projection modifier in Max around my low poly, I resetted the cage, pushed it out a bit, added an edit mesh modifier onto it and then used the SBM exporter. The thing is, I'm not really sure it's actually exporting the cage correctly. I see the checkbox for low poly and export cage with the SBM exporter. However, I'm still getting some in-accurate bakes and I'm not sure if there's a step I'm missing.

How do you guys normally get your cages out of Max and into XNormal?
· Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Replies

  • Dylan Brady
    Options
    Offline / Send Message
    Dylan Brady polycounter lvl 9
    what i do is once I have my final low poly ready to export. go into vertex mode, select all the verts and hit connect. too triangulate your model. then export (sometimes you have to unify the normals using edit normals modifier. after that use the push modifier to get the cage distance right and export.
    that will keep your triangles consistent and vertex number.

    I use .FBX btw
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Zepic
    Options
    Offline / Send Message
    Zepic polycounter lvl 11
    Dylan Brady wrote: »
    what i do is once I have my final low poly ready to export. go into vertex mode, select all the verts and hit connect. too triangulate your model. then export (sometimes you have to unify the normals using edit normals modifier. after that use the push modifier to get the cage distance right and export.
    that will keep your triangles consistent and vertex number.

    I use .FBX btw


    Thanks for the hot tip Dylan.

    I'm also noticing if I make a bunch of edge loops to my low poly (just for sake of baking and getting a texture, not actually using that particular low poly model in game). I get way more accurate bakes as well...

    Another thing, the Ray Distance Calculator seems to make a HUGE difference as well. How long do you guys let that thing run?
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Zepic
    Options
    Offline / Send Message
    Zepic polycounter lvl 11
    Another thing I've noticed, if you let the Ray Distance Calculator calculate for a long time (over 5 mins) it seems to give me more in-accurate bakes. Does anyone know why? Is there a sweet spot with the calculation time?
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • nyx702
    Options
    Offline / Send Message
    nyx702
    The Ray Distance Cal. shouldn't make any difference when you are using cages. The hole point of cages is that it sets the ray cast distance.

    But if I do use Ray Distance Cal. usually 30 seconds is fine.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • passerby
    Options
    Offline / Send Message
    passerby polycounter lvl 12
    ray distance values do nothing at all when useing a cage
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Zepic
    Options
    Offline / Send Message
    Zepic polycounter lvl 11
    nyx702 wrote: »
    The Ray Distance Cal. shouldn't make any difference when you are using cages. The hole point of cages is that it sets the ray cast distance.

    I thought the same thing about cages, but it IS making a difference with my bakes. Am I screwing up XNormal by using cages and the Ray Distance Calculator combo?
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Zepic
    Options
    Offline / Send Message
    Zepic polycounter lvl 11
    passerby wrote: »
    ray distance values do nothing at all when useing a cage

    No, it's making a difference for me.
    I can see my cage exported correctly from Max when I use the 3d Viewer.

    Does XNormal just drop all cage info when you use the Ray Distance Calculator?
    I'm a bit confused here...
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Froyok
    Options
    Offline / Send Message
    Froyok greentooth
    xnormal_cage.jpg
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Zepic
    Options
    Offline / Send Message
    Zepic polycounter lvl 11
    Froyok wrote: »
    xnormal_cage.jpg

    Doh, forgot about that... Thanks.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • trebor777
    Options
    Offline / Send Message
    trebor777 polycounter lvl 10
    You can also simply clone your lowpoly mesh and put a push on it and work it out and export it in whatever format and use it as a cage.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Sign In or Register to comment.