need help with a cage issue
polycounter lvl 8
Ok here's the deal, I am trying to get some decent bakes on the SMG model I am working on. I keep having issues with the cage, so I tried to figure out the best way to tweak it so that I would get less errors.
What I did was use the Max projection modifier "export cage" button. Then I moved the verts around to make it a little better. But when I went to import the cage back into the projection modifier, it gave me an error saying something like "must be the same type and have the same topology."
I must be doing something wrong, but I thought if I was only moving the verts around I wouldn't run into an issue. Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated.
What I did was use the Max projection modifier "export cage" button. Then I moved the verts around to make it a little better. But when I went to import the cage back into the projection modifier, it gave me an error saying something like "must be the same type and have the same topology."
I must be doing something wrong, but I thought if I was only moving the verts around I wouldn't run into an issue. Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated.
Replies
Sorry I can't be of more help, but yeah you aren't the only one with this issue lol.
lol thanks. I don't feel as frustrated knowing it's a common issue.
The aggravating bit is that I spent a few hours tweaking this thing, thinking I was making a dent in actually finishing the project. Between Max crashing every 20 minutes and the error... sigh....
(between the push option, tweaking verts, the ability to select seperate parts and push those out, that's more then enough).
So going from the comment "I spent a few hours tweaking this thing", makes me think you should post the actual lowpoly/cage/hp and show what the problems are, because there is probably an easier way to fix your troubles.
I just figured exporting it would give me a little bit more control with more tools. I was trying to use things like ring selection and edge loops and they weren't available. I saw the export button and figured it might have been a convenient solution, but I guess I was wrong.
So, in this instance I have the cage open in the projection modifier. I want to expand the sides of the main body to encompass the floating geo I have defining the ridges. I selected the faces, but it won't let me move them or convert selection to vertices. So I can't figure any other way to do it than to select each individual vert and move them. If that's what I have to do, that's what I have to do. I'm just curious what the options are and that's why I'm inquiring.
-Then the little arrrow next to "Push - amount", slide that up untill the cage encompasses the highpoly. (you never want your cage to be 100% even/flush with the highpoly/lowpoly). (if you have shaded on, it will give a good view of it)
-In case there is a certain part (for example floating detail) that you want to push out more do the following
-Go into element selection, select the part
-ctrl+click on vertex selection
-Use the push amount again to push that part out a bit more
edit: if you really only want that side, just select the vertices and pull it out on 1 axis a slight bit
(if you want to move/push something, always use vertex selection, just use poly/element selection to get a quicker selection
-Sometimes when you have a really large part, and a small part (for example a small lever) the cage will be huge on the small part, so select that, reset it and push only that part out with a small amount)
That is all you have to do.
Now bake, and fix errors, mostly you are gonna run into these:
-Ray misses (90% of the time fixed with a small push on that part)
if not, use vertexes to pull out the problem area (can in rare cases happen with some dense/thight geo)
small note: if you have ngons in your lowpoly, put a "turn to poly" modifier on it, set the amount to 3, and then your projection modifier), the cage tends to go a bit weird with ngons
-Skewed detail, this is a matter of cutting in some extra geometry on your lowpoly (don't start fiddling with the cage for this)
There is a tutorial for that somewhere, but I can't rememeber where, I'll edit it in when I find it)
And I might have given a bit more info then needed (don't know if this is your first time or not), but if not, short story:
Cage operations or tweaks basicly only work on vertices, but stick to "push" as much as possible
First of all, let me thank you. I really appreciate the assist. There were a couple of things I didn't realize until you pointed it out.
-I didn't know you could ctrl click on the buttons to "convert to" selection. I have that hot-keyed for editable poly. Huge help, thanks.
-I also didn't know how to isolate a selection for the push. I kept trying it on the element sub-level but it would still push the whole mesh. Again, very helpful.
Much appreciated. I should be back to baking in a matter of minutes. Now, to satiate my curiosity, what is the use of using the export button? (if any)
That makes sense. I'm trying to familiarize myself with xNormal, so maybe that will come in handy. But I'm going to keep my editing confined to the projection modifier.
Yeah, I always used to get errors with xNormal if I tried to use anything else. It wasn't until I watched the Tracker Knife tutorials that I gave it another shot with .sbm instead.