[Zbrush 4R6] Baked normal map looks flat-shaded...
...which makes no sense in tangent space with both the normal and UVs smoothed. It worked properly for some time and just started going full retard on me. I've been laying out the UVs for this particular model after the fact through UV layout.
Here's the particular workflow for it (worked twice and the third started looking all blocky which makes no sense to me):
1) Export the lowest subdivision, the original base mesh, to .obj and import it into UVLayout, do my thing and lay them out as good as they can be. Green lit.
2) Bring it back into Zbrush, with UV Master copy the UVs and paste them to the topologically equivalent subtool I've poured a lot of details on the higher subdivision, I've duplicated the subtool and destroyed all the subdivisions in order to flatten and confirm it is indeed working.
3) I made sure that the Smt is checked and switched around the subdivisions which automatically tries to subdivide the UVs.
4) I came to the Normal Map tab and left checked the Tangent, SmoothUV and SNormals toggle buttons. And tried to create it, what I got is that blocky mess in the attachment. I tried calculating the normal map from level 1, 2, 3, 4... As I go higher, naturally the artifact becomes smaller but it is still there... And as I go higher, I beat the entire idea of normal maps.
I've tried all sorts of permutations, even tried smoothing the UVs in the geometry tab with Suv and ReUV. I am at a loss, anyone ever ran into this problem?
ADDENDUM: UVs generated with UVMaster do not show this artifact. UVLayout seems to be the culprit.
Here's the particular workflow for it (worked twice and the third started looking all blocky which makes no sense to me):
1) Export the lowest subdivision, the original base mesh, to .obj and import it into UVLayout, do my thing and lay them out as good as they can be. Green lit.
2) Bring it back into Zbrush, with UV Master copy the UVs and paste them to the topologically equivalent subtool I've poured a lot of details on the higher subdivision, I've duplicated the subtool and destroyed all the subdivisions in order to flatten and confirm it is indeed working.
3) I made sure that the Smt is checked and switched around the subdivisions which automatically tries to subdivide the UVs.
4) I came to the Normal Map tab and left checked the Tangent, SmoothUV and SNormals toggle buttons. And tried to create it, what I got is that blocky mess in the attachment. I tried calculating the normal map from level 1, 2, 3, 4... As I go higher, naturally the artifact becomes smaller but it is still there... And as I go higher, I beat the entire idea of normal maps.
I've tried all sorts of permutations, even tried smoothing the UVs in the geometry tab with Suv and ReUV. I am at a loss, anyone ever ran into this problem?
ADDENDUM: UVs generated with UVMaster do not show this artifact. UVLayout seems to be the culprit.
Replies
Yeah, that is my alternative, but the process is a bit more time consuming, however for the quality I get, I guess it's worth it. If anyone figures out why Zbrush is misbehaving, let me know!
If you import an OBJ with new UVs then they will automatically update as long as the vertex order is the same between meshes. This makes copying and pasting UVs with UV Master a useless step, and one that could cause even more issues if the vertex order has changed.
In this particular case, all your UVs have disconnected and flipped individually. Max gets this a lot, and GoZ is a common solution. I'm not sure what options UVLayout would give.