A challenging problem with normals
vertex
Hey everyone.
I've been trying to solve this issue for about ~20 hours now and it's come to the point where I think it's quite nearly impossible to fix. The problem is my normal map seams.
Basically I have sculpted my creature in Zbrush, exported it for 3D-coat, retoped and unwrapped it there. After went to 3DS-Max to reposition and relax some of the UVs. Took the lowpoly back in Zbrush, divided and projected the detail of the original sculpt and then followed "http://www.vfxforge.com/blog/zbrush-to-marmoset-toolbag-baking-normals/#more-2430" this guide to export the normal map and model (repeated this step I think 4 or 5 times to make sure Im doing everything correctly). Additionally I have also baked my normals with Xnormal.
When I put the lowpoly and the normal map in Marmoset 2 I get seams everywhere that I can't fix.
I've tried to have separate UV islands with separate smoothing groups, but that doesn't work.
I've tried to export the lowpoly mesh as triangles and quads and it didn't make any difference.
I've tried rendering in 3Ds Max but the result is the same (seams everywhere).
I've tried Xnormal (with a cage), didn't work either.
Any tips/ideas I can try would be greatly appreciated, thanks for your time.
Here are the seams in Marmoset, normals from Zbrush:
Seams in 3ds Max:
Seams in Marmoset again, normal exported with Xnormals:
My unwrap:
Zbrush normals:
And finally the model itself:
I've been trying to solve this issue for about ~20 hours now and it's come to the point where I think it's quite nearly impossible to fix. The problem is my normal map seams.
Basically I have sculpted my creature in Zbrush, exported it for 3D-coat, retoped and unwrapped it there. After went to 3DS-Max to reposition and relax some of the UVs. Took the lowpoly back in Zbrush, divided and projected the detail of the original sculpt and then followed "http://www.vfxforge.com/blog/zbrush-to-marmoset-toolbag-baking-normals/#more-2430" this guide to export the normal map and model (repeated this step I think 4 or 5 times to make sure Im doing everything correctly). Additionally I have also baked my normals with Xnormal.
When I put the lowpoly and the normal map in Marmoset 2 I get seams everywhere that I can't fix.
I've tried to have separate UV islands with separate smoothing groups, but that doesn't work.
I've tried to export the lowpoly mesh as triangles and quads and it didn't make any difference.
I've tried rendering in 3Ds Max but the result is the same (seams everywhere).
I've tried Xnormal (with a cage), didn't work either.
Any tips/ideas I can try would be greatly appreciated, thanks for your time.
Here are the seams in Marmoset, normals from Zbrush:
Seams in 3ds Max:
Seams in Marmoset again, normal exported with Xnormals:
My unwrap:
Zbrush normals:
And finally the model itself:
Replies
Thanks a lot for the reply! I'm going to try what you suggested in Max now and post results in a bit.
Also yeah, they're not very noticable and from a distance you can't tell at all, but I've just been through some of my old work which I've done, using the same pipeline as now pretty much, and is ALL has those damn seams. I know it's possible to have a clean seamsless model so I think that is my current goal :P
I disabled the gamma correction, only 1 light in the viewport, baked the normal again with the green channel flipped in Zbrush and increased the bump value to 100. I tried ticking the flip green in Max as well, but it's all the same.
Seems to be better, but still visible... I'm starting to think that if it's improving, there's probably something going wrong with the baking and not the previewing. I wish I was still at uni, would pester my tutors to death :P
Here is the result:
Hmm, I don't think it's possible leave it all as one whole UV (if that is what you mean). But even if I do have it all on one, I'll still have a single split somewhere and the seam would be visible. I just don't understand how people can get seamless normals : ( I will continue trying tomorrow until it is solved! Thanks a lot for the reply!
EDIT: I just properly read your comment today HUFFER, Im going to decimate it now and try, see how it goes!
Oh and now I understand what you mean about the smoothing groups. I've had it all as one most of the time, just when I couldn't figure out how to fix my seams I started looking for suggestions and one was to split ever UV island with a separate SG which was weird, but I've tried anyway without any results obviously.
Tomorrow, after trying to bake in Max, I'll try and bake some other simpler organic model in Zbrush and see if the same thing is happening... It's just driving me insane.
I am really glad and happy that I can now continue and start painting some colours in, but it still bugs me that I couldn't bake a good normal map in Zbrush or Xnormals < > Hopefully after some experience, I will figure out what I'm screwing up : P
Thanks a lot for the tips, really appreciate it!
Here are the results:
I used Xnormal yeah, but I ended up getting pretty similar result to Zbrush around the edges (not very familiar with Xnormal tho). Only tried using Zbrush to bake 'cause I've watched a few tutorials where people have gotten pretty clean seams and it's the software that I'm most knowledgeable of (plus it seems easier to me, no cages to set up, as far as I know, and also that's where I do my sculpting).
I'll try baking an object space map and convert it as well, see what kind of results that produces! Thanks for the suggestion!
Lowpoly in max plus uvs for the low poly.
Apply a projection cage to your lowpoly and use a decimated version of the hipoly (in the projection modifier) as a reference.
Export the lowpoly with the xnormal exporter with projection cage checked.
Close max, fire up xnormal and point it to your two meshes and the results are ususlly great.
Cheerio