Marmoset Baking Cage Issues (With Solution)
polycounter lvl 6
Hello.
I'm currently making a transition from Painter to Marmoset for baking, though I find every tool a wonderful addition to my workflow there's only one thing that I don't really like, the cage.
It seems to appear exactly the same as the cage created by 3ds Max's Projection modifier, and for whatever reason is problematic with some types of geometry, making the cage go in the wrong direction caused by averaged normals (smoothed cage).
I don't think I've ever before had an issue with Painter regarding baking since it uses a simple ray distance, though there's less control it's also problem free (or at least has been for me) and I haven't yet encountered a bit of geo where modifying a cage would be vital. I've even baked the exact same mesh I'm trying to bake now in Painter with no issues, and with multiple cage issues in Marmoset.
Take this very bit of simple geo, The left, curved side is pushing the corner towards the left, making the cage intersect the lowpoly on the right.
I thought somewhat of a solution would be simply to paint a negative offset, but that doesn't seem to be happening. It doesn't seem to go any further back than the lowpoly mesh. Even if I did paint it out, I hate the though of having possible issues caused by a cage, something that I must manually remove each time, something that I could miss.
So I'm not sure if I'm just a noobie with Marmoset but I can't find anything online regarding the same cage issues, if anyone knows of workarounds I'd appreciate it!
I'm currently making a transition from Painter to Marmoset for baking, though I find every tool a wonderful addition to my workflow there's only one thing that I don't really like, the cage.
It seems to appear exactly the same as the cage created by 3ds Max's Projection modifier, and for whatever reason is problematic with some types of geometry, making the cage go in the wrong direction caused by averaged normals (smoothed cage).
I don't think I've ever before had an issue with Painter regarding baking since it uses a simple ray distance, though there's less control it's also problem free (or at least has been for me) and I haven't yet encountered a bit of geo where modifying a cage would be vital. I've even baked the exact same mesh I'm trying to bake now in Painter with no issues, and with multiple cage issues in Marmoset.
Take this very bit of simple geo, The left, curved side is pushing the corner towards the left, making the cage intersect the lowpoly on the right.
I thought somewhat of a solution would be simply to paint a negative offset, but that doesn't seem to be happening. It doesn't seem to go any further back than the lowpoly mesh. Even if I did paint it out, I hate the though of having possible issues caused by a cage, something that I must manually remove each time, something that I could miss.
So I'm not sure if I'm just a noobie with Marmoset but I can't find anything online regarding the same cage issues, if anyone knows of workarounds I'd appreciate it!
Replies
https://mega.nz/#F!QTRASBiA!t4CkaQt70I5P2nJPYqRBXw
To answer your question, no there is no alternative method for generating the cage. The likely cause of the problem is the extreme angle change along that vertex, beveling that edge would likely solve it for now.
At least a manual cage import/export/modify would really make my day. But it seems there's absolutely nothing in Marmoset to counter this rather than changing the LP itself.
Baking-only lowpoly meshes it is...
1. The solution is pretty simple, create a clone of your lowpoly, use this normal backup script found here to store your normals:
http://polycount.com/discussion/192524/no-more-distortions-with-floaters-flattened-floaters-3ds-max
2. Add a subdivide modifier, don't subdivide too much or it will defeat the smoothed cage/averaged normals.
3. Convert to editable poly, restore normals. The mesh should now have way more geometry but still have the exact same normals as previously. Use that for baking. Haven't had any issues *SO FAR*.
All credit for the script goes to "denisT on cgtalk forums". It was shared here on polycount and has been super useful to me in many ways so far.
Does anyone know of a way to fix this without the need for photoshop ?
I am using Maya with marmoset for baking, so the previous solution isnt working for me.
Hi there! Have you found a solution for this? Just having this happening to me now. Also using Maya... and using Marmoset 4.. seems like they haven't fixed this issue yet...
Cages in marmoset have actually been improved but yeah some situations like this still pop up. Since a single vert is being pulled in so many directions back into the model it's best to add more geo around that vert, bevelling/chamfering is your best bet.