Baking Normals Gone Wavy [SOLVED]

Spendoge · Sep 2018

I'm currently having problems with baking in Toolbag 3. In the images below, I have a model which should have straight and uniform normals, based off the floating geometry in the high-poly model, however, the result of the baking process is wonky normals which definitely aren't straight. This model was brought into Toolbag 3 straight from Maya 2017 as an FBX. Any help would be really appreciated!

The Way it Bakes:
This is how the normal maps bake in Toolbag 3

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/sq/oc95m8gudheg.png

How it Should Look:
This is how the details should look.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/ne/drcjr1iuua3x.png

Shuma · Sep 2018

Baking cylinder with a low poly count is always as mess.
You need to subdivide your cylinder just for the bake.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnuK6xyi-qY

Spendoge · Sep 2018

@Shuma thanks for the advice!

Spendoge · Sep 2018

I figured out a nice fix from some other forums if anyone is interested! All I had to do was bevel the horizontal edges of the cylinder, then use Toolbag 3's "Paint Skew" option to fix all of my normal maps. Its results are pretty good and it's quite a quick fix!

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/oj/qda27byifywx.png

Paint Skew

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/ut/8f1l47xf5n8z.png

Fixed

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/wh/9l2aglpb8iok.png

EarthQuake · Sep 2018

Generally speaking the best way to fix this sort of waviness is to add more edges to the cylinder, ie: make it more round. The rounder it is / closer it matches the shape of the high poly, the less waviness you will see. This has the added benefit of making the asset look better as well, and generally will mean around the same or less added geometry vs bevels.

One thing you absolutely should not do is add geometry to the lowpoly, bake, and remove it, as this is likely to cause shading errors.

There's a bit thread on the topic here: https://polycount.com/discussion/81154/understanding-averaged-normals-and-ray-projection-who-put-waviness-in-my-normal-map/p1

Spendoge · Sep 2018

@EarthQuake I'll keep this in mind for future models! Thanks for the help, I was just trying to keep my model as low-poly as possible, but if I have to add more edges I will! Thanks again!

Baking Normals Gone Wavy [SOLVED]

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