Bevel or use normal maps in VR?
polycounter lvl 8
Hey guys. I've been developing a VR project for a little bit and have a question about making assets for VR compared to assets for a regular game.
Is it better to just bevel edges instead of using normal maps to get smooth edges? I understand there's an increase in poly/vertex count, but when is beveling verse baking an advantage? I'm using normal maps for all the details, but unsure if I should also use normal maps for smooth edges.
Is it better to just bevel edges instead of using normal maps to get smooth edges? I understand there's an increase in poly/vertex count, but when is beveling verse baking an advantage? I'm using normal maps for all the details, but unsure if I should also use normal maps for smooth edges.
Replies
So if the object is close to the face, I should use a normal map? Further away, bevel?
The less work you do through normal maps the more convincing the result.
sorry for the Necro, but is it actually wise to use normal maps at all as I have a lot of bricks in my VR scene and they just look off with normal maps
ie they have a bumpy look, but just look wrong.
The depth of a brick is not too deep, but maybe even that does not work. I noticed in the Half Life Alyx home screen the bricks are not normal mapped
The long and short of it is that normal maps can't carry as much weight in VR as they do on a flat screen but they do still work.
You don't want to try and fake geometric detail with them if you're getting close up cos it just won't work.
The further away an asset is from the player, the more you can get away with - the player can't put their head at a stupid angle and watch the parallax failing if they're far away
Looks like Alyx uses the pretty common approach of random sticking out bricks along the surface and corner pieces with a bunch of bricks.
@poopipe yeah I had mixed results ie a tiling brick wall look ok as long as the spec was very low, but
form certain angles it looked klnd oif inside out ( viewpoint was from below) Floor looks ok with normal mapped bevels, but there is that sense that its all not quite right. - guess its because the left and right eye contradicts the normal map viewpoint or something
@ZacD yeah i noticed that and it looks pretty good still, that demo level is cool - shame the full game is a bit linear and lacks ammo :)
Graphically I have seen nothing better in vr though