normal map on cylinder

hula · Nov 2007

hey there,
this is my first post!
ok, so i have a question on how to best normal map a cylinder.
im putting up an image with two ways that i tried. first way is the way maya generates it. then i tried a second where i straitened the lines in pshop.
can anyone tell me what way is better? they both seem to have some problems.
thanks!
- c

Lee3dee · Nov 2007

I think this belongs in Pimping and Previews.

Motz · Nov 2007

2d/3d discussion actually. BUT to answer your question, the 2nd appears better, but you could try xNormal to generate them. You may need to move some points around to make the normal projection work. Normals are wonky when you have vertex straight ontop of vertexes in a cylindar like you do. I'm not sure what the right term is, but instead of the cylender that make up the object being flat, bevel them/curve them so the normals pickup better.

pliang · Nov 2007

The first one would most likely to give you a weird silhouette.

Uly · Nov 2007

It's your cage/envelope. A universal push or size won't do it, you have to manually drag the faces of envelope closer to the hipoly & lopoly's faces in order to avoid what you're doing here. Read Poop's tutorial on Normal mapping, it covers it.

www.poopinmymouth.com

PS, as forementioned, Pimping & Previews or Tech Talk please.

CheeseOnToast · Nov 2007

Uly, that does nothing in maya. It doesn't seem to use the cage to control the ray casting direction as Max does. The cage purely controls the ray cast length from what I can see.

EarthQuake · Nov 2007

Really it depends on how you'll view the model the wavy lines can actually be very usefull at certain angles. As you see looking at it from being in the top pic, actually makes it look better with some of the details there.

airbrush · Nov 2007

I've encountered this before and recently created a tutorial for a workflow method I developed that will fix this. Baking of low poly cylinders and spherical objects often generate this type of resulting normalmap.

Done in Maya, but can be adapted to Max etc...

Low Poly SmoothProxy Baking for Cyl/Sph

EarthQuake · Nov 2007

Another thing, you could simply use more gemetry in your lowres model, and this looks like it would be for a scope on a gun? You'de want more than 12 sides to it if this is something you'de see up close(like in first person view?) atleasy 20 or 24 sides for a scope like this on a FPV gun.. That will help the normals issue.

jeremy price · Nov 2007

good tutorial airbrush, we were just talking about this at work;)

hula · Nov 2007

hey there,
thanks much for your help.
i upped the faces on my cylinder and also smoothed the lowpoly for baking. ( much better results ) I just posted the finished model on your pimp section. ... called night vision.

thanks again!
cccp

EarthQuake · Nov 2007

Looks like you have a whole lot of smoothing errors, like you changed your smoothing groups after you rendered your map.

monkeyboy_garth · Nov 2007

Yeah, what EQ said. The end piece isn't reacting to the light the same way as the rest of the shaft. Stands out when you compare it to the examples at the top of the page.

hula · Nov 2007

jaha. shit. you are right.
ok. i have a question. is it either smooth or hard?
if i set to 90 or 50 will it make a difference?
Is there a decent tutorial out there?
but you are right i changed it after baking.
oooops

normal map on cylinder

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