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Normal Map help? Seams along UV Cuts

polycounter lvl 13
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Arkadius polycounter lvl 13
I hope some one can help me with this, Ive been struggling with normal map seams for like 1 year, I always paint over the seams with a neutral blue (R126 G126 B255) so I cheat at normal map seams :'(

So here it is

I'm have normal map seams where ever my uv is broken up, I've tried painting in the seam, inverting my red and green channels but that didn't help very much. I found this link within one of the other forums but I don't understand it, could someone please explain it in dummy terms?

Im useing 3ds max, Xnormal to bake, and fx Shader 3.0 to test the seams.

http://ddnetworkofartists.net/index....tid=7&blogid=1
I posted in a normal map thread hoping for a response but I think the thread may have gotten lost in the other threads so hopefully someone will clear this up for me up for me.

I'm have normal map seams where ever my uv is broken up, I've tried painting in the seam, inverting my red and green channels but that didn't help very much. I found this link within one of the other forums but I don't understand it, could someone please explain it in dummy terms?

Im useing 3ds max, Xnormal to bake, and fx Shader 3.0 to test the seams.

http://ddnetworkofartists.net/index....tid=7&blogid=1

Replies

  • Ghostscape
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    Ghostscape polycounter lvl 13
    Those links are coming up 404 for me.

    126/126 is slightly off so you'll get a slight seam there!

    Also this seems like it could be an issue with edge padding and mip-mapping. Make sure you have a wide padding berth. If you're baking with xNormal it defaults to a huge padding spread so that shouldn't be an issue.

    Post a picture of the seam and the normal map in that area, with and without wireframe over the normal map so we can see exactly what the edge looks like.
  • Arkadius
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    Arkadius polycounter lvl 13
    Thanks for the quick reply! I'm at work right now but once i get home I post what you request and maybe this link will work this time cheers :)

    http://ddnetworkofartists.net/index.php?catid=7&blogid=1
  • Arkadius
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    Arkadius polycounter lvl 13
    Okay here ya are, I hope this helps.
    polycount_pic_one.jpg
    polycount_pic_two.jpg
    polycount_pic_three.jpg
  • kodde
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    kodde polycounter lvl 19
    It's because the normalmap will go through every pixel and sample nearby pixels to average the normal in between every pixel. It might be quite a lot to grasp, I'm still not entirely sure about how to tackle these problems in practice. You should make a really simplified scene and try different normal map scenarios. Sewn/separated UV shells, soft/hard edges (smoothinggroups), etc.
  • divi
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    divi polycounter lvl 12
    those seems could also be due to stretching on the adjacent faces or the facenormals facing in different directions.

    one way to fix those is to add cuts on flat planes and use those as UV seams so the faces on adjacent to it face the same direction.
    maybe that will help.
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