You can also add a support loop on the low poly, right over the inset, bake with it, then remove it for the final low-poly mesh - it will hold the cage better and get rid of some waviness.
Looks like you triangulated your highpoly? Either way, the constricting edge on that flat plane doesn't follow the edge nicely. Try insetting the top plane once to make that edge uniform.
how do you unwrap a cube? this is essentially a cube. start from there I'd say. well actually I'd say it is essentially two cubes.. one main cube and one "inset" cube.
the inset for the gold screws would define the screws shape a bit better if it was grey like the rest of the metal, and not gold. looks like a gold screw with a gold washer at the mo. otherwise looking ace : ]
That was one of my reasons for doing the doors etc. the way I did - shaped the bottom panel, then Inset and Bevel to get the secondary panels - because I didn't see a cleaner way of doing it.
You would need to add edge loops on the curve before and after the area with pulling. It also looks like you could get away with using a separate piece of geometry for the inset area.
Even though unasked, quick tip for this action. Inset has a depth value which acts like an extrusion, press Ctrl+Mouse or Tab for manual input of the value, or adjust later in the options.
Just wondering if there's a way to extend the border polygons outwards, creating a new border loop? Basically the opposite of 'inset'. 'Outline' doesn't create a new loop, and 'shift+drag+scaling the border' doesn't respect the direction.
I am hoping to identify the following (4) things: #1. The best workflow, presumably between something in Blender (can blender paint normal map widgets?), Substance Painter for instancing premade features onto texture layers (consisting of normal map etc). The following is a good illustration I presume for the workflow…
I believe that's actually correct; if you consider how the normals would smooth in this instance it'll be slightly different at each corner. To "fix" this, inset the sides so the faces' vertices average in the same direction.