Just wondering if anyone out there can help me in my search for outsource studios that specialize in or are capable of high quality, lowpoly diffuse only handpainted 3d work (ala World of Warcraft)??? :)
but this isnt supposed to be the lowpoly. this gets gaked down onto the lowpoly. so add whatever geometry/triangles you need to get nice and smooth shading.
does it really have to be so lowpoly? theres no way your going to get a good bake anyway, the lowpoly and the highpoly are just too vastly different....
I think object space normalmaps don't use the normals of the lowpoly at all just override them but tanget space works together with the lowpolys normals.
If the planks are overlapping I would join them together in the lowpoly at the edges to make one continuous mesh. Otherwise it'll be too hard to bake the lowpoly.
might be easier to export a mid-level version of your mesh from zbrush into max, position the lowpoly max mesh around that, then re-export the lowpoly?
A mesh smooth on your lowpoly will most likely not retain hard edges and the overall shape unless you add in extra loops (which are needless for lowpoly)
how does the lowpoly look like? my guess is it is due to the way the lowpoly is constructed and therefore how the rays are cast. a custom cage might fix this.