LODs and normal maps get tricky for a number of reasons. There isn't ever going to be any great solution whether you're using hard edges or not, simply because normal maps depend on the lowpoly mesh normals of the highest LOD, so when you remove geometry you're editing those normals and you'll always get smoothing errors.…
do you think exploded AO bakes are more accurate/realistic given the fact that they are exploded and not in the actual occluding state they should be in final model ? i know you can do a separate contact AO passes and combine them, but is it same quality ? as for having a bake process that requires no cleanup, its a great…
I'm glad you posted to ask for help with this as the last thing you should ever do it edit your normal maps in Photoshop to remove stuff like this. It opens a huge can of worms & can really mess your bake up :) For the custom cage, I use this method. * Triangulate your LP mesh using the Triangulate modifier set to Beauty.…