Noticed something weird with the cage in Max (or maybe its a feature?). I had made an inset in the faces in the model in the image i posted two posts before this one to capture all the floating geo you see. It worked great the first time i tried to render and i thought i'd never have to revisit that situation again however…
When you already use EQ's preferred method. In all seriousness, great write up. The thing about aligning inset shapes with the exterior is something I haven't thought about, will definitely keep that in mind in the future.
Of interest to most who will read this thread, I wrote an extensive tutorial that covers this topic and many other common baking issues. It's geared towards baking in Toolbag, but most of the Basics and Best Results sections apply universally. Check it out on the Marmoset site:…