So I have been wanting to bake some normal maps for a western styled six-shooter but I'm getting some issues around cylinder edges. Before you jump the gun and start throwing links of the Polycount Normal Map wiki, End All Be All Normal Map thread, Poopinmymouth's normal map tutorial, and the 1.05MB SWF file on Maya normal…
Here we go again :O I'd advice anyone doubting to just try all the options yourself. There's no perfect solution to magically make a low poly cylinder look high poly in all conditions(angles). McClish> What you are suggesting sounds like the case of "beveled" top edge look if I understand you correctly? Would still not…
I could for this example, but it would be tedious to paint it out when you have a 6-shooter that has a lot of edges all with this issue. I'd rather learn to do it right.
Hahahahaha... noway!? You mean I can't normal map a low-poly cylinder that will completely get rid of all my life worries and let me live for eternity in happiness? Damnit... I was getting my hopes up :poly131:
So what did you do to achieve the far right example? I see that the edges are jagged, but from the side you don't have wavy lines, which is what I'm after. All my examples / tests have the result of your middle cylinder.
That right side one with the perfectly straight lines looks worse to me about 90% of the time. =D You ruin the highpoly look for all but a very specific viewing angle, i really dont see the point and think its wasted effort to think about it this much.
There's no way around this issue still, hard edges of the UV or what not. If it's critical to look good in all angles, use more geometry spans. Otherwise choose the rounded look at the right angles, or stick with beveled edges at the top but have the "lowpoly" look of few spans. In my opinion, just choose the right…
Tweaking the cage in Maya doesn't do anything for you since it doesn't adjust ray cast direction. All it does is use it as a reference for how far to cast the rays (typically just set at 100% inside only). I will try your 3 object bake test tomorrow. It's 4:15AM and I need to cuddle my girlfriend :)
I was thinking that if I really wanted to take care of the issue I would have to use another program. I have Xnormal installed so exporting a cage sounds like a good idea. I'll be learning a lot about 3DS Max next term so I'm excited about that because I know Max has a lot of amazing tools. Thanks for the help, all of you.…