I can understand the despair of seeing a lot of "unfinished" (is it even possible to finish something ?) work and thinking it's not something you can show on your portfolio. But it's an extreme, on the other side you can spend your whole life on a project that never ends (and you still have nothing to show in the end ^^).…
Absolutely agree — this is a solid breakdown. The artifact indeed looks like a UV continuity issue rather than a bake smoothing problem, especially when the normal map values shift sharply across a hard edge. Seeing the UV layout over the normal map would clarify it instantly. Automation of manual work – developers can…
You're super-duper welcome to poplycount, best place on the net for 3D! Now show us your lunch! :D (on side note, if you fear black dildo's you're in for a ride here :) )