Whats the best way doing normal maps concerning low poly models, smoothing groups, hard edges?
At the moment I make almost everything smooth shading and and add support loops at hard edges(the low poly model) but I think it would be better to make hard eges instead of adding support loops because of lower poly count.
But I have problems getting nice even bevels for my normal maps on hard edges. I just found pic related. Is this the right way to do things? Do you have any tips?
adjust the settings
>>513636
>I think it would be better to make hard eges instead of adding support loops because of lower poly count.
That's correct. I almost always end up doing multiple bakes, adding/remiving hard edges as I go. I usually start by hardening any edge that's getting a sharp bevel in the highpoly mesh. Makes it less work for the normalmap and less errors as a result. So far it always turned out pretty clean.
>>513649
Oh, and make sure you're using a cage, too, otherwise you'll get ugly artifacts along every hard edge.
it is possible to have this result using the Unity 3D?
>>513747
Those are not six face boxes anon. But any type normal mapping is possible in Unity. You can write custom shaders in unity which means anything that is possible under DirectX is also possible in unity.
>>513636
You just fucked up on the last 2 there.
You can split the UVs without making it the low poly sharp. That's why it looks so fucked up.
The normal map is relative, so if you bake with smooth normals, then you must render with the exact same smooth normals + normal map.
The last one says "one smoothing group", but I don't think it's true. The lowpoly object, when rendering using the normal map, should also have the exact same smoothing behavior as the one used for baking. This is unconditional.
Done correctly, the last 2 will look like the first lowpoly (seperate smoothing groups and split UVs).
I did exactly as the last in OPs picture (split up UVs at hard edges) and I still get these seams.
>>513860
Use a cage.
Normal Maps with hard edges aren't necessarily better than support loops. For example, Alien:Isolation's environments and props were made almost entirely with support loops partly because normal maps look terrible in VR.
>>513865
I guess I am going to do support loops in the future . Fucking around with hard egdes and cages etc. is just too damn tedious and its not like its 2005 or something where you have to be carefull about polycount(unless you do something ridiculous)
>>513860
[X]Split uvs
[ ] cage?
[ ] Smooth groups?
Can you guys explain me what is smooth groups?
>>513913
Seriously? It's like modeling 101. You select a group of polys and assign them to a smoothing group, any adjacent polys that belong to a different group produce a hard edge where the two meet. When you turbo-smooth the mesh, any two polys that are in the same group will produce a smooth surface even if they form a 90° angle, while different groups won't blend no matter what.
>>513866
I mean, it's all about the game's pipeline. A modern FPS can benefit a lot from support edges, while a top-down game will be better off with a lot of normal maps, since there's more scenery to show and the view distance makes normal artifacts easier to get away with.
>>513952
>support edges
A good normal map does exactly the same as support edges, neither of them change the object's silhouette. The only acceptable use of supporting edges in games is for mirror-like surfaces.
