mike hovland

Whew! Glad I was right, and glad it fixed your problem.

jbrophy

ReplicA vbmenu_register("postmenu_244890", true); - So I have done a bunch of tests and here are my conclusions.

When you rotate UVW's you will get these errors where the seams are. This is because red and green do not change on the actual map, in Zmapper. When you use th enormal map creator that Z originally shipped with, it rotates the red's and green's based on the UVW rotation so there are no seams.

This leads me to believe that there must be some setting in Zmapper to do this color rotation based upon UVW rotation. So Pixologic, what are the equivilant settings to the Tool Normal map creator so that I can duplicate this in Zmapper?

I have tried a ton of different expert pass settings but did not get the final result I needed. I also have read about the epxert passes in the documentation, but there is little information about them in it.

In the expert pass 1 mode I turned on derive normal from tanget x binormal which looked to resolved the seams at render time, but then created some other artifacts. I know the answer is in there, I just have not figured out the right combinations.

Thanks
Jesse

ReplicA

Well, it seems like you're getting close to an answer there, jbrophy. It's nice to see someone else out there trying to figure this thing out.

To be honest, this problem is driving me nuts. I've tried mirroring (flipping) the uv segments that looked messed up, but that didn't work either.

I'm gonna try a regular ZB normal map pass, and see what I get with that.

If anyone can come up with a solution to this problem, PLEASE post it as soon as possible.

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ReplicA

I got something that kinda takes care of those seams, but I'm not too sure about the quality.

I tried just forgetting about the Max preset, flip the green channel, and make a tangent map with everything else on default. It seemd to work ok. You can still see the seams a little bit up close, and there's still some artifacting going on...

Still working on it.

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jbrophy

Replica - Ok I found some settings that work great for my model tests. Open up the ATI Best settings then turn on flip red and flip green.

My model shows no errors

ReplicA

Killer!! I'll give that shot, thanks a TON, bro.

[EDIT] Damn, it didn't work for me. I still have seams.

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jbrophy

huh

I don't see how that could be. Max 8 correct?

Edit: You did the tangent map one correct?

Dubb

Are there no XSI presets for this Zmapper? To be honest Im a bit overwhelmed with the amount of buttons/options for this and i get a 100 page pdf to read through to boot. Dont get me wrong, i love documentation....I just wish there were a quick preset I could use to get something useful instead of what Im getting right now using Zmapper.

ReplicA

Yeah, jbrophy, I've got max 8, and Iused the tanegnt normals. What I think might be a big problem is my model itself. It doesn't have enough polygonal detail to help the map look great.

That being said, I did look at the normal map in ZB as a texture, and the colors at the seams are completely different causing my seams issues. Here's a pic of what I mean, and it's NOT a viewport lighting issue, I promise.



I don't know why it does this, but the fact is, it's doing it.

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jbrophy

If the UVW's are rotated for those objects you want it to do that. The color change takes into account the UVW rotation for the Red and green channels. It does not look right as a color map, but works as a normal map. You are using your normal map in a normal to bump shader? Not just as a normal bitmap in your max material right, because those colors look right to me.

ryankingslien

I am so happy this out there now! I want to share a few things I have learned while demoing this to game companies the last few months.

First, world space normal maps are easy! However, you can not use them for models that rotate relative to the camera or deform.

Second, tangent space normal maps are a no-man's land of various implementations and lack of any standarization.

Third, the key to correct tangent space normal maps depends on your settings in the Expert Pass 1 and Expert Pass 2 tabs in ZMapper. Because there are no standard settings and because every game engine and every software packages reads the blue, green and red of a normal map differently ZMapper includes all the settings you will need to get the right normal map for your final client (renderer).

One tip is to be previewing your normal map as an Object Space Normal Map until you need to final render it. By then you will be able to figure out the configuration needed for your final client.

Another tip: SEAMS IN YOUR NORMAL MAP (TEXTURE) ARE GOOD! Seams in your final render are bad!

ReplicA - there are no presets for Max 8. I would have liked to have gotten those done but Max changed their interpretations from Max 7 to 7.1 to 8 and it is difficult to track those changes. As a free plug-in we have to rely on the good-will of the community users to pull together and find some of these configurations for each other. I know this community is up to that challenge!

If you have established settings that work for you please share them in this thread.

Thanks to all our beta testers!!!

ryan

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jbrophy

Ok I thought I would write a quick Tutorial on max 8 and also post my max 8 settings.

So do you normal stuff. Make low poly model, Sub d it up in Z. Then with your model in it's lowest settings run Zmapper. Load up my presets, which can be found here

http://www.jessebrophy.com/images/Z...onfig_Max_8.zmp

The more samples and Division you use the better the map. Now export out your normal map. Load up max and import your low poly model. Now add a material to the model. In the bump slot add a normal to bump map. In the normal slot that comes up load in your newly made normal map. Add a light and render. There is no need to change any of the normal settings as long as it is set to tangent.

Let me know how it works and if I should change anything in this brief description. Good luck.

ReplicA

jbrophy, I am using the normal maps I make with a normal map shader. In Max 8, Bump channel, normal bump. I just used the texture type render to show the color difference I'm getting. That color difference does show up in Max 8's scanline renderer as ugly seam problems. It's like the surface is getting different lights, between the seams.

ryankingslien, Yeah, I thought there was a reason for no Max 8 presets. I'm not really concerned with presets so much as figuring out a way to get rid of those seams. I don't know how to get the model and normal map into Doom 3 right now, so I have no idea if those seams will show up there or not. I can't just say, "oh well, the seams should disappear when it gets in game" cause I don't know that. I can't tell if it's something wrong with the uv's, the normal maps, or the model. I'll figure out how to get them into D3 to check, but I'd really rather not have to do that with every model I make, just to see if it's looking right or not.

If I find some settings that work, I'll go ahead and post them, or I suppose I could save those settings out, and post a preset.

[EDIT] jbrophy posted that message right before I posted this one, so the last comments don't need to be made.

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ReplicA

Ok, just tried your settings, and I still have the same problem. Nothing's changed.

Here's a render of the model with normal map on as a normal bump.



You can clearly see the seams I was talking about, and the light and shadows change at the same exact spot the color difference is on the normal map.

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Visit my site: http://replica.pcriot.com/

Some turbosquid models I've done