Hello everyone, I have a high poly model, I made a UV for the low poly version, used the “project” to transfer details from the high poly model to the low poly model. However, when I try to use Noise Pattern for my low poly model, I find that there is a lack of polygons. When I tried to split my low poly (50k polygons) model, it turned out that my unwrap is actually lost, do I need to unwrap again or how to get around this moment?
Hello @Barrel ,
I’m not completely sure I understand your process here, so let’s just go over some basic aspects.
I assume by “noise pattern” you’re referring to Surface Noise with the Noisemaker plugin?
When you first activate noise in Tool> Surface, that noise is applies as a procedural effect. This means it is a simple surface effect that does not actually alter the geometry , color or silhouette of the actual model. It will display the same on a model of any level of polygon resolution.
In order to apply it to the actual model you must use “apply to mesh”. This will apply that noise as both actual geometry displacement, and polypaint if your noise has a color component.
The results of both polypaint and fine surface detail are dependent on mesh resolution. So generally you must apply them to a mesh with a high polycount or the highest level of subdivision to get the best results.
Once that happens the noise detail plays by the same rules as color and sculpting detail on any mesh. High resolution surface detail can only be seen on the mesh when it has a level of polygon subdivision adequate to display it. Otherwise sculpted surface detail must be converted into a displacement map in order to display on a low resolution mesh.
In terms of color detail it works like any polypaint. High resolution polypaint detail can only be seen at maximum quality at the highest level of resolution. In order to display it at maximum quality on a low resolution mesh, it first needs to be converted into a Texture and applied to the model. At that point the color detail is baked into the texture image and not the model verts, so it can display on a low res model.
The process for creating textures from polypaint can be found here:
http://docs.pixologic.com/user-guide/3d-modeling/painting-your-model/texture-maps/
Pardon my bad english, I was talking about this:
http://docs.pixologic.com/user-guide/3d-modeling/sculpting/surface-noise/
Yes, we’re talking about the same thing, or the same principles apply.
If you apply polypaint at high resolution that detail will be lost if you reduce the subdivision level polycount of the mesh. Polypaint is stored on a vert by vert basis, so the fewer verts there are, the less detail can be displayed.
You have to convert the vert color into a texture image in order to display the high res vert detail on a low poly mesh.
So in order to project color and surface detail to a new mesh with new UVs, you must first apply the detail to your source mesh at high mesh resolution. Then project both Color and Geometry in the Projection menu to the new target mesh at a high enough level of resolution so that it can capture the incoming detail.
Convert that polypaint to a texture based on the UVs of the new mesh (UVs are locked to mesh topology, so if you change topology you need new UVs). That color detail can then be previewed on the low res mesh if you apply it as a Texture. If not applied as a texture, you can only see the maximum level of detail when the mesh is at a level of subdivision high enough to display it well.
Hope that helps!