Normal Map + Smoothing problem

[SHEPEIRO]

have you rendered the normals from PS or from high poly?

and by "softening normals" do you mean smoothing groups.

if you do then id say set the smoothing groups up on the low poly like you would for a non-normal mapped model (without smoothing over extreme angles, ie anything over 70degrees) and re render the normal map. this should sort this out.

[benclark]

Thanks for replying

What do you mean by "have you rendered the normals from PS or from high poly?"

The normal Map is coming from ZMapper and being rendered with JS_Normaliser in Mental Ray

I am using Maya so I dont know what smoothing groups are. I assume they are the same as using soften normals

I have tried going round my model and setting it up like you suggested before applying the nomal map but the dark faces just get even darker

Any ideas??

[Roja]

I think you have to look into your global lighting settings in the program. I know that happened to me too and I coudln't stand it..so I set the RGB lighting values to it's highest setting I believe, and that gave the model a totally flat color appearance-no shading. Now of course you can set it so it still has some shading, but is not that dark.
Unfortunetly right now I don't remember the exact terms and can't look it up..but i think it's just global diffuse lighting...

[benclark]

I'm trying to find some options for this but I cant locate any and theres nothing in the Help files about it. Can you post back if you remember how you got it?

[Fa-So]

Maybe try to unlock the normals ["Edit Polygons" > "Normals" > "Set Vertex Normal" (Hotbox)] after soften/harden them ..

It always works for me ..

[UnAlternate]

if your normal map is rendered from a high polygon object, you cannot change the normals of the low polygon object afterwards. as the normal map is generated to represent the normals of the high polygon object on top of the low polygon object it is rendered differently depending on how the normals of the low polygon object are set. you have to first set all the normals of the low polygon object as you want them, and then render the normalmap from the high polygon object.

[benclark]

thanks Jonas thats an excellent help, is the same true when using Normal Maps from Zbrush?

[Gordon Moran]

Looks to me like your getting those black faces because you softened normals across the edge of the shoulder armor where they should remain hard. Like Shepeiro said, you shouldn't try to use smoothing groups (soften normals in maya) over extreme angles. You get the dark triangle because half of the polygon facing upwards is trying to blend lighting information with the outer edge polygon (which is dark beacuse of you lighting setup). Have you tried softening the normals and rendering it without the normal map?

[UnAlternate]

just to illustrate my sleepless ramble from yesterday night:

http://www.jsalvador.net/temp/normal.jpg

[SHEPEIRO]

good illustration! you will also note that top image is better

edges along angle that are near or over 90degrees are better kept sharp. you will get a little seam, but the general look of the surface will be better.

[Marsfyre]

good illustration! you will also note that top image is better

edges along angle that are near or over 90degrees are better kept sharp. you will get a little seam, but the general look of the surface will be better.

actually, you should probably always just smooth the entire model so that it will render faster.

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