Smoothing groups normal issue.

[16bit]

I'm having an issue with making normal maps with 1 smoothing group.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v725/l6bit/p4a.jpg

The 1 smoothing group makes the edges look really great. But it warps alot of things like the screw and the 2 widgets.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v725/l6bit/p4.jpg

It obviously looks right when the camera is looking at the edges normal.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v725/l6bit/p1.jpg

There are also the issue of the random shading problems that look like dark splotches.

What am I doing wrong here?

[Runner]

Check your Projection Cage and padding. You also might want to have a look at this http://wiki.polycount.com/NormalMap?highlight=%28%5CbCategoryTexturing%5Cb%2 9#Sloped_Extrusions

[16bit]

The cage does seem to be one of the problems. It pushes outward at odd angles instead of straight out. How can I fix this?

[Runner]

Hi, have you tried editing the cage manually? You have several option to do that in the Projection modifier.

If the cage is messed up beyond repair just reset it and start over.

As a suggestion before starting the projection process you should reset your transformations first with the reset xform modifier.

Every mesh is different but overall try to have a smooth cage with a good normal alignment.

If you google it you will see lots of examples.

Here is one messed up:

http://www.3dm3.com/tutorials/paragalis_part1/35.jpg

Fixed:

http://www.3dm3.com/tutorials/paragalis_part1/37.jpg

Btw when baking complex shapes it helps if you separate your objects. Still on the same mesh but at different positions.

[EarthQuake]

You may want to give this thread a read: http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=81154

It should help with the oddly projected details. The smoothing errors are another thing.

[16bit]

I used 2 smoothing groups instead of one since the object is long. Smoothing group one is just on the sides while everything else is on 2.

It came out rather nicely. With only a few errors on the edges, but not serious enough that unless you strain your eyes you'll likely never see.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v725/l6bit/p5.jpg

Thank you for the help.