How do I get terrain tile edge normals to match?

Heliocide · Aug 2011

Hey,

This is my first post here. I'm truly inspired by all the fantastic work going on.

I'm creating a top scrolling shooting game for the iPhone which has square terrain tiles spawning infinitely.
When the tiles have their edges merged in Maya the normals are fine, but as soon as they're separated there's an obvious crease. The soften normals tool doesn't seem to work on border edges so I'm at a loss of what to do?

SpeCter · Aug 2011

Make a highpoly which consists of 3 pieces and use a singe piece as lowpoly, that way it should come out correct

Heliocide · Aug 2011

Ok thanks! but that's if I'm able to use normal maps correct?
I'm not so sure I will be able to on the iPhone. Is there a manual solution for the mesh itself?

equil · Aug 2011

There's an "average normal" function that works with separate normals. You could also combine them, soften normals, lock normals and then separate them. make sure to have your tile connected on both sides though.

Heliocide · Aug 2011

Fantastic! Thanks very much for speedy replies guys

fade1 · Aug 2011

use the vertex normal edit tool in maya. just give the corresponding vertices similar settings and everything will be fine. you could also edit the settings with the set vertex normal tool. or last but not least go into the component editor and edit the values there.

How do I get terrain tile edge normals to match?

Replies