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Umar AR
Umar AR
Inspiring
June 28, 2023
Answered

Unity import of sbsar material not showing normal or height map

  • June 28, 2023
  • 1 reply
  • 597 views

Hi there,

 

When I import an sbsar material and apply to an object it is not showing the intended 3d mesh topology of it's normal or height map at the edges of the object in the scene. However when the same material is opened in Substance Painter it displays on the object as it should.

 

Please see the following pics.

 

Umar AR

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer davescm

I don't use Unity, but your images show what happens when you use a normal map and height driving 'bump'. Both of those simulate surface displacement in rendering but do not actually displace the surface and therefore have no impact on edges when viewed against other parts of the scene.


The screenshot from painter is using Height to drive displacement. That moves the mesh surface and therefore does show on edges.

 

As I said I don't use Unity but in Blender I would do the following (so you can look for similar in Unity)

1. Subdivide the surface (if you can use microdisplacement, in Blender it is called adaptive subdivision, where surfaces nearer the camera displace more, then all the better).

2. Drive that displacement from the height map (it requires switching from Bump to Displacement)

 

Dave

1 reply

davescm
Community Expert
davescmCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
June 28, 2023

I don't use Unity, but your images show what happens when you use a normal map and height driving 'bump'. Both of those simulate surface displacement in rendering but do not actually displace the surface and therefore have no impact on edges when viewed against other parts of the scene.


The screenshot from painter is using Height to drive displacement. That moves the mesh surface and therefore does show on edges.

 

As I said I don't use Unity but in Blender I would do the following (so you can look for similar in Unity)

1. Subdivide the surface (if you can use microdisplacement, in Blender it is called adaptive subdivision, where surfaces nearer the camera displace more, then all the better).

2. Drive that displacement from the height map (it requires switching from Bump to Displacement)

 

Dave

    Umar AR
    Umar ARAuthor
    Inspiring
    July 2, 2023

    Thanks Dave. There is this tesselation functionality in Unity with the HDRP pipeline but not URP as far as I'm aware.

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