Questions on baking issues

[Wolfer123]

Hi I'm sure this may be obvious to many and I'm sure it online but it helps if I have get a direct answer on things I work on, what are these issues I'm getting when I'm baking my model. I know it on the normals.  Does it have to do with the edges not being smooth or so. Just curious on what things I should keep in mind when this happens. I took multiple pictures and one to show how the normal looks.  

[Cyril Dellenbach]

Hi @Wolfer123,

Don't worry, the baking is probably the most frequent topic on this community. There is a lot of variables that can cause visual issues after the baking, so it isn't always easy to troubleshoot, but considering the pictures you sent, I would check the UVs first.

We can clearly see that your normals are jagged and this is due to how the UV islands are built and the size of them. When a UV island is straight, the normal's lines will be straight, but when the UV islands are diagonal (and because there is no such thing as a diagonal pixel) the lines will be jagged.

To solve this problem, it's possible to straighten some of the UVs, but it often causes some stretching, which is not great either.

You could also increase the size of the UV tile (from 1024 to 2048 for example), but depending and the needs, this isn't always the solution.

Beveling some of the edges should also reduce the jagged effect.

Therefore, I'd advise you to make sure the output size of your baking isn't set to a low value and when it's possible, to straighten the UVs.

Keep me updated.

Best regards,

[Cyril Dellenbach · Accepted solution]

Hi @Wolfer123,

After investigating on your model, it seams the issue is due to hard edges not having a UV seam. As you can see in the picture below, the problem clearely appears in your baked normal map and it occurs precisely at an hard edge location.

In case you wonder, Substance 3D Painter has an option under the Baking Visualization showing you where there should be a seam to avoid potential baking issue.

You could rework some of your UVs to make sure the visual problem disappears, but if you asked me personally and considering the size of the issue, I would do nothing.

Most of the time (not always) I rather keep a straight clean UV island with a little bit of strectch. It's easier to work with.

With that being said, this is only my point of view, feel free to rework your UVs if you feel you'll have a better result.

Best regards,

[Wolfer123]

I really appreciate you taking the time to give me the feedback. So yeah i might see where i have some hard edges shown and make them have the uv seam for them.  Of course as you mention maybe i should do nothing and just using the baking visualitation.  
When you mean keep a straight clean uv island, you mean have it where the edges for the end of the island are going vertical or horizonal, so none are bending or going diagonal if i'm correct

Regardless it good to know what could be causing my issues and this is a great learning experience for me and i really appreciate you taking the time to point out the mistakes I'm making and learn from them 🙂