3d world magazine adding detail to models

Use ReTopologyModeling to build the lower-resolution in-game model.

Tip-Zero Effort Beveling for normal maps - the same trick.

Smooth Edge Shading - legitimate technique? - using a shader trick to fake high-poly rounded edges.

Speeding up highpoly hard surface workflow.

Use just enough subdivisions to get a smooth surface at the baking resolution, and no more.

If it's a subdivision surface choose an appropriate resolution.

Sculpting tools like Zbrush create triangles smaller than the bake pixels, which will increase baking time significantly without actually improving the bake.

If it's a sculpt reduce the vertex count to a manageable file size before exporting.

Optimize the high-resolution model to speed up bakes, to avoid running out of RAM while baking, and to keep 3d file sizes manageable.

DigitalSculpting and/or Subdivision Surface Modeling are the usual technique for building high-poly models for baking normal maps.

A Practical Guide On Normal Mapping For Games has a detailed survey of normal mapping workflows.

Texture Baking has the step-by-step workflow for baking textures from a high-resolution model onto a lower-resolution model.

In time this info will be condensed onto the wiki. See the following links for more information. These methods can also be used together.Р”Р„ normal mapped model, the mesh without the map, and the normal map alone. There are two basic methods to create normal maps. However, the silhouette of the model doesn't change. This creates the illusion of more surface detail or better curvature.

Each pixel of the map stores the surface slope of the original high-res mesh at that point. The red, green, and blue channels of the image are used to control the direction of each pixel's normal.Р”Р„ normal map is commonly used to fake high-resolution details on a low-resolution model. 3.5 Ambient Occlusion into a Normal MapР”Р„ normal map is an image that stores a direction at each pixel.

3d world magazine adding detail to models