How to Bake a Flawless Normal Map in 3ds Max
In video games, resources are always on a tight budget. Normal mapping allows the artist to achieve the look of a highly detailed model, while still using a very low triangle count and relatively small texture sizes.
In this tutorial, Racer445 will cover the basics of how to create a normal map, how the technology works, how to setup your UVs, the baking process itself, fixing errors, adding final details in photoshop, and common misconceptions.
The software used will be 3ds Max and Photoshop, but the concepts and theories can be applied to any software that supports normal map baking.
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By Racer445
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Thank you~!
Great!
That’s brilliant! Thanks a lot.
Tks! Very Good
What’s the plugin that appears at the right side of the uv map editor?
EDIT: Nevermind, it’s called unwrap tools for those interested.
thx for this great tutorial and tip, uhm is normal map available too in maya 7 and
above? I’m a maya user and at the same time studying 3d max; perhaps if you
know how to make normal map in maya will you also post it here? thx
You sound like you need an Alka-Seltzer
i think you mean he needs to remove his retainer before talking on tutorials hehe
Hey thanks !
I found this tutorial a little long and drawn out. I know that there is a need for some in depth explanation into how to create UV maps but to be honest a “straight into-how to do it” tutorial would have been more beneficial to me.
First of all thanks for this great tut. I would like to know what’s the plugin or interface that appear next to your EDIT UVs.
And your high poly model it’s just the same as your low poly with turbosmooth? or it has a greater poly count and details actually modeled in.
thanks.
Flawless Tutorial…. Thank you so much for sharing on your great experience… I rarely comment and by far this is one of the greatest tutorial I have seen on baking normal maps….. keep up the good work man…..
Great tutorial! Thank you very very much.
Why so serious? – Your humor in other tutorials (e.g AK tuts) really makes them fun to watch.
thanks a lot for this, it definitely helped me understand normal mapping more.
This was awesome. This video cleared up a ton of misconceptions about normal mappring for me. I’ve had all sorts of instructors telling me I needed to import my model into Mudbox. Others were telling me that I couldn’t have overlapping uv’s. This all makes sense to me and I thank you greatly.
That sucks then! How do you get a better detail into game?
Great tutorial btw.
Thank you so much for posting this! You explain everything really well and thoroughly and just saved my ass and my coworker’s.
how do you setup the material i watched this whole tutorial finally got everything working and you then you don’t show how to set the material up..
The smudge tip is a great tip!
One suggestion, it would be nice to know how to cover normal map errors along a radial or cylindcrical uv shell. You show how to fix it when its along a straight seem but not on the radial uv shells.
Thanks though its overall a solid tutorial and I think a lot of people will learn quite a bit.
After UV-Mapping the Low-Poly Object…. How did you model the HIGH-Poly model without screwing up the UV-Template. Did you use a modifier like TurboSmooth? Or is there another Method? Help.
High poly modelling is a whole other kettle of fish. Most people tend to make a copy of their low poly and add in more detail. Turbosmooth is used to chamfer edges and round off curves but it requires that you put more edge loops into your model to stop it from becoming just a blob.
There is no need to worry about unwrapping the high-poly or its UV’s, just the low poly.
If you want to learn more about high poly modelling techniques there are a ton of tutorials right here on this site. Anything that says ‘high poly’ basically
good luck! hope this helps.
Fantastic tutorial. I am wondering something, during the “exploding” mesh process could you not simply select the high-poly elements and click the align button and select the low-poly exploded elements, this way the high-poly models will snap in place removing the need to manually move each high-poly object into the correct position.
I’ve not found such a comprehensive normal mapping tut anywhere else, so thank you so much for providing this.
But… He said nothing about correcting errors… my whole render thing is red completely, how the hell do i fix it? i did everything as instructed….