Hey!

I use the new Maps Baker create a texture atlas for multiple meshes.
Therefore i need to transfer textures from one UV (original) to a new UV layout (with multiple objects sharing one UV space).
I am using “Nearest Surface” as tracing mode, the new UV layout as Low Poly and the original as High Poly.
This works fine.

When transfering the Normal texture though, things get messed up.
Looks like the baker takes the World Aligned Normals and adds them to the transfered normal map or something?

When I use the Normal textures as base color in the material, everything looks fine.

This used to work back in Houdini 17.5 with the old GameDev Maps Baker. Did something change?
Is this a bug?

See the attaced screenshots: one uses the albedo channel, one the normal channel when baking.

I ran into the same issue if I used anything other than the Labs Auto UV node for UVs with the Labs Maps Baker. Try adding a connectivity node (connectivity type = primitive) and a UV layout node to low res.

Hey Nathaniel!
Thanks for the reply. The problem i had here was a bug and it's already fixed in Labs!

FYI, I had to create a new output that only did transfers, instead of leveraging the world normals for the normals output.

alfyou
FYI, I had to create a new output that only did transfers, instead of leveraging the world normals for the normals output.

The above issues should already be fixed. As for “just transfering”.. Please be careful. You can't just sample from the Tangent Normal maps and use that value. You need to transform it into the correct tangent space of the lowpoly!! (Hence the conversion to World, and then Tangent in the tool)

Paul

Ambrosiussen

alfyou
FYI, I had to create a new output that only did transfers, instead of leveraging the world normals for the normals output.

The above issues should already be fixed. As for “just transfering”.. Please be careful. You can't just sample from the Tangent Normal maps and use that value. You need to transform it into the correct tangent space of the lowpoly!! (Hence the conversion to World, and then Tangent in the tool)

Paul

I'm not versed in this area at all. Would this only be applicable if we are doing any poly reduction?

When kept with the original workflow (conversion to world then tangent), without changing any of the geometry, we were getting artifacts and pinching for geometry such as a blanket.

That probably has to do with the tracing, not the conversion. Which tracing mode are you using?

I had tried all of them, the only one that gave us the least problems (albeit still problematic) was Nearest Surface. The test we used was a normal map from a blanket that was folded with acutely changing topology.

Can you try using the cage method? (and visualize the distance) That one allows you to get very precise control over the tracing. Even allows you to plug in your own cage mesh.

Thanks Ambrosiussen,

I've tried caged mode (same as the hi-res poly input) with visualize ON, but there is no visualization that shows up.

Tests using various levels of Max Trace Distance results in a “shattered” normal map (attached). Other modes show a more normal, normal map (not attached, NDA most likely required).

Visualization DOES show up if using Surface Normal, but I can't find a value there that works without the artifacting we're seeing.

I'm using sidefxLabs build 402 and Houdini 18.0.400.

These artifacts are almost 100% caused by overlapping UVs. Could you attach your file and I will take a look.

Ambrosiussen
These artifacts are almost 100% caused by overlapping UVs. Could you attach your file and I will take a look.

I've sent you a follow up message. Thank you for helping us take a look at this. I believe I'm not using the caged input correctly (using the same input as the mesh itself)

I have some problems with normals maps and UDIM's, in fact there's this other post with more information [www.sidefx.com], does anybody faced this situation?

thanks in advance!

Was this issue solved by Sidefx ?

Hi,

Yes that issue should not exist with a daily build of Labs. If it does, please submit a ticket with support and I will take a look

安布罗修森
Hi,

Yes that issue should not exist with a daily build of Labs. If it does, please submit a ticket with support and I will take a look

Hello Ambrosiussen
Is there any good solution for UV overlap or UV shared material baker? The same problem will arise. I have to say that UV sharing in games often occurs
Thany you
yvjunewang

Ambrosiussen
Hi,

Yes that issue should not exist with a daily build of Labs. If it does, please submit a ticket with support and I will take a look

After reading your 2019 public class, the overlap problem has finally been solved. I have forgotten to remap the uv before.