Baked models in TG? (Gaps in info I found online)

[TheBadger]

Hi,

I have instruction how to make normals from sculpts. I have instruction on how to bake normals from a high polly to a low polly in maya. And I have a high polly sculpt and low polly base that I made that I can practice the methods on...

If I end up with a good quality bake, can I just export that as OBJ and open it in TG and get the same results? I am just finding bits and parts of how to's on line. And I don't understand if I need the normal map to go along with the model to other apps. You-tube is anything but comprehensive.

For a baked model to work in TG the way it does in just about every other app, do we need the ability to use normals in TG (do we need the normals we use to bake down a high polly in all apps when exporting)? Or is the baked model displaced as it is? Nothing I have seen online covers the entire process for any soft.

So to try and be clear. I am finally giving in and doing 3D the way reality forces us to do it . I am making normal maps of high polly sculpt for low polly base models, to bake detail into the low polly - Will I be able to export the baked model to TG, or will that only work if I bring with the baked model the normal map I used to do the baking?.. Yes I know TG does not handle normal maps, that is why I am asking

This is not an easy thing. There are lots of problems that can happen along the way if the models were not created in the right way, and a bunch of "fixes" that have to be learned. So I know I could just go through the entire process and find out my self. But If someone already knows how baking models works (or does not work) with regard to TG, please just tell me.

[Ashley]

Hey Badger, not sure I understand what you're trying to do?
I understand pictures better if you got any :-)

I do a lot of "baking" extracting out of TG, not tried normals before. Heightfields and uber high rez geo work best for me.

[TheBadger]

Hi, thanks!

I simply want to understand what really happens when an object is baked. I find all kinds of posts on the topic but no real explanations other then why to bake. So I understand why I would want to bake.

What I don't understand is after an object is baked, if then it still requires the maps that were used to do the baking.
What I want to know (and have not found a definitive statement of) Is if the displacement of a baked model is a projection, or real displacement.


The problem I am having is that TG does not displace properly. As we don't have raytraced displacement, there are severe lighting issues,
And because my high polly models are near absurdly high polly, it is totally impractical to try and use them in a scene.


If it is real displacement, than I should be able to solve my problem, with displacement maps probably, rather than normal maps which I guess are a kind of bump map.

I can find info on how to bake in various soft on line. But I want to understand what is actually being done.

...

learning on line is funny sometimes. I probably found this answer a long time ago, before I needed to know it. But if I did I can't find it now that I am ready to use it.

[Kadri]

This one maybe Michael ?

http://www.planetside.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,15679.msg152537.html#msg152537

[Kadri]

Basically you put all the lighting and textures (standart or procedural) in which software you are doing the baking in the textures.
So you can use the look of the model by using those textures in another software nearly in the same way.
Normal maps are textures too but the (strange) colours are interpreted as displacements by the software.
You need those textures (normal/vector or whatever texture) of course to get the same look.

[TheBadger]

HA AH. That was from years ago. From my first real 3d project. I looked through it and do not remember writing any of it

[Kadri]

I edited my above post a little Michael.

[Kadri]

I wrote " you can not use normal maps in TG2" in that old thread. Was that true at that time i don't remember?

[Ashley]

Are you trying to achieve the same look in another app?
Or are you trying to bring sculpted/texture detail from another app into TG?