toomanydemons

Wish someone would've gotten this to work. The combined tools of both apps is monster.

To answer your question, I wanted to avoid the extra vertices involved in flat shading, and thought to make it all a single smoothing group. Thanks for the input ^^ so in this case I'll use hard edges for the cereal boxes and things, that should work. It's very easy to blame 3D Coat if things look off (simply because the software is so buggy). But I'm glad that normal maps are working as intended. I would have shelved the software otherwise. Ty reminding me about angles! It's something I learned about (particularly for making cylinders look decent) but forgot along the way.

I believe you may have your auto-smooth on sir. There are no hard edges on this model and all normals are a single smoothing group. I'm certainly not that sloppy.

I still don't understand why you say my normals have hard edges. Am I missing something? can I see a screenshot of this, because according to my Blender file here, there is only one smoothing group.

OK so yea it does look like the import normals option for Unity and Blender are broken. However, a newly created blank preset does read correctly. That's a relief. So as long as I avoid 3DC's presets I will do fine. Thanks for your insight about the hard angles @Emi After running more tests I can confirm this the problem with the box objects.

It seems when I change the lighting on Sketchfab, the normal map errors are becoming apparent. So you may be right, this may be an issue with this model. Thank you. I've had several people take a look at this issue on Discord, I will run some more tests with them. Cheers! PS. I am curious if you can get anything to look good using the import texture button to bring in a normal map, using the Unity (or Blender) preset. If you can, please tell me how you did it!

All of that being said, I am aware of the hard angle rules for baking normal maps. Considering that these are super tiny low-poly cereal boxes, I didn't think it would be an issue. I will take your advice and investigate further. All in all however, I'm getting some pretty nice results everywhere else: https://gyazo.com/184d39716173d4e68588122d26205d5c

There are no hard edges on the model. I'd be happy to jump on call with you personally and explore the situation. (https://gyazo.com/3386ce721adff5f6ead5849bdbed9373) According to its documentation and settings explained by Allegorithmic staff, Unity uses MikkTSpace. I have never had a problem with hard angles on a model if the cage is constructed correctly. Also, I have built at least a thousand hard surface models. (https://sketchfab.com/toomanydemons) (https://www.artstation.com/toomanydemons) My dicord handle is TooManyDemons #2125. Cheers! All of that being said, I have run some very recent test bakes using just cubes on very new geometry, considering the fact that those previous models are rebuilt from ones downloaded on Blendswap. I still ran into issues. Additionally, those issues do not exist in Substance or Sketchfab, sorry.

Thanks I hope it gets solved too. As for the rectangle boxes, I should not have to do anything to make those work. I should not have to add edge loops or unwrap differently. The main reason is that those normal maps look great in Substance Painter, Designer, Unity, Unreal, Sketchfab, Marmoset, and Blender. I shouldn't have to change the vertices and UV's of a model to make it work in 3D Coat. That is an obvious sign that things are broken. I've been keeping an eye on 3D Coat as a viable replacement for PBR painting. I hope that happens in the future but in order for that to work, the normal map continuity between software must be addressed. It is extremely important, for 3D Coat as well (and everyone who tries the software in the future). Given the tantalizing advertisement on 3D Coat's home page, it all looks very appetizing!! This normal map issue must be addressed ASAP, and put at the very top of the list, while people are still jumping ship from the Adobe acquisition of Allegorithmic.

Now, if you bake in 3D Coat, your objects will look perfect. However, the exported normal map will seem a little off in other software. In a nutshell: When I bake normal maps in 3D Coat, they look a little off in other software, even though they look fine in 3D Coat. When I import normal maps into 3D Coat, they look a little off, even though they look fine in other software. The lack of continuity here cannot be fixed by any option from any menu from my thorough (thorough...) examination. I spent nearly a whole day trying to figure this out. And even if I did find some sort of workaround, software shouldn't work that way. It should work as intended and not rely on any sort of hacky fixes or workarounds that would snag newer users and force a google search. If the most obvious path isn't default then there's a problem with the software. If "lock normals" did in fact make a difference, then it should've been checked by default since this workflow is common.

In all other software, those surfaces are perfectly flat: https://gyazo.com/afcb33cb529cbc8ac887d3ec1e330462 https://gyazo.com/93fd4f7a6f01a5f7e008e0b64825caf3 This sort of error is hard to spot, especially on organic models like most 3DC users would be accustomed to creating. Factor in that most users only use 3DC for a few of its rooms in their workflow, it may be that fully half or more don't even paint in 3DC. So you can see how this sort of error can escape detection for years.

Let me better show you. Here is a link to a gif, of me trying to fix the issue: https://gyazo.com/e90a0ab735832b55b22858159f314095 The triangles leave a dark halo no matter how perfect you may seemingly get. This is the reason no one has really noticed this error until me. Although if you are experienced in 3D Coat you may have noticed this whole time that your normal maps seem a little off in other software. So, this is what your box objects look like: You see the problem?

Locking normals also does not work. In fact, I've tried everything in every single menu that relates to importing or normals. The fact is, 3D Coat's viewport renderer simply does not see normals correctly. Things in your screenshot may seem correct, but take a look over here. Here is your screenshot with an indicator:

Also, here is the high poly model if you would like to bake directly in 3D Coat. The normal map shows up fine in this case, but doesn't look as perfect in any of the other aforementioned softwares. https://www.dropbox.com/s/rk4fj6stn0s43xo/Atlas 1_high.obj?dl=0 I hope these normal map issues get fixes asap. 3D Coat's front page looks juicy and may draw a large market, but normal maps have to be flawless for that to stick.

Edit: After some testing, I still can't get an imported normal map to show up correctly. there are always shading issues, however subtle. Also worth noting is that the normal map looks fine in every other software I try it in. This is a serious show-stopper for me. I have been looking for a viable replacement since Adobe bought Allegorithmic. But there are normal map issues in 3DC that don't exist in any other software I port to. I can bring the normal maps into Unity, Blender, UE4, Substance (Painter & Designer), even sketchfab. 3D Coat is not reading normal maps correctly. I wonder how long this has been an issue and no one noticed...

I baked some mesh maps in Substance Painter for an old project. It's an atlas of small items for detailing an environment (bottles, books, cans) In Substance, the OpenGL maps bake perfectly. Here are screenshots from Substance Painter: I decided that there were a lot of cereal boxes, logos and things I would need to paint in an external image editor, and I liked Coat's linking option (for Affinity). So I ported the project over to Coat. I imported the normal map with the correct settings. The normal map doesn't show up correctly. I double-checked and toggled the green channel to be sure. The dark halos around the triangles are horrible in 3D Coat. Here's a screenshot: So I tried re-importing the normal map and even creating a new project and changing the UV smoothing settings. To no avail. Then I discovered the problem. The software preset Blender and Unity yield different results, even though they should both be exactly the same (an OpenGL normal map with an inverted green channel). SO, I created my own normal map preset and called it OpenGL. I didn't do anything at all, I just made a new one. Now everything shows up great! This is a screenshot from 3D Coat: There should not be a Unity normal map preset vs a Blender normal map preset. They should not be different. There should only be an OpenGL and a DirectX setting for normal maps. Also, imported OpenGl maps using those presets show up wrong, and it will anger a lot of new users coming from other software. I'm also happy to share the model and normal map for anyone to verify my findings here. I'm using 4.8.32-SL(GL64) Atlas_1_Bake.obj

lol I just ran into this a little while ago and sent the file to the support team. I guess they already knew about it. Now I know it's the curvature map. I guess for the time being I'll just generate it in other software. Cheers! ^^

@Carlosan It's ok, thanks I've figured out the problem. It was just a polypaint issue. Cheers! Allen

I have discovered the problem, and it is due to my own stupidity and some accidental oversights. The problem is that at some point while modelling in Zbrush, I filled my object with white polypaint. I tested this by painting on my tire and exporting the result to see if it would show up in 3D Coat. It did. To keep this from happening, the "colorize mesh" option in Zbrush needs to be unchecked before exporting. I'm sorry to blame 3D Coat for this fallacy when it was my own fault the whole time. I love your software and I'm sorry to waste your time with this I'm posting the solution here in case anyone else ever comes across this strangeness and is confused by it.

OK so I have discovered some interesting things here. The mesh I am trying to import is coming from Zbrush. It always shows up as white. This happens regardless of polygrouping. However, if I export the mesh from Blender, the the object shows up as expected and uses the proper shader!! So then, it is a problem with Zbrush's .obj file that is causing problems. HOORAY!! now I need to figure out what parameter from Zbrush's .obj export is causing this strangeness.

The best I can do for now is choose this blue cartoon shader, which causes an imported mesh to become dark and grayscale. It will suffice for now until I figure out exactly why I can't use shaders on imported geometry.

In the above screenshots, the white imported model cannot be changed. It is unaffected by switching shaders. In the above case as well, I don't want to retopo, I just want to sculpt. It seems to me that this isn't necessary and would have a hacky fix (if there is one) I just want to make 3D Coat part of my pipeline. I can't do this sufficiently if imported geometry is different from native geometry. Why have a different reference shader to begin with? Why not just have all geometry obey the assigned shader, like every other modelling package? It's very frustrating, moreso when there is no obvious and simple fix for this. There is no button, or menu setting. A hacky fix is a bad solution on principle.

Hmmm this doesn't work. The model stays white. I followed your instructions to the letter. It's the same as trying to import a model without voxelization. The model stays white. I can make a video to show you what is happening. However, some shaders have a bumpy texture and that does change. As in these screenshots. This doesn't happen if I import with voxelization. If I tell the imported model to be voxelized, the shader applies.

I have more questions on this topic it seems, as I explore further what 3D Coat can do... When I import an object without voxelization, the default material is white. I can seem to push some properties of the shader around and change things (such as by assigning a toon shader), but the whole applied shader is predominantly white. Is there something Im missing? How do I change the shader of an object imported w/o voxelization? This scifi bike tire for example, was imported it so I could use 3D Coat's interesting shadowbox-like tools to construct a nice looking engine for the inside. Voxelized objects I create use the selected shader, but it's difficult to work and is hard to see, if the tire stays white. Any help understanding this would be very much appreciated. I find it hard to understand why this issue isn't addressed online by anyone.

Unfortunately my reference mesh doesn't initially appear in the sculpt room. Changing shaders or setting a default shader doesn't change the bland white default matcap I'm stuck with. I haven't figured out how to get my object from the paint area to the sculpt area or other. When I import a reference mesh, it doesn't go to the sculpt room :P