AO and curvature map question

[krynoid]

I'm relatively new to 3D Coat and I've got a noob procedure question.

I've got a high poly model right now that I'm ready to try painting it. I only intend to do still frame renders of it and it's not going into a game engine so I thought it didn't make sense to go through all the hassle of UV unwrapping it and making a low poly, since it looks like I can paint right onto the high poly.

The only issue is that when I've tried running the AO and Curvature calculations they take an unbelievably long time. By 'long' I mean I let it run for a couple hours and it's still spinning. Would unwrapping and baking normals make this part of the process faster or am I just stuck waiting for it to take as long as it takes?

[Carlosan]

If your model have a high resolution for vertex paint, yes AO and curvature take time.

[krynoid]

I let it run for three days, then I had to cancel it. Are there any recommendations for ways to speed up the process?

For instance, if I did go through all the work of UV unwrapping and making a low poly, or decimating the model would that help (high poly has 98,000,000 tris currently)?

Can I decrease the light count for the AO calc (using the default of 2048)?

Basically, what is the greatest factor influencing the time it takes to run the calculation?

[Carlosan]

The normal workflow is this:

1. make the hp model
2. make the lp model (you just need the geometry to keep the silhouette and the shape)
3. unwrap the lp model
4. baking
5. texturing

The baking process transfers information from the highpoly onto the lowpoly.

Your high poly model is just a piece of information for your low poly. all you take from the hp are the baking maps like normal/ao/curvature etc.

You only need an unwrap of your lowpoly. you take later on your highpoly and your unwrapped lowpoly and bake maps out of it. 

source...

Factor influencing the time, high poly for sure.

 

 

 

 

[stusutcliffe]

Hi Krynoid,

Without seeing you model....

98 million polys is ridiculous!

Try decimating you model, you could go down to 10 mill and it would probably look identical to what it is now, experiment with decimation amounts.

When ever I run the curvature  it never takes more than a minute or so....sometimes though I find it "sticks" when I know from experience it should have gone quickly. So what I found is to shut down the program... re load the scene and make the curvature the first operation  you do, that seems to work. I think 3dcoat slowly gets "clogged" the longer you use it. ( I know absolutely zero about computer programming) It just "feels" stuck sometimes.

I often just paint on the vertex . It can be far easier if its just for a still or maybe you are going to 3dprint it. You just have to juggle the poly quantity to the framing of your still by thinking ahead a little....a bit like playing chess!

[krynoid]

 

Hey guys,

So I successfully decimate the model. That brought it down from 98 Million Polys, to 14 million, which is much more manageable.

The problem is that it lost all of the detail on my per-pixel painting in the process and scruwed up my shader scaling for the hull panels on this ship. What can I do about this, short of repainting the whole thing?

Here's the before:

 

[krynoid]

And here's the after:

Look how smudgy and distorted a lot of the markings are. What can I do about this?

 

[krynoid]

Here's a closer version of the high-poly version to make it easier to see the difference.

 

 

[Carlosan]

Yes,best way is sculpt, retopo, bake, paint.

Do you need to export the model or is just concept design ? 

Photobash technique over base sculpt render can help too.

[krynoid]

I was hoping to export it to Marmoset for some better renders, but it looks like in order to do that I'm going to have to repaint some of the textures. 

[stusutcliffe]

Nice model !

Yeah its swings and roundabouts with vertex paint  v  texture maps. Can you not squeeze your starship into Marmoset at your full resolution or is it just to many polys? Ive put a few large ones in but not as large as yours.