Retopo menu

[Adivaki]

Hi,

1) Could someone explain the difference between the 3 kinds of "merge' option in retopo menu please.

We've got : merge with Ptex, merge MV, merge with NM.

I did read the manual.But I can't understand when using one or other.

2) When and what for using "bake texture"

Thank

[Psmith]

Adivaki:

It's a deep topic. The main difference is between merging so that you can paint actual, real displacement in the Paint Room, or only "normal map" type displacement. And then, there is Ptex, which allows you to paint finer and finer details to only some areas of a mesh.

1) Use Micro-Vertex painting when you want to paint a texture with a certain resolution, (uniform throughout), and you want to paint with actual displacement in the Paint Room.

2) Use Ptex if you want to do all of the above, but also would like to have the advantage of painting finer and finer detail in the Paint Room. Also, use Ptex when you want to bake the details created with it onto a mesh that has a different topology, but similar or the same shape.

3) Use Per-Pixel painting for high quality texture painting - at a certain resolution - but only when you do not need actual displacement when painting in the Paint Room. (Think game assets). Ideal for painting with simulated depth, (or, what is called a "normal map").

I don't understand all of the uses of texture baking, but one of the most powerful is baking a highly detailed Ptex texture that has been done on a model with one set of UV's onto a model with totally different UV's. This saves a lot of time when you've already textured a model with a large amount of subdivision and want to transfer that texture onto a model with a much lower polygon count - or - the other way around.

Here's an excellent video demonstrating this:

Ptex Baking

Greg Smith