Strange normal map bug..

#1 Ok, i would like to report my findings. After extensive tests, it seems this problem is on the orc as well. However due to the different peices and such of the orc, its not near as obvious. It seems the shading is bugged up. Does GG know about this? And if so, have you already taken it into account? Hopefully this can be fixed soon..

#2 Ok, just did a lil more work and i found what the problem APPEARS to be.. not 100% sure yet, but it definatly seems this is it.. It appears that the blender exporter is no good. I did a test with a 3dsmax exported sphere versus a blender exported sphere. Max sphere was perfect shading, blender was hacked. So it seems to actually be an exporter bug. ;)

#3 Keep in mind when doing the high rez polys to low rez with bumps conversion, that TSE uses normalmaps that are in tangent-space, and some of those programs output normalmaps that are in object-space. This will cause problems for you.

#4 Yes, however i tried both normal maps, object and tangent, both came out with the same result. The program i used for this normal map does tangent. I also tested this with milkshape and it exported a model that did this as well. Im not sure whtas going on here, perhaps more tests need done.

#5 The normal map itself looks actually normal except for those ungodly seams which are wierd and don't seem like they should be like that, however that demo interior is an AWFUL place to test normal maps since it has tons of lights in random places, the best place would be outside in the terrain under a 90 degree straight down sun. See if that helps...but those seams don't seem right.

Could you post a screenshot of the mesh, the skin and normal map? That would help (at least me) try to figure out what's going on maybe. If your nervous about posting the skin just put a ugly watermark on it or something. Thanks

-Tim

#6 Ok. I made a new test with a blank purple normal map and a blank blue skin. Helps to show the error.. I'll post that in jsut a second.

btw, what would be the settings for a 90 degree sun? im really bad at this.. :P

#7 This is an outside render with a simple blue image for a skin. I just turned the ambient light all the way up, this is what i got.
img95.exs.cx/img95/6489/blue1.jpg

Here is an image of the model:
img31.exs.cx/img31/9234/flat.jpg

The skin:
img43.exs.cx/img43/2014/magogbody.jpg

and the normal map:
img43.exs.cx/img43/907/body_local.jpg

And btw, im using that normal map because it came out with the same results as the other one, just no details added. And a quick note that wouldn't hurt to be pointed out:
[IMage]http://img46.exs.cx/img46/1258/blargh.jpg[/IMaGe]

the sphere on the left was made in max. The right in blender... The model shown here was also made in blender. However i tried a sphere from milkshape with similiar results as blender. Anybody else try these with success?

And one final note i should mention. I dont have a pic of it, however in the program i used for the normal map generation, i messed up once and it failed to make the normal map. It displayed the model with per pixel shading but no normal map. And the lighting looked exactly like the shading shown above in those pics. All hacked up. Maybe that'll help with somethin.

#8 A bug in the blender exporter has been found regarding the exporting of normals from meshes.
I can safely say that Jacob's problems were related to the bug, and it has now been fixed in the 0.85 release.

www.garagegames.com/blender

#9 Heh, well, hate to say that it doesnt seem to end there.. Its fixed part of the way, but now its still really ugly on the edge where the front of the skin stops and the back begins.

#10 Oh, hate to double post this, but thought this should be mentioned. After some further looks at the orc with a white skin i've concluded this is a bug in TSE, not in the compilers or anything. So, this is up to GG now. ;) If you'd like a pic, ask and i'll get it right up.