Difficulty loading Normal Map with mesh

[jlgroff@gmail.com]

I am new to SP and have a problem getting a normal map to load properly (that was created either by Modo 801 or ZBrush into the full version of the 1.0 release of SP. I don't have much experience using normal maps so I'm sure it is something I'm doing wrong but the documentation on normal maps with SP seems pretty thin. The normal map appears to be ok in Modo/Zbrush but I've encountered numerous problems loading it into SP - either it doesn't appear at all tried .png and .tga (or doesn't properly fit into the texture's uv space as it is seen in Modo) I've tried numerous attempt with a variety of files, flipped the green channel and made sure my UV's were ok but I still can't seem to get it to work. My understanding is that you won't be able to properly get height information or have the full benefit of SP without using a normal map. If anyone can point me to a tutorial or documentation on how to get a proper workflow from Modo or Zbrush in to SP I would be greatly appreciated. I'm not a game artist and hardly know anything about this workflow - I just wanted to use what looks like a stellar 3D paint application but I'm frustrated that I can't seem to get this to work.

[Jeremie Noguer]

Could you post your normal map, so that I can see if there is anything wrong with the file already?

[jlgroff@gmail.com]

thanks but my normal maps were just throw away tests, not worth uploading really - just trying to learn the program. I was surprised to see that SP now seems to export out a normal map with all the other channels without having imported a normal map first.  Hopefully this is true - as I mainly want to be able to export out the height information properly for a bump or displacement map to use in Modo. I was under the impression (likely mistaken) that you could only output the height info if there was a preexisting normal map.

SP seems it likes the fbx better than obj in terms of importing a file without error for me. I also tried loading a lxo but SP had an error and wouldn't load the file at all, have no idea why however the same file worked OK with an FBX format. Perhaps some of my trouble stems from my older computer (2008 Mac Pro) and it's rather outdated video card.

I mainly wanted to know if there was documentation somewhere on the exact procedure/settings to get the best normal maps into SP. I see where there is a whole new batch of video tutorials on the way so maybe all will be answered there.

Thanks

[meshsel]

I am new to SP and have a problem getting a normal map to load properly (that was created either by Modo 801 or ZBrush into the full version of the 1.0 release of SP. I don't have much experience using normal maps so I'm sure it is something I'm doing wrong but the documentation on normal maps with SP seems pretty thin. The normal map appears to be ok in Modo/Zbrush but I've encountered numerous problems loading it into SP - either it doesn't appear at all tried .png and .tga (or doesn't properly fit into the texture's uv space as it is seen in Modo) I've tried numerous attempt with a variety of files, flipped the green channel and made sure my UV's were ok but I still can't seem to get it to work. My understanding is that you won't be able to properly get height information or have the full benefit of SP without using a normal map. If anyone can point me to a tutorial or documentation on how to get a proper workflow from Modo or Zbrush in to SP I would be greatly appreciated. I'm not a game artist and hardly know anything about this workflow - I just wanted to use what looks like a stellar 3D paint application but I'm frustrated that I can't seem to get this to work.

for one thing you dont have to use a normal map in order to use SP and you still have the full benefit... also if you got a flipped normal map, then simply go and switch to OpenGL or DirectX in Edit->Project Configuration
the most important maps (at least for me) are Color, AO an Curvature maps, there are some others also...and there are more then plenty of tutorials on youtube on whats the purpose of different maps and how to use them. Just search for baking maps in SD tutorials

[jlgroff@gmail.com]

Thanks Meshsel this is helpful to know. So from what I'm now to understand, SP will make the normal map on export and it isn't necessary to load a normal map created in an external program first. Little by little I'm starting to figure this out.