Normal maps giving uneven, errored skin

RobertDy

I purchased this product, Liulan 8.1 https://www.daz3d.com/liulan-for-genesis-81-female and did a close-up simulation and immediately noticed a glaring problem, please see the attached photo. The area circled is the boundary between the 'body' and 'arms' surfaces which is glaringly obvious, and the 'body' surface clearly has a lot more bump than the 'arms'. After some testing, I found out that the problem was caused by the normal maps that came with the product. The only solution thus far to make the skin even is to remove all normals, but this would also remove the bump details that come with it. Is there a way I can even out this bump instead?

felis

Before removing it, did you check that the settings are the same on arm and body.

I would suggest to raise a ticket to Daz, so they become aware of the problem.

RobertDy

felis said:

Before removing it, did you check that the settings are the same on arm and body.

I would suggest to raise a ticket to Daz, so they become aware of the problem.

Yes, the numerical values were the first thing that I checked before going to the maps. I'll contact DAZ and the product creator

hansolocambo

If the vendor uses an UDIM compatible app such as Substance Painter to paint normal maps details, or if they're baked from a high poly sculpted version of the Genesis, those differences at UV Islands' edges should not happen. This is a problem in the vendor's workflow and indeed he's the only one able to fix it.

Waiting for a fix you could of course use any "HD" normal maps from another Genesis 8.1 female bundle.

RobertDy

hansolocambo said:

If the vendor uses an UDIM compatible app such as Substance Painter to paint normal maps details, or if they're baked from a high poly sculpted version of the Genesis, those differences at UV Islands' edges should not happen. This is a problem in the vendor's workflow and indeed he's the only one able to fix it.

Waiting for a fix you could of course use any "HD" normal maps from another Genesis 8.1 female bundle.

That's a great idea indeed, I could use another error-free set of normal maps. I've already submitted a ticket for this and DAZ has confirmed what you said, it is indeed an issue with the PA's side. Thanks for the advice!

magog_a4eb71ab

hansolocambo said:

If the vendor uses an UDIM compatible app such as Substance Painter to paint normal maps details, or if they're baked from a high poly sculpted version of the Genesis, those differences at UV Islands' edges should not happen. This is a problem in the vendor's workflow and indeed he's the only one able to fix it.

Waiting for a fix you could of course use any "HD" normal maps from another Genesis 8.1 female bundle.

I see this kind of stuff all the time on characters between the various texture zones. One particular PA on here uses the SAME specular map(commonly used in Dual Lobe Specular Weight/Reflectivity, Top Coat Weight, and/or Glossy Layered Weight) on quite a few of their characters so the issue ends up being propagated across several or more of their character products. Its like they're reusing the same skin over and over again in their products and just making a few superficial changes to the base color in Photoshop or some other paint program.

I don't even understand how they would be able to fix the OP's problem without using something like Substance Painter. Using any other method is just going to be painful and take more time than it should because texturing 3d objects having a bunch of curves and such is not an easy task to accomplish in a non-3d art program.