Rendering my AO map doesn't give me any shadows

[Chase]

There isn't any resulting shadow information what so ever, just a pure white selection mask. I tried rendering a Complete Map and a Light Map with the Default Scanline Render. Light tracer is on, using a skylight, padding is 2. Not sure why I'm not getting anything from the resulting bake. Just did a test bake on another model I have and it worked using the same method. Puzzled....

[swag]

Did you actually try to open the image directly after you rendered it (goto wherever you saved it and open it from there)?

[Chase]

Yep thats the first thing I did. Is it possible for a prop to not give off any shadows? I wouldnt think so but not sure whst else it could be

[Ibrahim]

Could you post images of the prop and the settings you have for render to texture setup.

You could try resetting the x-form, see if that helps.

[Chase]

Not sure what it was but turning off my computer and turning it on this morning seems to have fix the rendering issue. I have no idea what just happened. Same settings, same bake method but, I have multiple other issues with the final AO and some artifacts.

Here's the AO, but there are some random shading errors


Here's the AO and a green Diffuse placeholder applied using 3Point Shader. It's way too dark on one side, but the other side it's perfect. This shading problem seems to be a 3Point Shader issue as every model I apply a texture to under 3Point is completely dark.


I loaded the same TGA into the Material Editor and this is what I got. I turned 2-sided on and I got results I wanted. Is there an equivalent option for 2-sided using 3Point Shader?


Back to those AO artifacts. .

I don't know why this is happening. Any ideas?

My model has other random shading errors around it as well



This seam is random. I thought you had to offset the mirrored UVs but did 2 test bakes. One test bake had offset the mirrored UVs and the other had them overlapped. Neither one gave me a seem again. Wtf?

[Ibrahim]

Originally Posted by Chase

Not sure what it was but turning off my computer and turning it on this morning seems to have fix the rendering issue. I have no idea what just happened. Same settings, same bake method but, I have multiple other issues with the final AO and some artifacts.

That's usually caused by overlapping UVs where you might encounter conflicting shadows. You can either reorganise the overlapping areas, or simply move the offending UV outside of the area before baking and then replace it - you'll have to see how the AO map looks to determine which would be the best option.

Originally Posted by Chase

My model has other random shading errors around it as well

This seam is random. I thought you had to offset the mirrored UVs but did 2 test bakes. One test bake had offset the mirrored UVs and the other had them overlapped. Neither one gave me a seem again. Wtf?[/color]

Those issues are kinda common especially in low resolution maps. I usually try and carefully paint over the seems to get the desired effect, which is usually a pretty quick and simple task.

As for the issue you're having with the 3-point shader, well I'm not too familiar with that myself, so I can't really help, sorry.

- Ibrahim

[Chase]

So I'm still having the same shading error as in my first image for my AO. This prop is just not gonna have an AO at this point haha. BUT I neeeeeed to know why it's not working. I move the mirrored half over and that wasn't the solution unfortunately. Any other suggestions? I think it might be a bigger issue because any material type I apply gives my model a dark line across a few parts.

[maxthebest685]

Originally Posted by Chase

That Details errors looks like it is lacking Resolution or Samples. Increase Resolution and light samples.

[Ibrahim]

You could try starting a whole new scene (reset all) then import > merge in the model, apply a default material and then try and render to texture - worth a shot.

Maybe you can also upload the scene and ask someone who has the same version of software to try it out (if you ask nicely I'm sure someone will).

[Chase]

Max - It was rendered out at 2048 so I was just gonna increase the samples but I don't know where that is. I'm using the Scanline Renderer if that makes a difference.

Ibrahim - Tried exporting and importing as an obj. That took care of the an issue I was having in the viewport as far as the material goes, but not with the bake itself. Might I upload it for you to take a look at On that topic how do you upload an obj here?