#weightednormals

Overview

Today I started the baking process for my hero prop and ran into a shading problem that affected the normal maps. When I checked the baked normal map and previewed the low-poly in render view, I could clearly see mesh lines / hard edges showing up across the surface, especially on the skull area. This made the model look faceted and “broken” instead of smooth and clean.

Problem I Faced

While baking, the normal map was capturing visible polygon/edge lines. In the render preview, the shading also looked inconsistent and I could see the low-poly edges more than I should. After checking the mesh, I realised the issue was coming from face normals / smoothing (how the model is shading across surfaces). Because the shading wasn’t set up correctly, the bake was basically baking those shading problems into the normal map.

Research & Solution

To solve this, I researched the issue and found a tutorial that explained a clean workflow using weighted normals to improve shading and reduce visible seams/edges.

Tutorial used: Christopher 3D — “Weighted Normals” https://youtu.be/60E-26Ydbh8?si=EvjvVA3tln_yfHOA

What I Learned (Weighted Normals Workflow)

From this tutorial, I learned a better workflow to get cleaner shading and bakes:

Enable Auto Smooth: Turn on auto smoothing so the object shades based on an angle threshold. This helps control where smoothing should break.

Use a Weighted Normals approach: Apply a weighted normals workflow so smaller angled polygons inherit shading from the larger flat faces they connect to. This helps keep surfaces looking visually flatter and cleaner.

Keep Sharp / respect hard edges: Make sure sharp edges are respected so the shading doesn’t “melt” across areas that should stay crisp.

Manual refinement (Mark Sharp if needed): If the shading still looks wrong in certain spots, manually mark those edges as sharp so the smoothing breaks correctly.

Fix special cases: For tricky areas where shading is still weird, adding a small supporting loop can help control how the surface shades.

Finalise for export: Once everything looks correct, the normals data can be finalised so the shading stays consistent when the model is moved to other software.

Result

After applying this workflow, the shading became much cleaner and the mesh lines were greatly reduced in both the normal map and render preview. This made the bake look more solid and helped the skull surface read smoother, which is important because it’s a hero detail that will be seen up close.

Next Steps

Re-bake the full set of maps with the corrected shading (Normal/AO/Curvature, etc.)

Check the prop under different lighting to confirm the seams are gone

Move toward texturing once the bakes are clean and consistent

References

Epic Armoury (n.d.) Bone Chopper – 100 cm. Available at: https://epicarmoury.com/products/1916-bone-chopper-100-cm

Overview

Today I started the baking stage for my Bone Chopper hero prop. The goal of this step is to transfer the detail from my high-poly sculpt onto the low-poly model so the final game-ready asset still looks detailed without needing a heavy mesh.

Software Used

For this stage, I used Substance 3D Painter to bake the high-poly details onto the low-poly mesh.

What I Did

I imported both the low-poly and high-poly versions into Substance Painter and set up the bake workflow. My focus was to make sure the bake captured the important forms and surface detail cleanly, especially around the skull area and the blade.

The main maps I aimed to bake were:

Normal Map (for sculpted detail and surface information)

Ambient Occlusion (AO) (to support depth and shadowing)

Curvature (useful for edge wear generators)

(and any additional maps needed for texturing later)

Progress Notes

This stage is important because the quality of the bake affects everything that comes after it. A clean bake makes texturing easier and also improves how the prop reads in final renders. I tested the bake and checked the results on the model to see if the details were transferring correctly, especially in areas with complex forms like the skull and the transitions into the handle.

Next Steps

Review all baked maps closely and look for any errors or artifacts

Adjust settings if needed and re-bake for cleaner results

Once the bake is solid, move into the texturing phase using the baked maps as a base

References