Hey Jonathan! So far I am really enjoying the course, especially how you explain why certain things are done in regards to hard-surface modeling techniques.
I am really interested in the bit in this video where you "fix" the normals around the slots of the pot by duplicating the other half.
1. It's a really neat workaround, but when we're "in the field" with a different model, what tells you this technique would be a good solution? In this case of Pothead, what told you "Ah, I can just steal the normals from somewhere else!" ? I would love to know what hints to look for to spot good situations to use it.
2. Maybe I should just wait and see what happens later in the course, but I'm wondering:
If I'm modeling hardsurf for games and use this normals trick, would it eventually be baked down into the model (where we can delete the hidden duplicate helper object) if it was perhaps put into a realtime engine, or is it mainly a visual trick for renders?
I'm sure all these might be explained by my misunderstanding something fundamental about how normals work haha.
Thank you so much for the excellent course and your time! :)
Hi arcangel_zero7 ,
In regards to Q1, What you would look for when deciding when to use this normals fix, is the weird shading like in the lesson. Knowing when to use it comes from experience, and would depend on the use.
If you want to see a different use for this normal trick, see collab2021-week-3-casual-live-stream, from about 52 minutes Kent creates a bush, and uses this to change the shading on the bush.
And again for clouds in collab2021-week-4-finalization-live-stream from around 35 minutes.
And Q2, You are right, for efficiency in a game you would bake your normals onto a normal map.
If you want to know more about normal maps for games then take a look @jlampel 's Normal Map Modeling for Games and also Creating Animated Sci-fi Game Assets.
Happy Blending.
@adrian2301
As always, Adrian, you supply the most gloriously detailed responses and I learn even more than I hoped for!
Thank you especially for sharing those livestream moments! That's immensely helpful.
I'll hit those next courses you suggested soon too. Always more to learn! It never gets boring. :)
Your guidance in this community is so very much appreciated. :D
Thank you Kyle, its so heart warming to read your kind words.
The CGC community is awesome and it gives me great joy to help members such as yourself as much as I can.