Baking a multi res normal map

[FedPete]

This is my attempt. I put some render info besides it.

The third one (1500 verts) has ‘good’ quality.
I can imagine, for game development, that the bottom one can be used for far away. And how closer you go to the object a switch between a more detailed mesh object can be applied.

But Michael, you didn’t really give some hints on how to solve those artifacts in the lower poly models.
Is it just applying seems on smart places or cranking up the poly count, normal reset … I didn’t get that, any one?

[LWKipp]

I think the main solution to the artifacts was indeed to add in appropriate seams. Since the model was originally a cube, I added seams to match the original edges. I also found that a standard UV project was appropriate, the smart UV project was “too smart” and pulled things into odd islands.

That was before baking, and then after:

I didn’t have any apparent artifacts from the seams, everything came out swimmingly. Of course on a very complex model it could be more difficult. But from what I’ve seen here, with good seams, try the standard UV project first, I would say even with something complex, see if it does the job for you.

And for those interested, here’s the nodes for a normal map (everyone probably got this, but sometimes its nice to have something to look at to see what worked for someone else):