Healing seams
Oso3D
Posts: 15,094
in The Commons
What's the easiest/cheapest way to 'heal' over seams in a texture map (where they don't quite line up right)?
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If you're talking about a square texture like those used in shaders, I bring the image into Photoshop, create 4 layers, move each layer until the edges line up with the corners altogether in the center. Then I blend the edges of the four layers. Sometimes I can do that without flattening the image, sometimes I can only do it if I flatten the image first, and most of the time It's a combination of both. When I'm finished, I flatten the image and it becomes my new texture.
I have no idea if there is a program out there that will do it for you.
ETA: Assuming you already have a paint/photo program, it costs you only your time.
No, I mean putting a texture on a figure and blending the seams where the uv wraps around and touches.
Im using Substance Painter and having a really hard time, particularly with SSS and displacement, avoiding the seams separating enough to look terrible.
Oh. Well... I'm no help there. Sorry. However, I'm hoping to someday get SP, so I'm definitely interested what you find out.
Good luck.
Rated from least expensive to easiest (in my opinion, your milage may vary)
Blender, Carrara, Blacksmith3d, 3D Coat
I'd recommend Blacksmith. You can fix the seams directly in Blacksmith or project the images, fix the seams in Photoshop (more refined and better quality method for sure) and then reload the fix back in BS.
Ye blacksmith is also my go to for seam fixing.
I've been considering Blacksmith and hearing it pop up. The $N/month appeals to me (my preference is 3d coat but I don't see that happening any time soon)
I think Blacksmith would be a really good choice for you, at least until you can spring for 3D Coat, if you decide to do that eventually. Blacksmith had a really good selection of morphing tools, and the way it can do soft selections is really neat. 3D Painting is really easy and straightforward. I think you would like it for the figure work you are trying to do. It has all the tools you need to morph and texture a figure. Definately do check out the demo.
If nothing else, maybe with Blacksmith + Substance Painter (and some mild stuff with Carrara) I can get to the point where I can afford 3d coat. ;)
I was doing some stuff with G3M and I keep getting some light bleed along the seams with translucent stuff (in Iray).
Pulling the displacement maps into a trial of Blacksmith... and the seams look perfect.
Now I'm wondering if the problem isn't just that I'm trying to push displacement too far. Hrmph.
A lot of times this happens if the isnt enough of a margin on your texture map (textures should extend a little bit beyond where the edge of the uv map is). That may not end up being the culprit, but its def something to check out.
I left a margin (16 pixel SP default thing), maybe try a larger margin...
I use Blacksmith with every character. When you bleed the maps, I set mine to about 5 pixels instead of the 16 and at times use a 6 pixel angle.
With some experimentation, it seems I'm having lots of trouble with displacement + refraction. But using _translucency_, the problems aren't there (or aren't noticeable).
So, hey.
I had heard that Blacksmith "puts the pixels all over the place" as far as what it looks like on a 2D map. Since you use it so much, DarwinsMishap, perhaps you can clarify this for me.
Can I unmap a texture created in Blacksmith and modify it in Photoshop?
If you tell it to auto-UV your object, it will do what it thinks is best to give you the most flat space to minimize stretching. Yes it can look like a jigsaw. If you do the UV the old fashioned way, by laying out your seam lines and unwrapping the object ahead of time, you can load in your own texture template for it and carry on as normal.
Are you referring to the errant pixels when you're painting in Symmetry mode? That happens if the model is not 100% symmetrical. I see it in the hands with Default Genesis 3 Female (and probably male, can't remember right now...)
kk, the seams could be caused by incompatible gamma on the greyscales( ie bump, translucence, gloss etc) i was told by a DAZ3D tester that gamma on the greyscales should be set to 0.00, for character skins. having some set to 1.00 and some to 0.00 can cause the 'seam' effect.
i found this after tearing my hair out for a few days trying to fix seams showing at render time( zooming in REAL close when in Blacksmith and find absolutely no seams at al)l, then my tester suggested checking the gamma settings in Image Editor......voila!!!! some greyscale maps were at 0.00 and some were at 1.00. setting all to 0.00 cured the issue
This is obviously an incredibly crude work-around, but Anagenessis 2 was messing with the finger seams on G3F.
So I opened the hand/arm map and using the colour picker I changed the white area of the map to one more matching the skin texture. Kind of worked ...good enough for me anyway.
I'm not seeing the problem and I think I paniced. ;)
Seams seem fine, now, and not getting the weird glowy displacement lines. Either I've reset stuff to proper gammas or have better maps inadvertantly. Either way, thumbs up...
Does Blacksmith3d have a way to use displacement maps to displace mesh?
It's displacement is terrible, imo, but here's how you can create them. Create/Import a new/displacement map in the map tab, set that map as the displacement channel for your material zone in the manager tab. Select a brush tool, and towards the bottom of the Tool tab on the right, select Displ and only that one (you can also select "current" and utilize the view type drop down and set that to displacement). Completely fill your maps with black for a zero strength (don't trust the flood fill tool all the time, go into displacement view and use a large scale brush to get it all). Now, if you run into the same issue I do, select Quick Render View in the drop down, and you'll end up with an exploded mess at the seams even though they should be black (I only have face/torso/arms/legs enabled).
You could use MCasual's script (mcjElevate) to displace the base polys.
https://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts/mcjelevate
Vaskania: Assuming you DON'T end up with completely fardled seams, can you then export the distorted mesh?
Jimbow: I've thought of that but with multiple maps to displace, I'm not entirely sure how to manage that.
You don't need to export the mesh for displacement maps. Just the image maps. The mesh would be the same one you imported anyways, so no need to re-export it. The only reason to re-export is if you're morphing.
Morphing is entirely why I'm asking.
Oh, well to get that distortion out as a morph, you'd need to make a morph mimicking it. There's no way to really bake the displacement into a morph.
Ok, then that's that answer. ;)
Supposedly Carrara can do it but I have yet to get Daz to accept the result. Keep getting a mismatch error (and yes, it's all in Base resolution, and the poly counts look the same, etc)
Were all your morphs zeroed out as well? Some figures come in with the navel and I think another one already dialed into 1. I've screwed myself over by missing those myself a few times. lol
I thought so, will try again. ;)