Round edges shader baking workflow for maya - Something Similar to Modo

[Mike_Isaakidis]

This is something Tor Frick has been using in Modo to quickly bake assets from a high poly bypassing inserting support edge loops and topology edge flows ( a time consuming process). 

This presents really fast turn arounds when in the modelling phase significally decreasing the modelling process of creating high and low poly assets for use in game engines. 

Vray for Maya has this feature but unfortunately you cannot bake normal maps from the "high poly". 

Maya should implement this feature and help game industry artists improve their speed and workflows. 

[laurence.cymet]

Hi Mike, 

Arnold recently introduced an update including a rounded-corner shading node. You can use this to create the "high poly" rounded corner look and then use Arnold's render selected to texture feature (with "Enable AOVs" turned on) to bake out object space normal maps to replicate that effect. 

Rounded corners: https://docs.arnoldrenderer.com/display/A5AFMUG/Round+Corners

Bake to texture: https://docs.arnoldrenderer.com/display/A5AFMUG/Render+Selection+to+Texture

*Note: At the moment, this workflow only supports object space tangents, which will limit it's use on deforming characters. I've communicated this back to the Arnold team.  You could use something like Handplane to convert between object and tangent space if needed.

Please give this a shot, and let us know if this works for you, or if something is missing from this workflow. 

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

but this will be only for Arnold user,we want  to be in Maya shader. 
what about Maya LT ? 

[laurence.cymet]

There are certainly some limitations to this workflow, including not being available in Maya LT.  We will leave this open until the workflow is complete and accessible. Thanks for the input. 

[Alexx31]

Modo has even PAINT EDGE WEIGHT - paint non-destructive transitions

http://modo.docs.thefoundry.co.uk/modo/801/help/pages/modotoolbox/Vmaps/EdgeWeightTool.html

this lets you really use it as an artistic modeling tool and is combined in workflows with „round edges“

Watch also this:

https://youtu.be/afOrviMDB4M

Once I saw also an amazing Modo car modeling tutorial, working with painting an increasing edge weight (progression), to shape an amazing complex model without all the support edges hazzle and completely non-destructive!

[Mike_Isaakidis]

As of Maya 2019 it is possible to bake normal maps. 

Limitations angles not 90 degree will not be taken into account.

[Mike_Isaakidis]

Another limitation is since you are not baking from a HP model, you are limited by the underlying geo. 

You cant use floaters or embeded geo that is meant to be baked on a LP flat surface. 

Those would have to be done on a separate baking pass and then composited together with the round corners render to texture bake.