Xnormals
My first port of call was Xnormals. Similar to a lot of my work on this project I have never used this software before and it was suggested to me at the start of the year by another student on my course. I have jumped in at the deep end with this project as I have attempted and experimented with a lot of different pieces of software that I haven't used before and I have gained a lot of knowledge and experience in doing so.
Instead of me explaining a step by step guide on how I used Xnormals I will simply direct you to the link below as I followed this tutorial to the letter. Unfortunately however this didn't work for me as the normal map didn't render at first and when I eventually got it to render after a lot of tinkering with settings and UVW Map creations it didn't work. Again see below the normal map that was produced with Xnormals and you can see that this would not have worked on mine or any model.
Xnormals Tutorial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGszEIT4Kww
Xnormals Normal Map
After many attempts to create a working normal map on my low poly, optimized and pro optimized models I established that this wasn't going to work as the same results kept appearing. So I then moved on to Projection Mapping.
Projection Mapping
This method seemed difficult and didn't work at first, like Xnormals, but after some tinkering with the settings and ensuring that the program used the existing Chanel mapping coordinates that I set and made and not the automatic flatten mapping that occurs when the wrong check box is ticked, I started to get some promising results.
However the results from the Optimized and Pro-Optimized low poly models didn't work very well at all. So then, through process of elimination, I had established that my UVW Template was better than the one that the program made itself, even though it was very basic and simply modified (moved lower jaw section from bottom of the model to its own space on the map). I had also established that the best method for this particular model was Projection mapping, with all of the points mentioned in previous posts about if time was no object and what I would do differently if I was to do this again, i'm sure that Xnormals and the other techniques that I attempted would have worked if I didn't attempt a quicker method of doing the initial modelling in the first place.
I now have a great basis to learn more from in the future. My normal's may have took a while to actually create using the different techniques, different software and my lack of experience with this but in the end I have generated the normal map and baked it onto a low poly model that was based on a high poly model which is what I set out to do way back at the start of the year. It may admittedly not be a brilliant and highly detailed model but as I mentioned, if time was no object and I was to do this again the out come would be different as I have learnt from my mistakes and I now know what to and not to do when creating normal's, UVW Maps and baking them.
Below is my Final Normal Map from projection mapping and an earlier version of the result of rendering to texture, which is the key part of projection mapping as this then becomes the normal map. You can see that I had been previously spacing the UVW's as I was suggested to, but genuinely forgot to do so on the one render that worked the best. I believe this render worked the best because I spent a lot of time within the projection mapping settings ensuring that the 'Cage' which is generated from this technique was as precise and close to the high poly model as possible and I tweaked the low poly so that it had enough faces in the right places to project better. i.e. the helmet, chest piece and shoulders. Again if I had more time I could have done this better and would remember to space out my UV's at the start of EVERY process.
Final Projection Normal Map
Earlier Render to Texture
Finally a combination of the two of these images would have been a close to perfect normal map as they are evenly spaced and show a lot of detail.
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