Introduction to Xnormal

Xnormal is a freeware that can be used to create your normal and displacement maps, and also to bake a texture from high poly to a low poly model.
Hence it's a very useful program for scanning pipelines to bake the high poly output to the wrapped low-poly model we will work on. Here is how we use it:

First, you have to select the high polygon mesh you have created with your scanned photo and point clouds in your scanning software.
Then you will also need the low-poly mesh with its wrapped UV so the baker will just have to transfer the textures from a UV map to the other.

Baking Color map (MULTI UDIM)

1. Import your Multi-UDIM target mesh on Maya and extract each Udim into a new geo. (Using the Extract tool or Select UV Shell/Invert selection/ Delete)

   

2. Go to file/ Export selected and export your single-shell Multi-Udims meshes one by one.

   

3. Then, go to High definition mesh menu and import your source mesh. Click again and choose "base texture to bake". Choose your map to transfer.

   

4. Go to the Low definition menu, then, import all of your Single-shell Multi-Udim meshes. Select only the first one to bake. 

   

5. In Baking options, choose the definition of your baked map, as well as the type of map you want to be baked.

6. The edge padding will be here to avoid white gutter in your baked UV shells. We advise to let it at 16 or 32. Put the anti-aliasing to 4x.

7. Don't forget to choose the folder you want the baked map saved in.

8. Click on "Generate Maps"!

9. Do the same for all of your shells.