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As seen from the 2 images below, when only bevel node is connected the smooth transition between meshes is visible. But when it goes through Principle BSDF the bevel is not showing (not even in final render). enter image description here

enter image description here

NewBlenderer
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  • Hello it only works in Cycles, are you in Cycles? Also maybe try to increase the Radius? – moonboots Dec 28 '23 at 18:30
  • @moonboots Yes I am in cycles. I tried increasing/decreasing the radius. As the 1st images shows that it does merge the 2 surfaces but the 2nd image (when principle bsdf is connected) it does not do the smooth merging. – NewBlenderer Dec 28 '23 at 18:36
  • @moonboots you can see this link from artstation https://www.artstation.com/artwork/8lQqVq .... many people have asked him but all he says is to connect bevel to normal map node. – NewBlenderer Dec 28 '23 at 20:11
  • Yes it should work, the 2 meshes need to be within the same object, if it still doesn't work please share your file (just the leg + body) – moonboots Dec 28 '23 at 21:24
  • It works, you can see a smoothed edge around the seam, but the seam itself doesn't go away. I did tests on my side and playing with the radius greatly helps. The seam is less visible the less perpendicular the two geometries are. Adding a noisy bump map like in your artstation source also helps conceal the seam. https://i.stack.imgur.com/Q5Lnv.jpg – L0Lock Dec 28 '23 at 21:54

1 Answers1

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Using shading offset for terminator

I tried bevel node, but it seems that it has visible shadow terminator, so it doesn't look great. I've tried to set Shading offset for terminator, it looks ok, but it definitely changes shading a lot.

enter image description here

enter image description here

So I suppose the key to this render is to set an environment with no hard lights, and tune shadow terminator settings to hide artifacts.

Using transfer attribute

Also, I set up a different workflow using transfer attribute:

enter image description here

It uses two modifiers:

enter image description here

One is used to generate falloff mask, the second transfers normals. But the problem with shadow terminator is always the same. So because the shadow terminator issue is only Cycle's problem, I used EEVEE to render this:

enter image description here

Using transfer attribute and alpha blend

I also noted that in your link on ArtStation, textures looks blended. So I decided to blend these two meshes in cycles:

enter image description here

To get blend mask, I converted vertex weight to attribute using this simple Geometry nodes:

enter image description here

So here is this setup (Transfer attribute + alpha blend):

Using Bevel and alpha blend

And in this setup I've used only Bevel and Ambient occlusion nodes. Ambient occlusion used for masking as in previous example.

enter image description here

Crantisz
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  • If you just plug the bevel node to material output you will see proper beveling happening between the joined surfaces. But why does that go away when we pass the bevel node through the principle bsdf's normal? – NewBlenderer Dec 29 '23 at 15:50
  • This issue is common for path tracing renderers, called shadow terminator issue. It is an artifact that occurs in path tracer renderers, specifically in situations where a point on a surface receives light from some parts of the scene but is completely shadowed from other parts. Eliminating the shadow terminator artifact remains a challenging problem, and it is not solved in Cycles. That is why You will not see this artefact in EEVEE – Crantisz Dec 29 '23 at 20:53
  • Ah okay. Too bad, this renders the Bevel node tad useless (as it doesn't work in eevee). Blending meshes using the Bevel node stays a hack that works in certain situations and doesn't in most. And those perfect blending (https://www.artstation.com/artwork/8lQqVq) stay a secret that the author doesn't want to share... hehe – NewBlenderer Dec 30 '23 at 07:01
  • Why useless? I used it a lot in metallic shaders. There is no issue with shadow terminator here. Take a look https://blenderartists.org/t/turbullion-watch/1197051 – Crantisz Dec 30 '23 at 22:09
  • Wow! Those are really great models and renders. You are really good. Maybe i am looking for a hack to good topology by not actually joining meshes and just relying on the Bevel node to do the job. I was obsessed with that artist's claimed use of Bevel node to merge separate meshes. Maybe something more is going on behind the scene. But you're good.. really good! – NewBlenderer Dec 31 '23 at 07:01