Normal map artifacts in cycles but not eevee

Support Materials and Textures
1

Hi, I cant seem to figure this out in eevee my normal map looks like it should but in cycles there are tons of artifacts and it looks terrible. The normal maps are in non-color space and the normal type is Open-Gl.

pjimage
pjimage1920Ă—1080 588 KB

pjimage (1)
pjimage (1)1920Ă—1080 837 KB

Normal from first image:
moss rock 02 Normals 4k
moss rock 02 Normals 4k2048Ă—2048 1.37 MB

2

Looks like “terminator artifact”. This happens in Cycles with low poly objects.
Two possible fixes are:

  1. Add more geometry to your mesh
  2. Increase size of your lights.

Related efforts to fix this by developers here: T68920

3

Thank you.

1 Like
4

filibis, when you say to increase the size of your lights , do you mean direct or indirect light and do you mean the diameter or strength. I was having artifacts on my flooring in Cycles above 600 samples.Thanks

5

I mean the diameter not the strength (For area lights, it’s size). I don’t know about the impact of direct/indirect lights.
When I see such artifact I add more geometry to the mesh. Increasing the size of light might result undesirably. (I know it’s still not a good fix but this is what we have currently as far as I know)

6

Thank you filibis. I will also try adding more geometry. This is really good to know.

7

An alternative cheat might be to add a bevel node between your normal map and the normal input.

8

Thanks Tarby. I will try that as well.

1 Like
9

Something else you might try is change the Autosmooth angle to something higher.

10

Thanks for that tip Tarby.

1 Like