So I have been looking around on how to get clean lightmaps into UE4 from /blender (2.72). I have found almost nothing helpful. So I did my own research, and found that the trees in the landscape Hang glider demo have a lightmap that is simply a “project from bounds” top view. So I did this to my trees in Blender and it didn’t work, I’m getting the ugliest shadows, and artifacts. However… the lightmap density view shows a perfect lightmap color (Light green).
I am so confused.
Is it the material they (the devs of the demo) use?
Or is it a export issue between Blender and UE4?
they seem to be lit by a dynamic light, and therefore dont need to be baked.
If you want to look at a proper uv map take a look at the snowtree lightmap.
Since you cant have overlapping uv’s on your lightmap yours are causing weird light/shadow blobs.
It seems the best way to get foliage to light correctly is to use a dynamic light. But I have found out how to make the best lightmaps for trees, and high poly grass. (Using Blender)
1st- Try and get you’re mesh as low poly as you can while keeping it looking good.
2nd- Create another UV map for your tree.
3rd- In that UV map make sure that when you unwrap that all the vertices are evenly spaced. Especially for the trunk.
Tips:
-Try and keep your trunk and branches in one object.
-Try to keep the leaf meshes rectangular.
-try to keep your leaf meshes big with a fancy texture as this makes your lightmapping a whole lot easier to do.
If you are bad at tree making than I recommend Forester Pro by HTPWare, its only 20$ and creates amazing trees.
