Hmm ... I tried the above Turn to Poly on top of an Editable Poly w/ mismatched face normals, but it didn't unify them, and actually made a mess when collapsing (duplicated the mesh on top of itself?).
I'm assuming what you want is the Normal modifier's "Unify Normals" function, which makes all faces point the same way (inward or outward). In another part of the 3ds help doc, it says this function doesn't work on Editable Polys, and that you should add a Turn to Mesh modifier on top of the ePoly object, and then on top of that add a Normal modifier, check on "Unify Normals," and then check on "Flip Normals" if you need it. http://docs.autodesk.com/3DSMAX/16/ENU/3ds-Max-Help/index.html
adding an edit normals modifier, then going into the normals-subobject mode, marquee-selecting all the (green-colored) normals of your model and pressing reset doesn't do it?
Hmm ... I tried the above Turn to Poly on top of an Editable Poly w/ mismatched face normals, but it didn't unify them, and actually made a mess when collapsing (duplicated the mesh on top of itself?).
I'm assuming what you want is the Normal modifier's "Unify Normals" function, which makes all faces point the same way (inward or outward). In another part of the 3ds help doc, it says this function doesn't work on Editable Polys, and that you should add a Turn to Mesh modifier on top of the ePoly object, and then on top of that add a Normal modifier, check on "Unify Normals," and then check on "Flip Normals" if you need it. http://docs.autodesk.com/3DSMAX/16/ENU/3ds-Max-Help/index.html
TurnToPoly won't unify normals or duplicate geometry. It just resets the normals while respecting smoothing groups, and whatever other options you pick. If you had mismatched normals you probably had the double faces as well. Try using Xview to identify problems with your mesh.
I've been resetting normals with TurnToPoly for years. It works.
@monster: My bad, I misunderstood the OP's question. For whatever reason I assumed he was talking about mismatched face orientations.
And I didn't realize until just now that all a surface/face normal really is is just an averaged representation of that face's vertex normals, as opposed to being its own independent thing. Never really thought about it before.
And yeah, the Turn to Poly ends up working perfectly, and yeah, it only made double faces when I had mismatched face orientations to start with.
I should really stop derailing threads. *backs away slowly*
It's hard to keep the normals custom in Max anyway, so this can't be too hard
agreed, the hard part is to keep your edited normals despite max doing it's best to destroy your efforts. however, a strategically placed edit normals modifier in the stack proves helpful even then.
Replies
Source 3ds Max Help Doc: http://goo.gl/IDFQZ7
I'm assuming what you want is the Normal modifier's "Unify Normals" function, which makes all faces point the same way (inward or outward). In another part of the 3ds help doc, it says this function doesn't work on Editable Polys, and that you should add a Turn to Mesh modifier on top of the ePoly object, and then on top of that add a Normal modifier, check on "Unify Normals," and then check on "Flip Normals" if you need it.
http://docs.autodesk.com/3DSMAX/16/ENU/3ds-Max-Help/index.html
TurnToPoly won't unify normals or duplicate geometry. It just resets the normals while respecting smoothing groups, and whatever other options you pick. If you had mismatched normals you probably had the double faces as well. Try using Xview to identify problems with your mesh.
I've been resetting normals with TurnToPoly for years. It works.
And I didn't realize until just now that all a surface/face normal really is is just an averaged representation of that face's vertex normals, as opposed to being its own independent thing. Never really thought about it before.
And yeah, the Turn to Poly ends up working perfectly, and yeah, it only made double faces when I had mismatched face orientations to start with.
I should really stop derailing threads. *backs away slowly*
agreed, the hard part is to keep your edited normals despite max doing it's best to destroy your efforts. however, a strategically placed edit normals modifier in the stack proves helpful even then.
http://wiki.polycount.net/VertexNormal#Editing_Normals_in_3ds_Max
Just applied those tips again yesterday in fact, to duplicate some assets without killing my custom normals. Why max why?