Max 2011 Destroyed Normals
polycounter lvl 15
I've looked in several places and I can't find a solution within Max to fix this (though I may be overlooking a solution out on the web somewhere).
Here's the skinny.
I first noticed this when baking out a model a long time ago. In Max, it looks just fine in the viewport, but looks can be deceiving. Once baking the model, the normal map looked downright awful when applied. I checked my normals and they were completely whack. In order to revise the normals to how they should be (on both the lowpoly and highpoly models since they were duplicated bases) I had to export the models into another app, unlock the normals, and soften the edges, then re-export, reset the normals with an edit normal mod, then assign my smoothing groups.
Unify, break, anything I try in the Edit Norm mod will have ZERO affect on the normals. The only way to get any results is to manually input the normals or comb them by hand...
There has GOT to be a way to fix this in Max. The weird thing is that it doesn't happen all the time. It happens at completely random times. I follow the same modeling procedures for almost all of my models, and it does not matter how complex or simple the model is, it still happens at random. I know I have to be doing SOMETHING, but I can't figure out what, and I can't figure out how to resolve the issue within Max (which is even more bothersome).
I create a lowpoly blockout, stack an edit poly and sym mod on top of that, modify verts and add loops as necessary, turbosmooth, etc. to get my highpoly model going. A fairly straightforward workflow, and then use the same model at the base editpoly mod to start my lowpoly model.
So here's how the normals display in Max. As you can see below, the model looks smoothed properly, but the normals are way off in several areas. (normals_max.jpg)
Here's how the model looks when imported into Maya, and then how it looks once they are unlocked and the edges are smoothed. (normals_revised.jpg)
Lastly, here are the models side by side in Max. (revised_normals_max.jpg & revised_normals_max_editnorm.jpg (can't attach this one for some reason))
What am I doing wrong? Am I modeling incorrectly in Max? Am I missing some key step?
I would think this could be resolved in Max, but I can not figure it out.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Here's the skinny.
I first noticed this when baking out a model a long time ago. In Max, it looks just fine in the viewport, but looks can be deceiving. Once baking the model, the normal map looked downright awful when applied. I checked my normals and they were completely whack. In order to revise the normals to how they should be (on both the lowpoly and highpoly models since they were duplicated bases) I had to export the models into another app, unlock the normals, and soften the edges, then re-export, reset the normals with an edit normal mod, then assign my smoothing groups.
Unify, break, anything I try in the Edit Norm mod will have ZERO affect on the normals. The only way to get any results is to manually input the normals or comb them by hand...
There has GOT to be a way to fix this in Max. The weird thing is that it doesn't happen all the time. It happens at completely random times. I follow the same modeling procedures for almost all of my models, and it does not matter how complex or simple the model is, it still happens at random. I know I have to be doing SOMETHING, but I can't figure out what, and I can't figure out how to resolve the issue within Max (which is even more bothersome).
I create a lowpoly blockout, stack an edit poly and sym mod on top of that, modify verts and add loops as necessary, turbosmooth, etc. to get my highpoly model going. A fairly straightforward workflow, and then use the same model at the base editpoly mod to start my lowpoly model.
So here's how the normals display in Max. As you can see below, the model looks smoothed properly, but the normals are way off in several areas. (normals_max.jpg)
Here's how the model looks when imported into Maya, and then how it looks once they are unlocked and the edges are smoothed. (normals_revised.jpg)
Lastly, here are the models side by side in Max. (revised_normals_max.jpg & revised_normals_max_editnorm.jpg (can't attach this one for some reason))
What am I doing wrong? Am I modeling incorrectly in Max? Am I missing some key step?
I would think this could be resolved in Max, but I can not figure it out.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Replies
A simple scale or symmetry could alter the transformation matrix, so you have to perform a rest xform time to time or you'll have issues later on, with the normals/unwrap/skin/ or even modeling tools.