3dsmax FBX wont export smoothing groups

skyline5gtr · May 2016

Hey guys, even when I check smoothing groups in the fbx dialog window 3dsmax still refuses to export the smoothing groups. Anyone run into this? I exports na obj instead and it worked fine

huffer · May 2016

Are you importing the mesh in Maya?

skyline5gtr · May 2016

No im going from 3dsmax to substance painter

thomasp · May 2016

do the vertex normals look correct in max when you throw on an edit normals modifier in the first place? do you have more than one smoothing group per face assigned? any options checked in the FBX exporter (split normals and related, if any)?

skyline5gtr · May 2016

Excuse the lack of crop too lazy, checked all and posted results.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/qu/unmjoojy6fmp.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/k8/ba6h9mmcno6s.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/rc/we7x4viexq1z.png

skyline5gtr · May 2016

I tried bringing it into marmoset same issue

thomasp · May 2016

i'm not at the right machine to look this up but at first glance - try in the exporter dialog: tangents & binormals: off. split per-vertex normals: on. toggle the smooth group setting if it still does not behave.

skyline5gtr · May 2016

Solved the issue, I converted the object to editable mesh then back to editable poly and bam fixed. WTF ?

instg8r · May 2016

I have been running this issue as well. Happens so much I just went ahead and made a script to run the convert to mesh, xform, convert to poly before exporting. Not sure why the info gets corrupted

avenali312 · May 2016

skyline5gtr said:

Solved the issue, I converted the object to editable mesh then back to editable poly and bam fixed. WTF ?

After reading your initial post, I was just getting ready to post this. I had to figure this out myself probably about six months ago. Super annoying and the only fix I found was to use an editable mesh instead. Someone had documented it when going into Unreal and that's where I found the solution. I feel like it's been an issue for the past couple versions of FBX.

skyline5gtr · May 2016

Now crap is coming in flipped normals. If i mirror the object its ok .... Anyone know a way to clear out every transform mirror or any coordinate info. Rest xform does not work

Kbrom12 · May 2016

skyline5gtr said:

Now crap is coming in flipped normals. If i mirror the object its ok .... Anyone know a way to clear out every transform mirror or any coordinate info. Rest xform does not work

When things like this happen to me I'll export the mesh as an obj with nothing checked, then reimport it. Usually solves every weird issue like this - Good luck!

echofourpapa · May 2016

There is the old "box trick". Create a new box, convert that to and editable poly. Then attach your bad mesh to the box, and delete the box element. That usually works for me for clearing out any bad data.

Eric Chadwick · May 2016

Actually I have a similar problem with FBXs going into Unity. Models using Editable Poly as the base modifier often come in with twisted UVs or messed-up smoothing. I solve it by simply adding a Turn To Mesh modifier on top, then exporting. Works every time. Not sure if SP would work the same, but worth a try.

skyline5gtr · May 2016

Thanks Guys, after trying a few of the tricks something worked lol any everything is behaving now

Eric Chadwick · May 2016

Forgot to mention. One nice thing about Turn To Mesh, is it's non-destructive... it keeps the model in Editable Poly, so I don't lose edited vertex normals. Converting from Editable Mesh back to Editable Poly kills those.

avenali312 · May 2016

Eric Chadwick said:

Forgot to mention. One nice thing about Turn To Mesh, is it's non-destructive... it keeps the model in Editable Poly, so I don't lose edited vertex normals. Converting from Editable Mesh back to Editable Poly kills those.

Thanks for this. Sounds more reasonable than the way I was doing it, which is very destructive haha.

skyline5gtr · May 2016

Thanks Eric, Ill keep that in mind for the future when i blow stuff up again lol

skyline5gtr · May 2016

Man, now i just imported the fbx to unity. All the edges are finally right but there are no UVs

Eric Chadwick · May 2016

Which uv channel? Is it Editable Mesh, or else Editable Poly with Turn To Mesh?

skyline5gtr · May 2016

Editable Poly, channel 1 . I tried your trick again lol and it seemed to work. I had to open uv unwrap and collapse it

3dsmax FBX wont export smoothing groups

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