3ds Max - Cannot set vertex normals

Toku

Hello all, I have a problem in Max, I am using the Face Weighted Normals technique which requires me to run a script on my mesh to assign the correct normal direction. However some of my meshes are broken and wont smooth correctly. If I add an edit normals modifier I can either unify or break all the normals. The reset button apparently does nothing. Is there any way to reset the mesh normals so I can split/unify them again?

NoRank

Can you post a screenshot of your model?

To reset the normals of your mesh it should be easy, just select the edit normals modifier, press 1 on your keyboard (assuming you're not using a different hotkey for selecting the normals) and click the reset button.

Toku

Sure, here is a screenshot of the mesh. But the problem is to do with the modifier. If the mesh partially has normals split/unified then the reset button wont work. Or rather is will reset the normals back to a state where they are facing an averaged direction but they will still be split or unified. It seems like I have to Unify them all, Collapse the stack and then run it again and reset. Then the Smoothing Groups panel will allow me to Split/Unify them based on face selection. If I just do it once the Smoothing Groups Panel is not working. Anywya I think it's working for now!

Toku

Nope, It's still screwed! I am running the FWN script and it wont edit the normals, and neither will the smoothing groups panel once I reset them..

Toku

Seems like there is information in the Smoothing Groups panel which modifies how the "Reset" button works in Edit Normals, That was the problem I had, As I had multiple Smoothing Groups which meant when I pressed reset it was resetting the normal direction but not the Unified/Split status because it was referencing the SGs

- Select all faces
- Clear all Smoothing Groups
- Edit Normals -> Reset

That gives you a mesh with all normals clear split. However the 3dsmax FWN Script wont run on normals which are split for some reason? So I had to assign all my normals to 1 smoothing group which unifies them, and then run the script to get the correct result.

NoRank

Oh, I use this script quite often and I never had this problem. But yeah, I normally use just one SG so when I click reset it actually works as it should work. 

And well, never did that on a mesh with sooo many verts so it can be a problem as well. You can try to use one other script that someone posted on @Obscura's thread which were manual. I normally use this one for fixing my normals when I get some bad shading.

Toku

Thanks I will check it out and yeah, It's a bit overkill with the mesh I am using, It has 3 iterations on the chamfer instead of the usual 1. I found the best way was to wipe all the smoothing groups, then start smoothing by angle, eventually you get to the point where you can run the script and it weighs the unified normals towards the face and gives good results. 

cptSwing

Splitting each normal will give you a massive increase in vertex count in-engine.. usually setting to one SG and running one of the various scripts should be enough.