Unreal Ed Model Stretching.

Talbot · Feb 2009

I did post this in the Unreal Engine 3 thread but I'm not sure if that is the best place. So I'm going to start a new thread.

Here is my problem. When I decided to import a door I made in 3ds max in the UT3 editor... I experienced some odd stretching of geometry.

Here is the 3ds max lowpoly wireframe:

Here are the 3ds max export settings:

Any ideas?

Xenobond · Feb 2009

Smoothing groups. Do you use them?

Talbot · Feb 2009

I didn't touch any of the smoothing groups. Should I reset them or something?

Neox · Feb 2009

controll the invisible edges, some seam to be going crazy because of automatic triangulation

Xenobond · Feb 2009

Yeah, try assigning them all to the same smoothing group and export again. Does your normal map have those angular facets present too?

Talbot · Feb 2009

Neox: What are invisible edges and how do I edit them?

Xenobond: K I'll try that. The normal map doesn't have those marks in it.

Talbot · Feb 2009

Xenobond: Clearing all the smoothing groups didn't do anything.

Neox · Feb 2009

right click on the object > object propertiers > and there turn edges only OFF then you will see them

Talbot · Feb 2009

Ok so know I see them... and it is definatly a problem with them because they are in running along the problem areas. What should I do with them? Here are some screens for a closer look.

Doorstop · Feb 2009

all the verts welded on those? or perhaps for some odd reason those arent flat.

adam · Feb 2009

You cannot CLEAR all the smoothing groups, each face should be assigned to one.

JordanW · Feb 2009

You can either use the turn tool in edit poly (its in edges mode) To turn the bad edges. OR you can connect 2 verts to put a hard edge and force the traingulation you'd like.

The errors in your pic are NOT coming from any sort of smoothing group error, it's just bad triagulation. You have n-gons all over the place. Your models should be made up of quads and tris to help avoid smoothing errors.

Talbot · Feb 2009

JordanW: Actually what Adam told me to do worked. :P

JordanW · Feb 2009

it's not fixing the problem. you have some serious triangulation layout issues going on. You should learn to fix these especially if you will be using normal maps on your assets.

to elaborate
your triangle problem is like someone not taking a bath. Putting different smoothing groups on each surface to hide the triangulation problem is like that person still not taking a bath and instead putting on makeup to hide their rough appearance. It will look OK but it wont always work and a lot of times will fall apart closeup. The best solution is to always take a bath (make good triangulation dammit) and it will help you avoid a multitude of problems.

Talbot · Feb 2009

JordanW: Thank you. Moose taught me about the hidden edges, how to turn them, and all that good stuff! Thanks Moose!

I'm having another problem when imported it into UE3. The mapping coordinates that I set up in 3ds max are not transferring over. I don't know why, like you see in my first post, I did check off Map Coordinates when exporting. Any ideas?

Neox · Feb 2009

apply a material with any texture before export?

Talbot · Feb 2009

haha this is odd. I checked the UV unwrap and it reset my UV's when I edited the edges. So I just need to redo the that and I should be good.

glib · Feb 2009

Talbot wrote: »

haha this is odd. I checked the UV unwrap and it reset my UV's when I edited the edges. So I just need to redo the that and I should be good.

Did you have your UVW Unwrap sitting above your Edit Poly in the stack, and fixed your edges by stepping back to your Edit Poly? If so that's your mistake. That will kill your UVs. Much safer to collapse the stack and then edit your geo.

Also, thank you thread for explaining some of my unreal/3dsmax annoyances. I assumed doing a 'clear all' in smoothing groups would harden all my edges. Apparently not. I need to do an 'auto smooth' with an angle of 0 for that to happen. What idiot decided to abstract the concept of edge hardness with "smoothing groups" in the first place? At least give the option to harden and soften edges as well...

Doorstop · Feb 2009

there is a script out there for that made for max

Harry · Feb 2009

The only thing I can imagine that'd produce that would be unclean mesh + bad smoothing groups

Talbot · Feb 2009

Harry wrote: »

The only thing I can imagine that'd produce that would be unclean mesh + bad smoothing groups

Yeah the problem was the triangles.

Talbot · Feb 2009

Anyone know why my Render To Texture might be coming out really dark? I have tried with and without a skylight. I just don't know what happened. It was fine before.

Are people using Scanline or Mentalray when they render out the maps?

Talbot · Feb 2009

I don't know exactly what was wrong but when I reset all my materials and made a new projection cage... everything worked.

Unreal Ed Model Stretching.

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