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Odd Error on Mesh - normals?

by Quest Johnny · in Artist Corner · 08/13/2007 (12:33 pm) · 3 replies

I have a mesh that I am in the process of animating, and I am getting strange results in showtool and the engine

You can view screenshots at testserver.foxgoggles.com/fwiki2.php?pageId=364 (username: garagegames, password: torque)

or I can put the images here directly:
www.eyesinthedark.org/screenshots/ww10.gifwww.eyesinthedark.org/screenshots/ww11.gif
In MAX, it looks perfectly fine. Test renders show no problems. Show normals show no problems, neither does close examination of the mesh under various views (wireframe, etc.) However, in the engine, as you can see, some back faces are showing up as if some faces were inside out or something like that.

Does anybody have any idea what's wrong or how I could fix this?
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Torque Owner Tim Heldna
#1
08/13/2007 (12:45 pm)
Have you tried flipping the normals anyhow, even if you believe there are no problems?

To flip your normals in 3DSMax, just add a "Normal" modifier to the mesh, and select the option to "Flip" them.

Associate Logan Foster
#2
08/13/2007 (3:19 pm)
Just to add some information as to why this happens:

Whenever you mirror a shape the winding on the normals flips too. Your 3D application will display the data to your normally because it knows whats going on, but when the data is exported to a DTS, the exporter reads the reversed winding and generates flipped normals.

Note: This happens with all 3D applications and is not a Max specific problem.

Torque Owner Quest Johnny
#3
08/14/2007 (1:38 am)
The Fix: I often use mirror-symmetry to create meshes, and so I tried to "box trick" on all the meshes, and it exported properly