Hard edge normals

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't saying to keep everything on one smoothing group *all the time*. What I would have done is chamfered the edges and then run my normal script to adjust the normals for the faces to get a smooth normal map. Probably should have gone into more detail, it was early and I was tired.

Good breakdown Philip.

You could bevel it, use one smoothing group and tweak the normals using something like this:

http://wiki.polycount.com/VertexNormal# ... _MAXScript

Nice explanation Philip. You should write some new tutorials when you have the time. Your tutorials are always the best.

Noob question: Doesn't beveling also create more vertex data because you create more geometry? What would be the difference in vertex data between a simple cube like that with split uv's and the beveled cube with one smoothing group? I have to admit i don't know much about that. Also the beveled cube wouldn't you still have to split the uv's one way or another to reduce distortion? Also arn't small thin polygons actualy pretty bad for rendering performance? I thought i've read about that a couple times.

I learned it with uv splits and different smoothing groups from the start. Beveling is more like a last resort to me when i can't get nice normals on rather complex geometry.

Vertex count are the same i think (but philipK should be the one with the good answer ) Also, does uv in the first round need to be splitted ?

[Blocked Image: http://www.ericchadwick.com/examples/provost/byf2_figure2.jpg]

this was posted on polycount a while ago. basically every of these operations creates another vertex internally.

some relevant updates in the newest UDK version http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/XNormalWorkflow.html

Very interesting PhilipK !

Do you guys know a good and free () plugin for editing vertex normals in maya ?

I must experiment this ! :embarrassed:

http://migugi.net/mel/normalTools/

This one is awesome! I use it all the time. Not only for just straightening out beveled surfaces but sometimes create different type of illusions from geometry by just altering the shading (this plugin has a very useful type in dialogue and copy paste normal info settings)

is there a decent way to tweak normals in maya, the regular 'vertex normal edit' tool is pretty shit and doesn't give you any real constant, precise control. or am i missing something