Softening Normals in 3ds Max

[derek.k.annan]

I've been searching the web for how to soften the normals of a mesh in 3ds Max.

This is not a smoothing operation.

The soften normals operation in Maya takes the hard edges you will have on a low poly mesh and adjusts the normals of the polygon faces to make the mesh appear as if it doesn't have any hard edges. I don't think this operation is accomplished by adding any further polygons to the mesh as a smooth function would.

Everybody says nothing like that exists in 3ds max but I find that hard to believe since. In Maya "Softening Normals" is a requirement before any normal maps are applied to a mesh.

Also when I export a mesh that has had its normals softened from Maya as an object file for 3ds Max, 3ds Max recognizes this operation and the mesh appears to have its normals softened in max. This indicates that there is a max equivalent function for the "Soften Normals" function in Maya.

Can anybody tell me where to find the "Soften Normals" function in 3ds Max?

[derek.k.annan]

it might be called something else in 3ds Max.

[roxo]

Smoothing groups!

You have WAAYYY more control over normals in 3ds max than any other program I know.
You have the SMOOTH modifier (gives an overall smooth normal effect)
You have the NORMAL and EDIT NORMAL modifiers
and you have the smoothing groups on every polyobject.

The most simple way to use and control soft vs hard normals is by using different smoothing groups. Open up the editable poly roll out and find a lot of numbers in buttons. Those are the smoothing groups. Everytime you select a face on an object it shows you which smoothing group it contains. If two faces adjacent to each other share the same number they are smooth between them. If they don't share any of the numbers, the are hard. A basic cube when it's created in max has every face with it's own smoothing group number.

So, if you have a hard normal object and simply want to smooth it out giving an angle to make the difference like in maya, just apply the SMOOTH modifier.
If you want to make some edge hard or smooth it out, you can select the faces around it and share some smoothing groups.

I know it's complicated and it's hard to understand but if you try and play around the smoothing groups...selecting different faces and give them different numbers, you'll understand.

[dan]

Hey Derek,
roxo has some great tips, but smoothing groups are slightly different. I would say the closest comparison to editing normals in Maya within 3ds Max is simply the Edit Normals modifier. You can learn more in-depth about how to achieve this in the Edit Normals tutorial (http://www.digitaltutors.com/11/training.php?vid=10418) found within the 3ds Max Reference Library: Object Space Modifiers.

[roxo]

The Normal modifiers let's you flip the normals globally...
The Edit Normals modifier lets you select each normal (perpendicular line that shoots out of a face) and rotate it so that you can have a huge precision. Useful for game assets.

Remember to use the smooth modifier if you want to a quick and dirty change like in maya.
Play around with the smoothing groups. Remember that if two faces share the same number they are smoothed out... If they don't they are hard.
Here is an image.

http://www.onlinehowto.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/2819_smooth_mod3.jpg

[roxo]

RIght! You have a great tutorial with an axe. But I guess today's assets can have more polygons and therefore, less normals to worry about.
What I usually do with smoothing groups is select every face and assign the number 1. Then if I want some faces to be hard, I disconnect the number one and assing some other number. This way I keep my stack clean and there's no need to move out of editpoly mode.

[derek.k.annan]

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction Roxo and Dan.