Network import into 3D Crafter

Network import into 3D Crafter

Postby briyeo » Thu Jan 26, 2017 12:12 pm

This isn't going to be an issue for me importing track network into 3D Crafter to aid in making bridges etc. but is there a simple explanation as to what is happening? The track imports into Crafter stood on it's end because the different axis in 3DS Max, but it also has half the triangles reversed so they appear invisible. I have to select all faces and use the double side tool to make it solid.



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Re: Network import into 3D Crafter

Postby Pauls » Wed Feb 01, 2017 3:50 pm

briyeo wrote:This isn't going to be an issue for me importing track network into 3D Crafter to aid in making bridges etc. but is there a simple explanation as to what is happening? The track imports into Crafter stood on it's end because the different axis in 3DS Max, but it also has half the triangles reversed so they appear invisible. I have to select all faces and use the double side tool to make it solid.



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It's a normal problem - is there a way of correcting normals easily on import ?

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Re: Network import into 3D Crafter

Postby AndiS » Wed Feb 01, 2017 4:01 pm

Maybe there is an option "only select visible" that considers normals of tris? In that case, you could look at if from below, selected "all visible" and say "flip normals". Wishful thinking, without knowing the software ...
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Re: Network import into 3D Crafter

Postby briyeo » Fri Feb 03, 2017 8:56 pm

I don't know the software either, ;) But "normals" have never come up in the 3 years I have been using it. Obviously just another of the hundreds of aspects of 3D modelling I'm ignorant of.
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Re: Network import into 3D Crafter

Postby AndiS » Fri Feb 03, 2017 10:17 pm

Their complete name is normal vector and they are little arrows that define how a face (or a vector) is oriented. You only see a face if is normal points towards you (give or take up to 90). If it points into the same direction into which you are looking, you don't see the corresponding face.

So the theory here is that half the triangles are only visible from below. Can you confirm? If yes, you need to trawl through the menus or documentation for stuff that has 'normal' in it. Show normals would be nice so you can confirm their direction bit "flip normals" or something like that would be what cures the problem. You will have to select the faces to flip, most likely while looking up from underneath.
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Re: Network import into 3D Crafter

Postby briyeo » Sun Feb 05, 2017 1:16 pm

Like I said in my opening post Andi, I do know how to rearrange things so it shows correctly in Crafter. The puzzle is that what obviously must import correctly into 3DS Max doesn't do the same in Crafter. Why would a 3DS Max model that has all the normals correct, arrive in Crafter with half the triangles inverted? I will have a look at Crafter to see if normals crop up anywhere. I do remember flipping normals in Sketchup

I don't know that the Network files import correctly into 3DS Max, I'm just assuming they must do.

There is a flip operation, no mention of "Normals" as such.

"Invert
Inverts the shape. This results in the shape becoming inside-out, or if the shape was already inside-out, it will become right-side out. This is commonly used to correct problems with geometries imported from other 3D modeling programs."
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Re: Network import into 3D Crafter

Postby AndiS » Sun Feb 05, 2017 6:26 pm

So we should stop obsessing about normals then. :lol: (I did not understand it as completely fixed but that was my reading.)
The good thing achieved here is that we now know that this Invert function is what flips the normals (going by the description you quote). So if someone tells you to flip normals you know what to do. And you have one reason less to claim that you don't know what you do. :P

Why something works in one program and not in another can have too many reasons to even start speculating about them. Unless you can't control your itching fingers which keep typing away. But for once, I manage to control them. Quick, where is the submit button, I can already feel useless theories creeping down my arms and into my fingers. :roll:
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