fragmentzero Posted July 3, 2013 Share Posted July 3, 2013 Hello, I have a setup to create geometry in Houdini and export it to 3ds Max via FBX. The issue I am having is with getting correct smoothing groups in 3ds Max. I am using Facet SOP with Cusp Angle (=20), which doesn't give me hard edges on a cube but also seem to create unfused points in Houdini, hence unwelded vertices in max. If I use a Fuse, right after Facet (cusp Polygons & post compute normals), it resets with hard edge look upon consolidation of points. Ideally, using a Cube, I am aiming to have hard edge smoothing straight out of Houdini to Max transfer. Only 8 vertices in max & 3 smoothing groups used. No matter what options I used, its always 1 smoothing group utilized upon Max import. Any help please? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kgoossens Posted July 3, 2013 Share Posted July 3, 2013 The normal attribute can also be used at a vertex level. Use the vertex node and set it to cusp normal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fragmentzero Posted July 3, 2013 Author Share Posted July 3, 2013 Thanks Kim. Vertex SOP worked better than Facet as it kept same amount of points (8 for a cube) and cusped normals. However, that didn't help in 3ds Max. The difference though is that without any SOP to cusp normals I get 1 smoothing group for all faces, hence gouraud shading look. But with Vertex SOP cusping normals I am getting no smoothing groups at all and still the gouraud look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fragmentzero Posted July 3, 2013 Author Share Posted July 3, 2013 Also I am not sure whether this is an issue with FBX exporter/importer but I don't see any settings related to geometry during FBX export from houdini. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbukovec Posted July 3, 2013 Share Posted July 3, 2013 hi! the modified vertex normals (with vertex SOP) imports well with alembic format (at least in maya) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fragmentzero Posted July 5, 2013 Author Share Posted July 5, 2013 Thanks Daniel. But I couldn't find a free plugin to import alembic in 3ds max. There is one by exocortex but not free. However, in the FBX transfer, vertex color & alpha transfer just fine except normals. I guess, the issue could be with the way 3ds Max interprets vert normals in smoothing groups. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkunz07 Posted July 5, 2013 Share Posted July 5, 2013 Thanks Daniel. But I couldn't find a free plugin to import alembic in 3ds max. There is one by exocortex but not free. However, in the FBX transfer, vertex color & alpha transfer just fine except normals. I guess, the issue could be with the way 3ds Max interprets vert normals in smoothing groups. I haven't tried it but this one is free: http://www.dfx.co.jp/dftalk/?p=5916 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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