8

Edit Normals Modifier 615
this makes it easy to see the seams between the
broken pieces. To fix this, the artist selects all
the pieces of the breaking object and applies the
Edit Normal modifier to all of them at once.
She then selects the normals across the seam
and unifies them so they are pointing in the
same direction. The artist then exports to the
game engine.
Usa ge Notes
Please observe the following notes and precautions
when using the Edit Normals modifier:
•
Edit Normals has been extended to support
both poly objects (polygon-based) and mesh
objects (triangle-based). If you apply Edit
Normals to a poly object, the result is a poly
object. If you apply Edit normals to an y other
object type, the result is a mesh object.
•
Edit Normals has a lso been extended to
suppor t embedding of edited-normal data
when collapsing the stack, and when con verting
from poly object to mesh object, but not when
converting f rom a mesh object to any other
object type. If you apply Edit Normals to
aprimitiveobject,adjustthenormals,and
then collapse the stack (or convert to Editable
Mesh), the software embeds any changes to the
normals in the mesh object, including selection
status. Primit ive objects are mesh-based, so if
youconvertthesameobjecttoEditablePoly,
the edited normals are lost. On the other hand,
if you convert a primitive object to Editable
Poly, apply Edit Normals, adjust the normals,
andthencollapsethestack,resultinginapoly
object, the normals are retained. You can
subsequently regain access to embedded, edited
normals in a collapsed object by applying
another Edit Normals modifier.
• Any modifiers that change topology will remove
changes applied to the normals with the Edit
Normals modifier. These include MeshSmooth,
Tessellate, Slice, Mirror, Symmetry, Face
Extrude, and Vertex Weld. Oddly enough, it
also means that the Norma l modifier (used
to flip face orientations) will not support the
edited normals. Since Turn To Poly can be used
to modify face topology, it also strips off the
edited normals.
• All compound objects strip off the edited
normals from their operands.
• The good news: All deformation and map
modifiers preserve the normals. For instance, if
you apply a Bend, the normals should be bent
along with the geometry. Map modifiers, such
asUnwrapUVW,won’taffectthenormalsatall.
• However, a few geometric modifiers do not
fully support the new normals. They won’t
strip them away, but neither wi ll they correctly
deform any explicit normals. Modifiers in this
category include Push and Relax.
• The Smooth modifier correctly modifies any
non-specified normals, while leaving the
specified and explicit normals alone.
• Like Mesh Select and Poly Select, Edit Normals
“inherits ” attributes from below it in the
stack. For example, if you create a b ox, apply
an Edit Normals m odifier, change some
normals, and then apply a second Edit Normals
modifier, the top Edit Normals will "inherit" the
user-specified normals from the pipeline, just
asMeshSelectwilladoptthecurrentselection
when you apply it. But the top Edit Normals
will ignore any subsequent changes to the
original Edit Normals modifier, just as Mesh
Select will ig nore any changes m ade to the
selection below it in the stack after it is applied.