D3Pixel

Yeah, I noticed you can still see the triangulation if you switch to wireframe mode but it does not create actual edges like edit-mode does making it very useful.

Mikhail Luzyanin wrote:

I prefer my because I can keep 4 side poligons as much as possible for better shading.

Using the Triangulate modifier by just adding it preserves the entire model, it keeps every 4 sided polygon in the viewport and in edit mode so hard surface modelling can continue, it also preserves normals whereas Triangulating in edit mode that you suggest actually triangulates the mesh there and then and destroys custom normals.
This modifier automatically gets “applied” when you export so there is no need to apply it yourself. The additional bonus is that by just having it on a mesh shows you what the model would look like (without applying it) in verge.

The rule here is never apply it as that WILL screw up the mesh. Because the Verge3D exporter sees the mesh as triangulated (because it applies modifiers on export) it must skip that process. The Blender triangulation modifier does a better job as it preserves the normals whereas the Verge3D exporter does not.

Hard to explain? sorry.

Please try it to see what I mean.

Hi Mikhail

Thanks for the reply.

I have looked at your method and although it helps it also makes the mesh unworkable due to having to triangulate. More complex geometry does not always work this way too and triangulated meshes can still look ok in Blender but render incorrectly in Verge.

However, I have found a solution now that appears to fix custom normal exports.

Workflow:

1. Create Cyl, duplicate it for normal transfer later, hide duplicate
2. Cut hole in Cyl, bevel, whatever you want.
3. When finished with edits perform a normal transfers from copy in step #1 to fix all normal shading issues.
4. Add a “Triangulate modifier” to the mesh and tick “Keep Normals” <– that is key
5. Now Sneak Peak it and it will look the same as in Blender.

This is also a non-destructive workflow and allows you to see what the model would look like in Verge without exporting.

Note: Do not apply the Triangulate modifier, it will be applied on Verge export automatically thus preserving the mesh normals.

To further back this up, If I export the mesh to FBX and run it through a three.js converter at https://blackthread.io/gltf-converter/ it also preserves normals and looks great so this must be possible in your pipeline?

See attached image.

With Blender 2.8 (edit mode, not the modifier) Edge split separates the edge by detaching it so if you split an edge around a quad then that quad face can be lifted off the mesh thus breaking the watertightness of a mesh. Also, when merging vertices in cleanup operations this will re-weld those loose edge vertices.

I think you may be referring to Mark Sharp and Clear Sharp features for editing edges which works with Normal Auto Smooth.
https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/2.80/modeling/meshes/editing/edges.html?

I just discovered there is also a mesh->Normals->Split command that enables custom normals shading (with Auto Smooth) but disables the Angle limit, this does not break vertices and has a companion modifier called “Normal Edit” and seems to be for game designers. I will give this a play with tomorrow
https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/2.80/modeling/meshes/structure.html#custom-split-normals

Control N is a 2.7 hotkey. I think it is now Recalculate Outside / Inside in 2.8 (via Alt+N) but that rarely helps when trying to fix normals that do not shade well in Verge, it does help if you are trying to create transparent materials I found.

As for the differences between Max and Blender, yes I see what you mean. Cheers.

I will try that too, thanks.

Is 3DS Max better at this than Blender 2.8?

I know max has assignable smoothing groups that Blender does not and a Unify Normals tool but my max subs ran out so can’t compare the two.

I downloaded the 2.14.0 blender zip again and it is 6MB larger than the previous download, after extracting that it is working again.

There is still no \pywin folder though.