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Old 2nd November 2007, 09:13 PM   #1
Richard Hebert
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Default Inverted Normals

Does anyone know if there is a procedure (or a button click) that can fix inverted normals on solid objects or does each surface have to be flipped by dragging and selecting? Extruding multi-faced objects sometimes cause faces to be inverted. Too many to fix by hand on occasion.
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Old 3rd November 2007, 04:12 PM   #2
lisa
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Default Re: Inverted Normals

I don't know of any way to batch-flip normals.

However, there's a button when you extrude that says "flip surfaces". This will keep your normals facing the right direction when you extrude and prevent the problem you describe.
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Old 3rd November 2007, 05:51 PM   #3
tbd
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Default Re: Inverted Normals

Only way I know in Ac3d to flip normals pointing the wrong way is to select them all in surface mode, and use `flip normal` under the surface menu. And I think it says `flip new surfaces` Lisa And I must say I as well miss an option that selects inverted surfaces.

Last edited by tbd; 3rd November 2007 at 05:52 PM. Reason: typo
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Old 3rd November 2007, 08:22 PM   #4
Richard Hebert
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Default Re: Inverted Normals

Thanks for your help. That should solve the immediate issue. Without assistance from professionals, the learning curve would be a whole lot longer.
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Old 5th November 2007, 08:09 PM   #5
lisa
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Default Re: Inverted Normals

Quote:
Originally Posted by tbd View Post
And I must say I as well miss an option that selects inverted surfaces.
Yeah, I've thought about that one, too... I contemplated writing a plug-in, but I'm not sure if it's mathematically feasible on anything other than closed, convex shapes. On a closed convex shape, you could look for intersections between the polygon normal and other surfaces to determine which direction was "inside". But on a flat wall that wasn't closed, how would you know empirically which way it is *supposed* to point?
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Old 5th November 2007, 08:36 PM   #6
Richard Hebert
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Default Re: Inverted Normals

That was my thought also. I was just hoping for something that might work on complex solids with the center being a reference for direction.
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