To smooth or not to smooth

robosport · 31st January 2005, 01:19 AM

I used the AC3D file format documentation and the sample loader to integrate the .ac format directly into my application. It was very straight forward. My compliments to the chef!

I have a couple basic questions. I'll start with this one for now: Is there information or a flag stored somewhere in the format that I can use to let my renderer know when a surface normal should be used instead of vertex normals when rendering a surface. The difference being a flat shaded or smooth shaded result, respectively.

Reworded for clarity: Some models require flat parts and smooth parts. How can I tell if a specific surface should be flat or smooth shaded in an AC3D object?

Thank you in advance.
robo

31st January 2005, 01:19 AM	#1
robosport Junior Member Junior member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 7	To smooth or not to smooth I used the AC3D file format documentation and the sample loader to integrate the .ac format directly into my application. It was very straight forward. My compliments to the chef! I have a couple basic questions. I'll start with this one for now: Is there information or a flag stored somewhere in the format that I can use to let my renderer know when a surface normal should be used instead of vertex normals when rendering a surface. The difference being a flat shaded or smooth shaded result, respectively. Reworded for clarity: Some models require flat parts and smooth parts. How can I tell if a specific surface should be flat or smooth shaded in an AC3D object? Thank you in advance. robo