I’m trying to import an FBX in TD, but I can’t see normals.
I used C4D to create the mesh, and exported it to FBX version 6.1.
When I import it into TD, the mesh is displayed correctly, lighted correctly, but it seems to have no normals (if I turn on normals in the display options of the geometry OP). In fact, if I try to generate particles from that mesh I obtain a strange effect, and the particles remain on mesh vertices (the don’t follows mesh normals).
Even with a simple plane I have the same problem (see the attachment).
If you middle click on the node you can see information about it’s attributes. In particular this .fbx file has the normals saved as vertex normals, not point normals. Many SOPs that use normals require the normals to be point normals to function properly.
Hi malcom thank you for the reply.
I see that the FBX exported from Cinema has vertex normals, not point normals.
For those who have my same problem, I got the solution: if an imported FBX has normals setted as vertex attrib and not as point attrib, you can:
attach a point SOP to the imported mesh to Add Normals (for example $NX100 $NY100 $NZ100)
import the FBX in Houdini, attach a point attribute to the object, and Add Normals (for example $NX100 $NY100 $NZ100) (see the fig)
Anyway, is there a way to export normals from Cinema 4D as point normals? The FBX export dialog in C4D is very simple, there is only one checkbox for “export normals” (see the fig)… is it something that have to do with vertices manipulation in C4D?
