3D & Animation 3DS Max / UDK problem - beginner needs help......

[c200k]

Hey all,

I modeled an old windmill (with interior) for my new Steppe-Map. When I import the model in SDK, the surface lighting looks very strange. When I apply a texture on the surface, the surface looks good, but the lighting follows the blue/white udk surface.

What am I doing wrong?

Windmill:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/11360615/windmill.png

Surface in SDK (no materials, no uv-map):
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/11360615/in-sdk.png

Shadows I want to get rid of:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/11360615/shadows.png
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/11360615/shadows2.png

Regards

 

[Siegertyp]

Did you use boolean for the windows and entrance? To me, the shadows look like the result of a messed-up geometry by boolean. If it is not too time-consuming, try to model new walls without using boolean.

 

[c200k]

hey, no, I don't use boolean (to avoid strange behavior). I used "polygon > insert". In 3DS Max everything is smooth.

 

[c200k]

Hey again,

I just found out, if I export to FBX format, the problem is fixed. Is FBX or ASE the preferred export format for the SDK?

I watched some older tutorials and everybody was using ASE ?!

Thank you !

 

[Nightingale]

I always use FBX. Using ASE gives me really crazy lighting issues, similar to what you got.

 

[Sven71]

Did you use boolean for the windows and entrance? To me, the shadows look like the result of a messed-up geometry by boolean. If it is not too time-consuming, try to model new walls without using boolean.

As this is truly an important hint to modellers: If you use 3ds max and you want to boole a little, be sure to use ProBoolean (available in the more recent versions of 3ds max).
If you are finished with your editable poly / editable mesh, click on that 'crossed hammers' icon and then on the 'reset XForm' tab. With all objects selected, click the 'reset Xform' button in the newly opened sub-section of the menu. Nothing visible will happen, it's rather underground stuff.
Next step: In the same menu, click on the 'collapse' tab and with still everything selected, hit the collapse button. Before you do it you can choose the outcome to be one single mesh or maintain multiple single objects.

I never had any trouble when exporting meshes treated that way.

 

[GrimReality]

I don't think the shadows are happening because of geometry, I think it's because of the normals.

I don't use 3D Max, I use Maya, but I'll sometimes see that kind of shadowing on newly created edges/faces on a mesh, and the solution is always to adjust the angle of the normals of the new face and surrounding faces.

Oh, and things can also happen like this if you have it automatically triangulate the mesh when it exports. Again, it's a normals issue, they're not getting set correctly when the file is being converted. Make sure your mesh is triangulated before you export so that you can see how/if those triangles affect the lighting on your mesh before you import it to the SDK.