Hi all,
I’m modelling a mech from mechwarrior/battletech, I’m in the very early stages and I’ve run into a few problems. I’m not looking for help, but an explanation as to what is going on here.
I modeled the toes, added edge loops and applied subsurf. I then created the external armor, used the retopo tool to position the armor on the toes. I creased the edges where I don’t want the subsurf to work, and joined all the objects into one. Everything is fine and dandy until I use Set Smooth, then I encounter a problem with the normals… See 1st pic. In the first pic, some meshes are Set Smooth, some are not, but just look at the toes.
So I played around with things a bit, recalucated outside normals and everything to try to fix the normals. No luck, until I used the ‘No V Normal Flip’ button in the mesh panel. That fixed everything. See 2nd pic.
So my question is, should every new part to this mech I model, should I use Set Smooth on it when I create it? Or should I just create parts, use Set Smooth later, and let the No V Normal Flip button fix it all??? What’s the best work flow??
What is the best way to avoid problems with normals?? Set Smooth first with the mesh when first created, then model other parts, join the meshes, then subsurf?? Or does it really matter??? I am only asking because I want to learn the best method to model…
Thanks for any help,
Randy
