TiNA - Transfer Normals Add-on

Modanung · August 29, 2018, 4:11pm

TiNA logo

After finding out how to transfer normals to another object I created my first Blender add-on which makes this an easy feat. The add-on provides the ability to Transfer Normals between objects in Object Mode using Alt+N and Shift+Alt+N. Optionally vertex colours can be transferred as well.

Screenshot_2018-10-02_01-23-50

All you need

TiNA.py
TiNA.py (Blender 2.80)

GitLab repository

Clarification

The add-on allows you to (more easily) make separate objects connect seamlessly without joining them, which can be useful when creating elements for your game worlds.

Hotkey	Operation
Alt+N	Transfer normals from selection to active object
Shift+Alt+N	Transfer normals from active object to all other selected objects
Ctrl+Shift+Alt+N	Clear custom normals data for entire selection
Alt+W	Wrap normals

Test scene

To try out the add-on without the need to create a suitable set of meshes you can download this blend file:
TestScene.blend

Modanung · August 30, 2018, 3:39pm

I created a repository on GitLab for this add-on so I can more easily update it while implementing the points on the to-do list as well as to allow for forks and pull requests.

kabu · August 30, 2018, 3:59pm

Hey, nice to see you here.

Ok, now you nailed it. Gonna try it.
You should add some funky video to show what it does. Blenderheads like that.

Modanung · August 30, 2018, 4:09pm

Hey @kabu! I’d noticed your avatar in a cloth modelling thread yesterday.
Hope you like the add-on. I’m now working on the option to apply normals from the active object to all other selected objects. (edit: done)

And before creating a video I’d like to implement the current points on the to-do list and create some pretty models that really suffer from those seams.
EDIT: For now an image of the test blocks will do.

kabu · August 30, 2018, 4:57pm

Yes, you’re right. Some ironing to do.

Modanung · September 3, 2018, 7:00pm

Default hotkeys are now set when loading the add-on: Alt+N and Shift+Alt+N for transferring normals to and from the active object respectively.

Modanung · September 5, 2018, 7:55pm

Vertex colours can now optionally be transferred along with the normals.

burnin · September 5, 2018, 8:52pm

Gonna check this.
Thank you.

BTW
Your GitLab link is broken.
So here it is, for all those who wish to join the venture:

Modanung · September 5, 2018, 10:06pm

That’s odd. I moved the link to the first post as a onebox.

kabu · September 6, 2018, 4:30pm

Nothing happens with Alt-N in my case (it’s probably bound to something else…?)
Panel please. T - something or N - something.

Modanung · September 6, 2018, 5:35pm

You can search by Key-Binding under input in the user preferences to find out.
Make sure you are in object mode. Also, is your setup similar to this example?
BasicNormalsTransfer.blend (472.4 KB)

I added a button to the Tools panel. The shortcut isn’t showing up there either. Could this be related? Or is something else required for this?

kabu · September 7, 2018, 8:42am

Bump the blend example in the first post of the thread, so people can find it more easily.

I do:

(you can always find an operator by space and typing its name, even if no UI appears).

then Blender shows the modal:

and then:

this happens irrespective if I do select the first, apply it, select the second, apply it, select both, apply it.

Still operativity is unclear. Video, video.

HTH

Modanung · September 7, 2018, 11:35am

You probably have non-model objects selected (which is no longer a problem), like the camera and light. It currently creates modifiers for these as well, but cannot set the source object. This makes it fail during a later step and leaves a messy modifier stack.
I plan to add a check for this, but until then I will not know how.
Pull requests are welcome.

Modanung · September 7, 2018, 1:57pm

I added an improved test scene to the original post. Without lights or cameras.

Modanung · September 7, 2018, 3:02pm

The add-on now skips non-model objects and shows an error message when not enough model objects have been selected.

kabu · September 7, 2018, 3:15pm

BasicNormalsTransfer_edited.blend (1010.1 KB)

Oh sorry. Didn’t noticed the to_active flag in the beginning.
Now it’s clearer. I’ve set up things to be easier and added a note quick go.

Modanung · September 7, 2018, 5:13pm

The add-on now includes an extra operation to clear the custom normals data for the entire selection. By default the hotkey for this is set to Ctrl+Shift+Alt+N.

jpthrash · September 9, 2018, 8:48am

This looks great, thanks. Any plans on expanding it to work also for selected vertices?

Modanung · September 9, 2018, 10:32am

I have considered relaying the modifiers’ vertex group parameter. But so far the Max Distance parameter works well enough for me. Could you mention example situations where this precision is necessary?

@kabu What do you think of the latest test scene, btw?

kabu · September 9, 2018, 12:47pm

In my setup (Mac Os) using Alt- doesn’t work.

In a most general way, in Blender, relying on a key combo setup for the main function is not a good thing imho, because everyone has a different keybindings and keys “real estate”, given the many functions, is scarce.

Normally, I use the Outliner to “select active”. I tried selecting with B but I don’t know how to “select active” that way. If I click on an item, just one part of it gets selected.

You can have a single object with Ctrl-J join all of them in a single one.

The scene is nice. Using trees as a classic test case for normals is a good idea.