3DS Max exporting and Tangent Space questions!!

[Bubbajones_ya]

I've been learning modeling and texturing on my own (and with the help of people here and other online sources) and keep running into things that I can't seem to find answers for on google!

 

 

 

My current question is how important is the "Update Tangent Space" checkbox when exporting from 3DS Max?

 

 

 

The reason I ask is because with a pair of boots I'm working on, the normals and shading appear fine in 3DS max (all pointing in the correct direction when checking), but when I load my file into NIFSkope after exporting, there are a few random faces that appear un-shaded. I try to "face normals" or "smooth normals", then update tangent space and it moves those unshaded faces to different faces, but doesn't get rid of them. No matter how many different combinations of flipping, facing, smoothing of normals and faces in NIFSkope (then updating tangent space), I can't get rid of the incorrectly shaded faces, they just bounce around to different faces (in the same general area.)

 

HOWEVER, if I uncheck "Update Tangent Space" in 3DS Max when exporting, the model looks perfect in NIFSkope, and I can update tangent space from there (but I don't think I need to.) 

 

Will this mess anything up if I don't use this option? If not, then I may just forgo using it when exporting since it doesn't appear to help. With previous models I've done, I've never had an issue when that box has been checked, but for some reason on this model I am.

 

 

Thanks for any advice and help!

[ousnius]

You definitely need to update the tangents, either in 3ds max or in NifSkope.

If 3ds max doesn't work for some reason, you'll have to at least do it in NifSkope all the time.

[Bubbajones_ya]

Okay, thank you for the response!

 

Just wondering, what happens if you don't? And is going to "spell", then "update all tangent space" good enough when doing it in NIFSkope? It's really not that big of a deal to do in in NIFSkope, I just want to make sure there aren't other steps I may be missing when doing it that way!

 

I haven't had a problem with other modles I've exported in 3DS Max, but for some reason, this boot I'm making is giving me a horrendous time! It seems to be perfectly fine doing it in NIFSkope instead of 3DS Max though.

[ousnius]

Okay, thank you for the response!

 

Just wondering, what happens if you don't? And is going to "spell", then "update all tangent space" good enough when doing it in NIFSkope? It's really not that big of a deal to do in in NIFSkope, I just want to make sure there aren't other steps I may be missing when doing it that way!

 

I haven't had a problem with other modles I've exported in 3DS Max, but for some reason, this boot I'm making is giving me a horrendous time! It seems to be perfectly fine doing it in NIFSkope instead of 3DS Max though.

 

Normals and tangents are used for lighting and shadows in-game. If they're not updated and you change the shape of the mesh, they won't match the geometry anymore. I don't know what 3ds max could do wrong there for the boots, but yes doing that in NifSkope is enough too.

[Bubbajones_ya]

Thanks again for answering my questions! I'm sure learning a lot doing all this stuff so each bit helps.

 

It seems like there is less to know about working on vehicles that doing this 3D Modeling stuff. I taught myself how to do everything with vehicles and was able to swap a diesel motor into my gasoline Bronco. I suppose it's because I'm used to knowing vehicle stuff and 3D Modeling is somewhat new to me though..

 

It confuses me why the exporting isn't working for updating tangents in 3DS Max either. It's never seemed to do this before (for the 6 or so meshes I've made), but at least NIFSkope seems to be doing it correctly. I wouldn't be surprised if I did something wrong modeling it, but I would have no clue what.