(Fixed odd end of file issue in the previous diff)

Reverted normal map strength change

In D8777#219252, @Brecht Van Lommel (brecht) wrote:

I committed the emission strength part of this along with D4971.

In D8777#217190, @Alex Strand (astrand130) wrote:

Updated diff to support changing to alpha socket after creation of the texture wrapper.

I'm not sure what this means. How is alpha different than other sockets that it needs this?

Try this:

Thanks for this report.
I just committed a first work around about it on d7d2bad09f8c04d3e86081481fc700ae3c834800
Now you can mute your principled shader, it will be ignore.

I committed the emission strength part of this along with D4971.

the importer is presumably already checking if the imported diffuse is using a .png texture rather than a .jpg etc, because it only creates the additional image texture node in the case of png. So in the bit of code that creates the second image texture node, it must also be creating the link between the colour socket and the principled alpha socket. So it would appear to be just an error in the line of code that creates the link:

regardless though, it's definitely a bug, because the colour output of an image should never be plugged into the alpha, otherwise every material that has a png will be see through unless the texture is completely white :)

It’s easy to code, I’ve already written it. Just need to assign the base couloir textures alpha out to the principled man alpha in if the format is .png.

Slight amendment to the code I posted above (forgot to check if it's a mesh). If this is run from the text editor prior to export, then the fbx error disappears

Setting to hig prio since it is reported so often.

@Richard Antalik (ISS) In our case Blender 2.83.3 was used when the bug occurred. No add-ons besides the ones that are active by default. The artist extruded (E key) the arch above the door into the wall of the building like so:

@gobb_blend thank you for example file, can you add steps to what exactly should I extrude to cause the bug? also do I have to use specific Blender version?

More information:

Dropping this comment here [might help track down the issue as well]:

Committed an alternative patch that passes the area to ED_file_change_dir.

That will make every face faceted as other programs generate their normals based on topology continuity, by doing that you just made every face discontinuous. You need to substitute the edge split modifier for whenever you use use auto-smooth. Normals of any kind will not be loaded.

Ah ok, i'll just try splitting the entire model up into seperate faces and then using the data transfer modifier to project the original normals back onto the new vertices.

Updated diff to support changing to alpha socket after creation of the texture wrapper. (I will leave channel packing for the future)

blender writes out point normals (in houdini language)

No, it writes face corner normals (vertex in houdini language)

Are you exporting morph targets from Maya and trying to import them into Blender?

@Alex Strand (astrand130) I decided to have a go at the test you mentioned. stripping the normals resulted in the model importing without the shading artefacts that were being caused by Blender's obj file but not Houdini's obj file, this is because max was forced to recalculate it's own normals rather than use those Blender had created in the file. Here's the file if you want to give it a try:

Thank you for let me know no problem. I know Twitter and I never like Twitter. I had use many times they never support for deaf people. I reject Twitter.

According to astrand135 on Twitter they are working on an updated mtl exporter. The patch hasn't been submitted yet though.

Are you still work processing about .mit match between texture and .obj preview?

in my models I'm generating custom normals from the data transfer modifier to correct normals after boolean or knife project. Are you saying if I set the edge angle to something really low in the edge split modifier, like 0.00001, then all edges will be split and the custom normals will be re-assigned to each of the corner vertices...so still appearing smooth where necessary even though they're split?

Awesome, thanks dude.

In T80177#1012251, @michael campbell (3di) wrote:

Hi Alex. the visual appearance of the normals in max and meshlab appeared to be identically incorrect. Max is able to read the split normal data because if the option to import as a single object is checked, then the file normals appear fine (i'm selecting to use the file normals and not to recalculate them at import). If I resave the obj file in Houdini then max can import as multiple objects without the normal issue, so it seems that Houdini is producing more widely compatible obj files. I think you mentioned it was because Houdini adds additional vertex normal data whereas blender does it in a more efficient way?

It's no biggy anyway, close it down if you like. This is probably something I can code myself when things quiet down with client work.

Planning to extend ShaderImageTextureWrapper to use the Seperate RGB node for masking.

@Alex Strand (astrand130), thanks for the feedback, setting as a paper-cut.

Hi Alex. the visual appearance of the normals in max and meshlab appeared to be identically incorrect. Max is able to read the split normal data because if the option to import as a single object is checked, then the file normals appear fine (i'm selecting to use the file normals and not to recalculate them at import). If I resave the obj file in Houdini then max can import as multiple objects without the normal issue, so it seems that Houdini is producing more widely compatible obj files. I think you mentioned it was because Houdini adds additional vertex normal data whereas blender does it in a more efficient way?

I'm still working with Blender 2.79 BGE. think the Blender team has made a terrible mistake. Previously this software was wonderful for all content creators, I even cut videos with it. Never was there a question like "hm there are better programs to do X out there, let's remove X". Instead the tools simply improved, gradually, and became among the best. Yes not everyone creates games, and not everyone creates movies, but please don't castrate Blender just because you are a developer just interested in one aspect of Blender.
UPBGE now looks promising and has a lot of maintainers, I hope the Blender team will be smart enough to merge it back at some point. Not having to export content for a game engine can save so much time if you are working on a game in a small team!

In T80177#1011029, @michael campbell (3di) wrote:

@Alex Strand (astrand130) I'm getting the normals issue when importing and choosing to use the files normals (not recalculating). Triangulating resolves the broken ngons, but makes shading broken (I believe even if loading the file back into blender).

Don't worry if you can't find the problem though, it's no problem to just keep regenerating the obj in Houdini to ensure maximum compatibility across softwares.

In T80177#1010801, @Campbell Barton (campbellbarton) wrote:

@Alex Strand (astrand130)

• Is it a correct statement that Blender is writing valid OBJ files that other software fails to load?
• Does any software load Blender's normal data correctly?
• Any software that ignores custom normals should load the geometry still, although it seems some applications don't?
• Is there a list of applications that don't support OBJ normals & give problems when normals are written? (besides 3DS-Max 2017)

@Alex Strand (astrand130) I'm getting the normals issue when importing and choosing to use the files normals (not recalculating). Triangulating resolves the broken ngons, but makes shading broken (I believe even if loading the file back into blender).

Since this is reported often and we keep this report open for it [not sure if we should, usually the "corrupted" meshes are not tracked in the bugtracker, we only do if we can find the source for the corruption within blender tools], I'll drop the following comment here. I guess this is relevant for all of the reported files:

@Alex Strand (astrand130) could you describe the issue in detail?

ps USD seems to be exporting to cm rather than metres even if units are set correctly in Blender's scene/units tab......although this could be an issue with Houdini (i'll investigate that further).

Please open a new issue for this if there is an issue. Thank you!

After going between software packages a bit I can confirm that the issues with mangled ngons stems from a mismatch in tessellation algorithms and can be fixed with the "triangulate faces" option.

It's not out of the question that the geometry is perfectly valid but there is a bug in the importers by other software. I will try to verify whether or not that is the case in the coming weeks.

Encountered this issue as well. I guess it's because of the change that was made that all addons must add their operators to a menu in order to appear in the 'Menu search'. But if that's the case, this addon needs to be updated to make it usable otherwise it's not very useful to have included bundled with Blender.

How can it be a bug in 3ds max if it’s happening in multiple softwares, but not if the obj is recreated in Houdini?

This seems more like a bug in 3DS MAX, did you report a bug to them?

@Yevgeny Makarov (jenkm) Good job answer.

@Campbell Barton (campbellbarton) The problem here is not how it is displayed in the Finder.
It set Ka to 1.000000 1.000000 1.000000 which gives the all-white material.
Which is definitely wrong. See a couple of comments above.

Setting this as a paper-cut, since it's not a bug, it's an interaction issue with an external OBJ loader.

Iis that for stills or also animations ?

@winnie (winnie-jo) I'm developing a totally new exporter to SVG for grease pencil in C++, not an add-on.

Wouldn't mind getting @Campbell Barton (campbellbarton)'s view on this patch, but already noted several important points below.

In T79875#1000939, @Antonio Vazquez (antoniov) wrote:

..... prerequisite). When the patch is ready, you just can download and test it.
Also, I want put the SVG exporter for review.

@Sam Cogheil (SimplSam) I could meet you on Blender chat if that's what you're thinking...
Timing may be tricky, I'm in Byron Bay, the easternmost coastal town in Australia. GMT +10
or my email is nigelhaslam_AT_gmail.com
Cheers

@Sam Cogheil (SimplSam) No, but the blender.chat supports private messages.

Does this forum have a Private Message feature?

Hey guys,
Thanks heaps for your replies. Your results look better than mine. I struggled in Illustrator, which as a veteran VFX jockey, I'm not familiar with at all.
My SVG imports to Blender needed a lot of work moving layers apart and various attempts converting from curves to mesh then to Grease Pencil
I will look at Affinity Designer and Inkscape.
@Sam Cogheil (SimplSam) Would you be kind enough to send me the cleaned up blend file? I'd like to see what you did there.