easier way to flip face direction??

[tilite]

or a way to fudge it in max??? i thought a dwg file would work but it just sent it and extreemly strange.....extreemly strange!! this was a crappy test render i didnt set it up just rendered to see what the problem was... did heaps but this was the only one i saved.
http://img24.imagevenue.com/loc176/th_595_omfg.jpg (http://img24.imagevenue.com/img.php?loc=loc176&image=595_omfg.jpg)

i mean seriously... wtf!

[andrewjohn81]

I can only see the small thumbnail of your image because where you hosted has "sex" in the metatags somewhere. I hate corporate firewalls. They are so stupid.

From What I can see though it looks more like you have double surfaces than just having things facing the wrong direction. Do you have double surfaces?

If not, there is an easier way to flip many things at once. But not in Rhino. That currently can't be done to the best of my knowledge.
In max though, you can select all of the flipped objects in subobject and flip them all at once. If you display normals then that will show you the normal direction.
If you never applied a material, then it will probably show up black if it is facing the wrong direction.
The problem is: if it was facing the wrong direction in Rhino, then it didn't mesh properly. Even though it would be joined, the vertexes can not join because they have normals that flip 180 degrees. That's why the faces that are flipped are grouped in elements. That's the easiest way to select them as well. If you make sure they are flipped correctly in Rhino then you will avoid having to weld a bunch of verts in order to avoid 'creases' that you didn't want.

It's easier to flip the normals of lots of surfaces at once in max, but it is usually worth your time to do it in Rhino.

[Xurge]

Select as many surfaces as you need and then type flip and hit enter. All surfaces will change direction at once.

Also, bring up the Options and select the Keyboard. Find an empty key and type FLIP. Now you will be able to flip surface direction by just pressing that keyboard key.
-Sergio

[Lord Banshee]

I can only see the small thumbnail of your image because where you hosted has "sex" in the metatags somewhere. I hate corporate firewalls. They are so stupid.

From What I can see though it looks more like you have double surfaces than just having things facing the wrong direction. Do you have double surfaces?

If not, there is an easier way to flip many things at once. But not in Rhino. That currently can't be done to the best of my knowledge.
In max though, you can select all of the flipped objects in subobject and flip them all at once. If you display normals then that will show you the normal direction.
If you never applied a material, then it will probably show up black if it is facing the wrong direction.
The problem is: if it was facing the wrong direction in Rhino, then it didn't mesh properly. Even though it would be joined, the vertexes can not join because they have normals that flip 180 degrees. That's why the faces that are flipped are grouped in elements. That's the easiest way to select them as well. If you make sure they are flipped correctly in Rhino then you will avoid having to weld a bunch of verts in order to avoid 'creases' that you didn't want.

It's easier to flip the normals of lots of surfaces at once in max, but it is usually worth your time to do it in Rhino.

Couldn't one make a vbscript to do this? have it allow you to select surfaces and then flip them all... I'll look into it. and if it is possible I'll make it. But couldn't you also just explode everything, select all, command: flip ?

[erlik]

Couldn't one make a vbscript to do this? have it allow you to select surfaces and then flip them all... I'll look into it. and if it is possible I'll make it. But couldn't you also just explode everything, select all, command: flip ?

You still have to join different objects later... :sad:

[andrewjohn81]

the problem isn't flipping the direction in rhino. The problem is that you can't view the surface direction for more than one object at a time, that I know of.

[Lord Banshee]

the problem isn't flipping the direction in rhino. The problem is that you can't view the surface direction for more than one object at a time, that I know of.

! _NoEcho
_SetRedrawOff
_SA4a
_ShadedColor=_Constant
_Color=106,83,255
_Enter
-_RenderDisplaySettings
_ColorBackfaces=_Yes
_BackfaceColor=225,0,4
_ShowWiresInShadedMode=_Yes
_Enter
_SA4b _WireColor=_ObjectColor
_Enter
_SetRedrawOn

This is in the bonus tools, toolbar - schemes - (F). IT will show backfaces red and correct faces blue.

Works great for finding back faces

[Lord Banshee]

You still have to join different objects later... :sad:


very true. I thought about this after i posted...

Hmm i'll ponder on this :shrug:

[Xurge]

In that case, if you have the Bonus Tools for Rhino 3, open the Advanced Display Settings and activate the coloring of backfaces. Then you will always know where the surfaces direction is pointing in real time while shaded viewport mode is on.

Bonus/View/Advanced Display Settings
-Sergio

[andrewjohn81]

I ran accross that like twice, and Still keep forgetting about it.

I don't like those arrows anyway.

The only downside tho that is, many complex objects take quite some time to display at decent quality. I like the way that Rhino does that though. Wait once, then it's fast from there on. many other programs estimate the geometry real time, so it can be slow, but it shades instantly the first time. Rhino chose a good path there.

Good thinking on the backfaced colors option guys.

[erlik]

Phew, tell me about it, andrew. :argh:

I've got one big model that I'm working on slowly and doing test renders in Penguin. And in one moment I changed the meshing option from jagged & fast to smooth & slower. It took a long time to mesh, so I just said forget about it, saved and closed. Worked on details in a different file, copied them, pasted into the "finished" model file and pressed Shade. And waited. And waited. And waited. Saved as a different file, tried again and waited. Gave up after a while and closed Rhino.

It took me a couple of hours to realise that I destroyed the original meshing and that Rhino had to do it all over again. Since the model grew to about 500 surfaces and polysurfaces, it really took time. :scream:

Incidentally, the meshing that Rhino does for shading, even at jagged & slow, is better than the default meshing at the middle of the slider.

[sephcor]

Group meshes together as if they were one part. Next, use the Normal modifier. In the options you can unify all the normal directions and flip if necessary. Hope this helps.

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