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Questions tagged [normals]

Normals describe how faces and vertices are oriented and can be used to aid various calculations and effects. This tag should be used for questions regarding normals in Blender, from uses to issues.

10 votes
3 answers
9k views

How to pick target texture image for baking?

I'm trying to bake bump maps into normal maps. I am having problems with the baking process in that it seems to arbitrarily select the image that the bake renders to. Sometimes it bakes to the ...
kitfox's user avatar
  • 1,616
10 votes
3 answers
32k views

What is the role of Auto-smooth?

I have noticed this: the "Auto-smooth" I can't figure out what is its' meaning. I understand that i can use it combing with the smooth shading. For example: A) FLAT B) SMOOTH C) SMOOTH & ...
Fuboski's user avatar
  • 2,262
10 votes
1 answer
4k views

How to avoid terminator artifacts while still using smooth shading and the new pointiness attribute?

I'm sure we're all familiar with the Cycles normal bug (aka terminator bug) that causes bad shading on sharp edges when smooth shading is set. The normal fixes to this are to use higher levels of ...
Ascalon's user avatar
  • 6,647
10 votes
3 answers
6k views

Baking normal map from a cycles shader with normals

I have a cycles material (diffuse shader) with a procedural normal map on it, which renders as expected in Cycles. But if I bake the normal map it outputs a flat image (0.5, 0.5, 1.0). I've tried ...
Wahooney's user avatar
  • 101
10 votes
1 answer
874 views

How to animate an object so it follows the slope (normal) of another object?

I'd like to animate an object moving over a surface and have the object positioned so it follows the slope (normal) of the surface. Using a shrinkwrap constraint, the object will follow the change in ...
Ed Tate's user avatar
  • 5,196
10 votes
3 answers
4k views

Is it possible to get automatic smooth edges with flat faces without adding geometry?

I'm new with Blender and this seems like a simple thing but I haven't been able to find the answer. The only way I've been able to find to get smooth edges while retaining flat faces is to add extra ...
runevision's user avatar
10 votes
3 answers
7k views

How to bake high to low poly normals for multiple objects on one normal map?

Imagining I have multiple objects which make up a scene including high poly and low poly of each object and I want to put all of the baked information onto one map. What would be the easiest way to ...
Jay's user avatar
  • 119
9 votes
1 answer
30k views

What does it mean when my Angle setting under Auto Smooth greyed out?

I am trying to understand why sometimes my Angle value is greyed out under Auto Smooth in the Data Panel of the Properties Editor. Does anyone have any idea why this happens, what it means and how to ...
Bryson Jack's user avatar
  • 3,797
9 votes
5 answers
7k views

color faces with wrong normals

While hunting down some wrong-flipped faces I find it a bit tedious to differentiate the color of the wrong-sided face with the right-sided face. It would be very handy if the wrong-sided faces would ...
MrRabbit's user avatar
  • 187
9 votes
2 answers
2k views

What are face normals?

I've seen the term Normal being used in many places, but I'm not quite sure what it is or what it's used for; what exactly are they?
someonewithpc's user avatar
9 votes
2 answers
5k views

Flip Normals with Geometry Nodes

I have geometry being created through geometry nodes and I am am trying to flip the normals on this duplicate geometry. However, it appears that normals are a read only attribute in the geometry nodes....
BenignBrett's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
2k views

How do I stop vertex normals getting overwritten when I enter edit mode?

I'm trying to make a script to apply vertex normals based on selected faces. So far I have written the script and it works fine, but if I exit edit mode and then re-enter edit mode, the normals get ...
MrFlamey's user avatar
  • 3,879
9 votes
2 answers
206 views

What do the new popover "Normals" in 2.80 do? How to use it?

I noted a new popover in mesh edit mode: I try to play with it, add custom split normals, auto smooth, but see nothing happens with model. How to use it, or it just doesn't work?
Crantisz's user avatar
  • 36.1k
9 votes
4 answers
7k views

I have a model and a normal map, can I bake Ambient Occlusion from both?

So I know how to regularly set up ambient occlusion baking in Blender, and I have applied the normal map using Blender Render. However, whenever I try to then bake AO, it does not take the normal map ...
jacksterooney's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
1k views

Extruding 4 cube faces along normals not consistent?

I'm, quite new to modelling in Blender and I was experimenting with the extrusion of faces command using the starting cube. These are the steps I followed and lead to my confusion (also see ...
Bazza Sherlock's user avatar

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