Hello there.
I’m using blender for modelling and saving my models inside a sub-directory so unity may access them.
However, the smoothed normals aren’t being imported properly; even the non-smoothed ones are imported as smooth. And the pivot points also aren’t correct. I know it’s possible to parent them to an empty object, but i would like to simply use the pivot from Blender.
Thank you.
I’ve never successfully gotten Blender smoothing settings to import into Unity properly. I’ve always either used the import settings in Unity to fix it or an intermediate app (like Carrara Pro). Not sure if it’s an issue with Blender, Unity or operator error. Pivot points, however, always have imported properly for me. It’s best to change object pivots in “edit” mode and / or to use “apply rotation/scale”. Again, although I’ve used Blender for many years I’m far from an expert on it.
Look up “Blender Edge Split” on this forum. That is the method you use.
Thanks bigkahuna, you’re right, the pivot points problem were my fault.
Jessy, splitting edges would increase the number of vertexes. I don’t know if it’s normal though… I mean, the vertex count of a model with smooth normals imported correctly from Maya (for example) and the count of a blender model that has separated edges would be different. At least i think… or maybe Unity simply “split” the mesh automatically while importing from Maya.
Thanks guys.
I don’t know what you’re saying. Edge Split doesn’t split every edge unless you tell it to. The chief purpose of the modifier is to control smoothing based on angle, like Unity’s importer, or based on manually marking edges as “sharp”.
For example, a simple cube:
Edge Split Modifier ON:
Ve:24 | Fa:6
Edge Split Modifier OFF:
Ve:8 | Fa:6
So it does exactly the same thing as Y-Split. It just “Splits” the edges, as the name says, based on angles…
However, if the cube is set to “solid” rendering, the vertex count stays as is.
I just want to know if there’s a way to have a “solid” cube on Unity with 8 vertexes.
No mater how you “split normals” you get more vertices, because Unity needs to insert separate vertex for each normal which is different.
Exactly. Blender lies to you about the vertex count. It tells you how many vertices you can manipulate with its modeling tools, not what it sends to the GPU.
I talk a little bit about this in my video on diffuse vertex lighting (8-3) at the tutorial link in my signature, if you need a live illustration.
If you really want to use the smooth/solid face info from Blender and aren’t using animation, you can export as .obj, in which case the edge splitting is done automatically when exported. It’s generally more convenient to use the edge split modifier though, so you can keep the file as a .blend and not have to go through exporting whenever you make changes.
–Eric
OK. Thank you very much guys!
Which explains why importing it into Carrara works for me as I use a .obj file to do the transfer. Huh, learn something every day! 
Yeah yeah… that doesn’t mean that the vertices weren’t splitted.