Normals Import Bug - Arms are Black

Unity Engine
1

Hi,

I have an issue where importing normals causes the arms to become black. Normals are unlocked in Maya - there shouldn’t be any problem.

But everytime they come in black. Changing from ‘import’ to ‘calculate’ “fixes” the problem, but it is inadequate - I need maya’s normals.

Due to confidential project can not provide screenshots/files.

2

Hey,

You could try locking and unlocking the normals then export → Import to Unity again. Check that when exporting, the exporter is not overriding the scene normals. Also check your vertex colours on the models.

I don’t use Maya, but hope this helps.

Thanks,
Chris

3

I am exporting a lot of characters all on same settings, all work, other models in the same scene works. This one model does not, it has bugged normals. There seems to be no fix. Locking and unlocking does not help.

The only way to get the black off the arms are by calculating instead of importing, but not having correct normals breaks megafiers plugin AND doesn’t look right.

4

It only happens when I export it bound to the skeleton or with animation on the skeleton…

Can I please get some help??

5

Does your character have mirrored normal maps?

Check that you have the most up-to-date FBX exporter for Maya and investigate the tangent and binormal settings as well. Apologies for shooting in the dark, although I’ve seen this address similar problems.

6

Found the issue… the last person who worked on it left all kinds of shit geometry in the hands, now is fixed.

Cheers for trying guys :slight_smile:

7

Now I have the same issue on another character but the previous solution does not work.

In fact, there isn’t a solution. The problem in unity looks the EXACT same.

I don’t know what the previous modeller has done to the characters but the original mesh they worked on is fine, the remodelled versions I’ve worked on are screwed because they come from that mesh. So he’s done something to the normals that is irreversible, I bet if I modified the normals on his mesh they’d come in black too.

But there isn’t a thing left to try, I have used all the options in the normal settings, it can not be fixed.

  • Only occurs if bound to a skeleton with animation on it

I have wasted so much time (money) on this it’s not even funny.