Unity 4.3.1f1 FBX imports from Blender 2.69 have 3 times usual verts

[Zaffer]

Hi,

I just upgraded both Unity (pro) to 4.3.1f1 and Blender to 2.69. I immediately noticed that FBX imports from Blender had about 3 times the number of verts indicated in Blender. I know that Unity sometimes increases the number of verts in a model on import due to edge splits and other factors, but this was the same exact file with no edge splits done in Blender.

As an experiment, I tried exporting the default cube to FBX from both Blender 2.68 and 2.69 to Unity 4.3.1f1. The cube from Blender 2.68 had 8 verts and 12 tris when opened in Unity. The cube from Blender 2.69 had 24 verts and 12 tris (see screen capture).

At first I thought it was a problem with the Blender upgrade and asked about it in the Blender Artists Forum http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?320969-Unity-FBX-imports-from-Blender-2-69-have-3-times-usual-verts&p=2536595&posted=1#post2536595. However, I got a reply from KnightsFan who said he had no trouble importing FBX using Blender 2.9 and Unity 4.1, so that made me think it might be a Unity problem.

I also noticed in the screen capture that the object with triple verts is not smoothed (indicated by shading) like the object with the correct number of verts. Something – either the Blender upgrade or the Unity upgrade is causing FBX imports to come into Unity with triple the number of verts as if they had been edge-split in Blender. Has anybody else noticed this? Is there a fix for it? Thanks.

Zaffer

[Kellyrayj]

I have not noticed this problem. In blender, have you tried the remove doubles feature? The cube on the right looks like it has some sort of beveling going on making it receive that very flat edge compared to the left cube.

[CodeMonke234]

@Kellyrayj

I have not noticed this problem. In blender, have you tried the remove doubles feature? The cube on the right looks like it has some sort of beveling going on making it receive that very flat edge compared to the left cube.

Are you recalculating normals in unity? That checkbox affects the number of verbs created - I had to turn it on to reduce my vert count.

[goat1]

No, it has 3 times the verts because you have shadows more than 1 light source.

[Zaffer]

Hi,

I asked this question on the Blender Artists Forum and got some great help http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?320969-Unity-FBX-imports-from-Blender-2-69-have-3-times-usual-verts&p=2537312&posted=1#post2537312 – Especially from KnightsFan. Here’s his quote:

I did a bit of testing with Blender 2.69 and Unity 4.1, keeping Normals at “Import.”

Essentially, it now exports FBX to look the same as it does in Blender. This means that if your model in Blender looks sharp and angular, it will export like that (which means adding more verts). So Smooth shading vs. Flat shading in Blender makes a difference in the export now, apparently.

So if you want your old vertex count in Unity, simply enable Smooth shading in Blender and use EdgeSplit to get the model to look right. It should look exactly the same upon import to Unity.

Thanks KnightsFan!

I did some more testing and got consistent results with Blender 2.68 and 2.69 and Unity 4.15 and 4.31. I used the default cube and got 8 verts on export if I checked smooth shading in Blender. However, the vert count did go up if I UV mapped the cube.

Thanks a lot for your input.

Zaffer