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    Shading issue

    Question Modeling
    Roxana Moise-Dan(ox)

    Hi,

    I worked on this crate for a while, I applied the Bevel modifier and later on realised I need more edge loops. I added them a while back so I can't CTRL+Z my way out of this, because I got these shading issues and don't know what to do to fix them.

    I tried:

    - shading smooth and then Auto Smooth (Normals)

    - adding edge loops near those edges

    - dissolving the edges, but then I'm left with N-gons

    What would you do if you were in this situation? Thanks

    crate issues.jpg

    Reply
    • Martin Bergwerf replied

      Hey Roxana,

      It's a bit hard to tell from the screenshot, but it almost looks like inconsistent Normals to me...

      Did you try the good old SHIFT+N (in Edit Mode)?

    • Roxana Moise-Dan(ox) replied

      Hey, Martin. Yes, I did. Forgot to mention it.

      It's something to do with the Bevel modifier, because when I G slide those edges, the shading issue is gone. But of course I'm left with no Bevel.

    • Martin Bergwerf replied

      Can you provide a link to your .blend, please?


    • Roxana Moise-Dan(ox) replied

      yes, thanks! file

    • Martin Bergwerf replied

      It's just, that aprt from Geometry, there are so many combinations of settings in the Bevel Modifier, that can easily mess things up: like in the right Cube I changed one setting only:

      Bevel_Arc.png

    • Martin Bergwerf replied
      Solution

      Oh, I see,

      in your Auto Smooth, the Angle is greyed out; this usually means you have Custom Split Normals. Just click on the X to remove them:

      Custom_Normals.png

    • Roxana Moise-Dan(ox) replied

      Oh, great! That fixed it! Could you explain a little bit what it does?

    • Omar Domenech replied

      Yeah Martin, if you know what's the deal with that, we'll slip you ten bucks if you tell us. I normally am like yeah, custom split normals, I always clear them, but I never know why or what is that supposed to do. 

    • Martin Bergwerf replied

      I think Jonathan Lampel does a far better job than I can in: https://cgcookie.com/lessons/smooth-flat-and-custom-normals

      You've probably seen it already, but now is the time to re-watch it and understand better what it means.

      There was a question on the forum some time ago, about why the Auto Smooth Angle field was greyed out and it took me over an hour to figure it out...now, I know where to look and I also had to revisit mentioned Lesson, because I didn't know exactly what was happening.

      But of course, feel free to ask, if you want more information, after watching Jonathan's explanation.

      1 love
    • Omar Domenech replied

      I'll be re-watching that. Blender is such a big beast you often forget so many stuff. 

    • Martin Bergwerf replied

      There is a fun little-known shortcut;

      if you are in Edit Mode and press R, that will (obviously) Rotate the Selection, but if you then press N (so: R, N), Blender will Rotate the Normals of the Selection...you'll see nothing happening, but you'll have created Custom Split Normals!

      1 love
    • Omar Domenech replied

      Holy smokes, yeah just tried it, never ever had I remotely heard about that one. I can see the shininess changing on the default cube. It's kinda mesmerizing almost. I know how I'm spending the next hour. 

      • 🤟