Maybe Vertex Normals can Fix Dark Shadows?

[Mr_Maison 2,426]

Shroomblaze brought a technique to my attention a while back to fix the aggressive shadows of trees brought on since the After Dark update. I finally got around to trying it on my latest tree and it works a charm. I found more info and evidence from this site https://www.blend4web.com/en/article/131/

Here you can see the difference with the willow tree. The ones to your left have darker shadows because the vertex normals are not pointing up at 90 degrees. The ones to your right have the vertex normals at 90 degrees pointing up. Thanks TPB!

 

I noticed in the examples on the Blend4Web site other objects were also given the vertex normal operation to improve the lighting on them. So why not a building?

I did a test as a proof of concept and the results below speak for itself.

 

Now of course 90 degrees on a building is too much. We may want to be somewhere around 15 degrees or less....I will show results when I find the sweet spot in an update to this experiment. Hope this helps so we can use this technique going forward to have better shadows on our assets. I think this is big. But for now since buildings and trees play by different rules, this is very experimental!!

 

-Dennis

[GC_Vos 714]

Yeah, this is a really good method to alter shading. In 3ds I always use Edit Normals for it. I do believe in some cases this increases your vert count (unconfirmed).

edit:

[Arjanmaas91 0]

I posted this elsewhere:

So basically this is the problem.
Something is wrong with the normals of the model. If I check the model in the asset editor window (before you press continue) there seems to be a problem.
If you check the lighting in that window (with texture on) my model (viewed from above) is very dark. Shadows seem $%&^!ed up.
However, when viewing the model from below the model is fully illuminated like it should. 
I know how to change the normals 1 by 1 but my model is quite complex and has a lot of normal vertexes or whatever you wanna call it. So it takes forever to change them
individually. Besides i know how to change them but not in what way. I just know how to get there but not the why of it. Maybe someone can help me?
(using 3DS Max) (PS: maybe using blender is a better idea?)

Basically I need to change all the normals in 1 go... 1by 1 is not an option U will understand if u saw the screenshot of my 3ds max. (yes i have too many triangles :P)
Anyways... is there a way to fix it?