Strange Mesh Shading problem

[Zak Kozlov]

Hiya!

 

So I was finishing 2 mesh shorts i been working on

and at the last what-would-have-been-official upload a problem appeared

 

the back half of my shorts are looking totaly flat, even gray when plain

the line of separation is very defined and clear, it's really strange

 

heres some details i found:

- No, it's not the SL lightning direction (of course it was the first thing coming to mind hehe but it's looking the same on all angles, tho the problem is not noticable on sunset, appears with all others, and on all angle)

- I made sure that normals are consistent, also have reapplied Smooth shading on all the mesh, problem persist

- I found out that when the whole thing is set flat shaded, the problem is not there

 

Now I dont remember doing anything special to the mesh before my last upload / save. and i'm having no more options to try in mind

 

Here is pics of the mesh

 

With Ambient Occlusion:

FRONT: http://oi37.tinypic.com/21m9iiv.jpg

BACK: http://oi38.tinypic.com/2dcizjb.jpg

 

Not Textured:

FRONT: http://oi35.tinypic.com/10p1xmr.jpg

BACK: http://oi35.tinypic.com/28rprx3.jpg

 

Anyone have a solution?

Thanks!

[Rahkis Andel]

Take 2 more screenshots. This time, instead of turning the camera to see the back of the pants turn the pants.

If the back is -still- dark, then you have a problem. Otherwise, not to be contrary, but it's a lighting issue. And I use the word  "issue" lightly (I kill myself). Your screenshots exhibit what I would expect untextured pants to look like. Without color and textures, you have nothing but the how the viewer shades your model to determine what it looks like.

I could be wrong, though, so assuming there is a problem, we'll also need to know what your viewer is and what version you are using.

[Codewarrior Congrejo]

- I found out that when the whole thing is set flat shaded, the problem is not there

This would be normally the biggest pointer towards lighting. Because what the *flat shading* or correctly: Full Bright (neutral lighting) , does is to 'ignore' all lighting in the szene and render the material 'shadeless' (as you may know it from blender ). 

If the pants after rotating them inworld would still have that issue then its something else, if however the back gets bright and the front dark, then you know it's simply the lighting. And might aswell be a settings issue, or some regular praphics problem (or some of the known problems with SLs lighting / and AO)

- I made sure that normals are consistent,

did you try a recalculate normals for the whole Object ?

Aside from that if the normals would be flipped you would just see through and look at the inside of the pants (due to the backface culling in SL) but if the angles are weird that can lead to dark shades.

You could also check the Vertice Normals direction. if they have gotten weird angles along the way.

And just as a side question, how many polygons or tris does every of these pants have? They look pretty dense / heavy to be honest. Which migth get you into other troubles as for the rigging and similar.

Edit: @ Rahkis - "Great minds think alike, but fools seldom differ." =)

[Rahkis Andel]

@codewarrior: I got it the first and second and third times.

[Min Barzane]

Without texture snapshots sugest its 2 materals...is so its colour problem than,just make it white all together in edit in SL!

[Zak Kozlov]

Thanks for your answers

 

Yes, sorry if i explained myself bad

I did rotate the shorts in every angle in world, weared them , turned again and again .. things are pretty much static

 

and yes, i think i recalculated normals hehe

from my google search just now, Recalculate normal changed to "Make Normals Consistent" which i did

on all the mesh yes

 

and I just looked up the normal direction of the vertices and everything seem clean on this side too

 

really strange trouble

 

The vertex count is 4940

6240 for the 3/4 pants

Had not much trouble rigging them

[Zak Kozlov]

---

Min Barzane wrote:

Without texture snapshots sugest its 2 materals...is so its colour problem than,just make it white all together in edit in SL!

---

Theres 3 materials on the mesh

 

One for the shorts / pants

one for the pockets and details of em

one for the belt / loops / buttons and other details

 

I made sure they are all white in world and all the materials consistent in Blender too

didnt do anything

[Rahkis Andel]

If you want, I can look at your .blend and see what happens when I upload it.

[Zak Kozlov]

Problem found & Fixed!

 

Y'know, those silly things that bug you for a while and when you find out you are like "DUH" ?

That's one of those. hehe

 

I work with Avastar and had been exporting all time with Avastar

I tried jest for da heck to upload normal with Blender Collada

 

The shading problem was fixed! .. BUT...

http://oi35.tinypic.com/106h43q.jpg hehe

 

So obviously there was something wrong with the rotation of the mesh that slipped off my attention

 

was 90,0,0

I reset rotation and first tried to save with normal collada exporter from Blender

it looked the same (why? I'm not sure ... )

But after, I tried with Avastar export, and everything is good, rotation & shading!

 

YAY!

 

Thanks to all of you

[Rahkis Andel]

Glad you figured it out! That was a bit of a head-scratcher.

[Drongle McMahon]

That looks painful.