Newbie question about faces
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Hi.
I'm a graphic designer making renders (with Thea), from sketchup files I receive from architects.
I was trained on 3dsmax, and know Sketchup only a bit, but for 2 years I've used it, I've always stumbled upon the same issue, again and again, so I thought I'd try to find a solution.
I think this issue has been known and asked many times but still I haven't found a way to solve it.
Most of the models I receive, I get flipped faces issue.
I installed plugins to gain time, like one that makes me only to have to hover over the faces to flip them but yet again, I see this more like a bandage on broken leg, than a real cure.
So I thought of the problem and I think the best way would be to tell Sketchup to use only ONE MATERIAL PER FACE. this way, flipped or not doesn't matter.
Would that be possible with a plugin for example?
Or am i doomed to keep on losing hours flipping faces in models that, sometimes, contain thousands of them?Thanks a lot in advance !
Régis
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It is very important that all faces are oriented correctly.
Using a Style with a distinctive color for the back-material [turquoise/magenta/lime-green etc] and then viewing in Monochrome mode will show what is wrong most clearly.
Make shortcut keys for the Reverse and Orient commands [select a face before going to Preferences > Shortcuts, so that those items appear on the list].
Then simply clicking on a face lets you flip it with a key-press.
Several connected faces can be forced to orient consistently to match a selected face.
A well modeled form should have NO back faces visible at all.
If you have used a material on the back of an incorrectly oriented face it will not render as expected in most renderers - coming out as black/white/transparent in different apps...
My FixReversedFaceMaterials plugin lets you select problem faces and flip them, AND it flips the back material onto the front face too, keeping the original UV-mapping of any textures... -
hi
thanks a lot for the answer, i'll try your plugin right now.
so basically theres no plugin that would force faces to have the same texture on both sides ? -
well i tried your plugin, but it quite didn't work
i set view to blue for back and red for front, and my model is half/half
so i explode all, ctrl-a to select all, then tried each and every option of the plugin, it tells me XXXfaces were flipped or smth like this, but in the end, it's all still half blue half red
do you think i might be doing something wrong ? -
Yes, you are.
[First off... make the front default 'cream' and a bright back color!]
Why are you 'exploding' anything ?
You can 'edit' a group or component and then process its contents...
What happens if you 'reverse' a face manually?
You have to be in the same context as the face to be able to select and flip ?
There are different tools in my FixReverse... set.
You only want to select reversed faces and fix those.
If you select and they have materials on both sides then everything just reverses
Try a few incorrectly oriented faces at a time to see what happens... -
mmmh what difference does it make to have cream/white instead of blue/red ? it's just easier for me to notice them this way.
if i reverse a face manually, it switches from blue to red.
what do you mean by "be in the same context as the face" ?
the problem is i receive a model with no material (i mean, no texture), but a color. and the only way for me to know which one is flipped is either by displaying them in monochrome mode, or by exporting them to thea, but then it's a bit late.
i think every face has a material on each side, and externally, the model seems ok. except for some faces it's the wrong side facing.
all in all, all i want is for the render program to "render" exactly what sketchup shows me, but i was told it's impossible, and i need to have all faces pointing in the same way before...
do you get my issue here? -
You normally model in Monochrome mode and then apply materials to the forms.
So having a neutral color for the right-way-round faces seems a sensible choice.
A bright back color shows up anyway.
There is a FixReverse... tool that reverses incorrectly 'colored' faces, even if their backs have a material too - the default tool assumes you have only applied it to the back !
Use the 'force' tool and it should flip the face and materials ?
NOTE:
If the material is always the same on both sides of a face, then you can simply view in Monochrome, select the problem faces [Tip: use Ctrl to add to the selection, and Shift+Ctrl to remove items from the selection] then use your shortcut key to Reverse the faces en mass.
When I say 'context' I mean where the entities are...
So faces can be in the model itself or within a group or a component which is placed in the model, or even within another group or component.
A group or component 'container' is like a separate SKP within the model...
You can edit the 'container' using the context-menu or by doing a double-click on it.
Then you are in the container's context and can edit those faces in there.
There is no need to 'explode' containers.
'Containers' will separate geometry etc so have important uses...
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