Broken normals exporting to 3d-coat (fbx.)

I'm trying to sort out how to better be able to utilize fbx's with nvil and I'm hoping to discover why they show up in 3d-coat like this https://i.imgur.com/jYK5waw.jpg

Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

Hi b33nine,

I don't use fbx much.. so I am not sure about the problems.. can you share the file so we can test on our machines?

Does it happens to this model only or it also happens with other models?

In attempt to reproduce the problem, I exported some FBX files from NVil and imported them in 3D Coat 4.9.37 GL64 and several other programs (Blender, Houdini, Substance Painter, ZBrush, MeshLab). So far I only saw this issue showing up in 3D Coat. This might indicate (but not necessarily!), that the problem lies on 3D Coat's side.

As a dirty workaround, you could turn off Lock Normals and enable Auto Smoothing Groups in 3DC's import settings, but the trade off is, that you will lose all custom vertex normals, which Lock Normals is supposed to preserve.

Optimally, pass the model through your scene assembly program (Blender, Houdini, Maya, C4D, or whatever you are using to finish up your assets), check or re-apply vertex normals, and export your FBX from there.

well I'm glad to hear you can replicate it at least. I've been doing the workaround for a long time, it just creates a big time sink when I'm doing edits back and forth between software as I kick files from nvil to 3d-coat.

It might be a 3d-coat issue, I've just never had an issue with any fbx going to 3d-coat aside from the Nvil ones.

Can you send me a sample file from blender and a sample file from Nvil so I can investigate?
The sample file must be in text format and the object must be simple, for example just a simple box with 6 polygons.

stupid question, How do I send them in a text format?

It's FBX ASCII and in NVil you'll find it in FBX export options under Format. Choose FBX 7.5 ascii instead of FBX 7.5 binary. It will save your FBX as ASCII-encoded pure text file.

The problem with Blender is that it is incapable of importing ASCII Filmbox files. Neither it can export such files (last time I checked). Binary only.

Just send me a binary fbx sample file exported from blender then. Make sure it is small in size.

A text fbx file exported from Houdini can also be helpful.

files are here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/7o8mik98wrco93u/fbx_export_samples.rar?dl=0

I should point out that those normals don't have any issue when exporting to 3d-coat. I don't know if it's something that only larger meshes do, or if it's caused by multiples meshes in the file because I can export the main body of the snail in that original image and it comes in fine, but when I try to export it with more than that you get similar results to what I posted.

I couldn't extract the zip file. Can you send the fbx files straight to, info@digitalfossils.com?

email sent

Try this
http://www.digitalfossils.com/Download/NVil-Apr-23-20.rar

That seems to have done it. Thank you for your help!