Can only select some objects by clicking their back faces

[Anonymous]

Hi all

I'm trying to figure out what I've done to a couple of objects in my scene.

On their front faces, Max seems to think they aren't there and keeps Windows mouse cursor. If I try to click the object, it selects whatever object is under it, but if I rotate around to their back faces I get the selection cross hair and can click and select them. If I click and drag over the fender it will also select it from the back faces.

I thought it was something to do with mirroring, as the fender for the other side can be selected as you'd expect.

I tried unlinking, resetting transforms, redoing the mirroring clone vs no clone,

selecting all by element and then flipping 2 times to reverse faces, then flip them back in case it was a bug,

making sure it wasn't on another layer.

It's easy enough to work around but it's a pain and I can't figure out how to fix it.

Max 2018 - Windows 10

[10DSpace]

Hi @Anonymous 

What does your current modifier stack look like for the problematic fender?  Have you already tried collapsing it to a single editable poly and see if that helps?  

Also, sometimes when there are hidden vertices (which you may not be aware of) that can cause strange behavior.  So go through each of the subobject modes (verts, edges, polys) for the editable poly mesh and clicking "Unhide All" for each can sometimes fix strange issues.  

Lastly, if the mesh is still strange, sometimes exporting to .fbx or .obj  and re-importing can make it better behaved.    A few things to try if you haven't already.   Hope it helps.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the reply

I started with the other side. It had the smooth modifier, then collapsed to editable poly, and mirrored to the left side and now it's acting up.

I have found the issue though.

I selected all (Everything has only Editable Poly, with UVW Map on top in the stacks) - object properties - enable backface cull, so I can fill in any holes between objects (Model is to be used in Assetto Corsa).

I turned off backface cull and now it problematic fender is selectable as expected from both the front faces and back faces.

This also fixed 2 other objects that were behaving the same way.

Seems to be some bug? with mirroring and then enabling backfack cull on the mirrored objects.

I've turned off backface cull because I don't need it now, so that's a quick fix that works fine for me. 

If I export and re-import and then re-enable backface cull the issue persists.

This is what I've always used, but rarely enabled backface cull because it's a pain having objects invisible from 1 side when modeling except to fill in holes. No idea what IK Limits are, but the mirrored objects bug out whether it's enabled or not.