Max smoothing/normals error

[ajjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj]

Hello forums!

I have been struggling for several months now with a problem in max. I want to attach several objects without loseing normals/smoothing. How do i do this?

I need help with:

Attaching without loseing the above in:

Editable poly

Editable mesh

Non-native 3ds max (used an importer for a game for personal use). The error here is that the editable mesh modifier doesn't have the subgroup smoothing groups. 

thank you and hope you can help me!

[Fadhil_Farook]

Use the ATTACH button under Edit Geometry (See attachment) If you're worried about history states, add an edit poly modifier to the object that you want to attach other objects, and then Attach from within the edit poly modifier.

Hope that helps.

[pokoy · Accepted solution]

If the objects you need to attach have explicit normals (for example when imported from other sources) then both Edit Mesh and Edit Poly will invalidate the normals if you use the Attach command. Use the Collapse Utility instead, it will keep the normals intact. Help entry: http://docs.autodesk.com/3DSMAX/16/ENU/3ds-Max-Help/index.html?url=files/GUID-C5161E09-B194-46EF-8DE...

[ajjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj]

Sorry Farook, thanks for the help but it exaclty what i want to ignore.

So collapse attaches all meshes, keeps the normals and converts it to an editable mesh?

[pokoy]

Yes, the Collapse Utility will keep the normals intact. It'll produce an
Editable Mesh as a result but you can convert that to an Editable Poly
object without issues. Keep in mind, though, that some modifiers and
actions will break the normals in Max. Let us know if you have any problems.

[ajjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj]

That fixes my problem!, but i have 1 more question, is it possible to collapse with multiple textures?, also the uv looks strange in the uv view but the mesh with textures looks perfect

I noticed that the uv map is the model

[ajjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj]

Sorry for the double post, i cant seem to edit a post twice,

Ill just collapse each part with the polygons i will use as a base for the pivot

Then ill assign the axis for each object, the group and ungroup before exporting

This should help me with the 

Thank you very much help both of you!

[pokoy]

Let us know if you face any other issues.

FYI, another issue that you may come across is that detaching
elements/subobjects from an object will ALSO invalidate normals. There's
unfortunately no other command to do this so in case you need to detach
objects, you'll need to make a copy of it and delete elements that you
don't want to be part of the object.

[torquemod]

Just a heads up, for anyone else who might be having an issue where importing meshes and then attaching them together messes up the normals of one of the meshes, and the collapse utility didn't solve the problem (which was my case); try using the Reset X Form utility. When I selected both of the meshes and applied a Reset X Form and then converted them into an Editable Poly, when I attached them together the normals were preserved.