Right Hand Modeling VS Left Hand Modeling: When modeling assets in Maya the application by default is set to a Quad Split solution of Left-hand modeling Hybrid solution. This is important to know since 3d Max uses a Right-hand Quad Split Modeling application. What this means at the end of the day is that the mesh triangulation of your asset will not be the same if exported from Maya vs 3d Max. "This inconsistency, in the way these applications calculate data will result in tangent normals not calculating correctly." Visual issues that result in this are shading artifacts, dynamic lights not lighting the assets in a natural way, and a drop in visual quality. To manually fix this issue in Maya you do the following process, however will nuke your smoothing groups. To fully understand the issue we are solving for please see the next two images.
- Maya: Quad Split: Left-Hand Modeling, notice the triangles of our quads are different depending on if your in Max or Maya
- 3d Max: Right-Hand Modeling, the orientation of triangle flow is reversed
How to set model to Quad Split: Right Hand: To fix edge flow issues with Maya every asset will need this applied to it.
- Attribute Editor "Correct" Settings: After the mesh is selected change the following settings so your mesh will match 3d Max
- Display Triangles: Check this box so you can see the edge flow of your asset
- Quad Split = Right: Update this drop-down from "Best Shape" to "Right"
- Open Soften/Harden Edges Utility: After making sure "Quad Split = Right" then make sure the tool is set to "Angle = 30" and hit apply. Below is a Before and After of this operation (This is the only way I have found to update the geometry)
- Before: Take note of what the edge orientation is of the mesh before its processed
- After: Notice how the triangle flow flips to now be Right Hand. Your asset now matches the original FBX.
- At this point, your asset should be set up correctly!!!
So as you can see you can manually do this process but you will lose data when you correct your triangulation to match 3d Max. Is there a global parameter that is exposed in Maya to fix for this?
Any help people have in this regard would be greatly appreciated.
