New Normal Editor!

Good day! Finally, after a long development process, testing, debugging, making patches for Blender, another testing, we are ready to introduce the new normal editor. This is a really helpful tool for 3D artists who create content for games and 3D applications.

Here is a short list of new functionality:
- Blender's native datablock (available since version 2.74) is used as the storage for normals;
- normals are edited and the resulting shading is displayed in Edit Mode;
- all changes apply immediately and automatically;
- rotation of selected vertex normals can be done directly in the Viewport via the Shift+Ctrl+R hotkeys;
- Split Mode has been added which allows you to edit vertex normals separately for each face which form the vertex;
- the option Export Vertex Normals has been removed; now the edited normals are exported automatically.

You can find detailed explanation of new functionality in the new article on our blog.

This new functionality is available in the Blend4Web 15.06 Developer Preview which can be obtained from the downloads page, so please feel free to inform us about any bugs and errors, or just share your experience with the new normal editor in this topic.

Looks like this tool is in great demand
https://twitter.com/momo_ka_mama/status/618977266266083328

Hello, I really appreciate what you do guys. It is very good tool.
Generaly I like the way you implemented the tool and I would like to share my thoughts with you. If you will think about it good. If you dont have time or you see priorities elsewhere I understand.

Weighted normals
My colleague created script for weighting normlas similar way as maya do. This would be nice to have in your tool. Please visit link for more info. This feature is useful for example in game development where you can save some polycount with this. It is similar to your feature when you select face a adjust normals for it. This one is automatic for whole mesh.
link

"Copy face" operator for more faces
Select normal for editing by clicking
Relative rotation of normals ( without unifying )

Hello!
Nice to hear that you liked this tool.

"Copy face" operator for more faces

There is an issue to identify destination if copy normal from more then one selected face. In common case it could led to unpredictable result. IMHO this is not too necessary feature.

Select normal for editing by clicking

Already in our TODO list

Relative rotation of normals ( without unifying )

Not fully understood. Have you tried Shift+Ctrl+R (or just push button Rotate)?

And about weighted normals I'll look later

Hello! Thanks for the most amazing blender addon ever!

There is one feature I see missing that might be real easy to implement: copy pasting in split mode. Right now, Copy and Paste just get grayed out when working in split mode. While it seems perfectly plausible to expect it to work the same way it works in normal mode, with addition of having to select a vertex index before copying or pasting.

Hello!

There is one feature I see missing that might be real easy to implement: copy pasting in split mode. Right now, Copy and Paste just get grayed out when working in split mode. While it seems perfectly plausible to expect it to work the same way it works in normal mode, with addition of having to select a vertex index before copying or pasting.

Ok, I'll do it .

Awesome! Btw, I tracked down a bug for you: http://puu.sh/k2LEX/67fda0b0d2.jpg

It happens on trying to rotate using Ctrl+shift+r. Turns out it is caused by having floating vertices anywhere in the model, the kinds demonstrated on the screenshot, to the left of the cube. Strangely enough, rotating using numerical input fields and the 3D sphere widget in Normal Editor menu still work. It's easy to workaround this bug when one knows what is causing it, so if fixing it proves tricky or lengthy, just displaying a message in its place "please remove floating vertices" would be a huge help for users who haven't figured out the underlying cause.

Ответ на сообщение пользователя Eagleshadow
Awesome! Btw, I tracked down a bug for you: http://puu.sh/k2LEX/67fda0b0d2.jpg

It happens on trying to rotate using Ctrl+shift+r. Turns out it is caused by having floating vertices anywhere in the model, the kinds demonstrated on the screenshot, to the left of the cube. Strangely enough, rotating using numerical input fields and the 3D sphere widget in Normal Editor menu still work. It's easy to workaround this bug when one knows what is causing it, so if fixing it proves tricky or lengthy, just displaying a message in its place "please remove floating vertices" would be a huge help for users who haven't figured out the underlying cause.

Thanks for the report!
Fixed!

:)

I got something new, not sure if I should think of it as a bug report or feature request but here you go:
When using the Face feature on a face that has some sharp edges, feature will not respect those sharp edges, and all indexes of each vertex normal will be rotated to the direction of the face normal. In reality, we would only want the index belonging to selected face to be influenced by the feature. The only workaround at the moment is to manually cut off the geometry we don't want influenced using "y" tool and after running the "Face" feature, running "remove doubles" to merge it all back together.

Here is an example in which I noticed this:
Before: http://puu.sh/k5hVz/5fe8594803.jpg
After: http://puu.sh/k5itz/c0aba147fa.jpg
Notice how using the tool on the selected face in order to control the bevel to the left, messes up the shading on the face below.

btw: Is there any way to donate to you guys?

I got something new, not sure if I should think of it as a bug report or feature request but here you go:
When using the Face feature on a face that has some sharp edges, feature will not respect those sharp edges, and all indexes of each vertex normal will be rotated to the direction of the face normal. In reality, we would only want the index belonging to selected face to be influenced by the feature. The only workaround at the moment is to manually cut off the geometry we don't want influenced using "y" tool and after running the "Face" feature, running "remove doubles" to merge it all back together.

Here is an example in which I noticed this:
Before: http://puu.sh/k5hVz/5fe8594803.jpg
After: http://puu.sh/k5itz/c0aba147fa.jpg
Notice how using the tool on the selected face in order to control the bevel to the left, messes up the shading on the face below.

Added to the wishes collection. Someday we will analyze all comments and will certainly improve the editor.

btw: Is there any way to donate to you guys?

We do not accept donations, but you can buy a license. Also, you can tell the world about our gorgeous engine! And it will be a great contribution!