3DS flat surfaces look jaggy

I have exported some text with flat faces but when loaded into blitz3d they don`t look flat ,, seems to be a problem with the vertex normals not reflecting light in the same direction , does anyone know a cure ????

export to b3d format if using max, using mine, or pudding's exporter.

alternatively, detach the front faces of the text before exporting.

I have tried puddings exporter already and to no avail ,, still get unsightly incorect vertex lighting on a surface that should be flat with all tri`s facing the same way , i have also tried adjusting the normals within max , but seems to make no difference.

I couldn`t find your exporter ,, got a 404 on your site :-(

I`m using Max5.1sp1

I took my exporter down because I believed pudding's was better. If it turns out it isn't, I'll put it back up.

Check if all faces are connected properly.
sometimes 2 vertices are in the same place .
(then you have to join these vertices)

bolo

As far as I know, this is due to Blitz Smoothing across the sharp angles in the model. As I recall, Sswift wrote a UpdateNormals function which retained the sharp angles from retached faces and UV seams.

Managed to find a copy of robs max export script and it worked a treat ,, now my surfaces are finaly flat and vertex lit properly ,, thanks rob

Robs' exporter probably exports surface normals too, so overriding Blitz UpdateNormals.

Good ol Rob! :)

lol well I'll continue work on it if there's demand.

I think there`s definaley the demand for such a usefull tool

b3d way better then 3ds format

possibly true ,, i haven`t looked deeply into either format really ,, BUT 3DSmax5 is a verry powerful moddeling tool ,, until a tool as powerfull comes out for the b3d format it will always be my tool of choice

maybe someone could write a tool to convert .3ds to .b3d fixing these errors.

well thats exactly what rob has done ,, when exporting using his script the face vertex normals are correct ,