Chaos Corona Forum
Chaos Corona for 3ds Max => [Max] I need help! => Topic started by: dj_buckley on 2025-06-02, 12:36:16
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Anyone know what this odd stepped shading is that I'm getting on these umbrellas, i appreciate there would be some element of stepping due to the shape of the umbrella, but it should be smoother than this right?
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Looks like a normal issue, can you try exporting and re importing the model and see if it fixes the issue?
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Which format? Or does it not matter?
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You can simply try exporting it in obj and then again re importing. I am not 100% sure if its smoothing group or normals issues but have a hunch that it may fix the issue.
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This could be a geometry issue, but it could also be a side effect of how geometry vs lighting normals are handled in Corona, one can be smoothed (similar to smoothing groups) while the other can't. It's why an improved shadow terminator handling was introduced way back but it's not fixable 100% iirc.
Also, this effect will be more visible whenever you use extreme values for bump/normal maps or SSS/volumetric effects in the material, in that case either remove or decrease those.
What also helps is to increase mesh resolution/subdivisions until the stepping is not noticeable anymore, but this might not be applicable in some cases.
If it's a exporting/importing issue, a quick fix would be to use an 'Edit normals' modifier on the mesh, and while in selection mode pressing ctrl+A to select all normals, then click the 'Reset' button in the modifier, this will reset all normals. Now use either a Smooth or Weighted Normals modifier and see if one of them helps with the effect. Still, it's possible that the effect will just be weaker but still noticeable.
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My first thoughts were also strong bump/normal map or the use of SSS. Maybe sharing the material setup would help.
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Turns out it was a smoothing issue. Import export didn't do anything. Adding a turbosmooth did. Weird because it looked fine to me in the viewport. Lesson learnt
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Lol, turbosmooth the ultimate bandaid.