Re-evaluate Smoothing groups

Activate this option when you import FBX scenes into 3ds Max that have no Smoothing Group information. This way, the plug-in re-evaluates the geometry and creates Smoothing Groups for all imported geometry. If the geometry already contains groups, the plug-in uses them. The Smoothing Groups remain untouched.

Activating this option directly affects performance. This performance loss occurs because the plug-in must re-evaluate all the geometry.

If the FBX scene already contains smoothing data and you disable this option, the plug-in imports it and leaves it untouched. If the FBX scene does not contain smoothing information, the 3ds Max FBX Plug-in does not generate Smoothing Groups on import.

Any geometry in 3ds Max that does not have Smoothing Groups resembles geometry in its original state. For example, if you create a sphere in Maya (this geometry does not have any Smoothing Groups, only Soft/Hard edge normals definitions), the geometry appears identical once you import it into 3ds Max. This happens even when there is no Smoothing Group information.

When do I use this?

Activating this option is ideal for 3ds Max users who import scenes intending to use and modify Smoothing Groups information.

NoteIf your scene contains thousands of objects and you know that you do not want to work with Smoothing Groups, do not to use this option. The plug-in must re-evaluate every object during import, which is time consuming.

If you are a Maya user, the plug-in already exports smoothing information (Hard/Soft edges). Activating this option gives you the same visual results as disabling the option. The difference is the additional Smoothing Group information/IDs (for example, faces identified as belonging to smoothing group 1, 2, and so on).

Example

For example, if you want to edit the smoothing of objects that come from Revit, activate this option to create Smoothing Groups when you import. You can then edit these Smoothing Groups in 3ds Max.

Since Revit has no smoothing group data to export, the 3ds Max FBX Plug-in importer must create it. Similarly, Maya also does not export smoothing group data. Maya uses Hard/Soft edge information that it directly applies to geometry normals.