How to Cleanup Mesh in Autodesk 3ds Max

This guide is part of the RapidPipeline 3D Plugin Actions Knowledge Base. It shows how to Cleanup Mesh on Autodesk 3ds Max; if you'd like to know more about it, please check out the following links:

• Learn more about the Cleanup Mesh
• Learn more about Autodesk 3ds Max

1. On the Menu Bar, click on RapidPipeline and choose Load Plug-in.
2. Select the faulty meshes by clicking on them in the Viewport (only the selected meshes will be processed), or select all the model, or do not select anything (all the scene will be processed).
3. Inside the plugin window, choose the action Cleanup Mesh.
4. Enable Fix Winding Order in the action settings.
5. Press the Run button. These settings are optimal for this model, as some parts have incorrect winding order. For other models with faulty mesh normals, the setting Fix Winding Order may not be needed. In that case, simple use Recompute Input Normals. The angle at which recomputed normals will be considered “hard” is controlled with the Normal Hard Angle Threshold setting.

• Use the 3ds Max plugin
• Check for inverted faces
• Use the Cleanup Mesh action to fix winding order
• Examine the results

This tutorial shows how use the RapidPipeline Processor plugin in 3ds Max to clean up model´s geometry and fix frequent mesh issues. This page will guide you through the use of the action Cleanup Mesh on a CAD model example with faulty normals/winding order.

See below an overview of the performed fixes during this tutorial: the normals and winding order of the mesh, wrong in the original file, have been fixed in the output.

The example asset in this tutorial is based on 'Gusto - electric sports car concept' by Mikko Hörkkö, sourced from GrabCAD.

Input with wrong Winding Order

Output with correct Winding Order

1. Select the faulty meshes by clicking on them in the Viewport (only the selected meshes will be processed), or select all the model, or do not select anything (all the scene will be processed).
2. Inside the plugin window, choose the action Cleanup Mesh.
3. Enable Fix Winding Order in the action settings.
4. Press the Run button.

The Cleanup Mesh action opened in the plugin

These settings are optimal for this model, as some parts have incorrect winding order.

For other models with faulty mesh normals, the setting Fix Winding Order may not be needed. In that case, simple use Recompute Input Normals. The angle at which recomputed normals will be considered “hard” is controlled with the Normal Hard Angle Threshold setting.

To analyze the model, enable Backface Culling from the Object Properties. This will display the mesh as single-sided in the viewport, showing where faces are flipped incorrectly.

Alternatively, use Edit Mesh to select an Element of a mesh, and enable the option Show Normals to inspect the mesh normals of your model.

You can follow the same steps for the input and the output model to examine the winding order fix closely.

The Element selection in Editable Mesh

The Show Normals option in the 3ds Max UI

The Input with wrong Winding Order

The output with correct Winding Order

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