tutorials

Facet Normals


Facet Normals

For an individual facet BabylonJS computes its normals as mathematical normals, at right angle to the facet. However there is no necessity for them to be set at right angles. In the following two playgrounds see how the changing directions within the normals array affect how it is lit.

Playground Example Showing Normals Varying in Unison -


Playground Example Showing Normals Varying -


Normals and Minimum Vertices

Wireframe

The box above has 8 vertices. If we want to keep the indices to the minimum they will be 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Facets 0, 3, 7 and 3, 7, 6 and 0, 3, 2 all have vertex 3 in common and vertex 3 can only have one entry in the normals array associated with it. How does BabylonJS calculate the 'normal' for vertex 3? The diagram below shows that the average of the three mathematical normals at each vertex is used.

Normals

NOTE each of the triples in the normals array is often referred to as a normal even though they are not strictly speaking the mathematical normal.

Besides minimising the number of vertices needed there are other advantages as will be seen when creating a sphere.

Table of Indices, Positions and Normals for Box with Minimum Vertices

index position normal
0 ( -1 , 1 , -1 ) ( -0.5773502691896258 , 0.5773502691896258 , -0.5773502691896258 )
1 ( 1 , 1 , -1 ) ( 0.8164965809277261 , 0.4082482904638631 , -0.4082482904638631 )
2 ( 1 , -1 , -1 ) ( 0.4082482904638631 , -0.4082482904638631 , -0.8164965809277261 )
3 ( -1 , -1 , -1 ) ( -0.4082482904638631 , -0.8164965809277261 , -0.4082482904638631 )
4 ( -1 , 1 , 1 ) ( -0.4082482904638631 , 0.4082482904638631 , 0.8164965809277261 )
5 ( 1 , 1 , 1 ) ( 0.4082482904638631 , 0.8164965809277261 , 0.4082482904638631 )
6 ( 1 , -1 , 1 ) ( 0.5773502691896258 , -0.5773502691896258 , 0.5773502691896258 )
7 ( -1 , -1 , 1 ) ( -0.8164965809277261 , -0.4082482904638631 , 0.4082482904638631 )

Normals and Flat Shaded Meshes.

There are times, such as needing each face of a box to be covered in a different material, when it is better to have the box constructed from seperate faces each of which are contructed by two facets and no two faces sharing a vertex indices. They will of course share vertex positions.

Seperate Faces

In BabylonJS this can be achieved using the convertToFlatShadedMesh function. The results are shown below.

Flat Shaded Normals

Table of Indices, Positions and Normals for Flat Shaded Box

index position normal
0 ( -1 , 1 , -1 ) ( 0 , 0 , -1 )
1 ( 1 , -1 , -1 ) ( 0 , 0 , -1 )
2 ( 1 , 1 , -1 ) ( 0 , 0 , -1 )
3 ( -1 , 1 , -1 ) ( 0 , 0 , -1 )
4 ( -1 , 1 , 1 ) ( 0 , 0 , 1 )
5 ( 1 , -1 , 1 ) ( 0 , 0 , 1 )
6 ( -1 , -1 , 1 ) ( 0 , 0 , 1 )
7 ( -1 , 1 , 1 ) ( 0 , 0 , 1 )
8 ( 1 , 1 , -1 ) ( 1 , -0 , 0 )
9 ( 1 , -1 , 1 ) ( 1 , -0 , 0 )
10 ( 1 , 1 , 1 ) ( 1 , -0 , 0 )
11 ( 1 , 1 , -1 ) ( 1 , 0 , 0 )
12 ( -1 , 1 , -1 ) ( -1 , 0 , 0 )
13 ( -1 , -1 , 1 ) ( -1 , 0 , 0 )
14 ( -1 , -1 , -1 ) ( -1 , 0 , 0 )
15 ( -1 , 1 , -1 ) ( -1 , -0 , -0 )
16 ( -1 , 1 , -1 ) ( 0 , 1 , 0 )
17 ( 1 , 1 , 1 ) ( 0 , 1 , 0 )
18 ( -1 , 1 , 1 ) ( 0 , 1 , 0 )
19 ( 1 , 1 , -1 ) ( 0 , 1 , -0 )
20 ( -1 , -1 , -1 ) ( 0 , -1 , -0 )
21 ( 1 , -1 , 1 ) ( 0 , -1 , -0 )
22 ( 1 , -1 , -1 ) ( 0 , -1 , -0 )
23 ( -1 , -1 , 1 ) ( 0 , -1 , 0 )

Playground Showing Box Normals

Playground Example for Box Normals -


Advantage of Shared Normals

Sharing normals means that the shader produces a rounder looking sphere. Applying the function converToFlatShadedMesh shows the individual faces making up the sphere.

Playground Example Comparing Shading of Spheres -


Further Reading

Custom Meshes
Updating Vertices