When i create an Object within Maya 6 and export it as an .obj file, Poser seems to screw up the vn entries which causes bad surface reflections... So i made a test and exported the imported object in Poser and there is a mismatch at the vn section If i have for example in the original file an entry "vn 0 0 1" Poser exports it as "vn -0.57735 -0.57735 0.57735" and when i import this file into maya it looks as awful as in Poser due to the wrong vn entries... Today i tried and read so many things on that issue that i am now totally confused... Does someone really knows whats going on there ? What do i have to do on an obj file to get it work correctly within Poser ? Is it possible to use objects with hard and soft edges ?

Attached Link: http://www.uvmapper.com/

As you figured out, Poser ignores external normals and creates it's own - as far as I know there's no way around this. What I do is run Poser exports through my modeler and resmooth. What you need to do for /hard/soft edges is to "split the vertices" along a certain angle (I use 43 degrees). I don't know if Maya does this but you can do this with the UVMapper (link). HTH; Dan

Yes, Poser uses the winding order of the vertices to determine the direction of the normal. It ignores external "Normals" information (the vn X Y Z data) in the obj file when importing. When exporting, Poser adds the vn lines which reflect the winding order properly, but they may be different from the normals found in the original imported object.

Thx guys for that input ! Yes Maya is able to split vertices and it works fine. Now i can go on modelling... phew - what a nightmare this was ;-)