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Select an object. > Modify panel > Modifier List > Normal
Select an object. > Modifiers menu > Mesh Editing > Normal
The Normal modifier allows you to unify or flip the normals of an object without applying an Edit Mesh modifier.
For example, if you wanted to fly inside of a procedural object, such as a sphere or a cylinder, and wanted to retain control over the radius and number of segments, you couldn't collapse the object to an Editable Mesh and maintain the procedural nature of the primitive.
Flipping the normals of a sphere creates a sky dome over a city.
Tip: If you are animating the creation of a complex object such as a nested Boolean or a loft, and you think the operation might result in inconsistent faces, apply Normal to the result and turn on Unify.
Tip: The Lathe modifier sometimes creates an object with normals pointing inward. Use the Normal modifier with both Unify and Flip turned on to fix "inside-out" lathe objects. The Normal modifier allows whole-object manipulations of normals to be performed quickly without using an Edit Mesh modifier.
As of 3ds max 4, patch objects coming up the modifier stack are not converted to a mesh by this modifier. A patch object input to the Material modifier retains its patch definition. Files that contain patch objects with the Material modifier from previous versions of the software will be converted to meshes to maintain backward compatibility.
To use the normal modifier:
Select an object, then on the Modify panel, choose Mesh Editing > Normal from the Modifier List.
The object appears to turn inside-out, since Flip Normals is on by default.
If the objects has some faces pointing inward and others outward, turn on Unify Normals to make all the faces point similarly.
Tip: To flip or unify normals on portions of objects, convert to Editable Mesh and select Faces or Polygons. On the Surface Properties rollout in the Normals group, use the Flip and Unify buttons.
Unify Normals—Unifies the normals of an object by flipping the normals so that they all point in the same direction, usually outward. This is useful for restoring an object's faces to their original orientations. Sometimes normals of scenes that have come into 3ds max as part of a DXF file are irregular, depending on the methods used to create the scene. Use this option of the modifier to correct them.
Flip Normals—Reverses the direction of all the surface normals of the faces of the selected object or objects. Default = on.
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