Can I query a poly's normal?

Maya
1

Is there a Maya command/proc/function to get a polygons normal (as a vector) or do I have to calculate it myself from scratch?

I do have the formula to calculate this but I'm no maths Wizard and it makes my head hurt a little to look at...

I basically want to align a Construction Plane exactly to a polygon so I'm thinking I'll grab the poly's normal vector and create an arbitrary matrix from that, then convert that into an X, Y & Z rotation for my Construction Plane.

Is this right? or is there an easier/better way?

:nathaN

2

@@ Is there a Maya command/proc/function to get a polygons normal (as a
@@ vector) or do I have to calculate it myself from scratch?

you can use:

polyInfo -fn

Hope this helps.

Later,

-a

3

Jeez, I looked into polyInfo myself, must have just missed that switch... duh.

thanks, that's done the trick. Does it always return a normalized normal? Maybe I should just normalize it anyway just to be sure. better safe than sorry...

:nathaN

4

It never does as far as I know, you should normalize the result your self as you said.

later,

-a