Model turns black when I combine geometry

[linus_00]

Surface normals problem?
I am modeling a character and have not connected the geometry- (legs to torso ect.) It took me a while to get my normals where I wanted them -They are averaged here and set there. All my normals seem to be pointed the right direction. Yet when I combine and then merge verts- the geometry turns black. Whats up with this?

[linus_00]

I forgot to say that it's maya I'm working in. thanks

[jeffd]

My guess is that you had some locked normals. When you combine meshes with locked normals, Maya seems to get confused and just remember locked vert normals by vertex number. This can be generally fixed by doing an unlock on the normals. Of course, this will trash any normals you may have set. This is a big reason why I only trust hard/soft edges for this purpose.

--JeffD

[linus_00]

JeffD - thanks alot- I really needed to know that.