Path: chuka.playstation.co.uk!news
From: "Craig Graham" <c_graham@hinge.mistral.co.uk>
Newsgroups: scee.yaroze.programming.3d_graphics
Subject: Re: What is a normal?
Date: 14 Aug 1998 10:09:10 GMT
Organization: PlayStation Net Yaroze (SCEE)
Lines: 28
Message-ID: <01bdc76a$e03e9320$230b0a0a@Angela1.intelligent-group.com>
References: <35D3F965.D5D79825@nospam.easynet.co.uk> <35D402A6.8830674@parny.force9.co.uk>
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Steve Parnell <steve@parny.force9.co.uk> wrote in article
<35D402A6.8830674@parny.force9.co.uk>...
> > 
> > I keep hearing people talking about 'normals' in relation to
polygons/3D
> > stuff.
> > 
> > Could someone explain to me what a normal is?
> > 
> > I know what a vertice and a polygon is, and I understand about matrices
> > and vectors, if that helps!
> > 
> > Phil
> 

[Serbo-croatian deleted]

> Steve P.

Get a sheet of A4 paper. Poke a pencil though it.Look at it side on.
There's a normal vector.
It points in the direction a polygon is facing. That's all.

These are precalculated in PSX models ('coz it's quicker to rotate a vector
than to calculate
the vector from scratch).

Craig.