Path: chuka.playstation.co.uk!news
From: Alex Herbert <aherbert@ndirect.co.uk>
Newsgroups: scee.yaroze.programming.3d_graphics
Subject: Re: What is a normal?
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1998 13:41:16 +0000
Organization: PlayStation Net Yaroze (SCEE)
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Phil Gooch wrote:

> Thanks to everyone who replied. I understand now.
>
> Daft questions follow:
>
> If the PSX precalculates them, do I need to know about them? And if I do, how do I
> get hold of a polygon's normal? And should they be normalised? If not, how long
> should they be?
>

The PSX doesn't pre-calculate them, but the tools used to build the TMD do.  i.e. the
normals are stored in the TMD.  Yes they should be normalised to ONE (4096).  You
don't need to get hold of them unless you are greating/modifyinf TMDs dynaically.
Check out the File Formats PDF on this site.  Ignore the TMD file format HTMD doc 'cos
it's full of mistakes.

Herbs