Normals for object with dynamic lighting

[Sirius]

When exporting an object that isn't supposed to move, we fake the lighting by using vertex paint (or lightmaps) and set it to shadeless.
This works great and the result is quite realistic.

Now, for an object that is supposed to move, we can't use vertex paint.
So we set the object to shaded.
In Blender, the lighting is calculated per face normal, assuming you set your faces to use "flat" shading.
But when exporting with PyPRP, since vertices with the same position and color are merged, the normals are all the same for each face the vertex is linked to...
Which means Plasma renders light as you would see in Blender if you set your faces to use "smooth" shading...

Is there an option to prevent this effect ? Dynamic objects are usually rare in a scene, but I don't want to split every faces of my meshes...

[Christian Walther]

Yes, there is a way (although I’m not sure if you’re already aware of it and it’s what you mean by “split every faces of my meshes”): the Edge Split modifier. It often works satisfactorily enough when you set it to split by angle, and if not, you can mark specific edges as sharp and set it to work with those.

For some shapes, the area-weighted normal recomputation may work well too.

[dendwaler]

Yes, you are right, the edge split modifier works very well, but dont forget to press the smooth button otherwise you have no result.

[Sirius]

Wow ! Works great. I think I might also use it for cylindrical meshes (columns, etc)... instead of splitting every face loop manually.

Thank you both !