Some meshes have bent normals to achieve better look, automatic "facing" will make them look worse. This is not an issue for tangents and binormals since they are a product of normals and uvs, so they can always be autoupdated on any mesh. But normals are different, ideally your 3D software should always export them.
This is not the place to tell you what tangents and binormals do. As a digital 3D artist you should know that yourself, and if not yet - google for information. I googled "tangents and binormals" and this is like the first link that explains enough for a new artist http://softimage.wiki.softimage.com/xsidocs/tex_tangents_binormals_AboutTangentsandBinormals.htm
Tangents and binormals are not related to modding only, and not even to Bethesda games.
Welp I guess I'm just stupid because I read that and still don't fully understand. The example could be fixed by just inverting the bump map or just physical modeling out the Adam's apple.
Wow, this'll come in handy. Some of our normals went a little wonky and this would do a good job fixing it without having to shop through each one. I've been fixing them by hand. Thanks for this.
You shouldn't be using it like that because in majority of cases meshes already have fine looking tangents and you won't spot any difference in game. This is a tool for mod authors who create new nifs or update existing ones and don't want to fix tangents manually per mesh.
The one in nifskope doesn't handle degenerate normals, like if your nif has a lot of texture tiling. It also gives all around better results especially for people who use Blender and cannot reset the normals and smooth them because it lacks the features to do so.
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http://softimage.wiki.softimage.com/xsidocs/tex_tangents_binormals_AboutTangentsandBinormals.htm
Tangents and binormals are not related to modding only, and not even to Bethesda games.
The example could be fixed by just inverting the bump map or just physical modeling out the Adam's apple.
Guess I'm dumb, sorry.
https://servimg.com/view/20072801/1