Strange render issue on one object

[Alteris3D]

I've been noodling around with a scene between projects. I posted regarding some issues with this scene before, and Juanjo solved that issue as I was using an object dissolve to separate the two motions. It is a scene created with bullet, and after the simulation stops, I am keyframing the characters into place. So the dynamic motion is saved in mdd, and then I "Save transformed" objects and replace them for the keyframe motion. However the "A" character surfacing changes dramatically between the object controlled by the mdd and the object that was "Saved transformed". The surface settings are identical. The other dozen or so characters are fine. I can't seem to figure this out. Any ideas?

mdd motion final frame:

Next frame, "Save Transformed" objects, all mdd objects removed. Look at side of "A":

"

[juanjgon]

It is hard to say. It seems a change in the normals, the smoothing angle parameter or something like that. Can you send me this new scene and the objects/textures needed to reproduce the problem?

Thanks,
-Juanjo

[Alteris3D]

Thanks Juanjo, I sent you the scene. The smoothing angles are the same in the surface editor. I'll be interested in learning what you discover.

[juanjgon]

I've been investigating this issue and it seems a problem related to how LightWave computes the surface normals. I'm not sure why, but the computed smoothing normals are not the same in both objects. I am going to make more tests to try to find why this happens.

Thanks,
-Juanjo