What is Nref and what does export reference normals mean? are the 2 related?

[darren.hing]

I have been getting errors mentioning Nref but I have no idea what Nref is

[Stephen.Blair]

Nref are the normals for the reference position.

If you put a texture reference on an object in Maya, that is exported as the reference position: https://docs.arnoldrenderer.com/x/-QtkAg

[darren.hing]

thanks for the speedy response. So does that mean that export reference normals should be on when using texture reference objects?

[Stephen.Blair]

If you're using something like the triplanar projection, which uses NRef.

That (triplanar) is why Nref export was added.

I'm not sure if anything else uses it, I have to do some searching...

[darren.hing]

ok great thanks so much. So just to make sure I understand. The export reference normals option was created for use with triplanars and should be turned on when triplanars are in use?