# Why is my static mesh importing darker and shiny? **URL:** \ **Category:** Rendering\ **Tags:** dark, unreal-engine, import, specular, question\ **Created:** [September 28, 2016, 8:23am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/why-is-my-static-mesh-importing-darker-and-shiny/371854 "2016-09-28T08:23:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mikegarn](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@mikegarn](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/mikegarn)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2016, 8:23am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/why-is-my-static-mesh-importing-darker-and-shiny/371854/1 "2016-09-28T08:23:50Z")
This is the first time I’ve encountered this problem after many static mesh imports, can’t figure out what I did wrong. When I import this mesh it comes in darker than a usual static mesh. It also seems to have some specular properties that are picking up the emissive lights in the room. I’ve double checked the geo and it seems to be in order. Lightmap and UV also seem to be in order. Any help would be great. Thanks! ![108744-pr_static+mesh+dark_01.jpg](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/6/0/a/60a05f65db9ccd20b10e7ea59c32a4ffc5a690cc.jpeg) ![108745-pr_static+mesh+dark_01b.jpg](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/8/6/9/8695adc19c47152cc54245ac688ab935d3ccb9fb.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_Hobson](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Tim\_Hobson](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Tim_Hobson)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2016, 1:38pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/why-is-my-static-mesh-importing-darker-and-shiny/371854/2 "2016-09-28T13:38:47Z")
Hi mikegarn, With this area looking indirectly lit the shadowing differences you’re seeing is caused by lighting for each actor being handled by a different thread when it’s computed. It’s harder to see with the with the world grid material, so if you use a base color like white it’s much easier to see the disparity between the pieces. This can help you from the wiki for lighting troubleshooting and tips with some suggestions to improve this or alternative options to take: [A new, community-hosted Unreal Engine Wiki - Announcements - Epic Developer Community Forums](https://wiki.unrealengine.com/LightingTroubleshootingGuide#Shadow_Seams.2FShading_Differences_with_Indirect_Lighting) -Tim ---
**Author:** ![mikegarn](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@mikegarn](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/mikegarn)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2016, 6:17am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/why-is-my-static-mesh-importing-darker-and-shiny/371854/3 "2016-09-30T06:17:18Z")
Thanks for the help Tim. I did what the documentation said and nothing changed. I still have these white parts on the mesh that shouldnt be there. I’m not sure if we’re talking about the same thing. I found another mesh doing the same thing in another part of the scene. Here’s some screenshots where Ive drawn a square around the white areas to clarify. Thanks again for the help and hopefully there’s a fix to this. ![109092-pr_static+mesh+dark_01c.jpg](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/3/0/7/307a72c37522f1aad8cee06c816eca252ff0f3cb.jpeg) ![109093-pr_static+mesh+dark_01d.jpg](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/8/0/7/8072096bd3a20f546db816e04ffc7adeb86777ec.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_Hobson](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Tim\_Hobson](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Tim_Hobson)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2016, 1:30pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/why-is-my-static-mesh-importing-darker-and-shiny/371854/4 "2016-09-30T13:30:57Z")
Yeah I think I misinterpreted a little from your initial post. Do you have any backface to the mesh? Looks like the mesh has some backlighting on it, but really hard to be sure without knowing all the lighting setups here for the composition of the scene, more about the mesh in question vs the difference with others in regards to its construction. If it’s really only happening with this mesh it may be better to upload it here and I can have a look to see if anything stands out that is wrong. ---
**Author:** ![mikegarn](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@mikegarn](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/mikegarn)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2016, 6:29pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/why-is-my-static-mesh-importing-darker-and-shiny/371854/5 "2016-09-30T18:29:08Z")
Yeah probably be easiest to just take a look at the mesh yourself. Here’s a link to it. [https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1Q0i-UuKNGgaWdvMF9FZExOS00](https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1Q0i-UuKNGgaWdvMF9FZExOS00) ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_Hobson](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Tim\_Hobson](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Tim_Hobson)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2016, 3:01pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/why-is-my-static-mesh-importing-darker-and-shiny/371854/6 "2016-10-03T15:01:12Z")
Thanks for the test asset. After looking at it I can see that the Normals are not aligned correctly which is causing lighting and shadowing issues. Here’s the test asset original and corrected demonstration. ![109503-normals.png](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/7/d/27dc9c062f014f8b93951c7ab0cb634dd697edb7.png) Once correcting the normals (which can be done inside UE4) everything checked out and worked as I would expect. To fix the issue in UE4 do the following: - Open the Static Mesh Editor - Under the Build Settings enable “Recompute Normals” - Hit Apply and then save the asset. This will correctly align the normals to the faces. Right now they are a bit askew. -Tim ---
**Author:** ![mikegarn](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@mikegarn](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/mikegarn)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2016, 5:03pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/why-is-my-static-mesh-importing-darker-and-shiny/371854/7 "2016-10-03T17:03:54Z")
Yep that was the problem, thanks Tim! You’re a real hero!