Regression: Weighted Normal + Auto Smooth gives broken shading #121620

New Issue

Daniel Gryningstjerna · 2024-05-09T13:19:41+02:00

2024-05-09 13:19:41 +02:00

System Information
Operating system: Windows 10, version 10.0.19045, 64-bit
Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060/PCIe/SSE2, NVIDIA Corporation, Driver version: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 536.67

Blender Version
Broken: Version 4.2.0 Alpha, branch: main, commit date: 2024-05-08 22:06, hash: 03cd8b359ba5
Worked: .

Broken in: 2f289857af

Short description of error
Adding a Smooth by Angle modifier to an object with weighted normals through the right-click context menu will give totally wrong results. Additionally, an even bigger problem is that you can no longer reorder the modifiers by default to fix the issue.

Wrong	Correct

I know that you can stick to the last one with weighted normals as well and then move it up, but it's a huge workflow hassle and is not very user-friendly or discoverable and simply very confusing coming from erlier versions where it just worked.

Okay, so why is this issue so important?
This is how the shading is fixed/improved on most game models and can be done literally hundreds of times a day. As examples, this wastly improves the bake results on lowpolys in many cases or improves the shading for midpolys. The fact that it's now impossible to achieve without a deeper knowledge of Blender is very bad and a huge regression from 4.0 where it was handled automatically. Not to meantion all the extra click for just basic funtionality.

Solutions?
Make the Weight Normal modifier also stick to last and place it above the Smooth by Angle? In 4.0, this was handled automatically, and when importing models from 4.0 to 4.1, the order is always correct.

Also, make it optional to to pin the Smooth By Angle to last place, since this is far from optional in many cases and terrible for performance.

This is just my intuitiv suggestions, but perhaps there needs to be a more involvde design. Perhaps something like modifiers gruops where you can gruope modifers and move and pin them based on the gruope name. Then you could have a gruope callled "Normals".
This coulde also make it easy to organize and instance only some or all modifer gruopse to other objecs as well.

Exact steps for others to reproduce the error

Create a cube with bevel.
Add Weighted Normal modifier.
Add Auto Smooth trought right click context menu
Cannot reorder the modifiers to fix the shading

**System Information** Operating system: Windows 10, version 10.0.19045, 64-bit Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060/PCIe/SSE2, NVIDIA Corporation, Driver version: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 536.67 **Blender Version** Broken: Version 4.2.0 Alpha, branch: main, commit date: 2024-05-08 22:06, hash: `03cd8b359ba5` Worked: . Broken in: 2f289857afa8ebeaa8d81c9e7e12f15af4b6ea3a **Short description of error** Adding a Smooth by Angle modifier to an object with weighted normals through the right-click context menu will give totally wrong results. Additionally, an even bigger problem is that you can no longer reorder the modifiers by default to fix the issue. | Wrong | Correct | | -- | -- | | ![image](/attachments/c561dce0-a5a0-43bf-972c-0b9b49c402ce) | ![image](/attachments/11264b28-c176-43a1-90c5-033bec10ec58) | _I know that you can stick to the last one with weighted normals as well and then move it up, but it's a huge workflow hassle and is not very user-friendly or discoverable and simply very confusing coming from erlier versions where it just worked._ **Okay, so why is this issue so important?** This is how the shading is fixed/improved on most game models and can be done literally hundreds of times a day. As examples, this wastly improves the bake results on lowpolys in many cases or improves the shading for midpolys. The fact that it's now impossible to achieve without a deeper knowledge of Blender is very bad and a huge regression from 4.0 where it was handled automatically. Not to meantion all the extra click for just basic funtionality. **Solutions?** Make the Weight Normal modifier also stick to last and place it above the Smooth by Angle? In 4.0, this was handled automatically, and when importing models from 4.0 to 4.1, the order is always correct. Also, make it optional to to pin the Smooth By Angle to last place, since this is far from optional in many cases and terrible for performance. This is just my intuitiv suggestions, but perhaps there needs to be a more involvde design. Perhaps something like modifiers gruops where you can gruope modifers and move and pin them based on the gruope name. Then you could have a gruope callled "Normals". This coulde also make it easy to organize and instance only some or all modifer gruopse to other objecs as well. **Exact steps for others to reproduce the error** 1. Create a cube with bevel. 2. Add Weighted Normal modifier. 3. Add Auto Smooth trought right click context menu 4. Cannot reorder the modifiers to fix the shading

image.png

368 KiB

AutoSmooth + Weighted Normal Error.blend

923 KiB

image.png

278 KiB

👀 1

Daniel Gryningstjerna added the

labels 2024-05-09 13:19:41 +02:00

Iliya Katushenock changed title from ~~Weighted Normal + Auto Smooth gives broken shading and can not be fixed after 2f289857af~~ to Regression: Weighted Normal + Auto Smooth gives broken shading and can not be fixed

2024-05-09 13:44:59 +02:00

Hans Goudey commented

2024-05-09 13:45:56 +02:00

Cannot reorder the modifiers to fix the shading

There is an option in the modifier dropdown to turn off the pinning. Then the modifier can be reordered however you want. We may want to make this more accessible to, I just want to clarify first that it's not impossible.

>Cannot reorder the modifiers to fix the shading There is an option in the modifier dropdown to turn off the pinning. Then the modifier can be reordered however you want. We may want to make this more accessible to, I just want to clarify first that it's not impossible.

Iliya Katushenock added the

Download

What's New

Blender Studio

Manual

Developers Blog

Documentation

Benchmark

Blender Conference

Development Fund

One-time Donations

Regression: Weighted Normal + Auto Smooth gives broken shading #121620