Vertex Colors are baked into selected layer instead of active for rendering #84458

Blender Version
Broken: 2.92 alpha, 1e8f2665916c, master, 2021-01-03 01:04

New 2.92 alpha vertex colors baking feature uses selected layer as the target, instead of the one set for rendering (with the camera icon enabled).

Added subscriber: @JanKaderabek

Added subscribers: @Blendify, @lichtwerk

Changed status from 'Needs Triage' to: 'Needs Developer To Reproduce'

That is the same as for baking image textures, the selected UVMap is used there, too, no?
We might want to mention this in the documentation (rather than tweaking code to use the active render one).

@Blendify , opinions?

In #84458#1088380, @lichtwerk wrote:

We might want to mention this in the documentation (rather than tweaking code to use the active render one).

I highly suggest to not avoid the fix by ignoring the clear difference between selected vs active for render. Setting a layer as active for render has it's clear purpose, otherwise it wouldn't need to be there.
Have you ever tried to work with multiple layers where you do manual work on some layer, while baking things to another?
Ignoring this will result into wasting time by the need of switching between layers whenever you need to bake.
Also I don't believe such fix should be that difficult anyway, so why to avoid it?
Thank you

Added subscriber: @brecht

I am not strictly against changing this, to me it just looks like this is how it is intended to work, changing this also means this is potentially breaking existing workflows in studios, Addons etc.
It is the first time I see this being reported [including image texture baking], so it doesnt seem to be an issue for many.

Active for render does have its purpose for rendering, should it be used for baking as well? Sounds like a design decision.
I see the point though, it might make more sense to use the Active for render for baking as well.

@brecht: opinions?

In 2.79 it works like expected - it bakes / renders into the layer which is set as active for render. I don't see any reason why this should behave differently in the recent Blender versions.
The reason why it hasn't been reported so far is most probably because it is kind of advanced stuff, but that shouldn't be the reason to keep the feature flawed I guess.

In 2.79 it works like expected - it bakes / renders into the layer which is set as active for render

Ah, wasnt aware, will check on this.

While you are in 2.79, check also the Bake Mode: Vertex Colors option, which is still missing in the recent Blender ... but this is for sure offtopic, I will create a feature request for this :)
Thank you, @lichtwerk @brecht

Changed status from 'Needs Developer To Reproduce' to: 'Archived'

It's the old design that was inconsistent with Blender conventions. Tools and operators work on the active data for the viewport, not for rendering.

Now these conventions will prevent me from switching to new Blender because it complicates my life significantly.
But thanks for the explanation ...

Added subscriber: @pablovazquez

If I can add the last comment here, I am just quoting the description of Bake to Vertex Colors task itself (https://developer.blender.org/rB2221389d6e8e799ae1a001e4a3457fa5c3fd90fb):

Bake: vertex color baking support for Cycles

In the Bake > Output panel, there is now a choice between Image Textures and
Vertex Colors. The active vertex color layer is used for baking. This works
with both existing per-corner and sculpt per-vertex vertex colors.

Then @pablovazquez in the Blender Today video: https://youtu.be/Nlqjfj1lL5A?t=1900

I get there are some conventions, but baking to the selected layer is clearly not the expected behavior and it will make the workflow confusing for anyone using multiple vcols layers.
I would really appreciate if you can consider getting back the 2.79 behavior.
Thank you

Please use devtalk for feedback on features.

In Blender terminology, what you refer to as the selected layer is called the active layer.

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Vertex Colors are baked into selected layer instead of active for rendering #84458