Blender 4.1 Auto Smooth is now a modifier ONLY!

I made a script with the assistance of ChatGPT :rofl:. It adds a button on RMB panel called ‘Auto Smooth’. Each time when pressed it adds a new modifier to the object if not exists and send it to the bottom of the modifier list. The problem with sharing data is not solved tho(
Enough for me, at least for now. Maybe this script will help someone

Who was first, the developer that removed a often used function without caring about the user, or the user complain about it?
You got the answer.

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Not what I meant, not what I wrote.
We even reached the point where looking for the useful feedback in this thread is not even possible. There is like one large post, but there are also two or three short ones that are lost in the noise.

That’s apparently not common knowledge, unfortunately.

Being ignorant of the circumstances is sometimes also helpful. It usually doesn’t help to have a productive discussion as demonstrated in this thread.

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This “complaining about Blender users complaining” side topic is both off-topic and is a horse that has been beaten well beyond death in this thread. Stay on topic

Well, policing other users’ posts without contributing to explain the issue raised for developers to see, or saying there’s no issue to see isn’t helpful either for developers to not get lost.

So complaining about users is not okay, but complaining about the developers is. Got it.

Your complaints have been voiced. Exhaustively. The topic is this thread is the auto smooth behavior in 4.1. Anything else is off topic

I have seen more and more YouTube videos lately of modellers who dislike the current implementation and removal of old Auto-Smooth. I think it’s pretty clear by now that removing the old system in 4.1 specifically was a mistake.

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If you check my posts in this thread, you will see that I asked numerous times for clarifications of issues users were having. My goal was to collect the issues in a compact document, without all the noise. Let’s just say that the feedback I got for asking questions wasn’t particularly nice.
That’s why I know there were two or three helpful posts in this thread that are unfortunately just lost in noise.

@joseph, no worries, that’s my last post here.

Maybe some don’t feel the need to clarify things for your particular understanding, or for some other user here either. That doesn’t mean they are just rude or incapable. I wouldn’t read too much into it.

There is no emotional thing I read into it. What I read into it is that this is not a constructive discussion. It is not about figuring out how to improve things, it first and foremost is about complaining.
That makes it a huge waste of time to find useful information in this thread, which is a shame in my opinion, because the people who experience the issues are here…

@joseph now I am definitely out.

I really like the new Auto Smooth modifier. Used to get so annoyed having to go back and forth from the Modifier Properties to Object Data Properties all the time just to adjust the Auto Smooth angle. It’s nice to have it accessible within the modifier list.

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There are workflows that are seriously impacted by not having the former behaviour, though.

Having the added bonus of the modifier is great when this is not a problem, yes. The problem is not with the new tools, we’re all happy about that; it’s instead the removal of former working functionality, hence the “only” part of the title of the thread.

A discussion on why the new workflows are great have not much to do with the one being discussed here, which is the problem many of us are having: no substitute functionality once the prior one was removed, and the considerable impact on some workflows.

Hopefully I made sense.

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Notbody says that the new modifier isn’t useful or welcome. Also moving normal backing to ‘auto smooth by angle’ in the popup menu is nice if you want that. These are both some cosmetic changes that are ‘neat’ to have. It’s nothing to fancy so.
The problem is, that they removed a feature many people liked and wanted to keep. There are a lot people here saying that. Also some people here think that they have no right to complain, which I personally find offensive.
The arguments why Blender disproved were all discussed and repeated many times. It’s not that the new features disproved Blender, its the removal of well used feature.
It’s like when the removed XSI from the market. Some people said: Oh this great, so the XSI User now have to learn Maya… hahaha…
This was offensive and so its offensive to attack anybody who like to have auto smooth like before.
And that’s my opinion and the opinion of many. Yet some people do not work with Blender, do not model or never want to learn and in my opinion have no saying here.
Also its absolut ignored to argue that removal improved Blender. The feature was optional. So if you didn’t like it on an animated character, where it honestly never belonged to, then turn it off. But arguing that all who used it have to stop complaining is an unacceptable and rude wish.

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to paraphrase the vibe of the responses:

  • are you stupid?
  • are you blind?
  • I don’t have time to explain the obvious to idiots.
  • I shouldn’t have to explain this.
  • you’re not a professional

If you were negatively affected by this, you need to make the time to check out what’s coming down the road and politely voice your objections early and be open to listening to the developers explanations and have patience.

I still have not been shown anything that makes me believe they won’t bring this back in its original form before the next LTS release.

I still haven’t been told I was wrong about thinking that all releases between LTS are actually experimental because the only way to attract a decent amount of testers is to call it a release.

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Indeed. I have gotten this impression too and it is the LTS versions I settle on. What’s most important for me with working is stability and consistency.

It does seem to be that the real Blender 4 will be 4.2 LTS. Blender 4.0 and 4.1 very much appear to me to be WIP stepping stones. A lot of core foundational work is obviously being done that is building solid foundations for the future. This appears to me to be why so many other features are on hold or development is slower. New foundations wiring and plumbing is being done right now with an ambitious long term vision in mind.

I think if anyone is using the latest Blender for serious work or in production then use the last and most up to date Blender 3 LTS.

The feedback seems to be that the current removal of Auto smooth does clearly seem to have impacted negatively on some established workflows. Most specifically fast boolean and bevel modeling and concepting. I agree with others that engaging in constructive clear and polite positive feedback is the best and only effective way forward. I feel confident a solution will be found this way.

All the best to everyone

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There are people on Youtube who do not understand what is going on behind the scenes with the overhaul of Blender’s calculation of normal data and why the devs. can’t just give meshes a lot of hardcoded properties anymore, not to mention how it will improve overall functionality and power in the future. The result, they automatically think the BF has lost it and claiming it is proof that FOSS will always be inferior to commercial development models.

Though it obviously does not help that there was no time to collect feedback and get the new workflow fully established before 4.1 was to be pushed out the door. The new attribute-powered core by now is highlighting the need for major changes to modifier UI/UX since it is becoming an ever more important component in scene building (as the workflow at its most basic level has not changed a whole lot since Blender 2.49).

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Improving overall functionality and power is fantastic, and I don’t think anybody is arguing against that. However, when the majority of your work is spent on things that don’t benefit from that power, losing very useful features isn’t a step forward. This is one of those times where carving out an exception is useful, even if it isn’t as elegant. There’s no reason the new method can’t be used in place of the old one behind the scenes; it’s about the moment-to-moment modeling. People aren’t upset about lost functionality, they’re upset about a lost workflow and its replacement with a more tedious one.

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Please don’t mind if the page sounds pretentious or like a sales pitch; it was written by ChatGPT :sob:

:woozy_face: :woozy_face: :woozy_face:

Addon duplicates modifier interface in object data properties category…
It’s the same data… but just down there… because it was down there…

Man, I’m as troubled by new workflow as any other guy, but this is just sad. People can’t accept even moving the property from one category to another. And I doubt description is only thing ChatGPT wrote in that addon

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