Blog

The Asset Shelf Usability Upgrade Hotfix Release

This is a stability update to the release that has brought us much much love to the Asset Shelves usability with many new accumulated details and features from Bforartists and Blender.

This is part of all the latest from Blender 4.5.1 and 5.0.0 to the date – with 34 new pieces of love from us and another 89 and some fixes from Blender

⚠️ Warning: *.Blend File formats from this version onwards will not be backwards compatible with earlier versions of Blender 4.5.x or Bforartists 4.4.x. It’s a one way trip!

What’s new:

• Fixed the library override also linking when using the Libary Override mode from the Assetshelf/Browser
• Fixed many small details like checkboxes floating left
• Updated the Blend Normals by Proximity asset to be more robust, predictable and also set ground work to material blending also
• Documentation is has started to be refactored and updated
• Blender themes fixed

What’s new in this series:

• New Asset Shelf mode import properties
• new add asset with overrides automatically from shelf/browser
• 
• New Default Assets:
  • Blend Normals by Proximity
  • Inherit Smoothness
  • Inherit Material
  • Mesh Lines and Silhouette
  • Object/World Normal
• Group operators in the node editors are now in the toolshelf
• Cleanup and Refactor for the Node Editors sidebar add panels

• New Granular display of nodegroups in the sidebar
• Presentation Addon New Slides operator

• Node Group socket interface and operators got UX love

• Interface Updates
  • More robust columns for the tabbed toolshelf
  • Theme panel visual updates
• Updated default Hotkeys

Additional Features from this Blender 4.4.x and 5.0.x series:

• New Playhead Header submenu

• Sculpt Modes – New Mask to Geometry operators
• New Color Jitter in Brushes now exposed to side bar also

• Built In attributes now show in header of Spreadsheet
• Point Cloud Edit mode is getting love
• Light properties have new settings and consistenty layout
  • Exposure and Temperature
  • Consistency with Cycles
• Collada removed (but we may have another in development)
• New Compositor nodes
  • Image Coordinates
  • Relative to Pixel
  • Texture Nodes
  • Input sockets
  • Changes to color correction nodes
• Shader
  • New Volume Coefficient Shader
• Grease Pencil Antialiasing made more explicit
• New Animation Timeline Footers
• Scenes can be saved as assets now
• Compositor Node Trees are a thing now
• New Grease Pencil operators
  • Split
  • Remove Fill Guides
  • Outline
  • Convert to Curve type
  • Mask above and below
• New relocate linked asset operator
• Per Bone type visibility
• Shape Key copying
• Camera OSL scripts included
• Performance in tesselation, subdivision, and more
• Grease Pencil Fill Guide indicators
• Vulkan Backend
• Sequencer HDR support
• Sequencer slip improved
• Drag and drop collections to surfaces
• Cursor rotation for snapping
• Asset Screenshots
• Gizmos in the Compositor
  

And much much more

Downloads available from both Github, the official Website, Windows store and Blender Launcher v2

📥 Download for Free today! Let us know what you think of this big release!

🌍 Official Website
Website Download Link

🪟 Windows App
Windows App Store

🧡 Blender Launcher
Blender Launcher v2 Download

📄 Release Notes:
Release Notes on Website

🖥️ Source Code
Github Repository

Splashscreen is kindly provided by Prashan Subsinghe, the latest winner of the Splash Screen competition hosted in the Discord server! Thank you!

And also, thanks again for all artwork, love, feedback and help for making the Bforartists community what it is today!

Draise, Reiner, Blenux (Juso), Znight (Trung Pham), Quackers, Eyad, Sean and all you arty supporters
Release Notes

Bforartists 4.5.1

34 Tasks

Mesh in edit mode. Mirror, adjust last operator, align props left #5391
Default Workspaces – Missing timelines controls #5392
Compositor – View tab has missing property #5361
3D View – Tool Shelf Tabs has scroll bar on tabs #4987
Mesh in edit mode. Bevel, adjust last operator, align props left #5390
3D View – Parent Floating menu missing icons #5367
Asset Library/Shelf – Library Override also double and links collection after doing the override #5345
Crash on Swap Areas in Texture Paint mode #5370
Bug – Explorer Thumbnails no-longer draw #5334
Edit Mode – Mesh Edit – Mesh Tools Addon – Draw “Set Dimensions” operator as icon depending on panel width #5373
Edit Mode – Grease Pencil – Tool Panels – Rename “Gpencil” category to “Grease Pencil” #5375
Toolshelf – Node Editors – Add comments to the code file for better maintainability #5322
Edit Mode – Grease Pencil – Tool Panels – Clean Up – Add missing “Remove Fill Guides” Operator #5374
Object Mode – Object – Apply – Add Missing operator text for “Visual Geometry to Object” in tool tabs #5378
Header, right click menu at tabs – remove menu item Reset Panel zoom #5365
MacOS – 4.5.0 builds – config location set wrong #5364
Sequencer – Hard crash on draging retiming hotkeys #5344
3D Sequencer – Master scene no-longer pins #5362
Smart Delete – Make deleting loops more robust #5363
Asset – Blend Mesh Proximity finetine #5358
Assets – Update the Mesh Silhouette to be tidier as a UX #5357
Bforartists 4.5.0 Official Release #5304
Sponsorlink at Github page leads to Blender fund #5351
Theme – Blender Dark Theme – Blank entries #5349
Theme – Blender light theme is completely broken #5343
Panel Context Menu – Expose “Flip to other side” operator #5331
Asset Shelf – Thumbnail sizes need consistency with defaults #5335
Asset Browser – Column Mode – Add quick size buttons #5336
Bug – Missing column operators for grease pencil layer panels #5339
Presentations Slides – Make slide camera and frame range more robust #5337
Node Editor – Group Sockets – Add Specials menu and arrange operators for panel toggles #5184
Addon – Presentations Slides – Improve the new scene framerange system to bump from end of last scene #5333
Area Context Menu – Inconsistent Join Right and Left icons, regression #5199
UV Editor – Edit Mode – Dynamic Select Similar menu needs to be in Header #3204

Bforartists 4.5.0

169 Tasks

Missing icons for right click menu #5321
Grease Pencil , Draw mode, Fill tool – make Fill Guide discoverable #5208
3D View – Sculpt mode – Mask – New mask operators needs iconography #5305
Geometry Nodes – Toolshelf – Mesh – Read – is Edge Smooth typo #5282
Toolshelf – Node Editors – Panel registration order inconsistent with Add Menu #5316
Toolshelf – Node Editors – Missing entries within the Add panels #5289
Compositor – Removed nodes API: Color Ramp + Value – Update sidebar Add panels #5103
Geometry Nodes – Toolshelf – Deprecated – Depreacated Typo in Rotate Euler entry #5276
Grease pencil object in edit mode – Properties editor – Data tab, align Auto Normalize left. #5308
Sculpt Mode – Missing mask and slice properties #5303
Grease Pencil – Paint Mode – Fill brush advanced panel – Needs love (float things left #5164
Grease Pencil Edit mode – Stroke menu – Simplify Stroke #5310
Compositor – Remove “Use Nodes” from the header #5313
Compositor – Add – Utilities and Vector update to Toolshelf #4981
Add – Empty Image – Remove from Image menu #5102
Properties Editor – Modifiers – UVMap- Add UV label indentation #5021
3D View – Brush menu in sculpt mode has no operators #4970
Mesh object, Weight Paint mode, select menu. Remove the term select from the select linked operator #5127
Animation Editors – Header – Playhead menu needs love #5162
UV Image Editor – Select menu – put More & Less into a sub menu #5267
Grease Pencil – Edit Mode – New Grease Pencil outline operator #5163
Missing/ update envelope weight paint assign operator #5301
3D View – Vertex Paint – Sample Color and duplicate #5292
Theme – Make Image editor background darker grey #5279
Properties Editor – Modifier – Mirror – Add UV label indentation #5018
blender_theme_as_c.py adds path to the theme to the userdef_default_theme.c #5294
Dopesheet – Move new view Cache properties to the header Options #5154
Properties Editor – Modifiers – Array – Add UV label indentation #5019
Blender Render View vs Bforartists Render View – missing Paint mode? #5298
Asset – Mesh Blend by Proximity – Improve the wizard notice #5291
Missing icon in Select menu in edit mode with a mesh object #5125
Top Bar – Pointcloud api missing #5290
Properties Editor – Light – Float Normalize property left #5110
Text editor – edit menu regression #5269
File/Top bar – FBX lost it’s icon #5256
Topbar / Topbar Editor – Remove collada #5101
Shader Nodes – Ray Portal BSDF node has no icons #5286
Extensions/Addons – Tags broken #5263
Exporters/Importers – Float Properties check boxes Left #4221
Code marked as unreachable has been executed. Please report this as a bug. #5268
UV Editor – Overlays – New Display slider label indentation #4997
Outliner – ID Data – New linked data “Relocate” operator #5000
Default Library – Add Smart Primitives #5008
Default Library – Blend Normals by Proximity Asset #5222
Point cloud object in edit mode – tool shelf, add select hotkeys to the select group #5281
Pointcloud – Edit Mode – new mode, new operators, needs icons #5147
Compositor – Missing node icons for Image Info and Image Coordinate nodes #5274
Sequencer – Preview – New Animation operators exposed to header, add icons #5155
Sequencer – Preview – Remove doubles in zoom operators #5158
Sequencer – Preview – Strip – Exposed Show/Hide menu, make consistent #5156
Video editing workspace – Image Menu – Transform – missing icon #5270
Compositor – Add Texture add group to the Add sidebar #5005
Preferences – Interface – NewSubpixel Anti-aliasing property #5264
Preferences – Editing – Sequencer – Remove use_sequencer_simplified_tweaking #5262
Default Asset Categories – Rename Grease Pencil Tools to Grease Pencil #5261
Particle in Particle Edit mode. Select menu. put More / Less into a sub menu at the end of the select menu #5130
Asset Browser: Make drop to origin button consistent #4984
Toolshelf – Missing Envelope modifier #5259
Shader editor: Procedural Material: Subtractmath #5238
Animation workspace – animation toolbar is off #5206
Point cloud in edit mode – update transform hotkeys #5235
Keymap File Browser – File Browser Main – investigate POSELIB_OT_apply_pose_asset_for_key entry #5243
Keymap – 3d view – 3d view global – wrong hotkey NDOF Roll CCW #5236
Keymap NLA Editor – Hotkey S for Scale #5240
Keymap 3d view – Primitive tool modal map uses grs navigation #5239
Keymap – Clip – Clip Dopesheet Editor – Delete track – change from X to DEL #5248
Keymap – Grease Pencil – Grease Pencil Weight Paint – Select Extended vs Select #5252
Keymap – Transform Modal Map – red entries #5253
keymap – text – text global – find and replace double entry #5247
Keymap File Browser – File Browser Main – double entry Apply Pose Asset #5245
Video editing Preview window , view menu – put auto zoom option into the options #5231
Video editing Preview window, View menu, double entries Zoom #5233
Keymap – Stencil Controls in Vertex and Image Editor need secondary #5242
Default Libary – Boolean method needs to be FLOAT not FAST #5251
Default Library – Handler conditional error #5250
Icons – Add icon for Volume Coefficients node #5237
3D View – Object – Apply – Visual Geometry to Objects #4986
Sequencer – Warn tool not found #5244
3D Sequencer: Error in addon code #4985
Editors – Tabbed Toolshelf – Width is not changing when on #4853
Sequencer – View – Add icon to Frame to Scene Range #5157
Point Cloud in Edit mode – Point Cloud Menu – Delete uses hotkey X #5229
Point cloud in edit mode – missing icons in the Select menu #5121
Point cloud in edit mode – Select menu – remove term Select from Select random #5230
Properties Editor – Collection – Float View Layer visibilty props left #5220
Remove the term Blender from the translation files. #5219
Animation Editors – Footer – Context menu – remove footer toogle #5215
Overwrite startup file – Blender will … #5210
Name inconsistency in footer menu #5214
View menus in animation editors – double menu entry Channels #5218
Animation Editors – Footer – Context menu has a missing icon #5198
Toolbar Editor – Toolbar Manager broken #5212
Properties Editor – re-enable the Tools tab #5205
Grease Pencil – Edit Mode – Cleanup – New Fill Guides and Reproject operators #5165
Grease Pencil in Edit mode – Grease Pencil menu – Snap sub menu misses icons #5207
Properties editor, tab area, right click context menu , missing icon #5204
Texture painting – add image slot dialog – Align props left #5200
3d view – sidebar – item tab in edit mode – middle aligned label #5201
Geometry Nodes – Utilities – Fields – New Field “get info” nodes #5004
Properties Editor – Output – Add social media dimensions presets (and remove doubles) #5188
Remove double menu entries on left #5168
New Format String node #5109
Group Sockets, align Hide Value left #5173
Adjust last operator, align Generate UVs left #5175
Crash with adding a greasepencil stroke #5122
Default to append #5114
Online Python Reference needs an icon #5189
New Instaces Bounds node #5003
Open Drives Editor missing icon #5190
New Image Info node #4980
Brush resize secondary properties need updating #5186
Lists require a hotkey to use #5185
Relocate non-add operators in Group submenu #5170
Bit Math #5169
Snapping offset broken #5180
Update Offline Icon #5179
Texture paint select menu missing #5129
Add Color Randomization #5106
Brush properties not found #5178
Grease pencil trace operator missing #5177
Remove double “Final” property #5160
Update Bforartists drawing #5132
Add icons for new Screenshot operators #5105
Point Density update sidebar #5104
Drag and drop confusion between asset browser and asset shelf #5148
3D View – Default tool mode should be “Active Tool” – #3073
Properties Editor – Light – Collapse temperature settings when disabled – #5111
Feature – Initial add exposed asset shelves for 3d viewport and node editor – #4584
Properties Editor – Output Properties – Color management – align prop left – #4839
Window – Expose window operators – #5036
Blender messing with our repo at pull request – #5124
Spreadsheet – Move Built-in Attributes property to header (and remove double editor switch) – #5107
Crash – Dragging in a Compositor nodegroup asset to the compositor will crash – #5137
Properties Editor – Light – Add radius slider back – #5112
Theme – Make node headers more legible (darken colors) – #5108
Addon – Presentation Slides – Add operator to make a new “slide” – #5133
3D View – The camera icon is offset – #5139
Compositor – Update node Add tab with Utility and Vector nodes – #5006
Bforartists-Launcher on linux is pointing to the wrong executable – #5136
Theme – List Item – Remove outline – #5100
Theme – Panels have lost their color, revert – #5099
Node link for error state is invisible – #5092
Theme – Overwriting warning color is bright red, make it less bright – #4973
Theme – Toolbar Editor – Flashing line may need a fix – #5098
Select menus, remove redundant term “Select” from the operators – #5097
[Bug // 4.3.1] Transformation Values Set in an Object/Bone (w/ Child Of Constraint) Won’t Save into Added Keyframes when Transformations of Parent Object are Applied – #5094
Properties Editor – Render Tab – Grease Pencil – Clarify the SMAA cryptic labels and tooltips – #5037
Preferences – Interface – New Border Width slider needs label – #4998
Properties Editor – Modifiers – Code Cleanup – #5073
UI – Grip Icon needs updating – #5086
Properties Editor – Material Tab – Add icons to material operator buttons #5015
Properties Editor – Modifiers – Envelope/Outliner icon #5084
Refactor: Move Repetitive Property Indentation Code into Dedicated Function? #5077
Geometry Nodes – Grease Pencil – Write – New Grease Pencil Color and Depth nodes #4995
Sculpting – Sidebar – Brush Settings – Stretch/Move Cloth Brush – align Lock Rotation checkbox left #4956
Add Node operator: separate label #2454
Geometry Nodes – Group Tab – Group Sockets – Float panel toggle toggle left #5076
Node Editors – Group Sockets – Add the Node Socket operator to the panel add panel #5040
Asset Shelf – Add options to add as instance if on collection like in asset browser #4668
Asset Shelf – Add set to world origin toggle like in asset browser #4669
Asset Shelf – Add options to link or append options from asset shelves line in asset browser #4667
Asset Browser/Shelf – Add auto-library override on drag and drop #5072
Modifier layouts shot down #5048
Crash, Blender has stopped working … #5063
Geometry Nodes – Mesh – Write – New Set Mesh Normal node #4996
Geometry Nodes – Input – Scene – New Camera Info Node #5002
Geometry Nodes – New Import File nodes #4560
Default Library – Make shaders “materials” to fit the default tab #5068
Node Editors – Migrate and update Node tooltips to relevant documents #4989

Full Changelog: github.com/Bforartists/Bforartists/compare/v4.4.3…v4.5.0