Stylized rendering workflows often suffer when meshes don’t behave politely with shading—usually thanks to dirty, broken normals. The free Blender add-on “Shading Normal Editor” steps into this mess with one clear mission: clean up shading normals to create cleaner, more intentional stylized shading effects.

Developed by “wrljet,” this tool allows artists to interactively edit face normals within Blender itself, without having to perform a destructive normal transfer from other meshes. The tool simplifies shading workflows especially when custom, stylized shading is a central visual requirement—as often needed in games, animations, and stylized VFX assets.

The @getfondant Custom Normals v1.0.0 addon for Blender is finally out! Now you can fix most topology issues in your 3D anime and toon shading. Can be used directly in Blender, or as Custom Vertex Normals for game and vtuber models. Link in the next message.

The basic addon is… pic.twitter.com/efEa2uY4CK

— aVersionOfReality (@AversionReality) April 23, 2025

Interactive Face-Normal Editing

Once installed, “Shading Normal Editor” provides an editor interface directly inside Blender. Artists can select faces, tweak the normal directions interactively, and immediately see the shading results in the viewport. This avoids tedious export-import loops or the dark art of manually hacking vertex normals in external tools. Wrljet’s tool also emphasizes non-destructive workflows: normal edits can be modified at any time without wrecking the underlying mesh structure, which is particularly critical for iterative production work.

There is also a roadmap for upcoming features HERE

Toolchain Integration and Availability

The add-on is distributed through GitHub or through Superhivemarket with the complete source code openly available. Installation follows standard Blender add-on procedure: download the .zip file, install it via Blender’s Add-ons menu, and enable it. Current compatibility details were not specified in the source, so testing in production environments is recommended before relying on it in live projects—especially for studios handling pipeline-critical assets.

Pricing and Accessibility

The best part? “Shading Normal Editor” is completely free. Open-source enthusiasts and pragmatic shading artists alike can download, modify, and use the tool without reaching for the studio credit card. Pricing information remains unchanged even under extreme stress tests: free.

A Word to the Cautious

While the functionality looks highly practical for stylized projects, as always: new tools should be thoroughly tested for stability and compatibility with existing pipelines before being rolled into professional projects. Production is no place for surprises, unless you’re running a birthday party.

The post Normal Problem? Normal Solution: Free Blender Add-on “Shading Normal Editor” Now Available first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

In a move that might make brand strategists giddy, Autodesk has rebranded Wonder Studio, the AI-infused platform for seamlessly inserting CG characters into video footage, as Autodesk Flow Studio. This rebranding officially integrates the service into Autodesk’s Flow cloud platform for media and entertainment. Despite the new moniker, users can rest easy knowing that the platform’s availability and pricing remain unchanged.

AI-Powered CG Integration

Launched in 2023 and acquired by Autodesk in 2024, Wonder Studio—now Autodesk Flow Studio—leverages artificial intelligence to automate the integration of CG characters into live-action footage. The platform tracks live actors, replaces them with CG counterparts, and matches lighting conditions, producing clean plates, alpha masks, camera tracks, and motion-capture data. For those who like their data portable, the platform supports exports to Blender, Maya, Unreal Engine, or in USD format for applications like 3ds Max, Houdini, or Unity.

Introducing ‘Wonder Tools’

In February 2025, the platform received an update introducing standalone services dubbed ‘Wonder Tools.’ These tools allow users to extract clean plates—backgrounds without actors—and obtain camera tracking data from footage. Notably, the Camera Track Wonder Tool can process footage sans actors, while the Clean Plate Wonder Tool is designed to remove human actors (up to four per shot) but doesn’t extend its vanishing act to animals or inanimate objects.

Pricing and Accessibility

Autodesk Flow Studio operates as a browser-based platform compatible with Chrome or Safari—sorry, mobile users, you’ll need to switch to a desktop. The platform offers two subscription tiers:

• Lite: Priced at $29.99/month or $299.88/year, this tier allows 1080p video exports and access to mocap data, clean plates, camera tracks, and 3D scenes.
• Pro: At $149.99/month or $1,499.88/year, subscribers can export at 4K resolution and receive additional features like roto masks.

Both plans operate on a credit system, with one second of video processing consuming 20 credits. Lite subscribers receive 3,000 credits/month, while Pro users enjoy 12,000 credits/month. citeturn0search0

As with any new tool, it’s advisable to evaluate Autodesk Flow Studio’s features in the context of your project’s specific requirements before full integration.

For a visual overview of the rebranding and new features, check out the video below:

The post Wonder Studio Rebrands: Now Flowing with Autodesk first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.