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I'm not sure if this is a bug or the side effect of some new feature, but I've been having an issue with extrusions along a specific axis in blender 2.90. I am wondering if anyone else has experienced this and can either a) explain it, or b) verify it is a reportable bug.

In the images below, I have attempted to extrude a section by using the extrude hotkey E + axis letter. In the first photo, I extruded along the Y axis (E+Y), and in the second, I extruded along the Z axis (E+Z). As you can see, both "axis letters" produced movement in the same direction. I know it may be hard to tell from the screenshots, but the vertical extrusion line is green (Y) in one photo, and blue (Z) in the other, yet the extruded face moves along the same (Z) axis regardless. Selecting a face with a normal that points towards the desired direction and extruding by simply pressing E works as intended.

Y-Axis extrusion (supposedly) YExt

Z-Axis extrusion Zext

Would someone be able to either confirm or refute that this is currently a universal phenomenon with Blender 2.90?

Steps to reproduce:

  1. Start with default cube (or added cube - makes no difference)

  2. Select one of the "side faces"

  3. Attempt to extrude the face along the Y axis by using E+Y

  4. Notice that the extrusion follows the Z axis instead of the Y (If I am correct that this is a universal problem with 2.90)

If this is not a bug, but rather an intended feature, could someone please explain the logic of why this is happening? Any feedback would be very helpful.

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    $\begingroup$ Hello :). A similar Q was asked here a week ago. I marked it as a dupe of this one, since your question is better explained and with better answers. $\endgroup$
    – Jachym Michal
    Sep 18 '20 at 6:03
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    $\begingroup$ Strange, it didn't come up as a suggestion when I was typing my question. Thank you, nonetheless. $\endgroup$
    – Christopher Bennett
    Sep 18 '20 at 6:21
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Edit: It looks like my answer is not accurate anymore, the default X/Y/Z will be the global orientations (or the one that is selected in the Transform Orientations panel, GLobal being the one by default), as before, and double axis will be the object local orientations.

Old answer:

From what I understand, since 2.9, the default axis for extrusion is still the face normal, but if you press X or Y once, the extrusion will follow the face X or Y direction, not the global direction anymore.

Now if you press XX or YY, the followed direction will be along the global orientation. But you don't need to press Z twice to make the extrusion follow the global: As no Z was necessary in the first place to follow the face orientation, you just need to press Z once to make it follow the global.

Here is how, when you extrude then press Y or Z, the face may follow the same direction, because the face Y direction and the Z global orientation may be aligned.

Yes, a bit confusing, but the previous method was not perfect either, one X or Y meant global axis, but for example, as the default extrusion occurred along the face Z direction, to extrude along the Z global axis you needed to press Z three times.

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  • $\begingroup$ Hey, thanks for clearing that up. I guess I have a bunch of muscle memory to un-learn. Still, it feels a bit strange that the default doesn't always follow global, even when I have global as my transform orientation. I have never experienced problems with global alignment before (even concerning Z axis), so it just seems "off". $\endgroup$
    – Christopher Bennett
    Sep 18 '20 at 6:09
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    $\begingroup$ yes in my opinion it would make more sense to keep the current or the previous method but to press the exact same amount of X, Y or Z to get the local or the global, so for example, if we keep the 2.9 method, E alone would mean along the face Z axis, E+Z would mean the same, and E+Z+Z would mean along the Z global $\endgroup$
    – moonboots
    Sep 18 '20 at 6:12
  • $\begingroup$ Yeah, an equal number of presses for each orientation does make sense. I guess I'm just stubborn for "old ways". $\endgroup$
    – Christopher Bennett
    Sep 18 '20 at 6:20
  • $\begingroup$ yes, by " to get the local or the global", I meant either one or the other but you understood $\endgroup$
    – moonboots
    Sep 18 '20 at 6:22
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    $\begingroup$ I think this is downright inconsistent. Effectively, E puts you into a Normal Transform Orientation, without telling you. Fair enough for the default E on its own to give you Normal Z, but as soon as you specify an axis, it should respect the Transform Orientation set in the header. i.e. E + X,Y, or Z should always be the same as E + (right-click to drop) then G + X,Y or Z. Where do you argue for interface improvements? Is that blender.community/c/rightclickselect , or is that just for feature requests? $\endgroup$
    – Robin Betts
    Sep 18 '20 at 6:50

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