[Srinidhi444]

Resolves #9270

Changes:

• Introduced KEEP_CONNECTIONS as a new shading constant for computeNormals().
• Deprecated FLAT while preserving its existing behavior for backward compatibility. It may be removed in p5.js 3.0.
• Updated the default shading mode to KEEP_CONNECTIONS without changing the underlying normal calculation.
• Updated the inline documentation and example to explain the new naming and clarify the difference between KEEP_CONNECTIONS and SMOOTH.
• Added unit tests verifying that FLAT, KEEP_CONNECTIONS, and the default mode produce identical normals, while preserving vertex connections.

This PR is a follow-up to #9205 and #9233. The proposed SEGMENTED shading mode will be handled in a separate issue and PR.

Screenshots of the change:

Not applicable. This change introduces an API naming improvement and preserves the existing rendering behavior.

PR Checklist

• npm run lint passes
• [Inline reference] is included / updated
• [Unit tests] are included / updated

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Thank You!

[Srinidhi444]

Hey @davepagurek, I've introduced the new KEEP_CONNECTIONS constant and marked FLAT as deprecated for now, while keeping it functional for backward compatibility.

When p5.js moves to 3.0, we can remove the deprecated FLAT constant and its related references.

Currently, computeNormals() uses an if condition for SMOOTH, while everything else falls into the else block, so introducing KEEP_CONNECTIONS doesn't change the existing normal-calculation logic.

In the future, we could make the conditions more explicit using else if branches for the supported shading modes, along with a fallback for unsupported values. This would also ensure that the old 'flat' value is no longer accepted once we remove it in 3.0.

Let me know if that sounds reasonable!

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[davepagurek]

If we change this to export const FLAT = KEEP_CONNECTIONS, then we could possibly also update the parameter docs for computeNormals to not have FLAT as a type at all (since it will typecheck the same as KEEP_CONNECTIONS.) That might be a little less confusing for readers, with less words spent on a thing they are encouraged not to use. What do you think?

[Srinidhi444]

Ya actually makes sense to me we can rename it as you said and update the params which would be more cleaner and also it will not disrupt existing functionalities.
Thanks for the suggestion will apply the changes soon.

[Srinidhi444]

Hey @davepagurek applied the suggested changes let me know if any issues in this.

[davepagurek]

Looks great, thanks!