I'd like to move the 3D Viewport back to its starting position When Blender starts, the 3D Viewport has the default cube in the center of the view. The vantage point is slightly above and to the side of the cube. After you move, pan, or zoom the viewport, the view is different. I'd like to get that original vantage point in the viewport back.
** Note ** this has nothing to do with moving or changing the Camera in any way.
Here is what Blender looks like when you open it. This is what I would like to get back to after manipulating the viewport.]1

You can click the + at the top of the window and create a new Layout Workspace.


Squeezing shape by another one I'm trying to simulate the growth of a cancer in the blood vessels in Blender 2.78c. Firstly, I created the network of blood vessels using this addon. Then, I created a simulation of the cancer with the UV Sphere growing in time (using keyframes on the Scale property). The problem is that this growing ball penetrates through the blood vessels, while I want to simulate the collision between the growing cancer and the blood vessels, which results in something like squeezing these vessels.

After some research I think that the blood vessels should be modified by the Soft Body, while the growing sphere should be modified by the Collision, but I'm still not able to simulate the collision between these two objects.

Here is my blendfile without any Physics. Thank you for your time.

This is not at all a "physically accurate" simulation by any stretch, but it may be able to approximate the desired effect with a bunch of modifier trickery using a Vertex Weight Proximity and a Cast modifier.

Use the Vertex Weight Proximity to make a vertex group weight vary according to the distance to a random object, in this case a "cancer ball", then use said vertex group to drive the influence of a Cast modifier set to Sphere.

You can then dynamically adjust the size of the "cancer sphere" (and shape too) to influence the distortion of the blood vessels


Move camera depth of field from background to magnifier on the foreground I have a shot here where I would like to move the focus from the background to the magnifier on the foreground.

Maybe I'm wrong here, but tell me, when the focus is on the foreground, the reflection on the magnifier (the zoomed image) should be sharper, no ?
Because on my example below, the reflection is as blurred as the background.

Am I doing something wrong ?

Thanks

This is actually as expected - the 'image' through the magnifying will not be focussed at the distance of the magnifying glass but will actually be focussed at a distance dependent on the distance to the magnifying glass and the focal length of the lens - and this wont correspond with the actual distance of the distant object.

Since the focal distance of the image doesn't correspond to any "physical" object in the scene you will need to manually adjust the Depth of Field distance to find the required focal depth - simply adjust it until you get a sharp image. Note that you may need to adjust it well beyond the distance to the object, making the magnifying glass itself even more out of focus!


Fixing Ambient Occlusion? I'm having a weird problem with my Ambient Occlusion map. For some reason some bits are completely black (in places where shading wouldn't make any sense). Every other place I check says that I have to recalculate normals, but that doesn't have any effect. How can I fix this?

As well as Recalculate, there's the "Flip Direction" tool in the Shading/UVs tab of the tool panel, you can try using that on the specific selection where there's a problem.


UV editing + texture - change color of the PNG image (caption) I am using UV editing to put a letter to a wall. I have png like this:

After UV editing and and some texture added my output is like this:

I am looking for a way to change its color to some other one (and for example use Emission or sth like this).

My current nodes:

You'll find here a long and complete answer to your question.

To make it short, here is how you could organize your nodes if you want to use your image texture as a kind of mask between an emission node and your wave background: Plug the "Hello" Image Texture into the Factor of a Mix Shader, and plug what you want into the 2 sockets of your Mix Shader.


Why can I not go into pose mode? I have imported a collada file.
I press Control + Tab to select Pose mode, but there is no such.
What am I missing here? The bones are there, so I should be able to pose them, right?

To switch to Pose Mode you just need to select the armature object and make it the active object (=highlighted in orange). It's called RootNode in the outliner. You have selected it but additionally, you have selected the mesh Genesis2Female-skininstance and this mesh is the active object. That's the reason why you can't switch to Pose Mode.
The deformation of the mesh in the pose mode works but the bones are all very tiny and they all stand vertically upwards. If the model was imported as an FBX file you can adjust the import settings for the bones. See this question: Rotate all bones in rig by 90 degrees
Edit: You wrote that it was imported as collada file. But there are also options for the bones in this case. Try Fix Leaf Bones.


Object colour gradient not working So basically I've been following a tutorial on youtube, and one of the steps is to use to 'color ramp' (below) to make a gradient on the object. My problem is that when rendered, or in the rendered preview, the object turns entirely yellow. I'll enclose some pictures below.
As far as I'm aware, there are no keyframes which make the object turn yellow, though I'm not entirely sure.
The object turns yellow in the following frames: 1-2, 4-12, 26-35, 38-113
Edit: When I change the colour type from RGB to HSV or HSL, the gradient appears. Also, when I move all the colour stops to the left side of the slider, the gradient appears, though only on the very right side of the shape, and it's way to sudden for my liking. It seems that it renders the first colour quite heavily, and then doesn't do anything else.It also may be affected by the elevation of the object. It appears as though if it is any lower or any higher than a particular level, it will turn yellow. Either that or that only on particular parts of the curve it's following, will it have the gradient. Another thing I found is that if the object is rendered in Edit Mode, then the gradient works just fine. It is only Object Mode that it stuffs up.

Any help is appreciated :)

Go to overlays tab

There you will find the face orientation option.

Enable it
If the object turn blue its ok.
But if it is red then go to EDIT MODE, Select allA, and then press SHIFT +  N to recalculate normals
See if that makes a difference.


Complications With Shading I am trying to create face and hair textures. While I was messing with the shader nodes I realized that I have no idea what I am doing and am in need of your assistance. What I am trying to do is have the face not cut into itself (yes I turned down the clipping as far as it could go) and successfully create hair textures. Here is the problem:
Here are the hair nodes:

And here are the face nodes:

This is not a clipping issue. Clipping error would make it look like you had sliced off the front or back of the mesh in a plane perfectly parallel with the screen, not making things look like they were in front of other things.
The node setup is incorrect:

The texture coordinates for that hair thing should NEVER be reflection. Disconnect that, and leave it (it will default to the UV map, which is what you want). Reflection texture coronets make it look as if the mesh is reflecting whatever the texture is.
Emission has nothing to do with things being shaped differently, which is why I think you connected to it. Emission is for things that glow.
You have an extra copy of the Head’s diffuse color texture, which can be deleted.

It also looks as if you may be using alpha blend for your material alpha settings. Use alpha hashed instead, as alpha blend can have sorting issues which would make things appear in front of other things arbitrarily.


How do I make an export addon pre-populate filename with name of the selected object? I’m creating an export/import add-on (similar to STL import/export add-on) and I would like the suggested filename in the file browser to take the name of the currently selected object in the scene or a generic filename if multiple objects are selected. My add-on uses the bpy_extras.io_utils’s ExportHelper.
In the example below, for a new, unsaved blend file, the default filename is untitled.sur (sur is the extension the file exported by my addon). I would like this name to be “Icosphere.sur” since the object “Icosphere” is selected in the scene.

Set in the invoke method.
As noted in these answers the IO helpers have invoke and check methods that are doing some things behind the scenes.
https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/198924/15543
https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/207665/15543
The export helper invoke method, that if not set sticks in the name Untitled, simply change this to that of the context object.
def invoke(self, context, _event):
    import os
    if not self.filepath:
        blend_filepath = context.blend_data.filepath
        if not blend_filepath:
            blend_filepath = context.object.name # <=== UPDATE
        else:
            blend_filepath = os.path.splitext(blend_filepath)[0]

        self.filepath = blend_filepath + self.filename_ext

    context.window_manager.fileselect_add(self)
    return {'RUNNING_MODAL'}


Improve text only rendering time I need to render a small (30s), text only scene, in a very fast way. The result needs then to be added on top of a multilayer exr frameset, to produce the final video.
I'm using blender-internal, and having already disabled raytrace, textures, AO, etc... the question is: what can be done (maybe at code level) to reduce the rendering time as much as possible?

Many thanks,
Regards GLoureiro

It seems like you have done some of things I would have already suggested.

Use Blender-internal or OpenGL render.
Reduce anti-aliasing samples.
Use a shadeless material
Don't use any lamps.
Tweak text resolution (for fewer triangles)
Experiment with tile size (larger tiles may give better performance)
Lock the user interface while rendering.
Render from the command line. (means you can't use OpenGL easilysee  Render with openGL from the command line? )
Check which formats save to disk fastest (PNG with low compression is quite good).


My final render with cycles look blurry after denoise I am new to blender and try to make a room everything look good until I use final render to get a high quality picture the light look wrong
I try to use 1 light bounce and it didnt help at all
pls help me impove it
this is a link to the file
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xbyjeavqvRbqsibHUftfH_fEZm8niYbh/view?usp=sharing

What sample count did you use? If the sample count is low, of course it will look blurry after denouse. This is not related to light bounces at all. If you wan't a sharper image after denoising, you will have to increase your sample count.
At sample counts as low as 128 for the final render, your render will look blurry after denoising. Nice interior by the way.


How to create a rough green emerald material in Cycles I would like to know how to create a rough looking green emerald in Cycles.

It should look like that, but can be even rougher and doesn't have to be that translucent.

Maybe this will help get you started.  You will still have a lot of work to do in order to refine the materials and lighting to get this to work.

Here's a link to the Fracture Modifier branch which was used to break up a model. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/xiuirkoo0rac5tw/AAB2XQbs9K5uTIYcbDPUDW1Ca


Animate tori around surface of another torus How can I replicate this effect (with animation), substituting the flat circles for 3D tori?

animated

I have tried starting with a torus and using an array modifier around an empty object to duplicate and scale it, but I am not sure how to apply a smooth circular positioning+scaling to the resulting pieces. Additionally, scaling in this way results in wide but flat rings, when what I am really looking for is to modify the circumference of the tori, leaving their cross sectional width constant.

Because the Curve modifier on a cyclic curve is itself cyclic with respect to the deformed object's location, you can do this with 2 curve modifiers.

Create a curve-sheet made of multiple. straight, subdivided segments (note the orientation):

I created mine by taking the loops out of a subdivided plane, and converting to a curve.

In the next step, we will create a circle to deform this sheet into a tube.To get the measurements right, arrange for the Z-dimension of this curve-sheet to be 2*pi*[the circle's radius] with the scale applied, and then delete the top line.

Create a Curve-circle of the minor radius, which we will use with a Curve modifier to roll the sheet into a tube (again, note the orientation of its local axes)..
..and create a second Curve-circle for the major radius, at right-angles to the first, but with local axes aligned in the same way as the first, as shown:

Assign 2 Curve modifiers, the first to roll the sheet into a tube around the minor circle, and the second to roll the tube into a torus. Both modifiers and their settings are shown here, with only the first active in the view):

..This is with the second modifier active, too:

(You can use either the curve object's native profile to give it thickness, or give it a bevel object)
With these orientations you can get a cyclic animation by keying 2 (linear-interpolation) frames of the sheet's Z location. 0 at frame 1, a whole-number multiple of the Z-gap between the segments on the last frame:

It's probably sensible to parent the whole lot to an empty, so you can move it about without it falling apart.

2.79 version here (which will open in 2.8, too):


Can I mask out a string property field that holds a password? Is it possible to mask out a string that will be a user password for loggining into an asset server?

eg.

 password1

shows

 *********

Yes, use the subtype='PASSWORD' for a StringProperty:

bpy.types.Scene.password = bpy.props.StringProperty(subtype='PASSWORD')

You can add it to the Scene tab for a quick test by running:

bpy.types.SCENE_PT_scene.prepend(
    lambda self, context: self.layout.prop(context.scene, "password"))

The property can be read and written like any property, but each character is drawn as an asterix if added to a panel. It is also not shown in tooltip (since 2.70), but it's possible to copy and paste. The main purpose is to hide the password on screen for video recordings, not to protect or encrypt it.


Freestyle lines behind transparent plane blender 3d Please, help me. I have a problem with Freestyle (eevee/cycles)
I want to draw cube lines behind with transparency.
I have already experimented with groups and collections (already in the past).
Post image processing from two renders will also not work. I need animation with a tree in the foreground.

You can do this using the compositor.
Go to Render Properties > Film and check the box Transparent.
Then go to Render Properties and check the box Freestyle. (but don't have any linesets in Freestyle Line Set under View Layer Properties)
Put the plane with an image using alpha in a collection.
Put the object that will have freestyle lines in another collection.
Disable the freestyle-object-collection by unchecking the box next to it in the Outliner. (keep the collection with the image checked/enabled)

Make a second viewlayer by clicking the Add View Layer icon. (usually in the top right of the screen).
In this viewlayer check the box next to the freestyle-object-collection, but uncheck the box next to the plane-with-image-collection.
Also in this viewlayer we do want a freestyle lineset: View Layer Properties > Freestyle Line Set, and click the plus icon to add one.
In the Compositor window, create two Render Layers nodes. Set one to the first viewlayer (with the plane-with-image-collection enabled), and the other to the second viewlayer (with the freestyle-object-collection enabled and with the freestyle lineset), and plug them in an Alpha Over node. Plug the Alpha Over node in a Viewer node.
Render and then select the Viewer node in the Image Editor.


Subsurface modifier creates gaps on extrude So, when using a subsurface modifier, it always creates a kind of gap between the main structure and the extrueded one. I never know why.. here's how it looks like:

Anybody knows how to fix that ?

This happens because has a face betweeen those. You need to delete that face.However this is not a normal behavior.


How to center multiple objects automatically before exporting? so I have a seemingly obvious question.

I am needing to export multiple meshes in the same scene one at a time, and as they are, the meshes are placed all over the space. It seems to me that I need to move each one to (0, 0, 0), before I export them (as fbx) or else they import to Unity with the random location transforms. Is there some way that can automatically do this zeroing out process upon exporting? This way I won't have to move them one by one just before export.

This is an example of my scene :

Select all your objects then Alt+G to Clear Location (set the location to 0;0;0)


How to keep initial orientation when adding copy transforms constraint? I am rigging an arm to follow a bone using copy transform. It does work as I want, but when I apply the constraint it randomly rotates. I can rotate it back but it takes a long time because I need it to be precise.

So I am wondering if it's possible to add the copy transform constraint without changing the current position?

You need to keep your rig clean when you build it. This means transforms should be zeroed out before working on them, especially with constraints. You can clear transforms by pressing AltG, AltR, and AltS to clear translation, rotation and scale, respectively.

(1) After your transforms are clean, you can add constraints. I always recommend using local space for copying transforms, unless you have a very specific reason for using any other space.

(2) Alternatively, you can also use a combination of copy location, rotation and scale constraints to achieve the same effect. This also allows more minute control over the constrained object. Again, I suggest using local space for each transform space to keep it predictable.

(3) Yet another option is to use the child-of constraint, which essentially makes the constrained bone behave as a child. This constraint offers you the option to set an offset like you're asking about (set inverse). With this constraint, I recommend creating the two bones exactly on top of each other, meaning they originate from the same point. They will have the same pivot points, so scaling and rotation behave predictably.

(4) Copy transforms constraint is good to use if you have bones right on top of each other (ie a bone chain with a duplicate chain controlling it). This is just because it's a very simplified constraint. The transformation constraint is a decent replacement for drivers, in such a case where python execution is disabled. Child-of is a good way to get parent-like hierarchy behavior while keeping bone hierarchies separate.

(5) Make some simple bone chains and play with each type of constraint to see which fits your needs. If you absolutely need to keep transforms on the bone in question, then use the combination of constraints in (3) and enable the offset option. This takes the bone's transforms into account at constraint creation.


Make background HDRI unsharp I want to present some office products(like folders and binders) on a desk and with a office background, while the background should be unsharp on the renderings.

Should I use HDRI images or set up a interior scene?

You should prefer using an HDRI in this case for the background. Cycles is a bit sensitive to interior render scenes in terms of noise and therefore high render times. Only build a complete environment if you have very good reasons for it. In your case, all you need is the table as an object, the rest you're better off with a HDRI background.
You can create the blur effect via various methods, I personally find it most convenient to see the result while preview rendering already. If you plan on using Depth of Field in the camera, that would blur the background automatically already. If not, you can create a low res HDRI which is blurrend in an image editor of your choice, and use a node setup like this:

Plug the blurred version in the bottom image node, and the high res one in the top one. This way reflections on your object will be sharp, but the background will be blurred.


Trying to rig a character but the rig won't work I downloaded and textured this astronaut character, however, when I try to rig it, it just simply won't work. I generate a rig from the base human rig and parent it to my character, but the rig does nothing! I'm slowly losing my mind, but maybe someone here can help me out.

Link to my .blend:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/19U_n66IlTGRf_epZ4V9YG4wZMPkGhF0K/view?usp=sharing

Parenting the rig to the character will not do anything except make your rig object follow your character object if moved arround.

If you want your character object to be deformed by your rig, you need to parent your character object to your rig with an armature deform.

To do this, select your model, then your armature, hit ⎈ CtrlP to open the Set Parent To menu, and any of the Armature Deform's three sub-options :

Once it's done, depending the option you chose, your rig might already be able to move your character, but it's very rough, parts might be poorly assigned to bones, ... So you will probably have to edit this yourself.

If you chose Empty Groups or automatic weights (which I recommend for new users), you will have to go in weight paint mode and tweak.

There are a lot of tutorials and manuals about this process, so I invite you to find a nice one for you and see how it goes.


How to complete a circular shape using an array modifier? How would I use the array modifier to duplicate this pattern all the way around the top and bottom circle faces? Whenever I try to use the array modifier, the pattern just copies next to itself. Its hopefully going to be a grenade. Ive added the blend file in case anyone can help. Thanks

With the help of circular array addon download here

New link for addon

Go to edit mode and with the shift select remove the top and bottom circles. Press P and select Selection

Now in the object mode select the mesh and Press Ctrl+A
and select rotation & Scale press F6 and click location tick mark.

Now in the modifiers tab add 8 count and press search bar and type Circle Array and your done.


Lock vertex in UV editor I need to fit UV map to the texture. To do this, I use proportional editing to move the necessary sections of the UV map. But when moving, vertices/faces that I don’t want to move are moved, how can I block / freeze them from moving.

You can select the vertices you don't want to edit and hide them (H), then perform the edit, then unhide all (Alt H).


How do you model something that looks wrinkled or crumpled? i wanted to model something like this in blender..
any ideas?

I have no idea how to manually add wrinkles to a mesh.

Create the text

Create a black and white image of your text in a software of your choice (Gimp, Krita, ...)
Make sure your render engine is set to cycles, then use the add-on "Import images as planes" to bring the image of your text into blender. If you don't see this option in your import dialogue, activate the add-on in the user preferences add-on panel. (It ships with blender, but it is initially deactivated)
Change the shader the add-on created on import to the setup shown in my screenshot. This will blend a diffuse white shader with a transparent shader based on your text
Subdivide your image a couple of times, you will need the extra geometry for the cloth simulation. Simulations work best with square faces, first use loop cuts ctrlr to shorten the long side of the text, then use subdivide w to create more geometry

Simulate the wrinkles

in object mode, translate your image object a little on the z-axis, to make some room for the collision objects
create a ground plane and several cubes where your wrinkles should be
in the physics tab of your ground plane and the cubes, choose "Collision"
in the physics tab of your image, choose "Cloth"
run the simulation alta, play around with the cloth settings and the position and scaling of the collision objects to find the wrinkles you like

Render your result

add a camera and a sun-lamp to your scene, position them to your liking
move the collision objects to another layer, so they won't appear in the final render, but remain in the scene in case you want to resimulate
make sure your image plane is set to shade smooth
to recreate the effect of your reference image, I changed the background color to black and rotated the sun lamp to a very steep angle. I also increased the size of the sun to 1, to get the smooth shadows


Subsurface Modifier Principle Just a swift question I have. When doing a hard surface modelling, is the Subsurface modifier off limits, and its more recommended to use Bevel modifier? becuase Subsurface modifier is for smoother topology such as, character design?

Thank you.

There are no rules.
  Use what works for you :).

Sometimes bevel doesn't give good results, so subdivision needs to be used instead.
They can also be used together for easier cotrol.

Bevel modifier - easily adjustable edges, limited in tight corners (creates overlapping geometry)
Subdivision Modifier - works almost anywhere because it actually moves the geometry.

Using Bevel and Subdivision together


Cannot save object renderability in a scene? As a beginner in Blender, I think my outliner is telling me I have two scenes.

First I only modified renderability in comp, but I realized I need to change renderability in 5.2 too. So I made all Butterfly* objects (not sure if it's the right word) not to be rendered. Then I saved my Blender file.
However, when I reopened the file, the renderability options have switched back. Why can't I save my renderability settings in scence 5.2?

The objects in scene "5.2" won't let you change their options because the whole scene which they are part of is linked. This can be detected by small white sign with an arrow just next to the linked object or any datablock:

It's all about the linking data in Blender. The library is a .blend file located somewhere else (but Blender knows where it is as it can read the data from that file) where that data is stored. To edit those objects you can either:

edit those objects only from the file they were created in.
make a local copy of the objects.

The first way assumes you will continously switch between the different .blend files - change some options in the main .blend (where the object / group / some other useful data is stored), then return back to .blend where objects are imported to (e.g. for rendering), change their locations, etc., etc.
However the structure will be organized - all the data will be stored in its own files and only uneditable entities will be stored in the working file (which is sometimes preferred).
This may be possible with using some addons, like Edit Linked Library and so on. For more info refer to How can I modify the mesh of a linked character?

The second way will let you edit any mesh or object, change it properties, edit everything about it - but full editable copies of these objects will be present in every file, with all the consequences (every file will occupy much more space; meshes might get changes assumed for one project which is undesired for another project etc).
See Change linked object to appended? and Kind of "soft link" of objects between scenes?


Why does this NLA strip have no action, and how do I fix it? I hardly do animation so I think these tracks were created automatically. Two tracks have a strip labelled "No Action" and I can't do anything with them. I think they are what is causing me to not be able to export the animations as part of a .glb file.

I can't seem to change them or delete them. Looking at the manual about such tracks and strips has only been confusing.

How can I format those strips properly or delete them and make new ones?

Here is the part in the manual that concerns you
Also here is a link to a tutorial on the NLA

Deleting & Converting

If you decide that you no longer want a stashed action anymore, simply delete the corresponding NLA strip, then save and reload the file.

Also, note that since these are NLA strips, you can reuse these as normal NLA strips simply by un-muting (and renaming) the NLA track they live in. You may also want to move it above all the other stashed-action tracks.

Remove Empty Animation Data

This operator removes AnimData data-blocks (restricted to only those which are visible in the animation editor where it is run from) which are “empty” (i.e. that is, have no active action, drivers, and NLA tracks or strips).

It is sometimes possible to end up with a lot of data-blocks which have old and unused Animation Data containers still attached. This most commonly happens when doing motion graphics work (i.e. when some linked-in objects may have previously been used to develop a set of reusable assets), and is particularly distracting in the NLA Editor.


Why does the complete wall fall over? Recently I bumped into the Blender Fracture Modifier. As this seems a very interesting "hidden treasure" I am now playing with it. I have installed the latest build for MACOS and I have made a setup where a wrecking ball should smash a wall. I made this very long wall .....

But after the wrecking ball hits the walll not only some shards are produced but the whole wall falls over. How to prevent this last things happening ?

In this blend, you need to adjust the following to get the desired effect:

1) set Rigidbody shape to Convex Hull, this is faster and with regular voronoi geometry, more stable as well. Means the wall will not explode with lower constraints settings.

2) reduce the constraint search radius to about 5.0 and the amount of constraints to 50. Those settings apply to each mesh island, means each island searches for max. 50 neighbors in a radius of 5.0 around its centroid then.
Rule of thumb: the smaller the shards are, the smaller the search radius can become to find enough neighbors.
You dont need 2000 constraints per Island and such a large search radius here. (btw, I work without units mostly, but this is personal preference.)

3) optionally you could make the wall animated and triggered, and the wrecking ball a trigger. With this setting the shard simulation starts only for those shards being hit by a trigger, basically. The others remain inactive, which is faster too.


my boolean modifier isn't cutting into my shape correctly So I'm trying to use the boolean modifier to use shape A to cut into shape B. But shape A just turns light blue and fails to cut into shape B whenever I apply the modifier.

Whenever I do press apply, the error message "applied modifier was not first, result may not be as expected" pops up. I've tried to move the boolean modifier over the mirror modifier, but that doesn't help.

I've also tried to recalculate normals for both shapes with no success.

does anyone know how to solve this???

Also, here's a copy of my project.

I downloaded your file and the operations worked as follows:

Apply the mirror modifier on object B, Cube in the Outliner
Make sure only object B is selected, which should be because you just applied the mirror modifier
Add a Boolean modifier and select for the Operation the Difference, see image below with the mark 1
Click on the eye dropper, mark 2
Select object A, mark 3. The object name Cube.001 in the Outliner.

Hide object A, Cube.001, from the Viewport and from the Render, see image below. The results should be visible without applying the operation but you can apply it at this point if you wish.


Properties Tab only showing World Tab My properties tab on the right is only showing the World tab and nothing else.

I'm new and don't know how to solve this.

You have to click on the small pin-looking icon in the top left corner of your Properties panel.


Settings for zbrush-like Layer brush? In Zbrush there is a brush that doesn't overlap upon itself, it can make for some smooth uninterrupted strokes. I was wondering if Blender had anything of the sort, where the depth sort of levels off and it doesn't continue to build up. Thanks.

Layer Brush

You can find it in the Brush browser:

From the Blender reference manual's page:

  This brush is similar to Draw, except that the height of the displacement layer is capped. This creates the appearance of a solid layer being drawn. This brush does not draw on top of itself; a brush stroke intersects itself. Releasing the mouse button and starting a new stroke will reset the depth and paint on top of the previous stroke.

Persistent base option enabled will allow to sculpt without overlaps.

See the different behavior in the image sequence below:

Remember to set the Intensity of the brush to 1, or the stroke will not reach the "capping" level, leading to an accumulation when you draw upon an already sculpted area.


Why is my color map gradient (by node xyz value) working for x and y but not z? very new to blender and not an expert. Coming from engineering field and want to learn more about rendering CFD/model results in Blender.

Right now I am struggling with adding a coloramp to a surface. I want the color to be based on the x/y/z values of the node coordinates. For example if I want to plot a water surface, I want it to be colored by z-value.

What I've done so far is:

Created a plane mesh
Added displacement modifier to the mesh to give it some bumpiness (z-values)
In the shading editor, I added a Texture Coordinates node -> mapping node -> separate xyz node -> coloramp node -> principle bdsf node -> material output node

My node shading node set up is below.

Right now, when I use separate xyz node to color by x it works fine, and also by y. But if I choose z I get no coloring even though there is definitely z values?

Can anyone explain to me why this isn't working and how to get it working by coloring the surface using a colormap based on z values of the nodes?

Thanks

I think that you have just to remap your values, it should work that way. So on the Z axis displacement is not maybe enough to be visualized properly. I would suggest you to try something like this (if you want to keep the actual colors) or to just move the sliders of your color ramp indices towards the center (narrow their distance).


Clear the sequencer memory cache? I'm doing some motion tracking, and to quickly edit things I preload the frames into the memory. However, this fills up my ram, and sometimes (e.g when I'm not working with the footage) I want to clear it out of memory. Can this be done?

If you reload the clip on the Movie Clip Editor, the cache will be cleared.

Also keep in mind that the amount of memory used for the cache can be managed on the System Preferences (CtrlAltU) ->System ->Sequencer/Clip Editor ->Memory Cache Limit


What advantages does Fly-Mode have over Walk-Mode? In comparison, fly mode seems really hard to control, and its style of movement is hard to navigate with. Walk mode feels more controllable, though.

This leads me to the question of does fly mode have its own uses that you can't achieve with walk mode?

There are some key differences that make fly mode better in some situations.

Motions are smoother turning and changing direction are not instant, this may be nicer for recording camera animations.
Speed is handled in a relative manner, so you dont have a fixed speed, it means you can naturally navigate large scenes or a small room in a large scene.
Some controls are different, MMB pans for example.
Walk mode isn't compatible with absolute pointing devices, eg - tablets.
Walk mode uses fixed horizon angle, fly mode allows navigation in all directions with optional z-up alignment.


Strange subdivision in Multires modifier I want to create simple character in Blender using Sculpt. When I add Multiresolution modifier on object and click Subdivide, it will generate unsymmetric figure.

How it looks before subdivision:

How it looks after subdivision:

I've solved it. I had several redundant vertexes on the right "arm". I've removed them and it works fine.


Where did the 'World/Surface/Strength' setting go in 2.8? When I go to:
World/Surface/
the Strength setting (available in 2.79b) does not exist. Google was not helpful in trying to find where this setting has gone.

Nowhere at all, they are exactly where they were before.

Off course you can only see them if Use Nodes is enabled, otherwise those settings are unavailable.


How do I make a fur for my teddybear? I want a fur like the picture below. How can you do this in Blender?

You could easily do this with Blender's particle system

The key thing here is that the hair seems to be forming clusters or gathering to form small clumps of fur.
This effect can be achieved with the particle children and activating the Clump parameter. This will create this bunching effect.

Add a new particle system to your object
Check to use the modifier stack
Active the Children option
Use a high value for the Clump setting like in the 0.7 to 0.9range

Adjust the number of children to be enough so that the hair clumping effect is visible, but not too much that it looks like a solid spike
Increase the particle count to a higher value to look dense enough (how high will depend on the actual size of your object), and not too high as to hide the "clumpiness" of the children


How to make spiral vase in blender 2.8? I'm looking to build a simple vase for 3d printing and I'm keen to understand how I can do this.

I've tried the screw modifier, however it appears to be lacking the right level of detail to work properly (I've create a simple shape and then applied several subdivides to it in order to increase the mesh density)

There's bound to be a smart way to achieve this, appreciate any pointers/tips!

Tissue addon

You can start by using the Screw modifier on a Curve profile in order to build the main shape.

Then build a "component" for the Tissue add-on made of 3 ridges like the one shown below:

Run the Tessellate operator chossing the component ad the surface. Activate the merge option.


Assign "remainder" weights to bone? I have a face mesh with a number of detail bones (e.g. eyebrows, lips). The latter have all been weighted accurately, but some vertex weights, whether they are contributed to by one or more bones, may not add up to 1.0. I would like to assign the remainder (missing, 1 - current sum) weights to their parent bone, "head". How can I do this? Currently, all accurately-weighted bones' VGs are locked (only the "head" VG, which is currently empty, is unlocked).

Through the use of locking vertex groups and the "normalize all" operation.
In weight paint mode, select all vertices for which you'd like to do this.  In properties/object data/vertex groups, select your head group, make sure your weight is set to 1.0 (the default), and click "assign" to assign all selected verts to your head group.
Next, using the dropdown to the right of the list of vertex groups, use a "lock all" vertex groups operation, then unlock your head group, so that it is the only unlocked group.  (You've already done this, but future readers need to understand that this is an important part of the process).
Now, in the 3D viewport, use a "normalize all" operation (from the searchbar or weights menu.)  In its operator panel, uncheck "Lock Active".
The normalize all operation will calculate proper, normalized values for all vertex groups, for each vertex.  Because all vertex groups except head are locked, only the head group will be normalized, and it will be normalized around the existing weights-- ie, the head group for each vertex will become equal to 1 - current (non-head) weight.


GTX 970 - Blender278 - CUDA Error Hi,

I've been using Blender 2.78a on Windows 10 Pro. The problems I'm trying to solve and I search for many solutions around the www is the classical Memory CUDA problems. I use a GTX 970 and batch render as you can see on the image. It has 4 Gb VRam and I use less than 2 Gb for the render...
Seems Cycles can generate the first bucket but when it goes to the second always crashes. I don't understand anything and it's so frustrating for me...
Things I've done:
- http://artificialflight.org/blog/2013/cycles-crash-cuda-tdr-error/
I put 64, 16, 256...
- I have last drivers
- Reduce bucket size

Could anyone help please? Thanks in advance

Searching a little bit more and more, I find many things about Mem Cycles consume and real consume. With GPU-Z I can see a real read.
First of all, the modifiers turned on in render, Subdiv mainly. When blender Mem says 1670Mb, is the limit for my 4Gb GTX 970.
All textures is better to be JPG, PNG. Only use float as EXR or HDRI on particular cases like environment lighting.

Maybe, one day, Cycles developers would think using GPU only to process and hardware RAM to cache everything, like Redshift and Octane do :)


VSE channel's volume Helo,
can't figure out how to change the volume of multiple strips or one separate channel.
i have a video with multiple audio channels, one for background music, one for audio effects, and one for narrating. i have to rise the volume of all the narrating channel - it's a lot of strips, it's already after editing (the audio editing was made in blender as well).
maybe some plugin or atleast already exist that i can't find on the web.
thanx for any help.

The volume of an audio strip can be changed in the sound properties panel which you can find in the sequencer's properties region - press N

To alter multiple strips, select them and adjust the volume then right click on the volume and select Copy To Selected


Python - How to Add a Text Field to the UI? I'm trying to create a text field in the UI that will allow users to enter a directory path, then press a button to export an fbx file to that path.

The Button creation into the UI works great.  But I can't find information on setting up the text field for users to enter information. I took a try at it, but my setup isn't working for the String text input, only the button works.  What am I doing wrong?  (Page has been update to reflect comments below changes)

    import bpy

class WorthGroupToolsSettings(bpy.types.PropertyGroup):
    file_path: bpy.types.StringProperty(name="File path",
                                 description="Test",
                                 default="",
                                 maxlen=1024,
                                 subtype="FILE_PATH")

class WorthGroup_Panel(bpy.types.Panel):
    bl_idname = "WorthGroupTools_PT_Panel"
    bl_label = "WorthGroup Tools Panel"
    bl_category = "WorthGroup Tools Addon"
    bl_space_type = "VIEW_3D"
    bl_region_type = "UI"

    def draw(self, context):
        layout = self.layout
        row = layout.row()

        worth_group_tools = context.scene.worth_group_tools
        row.prop(worth_group_tools, "file_path")

        # This creates the button.  Works great!
        row.operator('view3d.export_fbx', text="Export Selected")

I modified my page, it should work but I get the following error message from this code:

class WorthGroupToolsSettings(bpy.types.PropertyGroup):
file_path: bpy.types.StringProperty(name="File path",
                             description="Test",
                             default="",
                             maxlen=1024,
                             subtype="FILE_PATH")

The error message is:

File "C:\Users\WG\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.80\scripts\addons\Blender\WorthGroupTools_panel.py", line 4, in <module>
class WorthGroupToolsSettings(bpy.types.PropertyGroup):
  File "C:\Users\WG\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.80\scripts\addons\Blender\WorthGroupTools_panel.py", line 9, in WorthGroupToolsSettings
    subtype="FILE_PATH")
TypeError: bpy_struct.__new__(type): expected a single argument

I also want to note I also have a __init__.py page and a operator page.  This is what the __init__.py page appears as:

    import bpy

from . WorthGroupTools_op import WorthGroupTools_Operator
from . WorthGroupTools_panel import WorthGroup_PT_Panel
from . WorthGroupTools_panel import WorthGroupToolsSettings

bl_info = {
    "name": "WorthGroup Tools",
    "author": "",
    "description": "",
    "blender": (2, 80, 0),
    "version": (0, 0, 1),
    "location": "View3D",
    "warning": "",
    "category": "Generic"
}

classes = (WorthGroupTools_Operator, WorthGroupToolsSettings, WorthGroup_Panel)

# register, unregister = bpy.utils.register_classes_factory(classes)

def register():
    for cls in classes:
        bpy.utils.register_class(cls)
    bpy.types.Scene.worth_group_tools = bpy.props.PointerProperty(type=WorthGroupToolsSettings)

def unregister():
    for cls in classes:
        bpy.utils.unregister_class(cls)
    del bpy.types.Scene.worth_group_tools

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()

With a PropertyGroup and a PointerProperty you can register all your properties in the scene. They are then accessible by panels or operators under the name you've chosen.

The StringProperty allows you to set the subtype to FILE_PATH which creates a text field with a file selector. Once clicked this triggers Blender's file browser and the user can select a file. The path to the file is then stored in the property.

import bpy

class WorthGroupToolsSettings(bpy.types.PropertyGroup):
    file_path: bpy.props.StringProperty(name="File path",
                                        description="Some elaborate description",
                                        default="",
                                        maxlen=1024,
                                        subtype="FILE_PATH")

class WORTHGROUPTOOLS_PT_panel(bpy.types.Panel):
    bl_label = "WorthGroup Tools Panel"
    bl_category = "WorthGroup Tools Addon"
    bl_space_type = "VIEW_3D"
    bl_region_type = "UI"

    def draw(self, context):
        layout = self.layout
        row = layout.row()

        worth_group_tools = context.scene.worth_group_tools
        row.prop(worth_group_tools, "file_path")

classes = (WorthGroupToolsSettings,
           WORTHGROUPTOOLS_PT_panel)

def register():
    for cls in classes:
        bpy.utils.register_class(cls)
    bpy.types.Scene.worth_group_tools = bpy.props.PointerProperty(type=WorthGroupToolsSettings)

def unregister():
    for cls in classes:
        bpy.utils.unregister_class(cls)
    del bpy.types.Scene.worth_group_tools

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()


How to numerically assign dimensions of a face I would like to make a truncated cone, with the base and top of specific diameters.

First I made a cylinder mesh and input the width and length of the cylinder to match the base.

That's good.

Then I selected the top face and tried to scale it down to the width and height for the top of the cone, but I can only adjust it with my mouse or as a percentage of the original size.

Is there a way to adjust the face's absolute diameter by entering a number like I did the whole object?

A better way is to first create the bottom/top face numerically, then adjust the height, which can also be done numerically. As shown below:


Cycles Blur an Image Texture node? I've made a texture that contains dots I'd like to use as a puddle texture on a sidewalk. One thing I've noticed is that if you look at the puddles closest to the camera, you can clearly see the low-resolution:

Is there a node or node setup I could make that would allow me to blur this texture? Or, more specifically, the alpha of the texture? The puddles image is Black and white, and I have the alpha of that image feed as a factor into my node composition:

I'd prefer not to have to do this in an external program, because I have 399 images that I am going to put into an image sequence for this node.

This answer should allow you to blur the texture (including Alpha). However, for this technique to work you need to use considerably more render samples to smooth out the noise, so blurring the images themselves (in the compositor or using an external tool such as Gimp or ImageMagick) would be a more efficient solution.


How to add image texture to an existing material? Here is my spaceship and I want to add and emblem on its wings (exact position marked with red circles).
How can I achieve that?
White color is just a Principled BSDF.
Any kind of help is appreciated!

You can use object texture coordinates to do that:

In the node above, object texture coordinates are driven by the position of an empty.
Then the mapping node shifts things by 0.5 to center the decal image around the empty (on left for the cube the material has no mapping).
Now you can adjust the empty position as you need, using the snap tool, for instance (Z must be up).

The mix color node (before the shader) can be replaced by a mix shader node (after the shader) as you wish.
You can use the setting several times, if needed:

The image size and rotation depend on the empty size and rotation.


How can I calculate and draw the center of mass of various objects, with Python? I am using a Python script to render the below scene in Blender.

Now, I am trying to pack them using the piston on the right hand side to make it look like this:

The center of mass before packing will be roughly at the center of the box and it will be shifted to a different point after packing the objects. The question I have is, how to do the center of mass drawing in the Blender and how to calculate it in the Blender using a Python script. Does Blender have an inbuilt feature for doing this? I have checked online and the closest I have found is this.

http://www.wildpockets.com/sites/all/themes/ninesixty/exporterstemp/wildPocketsBlenderExporter-v0.6.py

Additional Information:

Using Blender 2.74 on OsX
Using Blender Game Engine to do the packing

A bit late to answer this, but I recently had to compute the center of gravity of various objects, so here is what I got.

1) "origin to center of mass" does not put the origin to the center of mass

What this command does is to consider the object as an empty shell, i.e. it computes the centroid of all faces. This is not the same thing as the center of mass of a solid object with constant density.

2) as far as I know there is no builtin feature to compute the center of mass of a solid object.

See this answer for a basic script that does the job.

3) to be useful, center of mass computation has to consider various ways of defining actual mass.

Some objects will represent some material with constant density (a bowling ball is indeed a mass of plastic). Some will rather be the abstraction of a complex object of known weight (for instance the engine of a car). Lastly, some curves might represent ropes, rods or wires with a known linear weight (the spring of a clamp)

Based on all this, I designed a small script that does compute the center of mass of a collection of heterogenous objects.

3 kinds of objects can take part in the computation:

meshes with a custom weight attribute
meshes with a material that has a custom density attribute
curves with a material that has a custom linear weight attribute

To use it, you have to define the various attributes and materials required, then you just select all the objects you want (selecting "weightless" objects, empties, whatever will do no harm) and run the script. It will place the 3D cursor at the resulting CG location.

As an illustration, see how the CG moves:

Battery placed further back

Landing gear down

I used millimeters and grams as units in my case, so if you want to switch to imperial system or change the scale you'll have to tweak a few constants. See the script for details.

import bpy
import mathutils
from mathutils import Vector

def triangles (verts):
    """enumerate triangles in a face"""
    for i in range (1, len(verts)-1):
        yield (verts[0], verts[i], verts[i+1])

def cg_mesh (obj):
    """center of gravity and mass of a mesh"""

    center = Vector()
    volume = 0
    mesh = obj.to_mesh (bpy.context.scene, True, 'PREVIEW')
    for face in mesh.polygons:
        f = face.vertices
        for t in triangles (f):
            a,b,c = (mesh.vertices[v].co for v in t)
            v = a.cross(b).dot(c) / 6
            center += v * (a+b+c) / 4
            volume += v

    if volume == 0: print ("ZERO VOLUME", obj.name)
    else          : center /= volume
    bpy.data.meshes.remove(mesh)

    # To make a mesh heavy
    # define a "weight" (in grams) custom property at object level, or
    # define a "density" (in g/cm3) custom property in associated material
    if 'weight' in obj:
        mass = obj['weight']
    elif obj.active_material and 'density' in obj.active_material:
        mass = volume * obj.active_material['density'] / 1000
    else:
        mass = 0
    return center, mass

def cg_curve (obj):
    """center of gravity and mass of a curve"""

    # to make a curve heavy,
    # define a "linear weight" (in g/m) custom property in associated material
    try:
        linear_weight = obj.active_material['linear weight'] / 1000
    except:
        print ("NO MATERIAL FOR CURVE", obj.name)
        return Vector(), 0

    # copy the curve and its modifiers
    bones = obj.copy()
    bones.data = obj.data.copy() # copy curve
    curve = bones.data

    # reduce curve to skeleton
    curve.bevel_object = None
    curve.taper_object = None

    # convert to mesh, applying modifiers
    mesh = bones.to_mesh (bpy.context.scene, True, 'PREVIEW')

    # compute skeleton length and center of mass
    len = 0
    center = Vector()
    for segment in mesh.edges:
        a, b = (mesh.vertices[v].co for v in segment.vertices)
        l = (a-b).length
        center += l * (a+b) # / 2 (median point) taken out of the loop
        len += l
        print (l,a,b)
    bpy.data.meshes.remove (mesh)

    bpy.data.objects.remove (bones)
    bpy.data.curves.remove (curve)

    return center/len/2, len * linear_weight

def cg_switch (obj):
    if   obj.type == 'MESH' : return cg_mesh (obj)
    elif obj.type == 'CURVE': return cg_curve(obj)
    else                    : return Vector(), 0

def cg (obj):
    center, mass = cg_switch (obj)
    return obj.matrix_world * center, mass

center = Vector()
weight = 0
for obj in bpy.context.selected_objects:
    c, w = cg (obj)
    center += c * w
    weight += w
if weight != 0:
    bpy.context.scene.cursor_location = center/weight
    print (center/weight, weight)


How to fill 3D model hole I am new to 3d modeling and I encountered this hole while modeling.

What is the easiest way to cover this hole?
If you need more info please reply.

Thanks

Switch to editmode

select the 4 adjacent vertices

and press f


Mulitple point density clouds - intersecting each other for an animation I want to create a fluffy cloud scenery (with the internal render engine)
To to this, I created severeal cloud shaped meshes- each of them got a particle system. Over that I build a bounding box mesh with a volume shader and a point density texture to drive the density of the volume. No problem so far. I get a pretty nice cloud with this setup but after adding a second one, I get bad results. They are intersecting.

I could render every cloud on a seperate render layer, but this would be a tidy task. After all I have 26 clouds.

What is the problem here? Which option is unchecked? I cant find it.

Thanks for your help

I think you can solve this by using either one of 2 workarounds.

Scaling clouds domain by Z axis

This is kind of lazy solution, which assumes scaling domain cube of the fluffy clouds (those everywhere in the bottom). After domain is no longer intersecting with clouds in the foreground (left / right), there's no intersection.

Processing rendered OpenEXR images

Start with moving fluffy clouds (those in the bottom) with their domain to separate layer (assuming light sources are on a layer turned on in any case). Set up output format as OpenEXR Multilayer.
Render and save image. Do the same with big clouds on the left and right (so that they were moved together to the same layer).
Having 2 .exr images, you can import them in another scene, delete RenderLayers node to render only from compositor and mix clouds with AlphaOver node (make sure Channels of the image to draw is set to Color and Alhpa).

Rendered clouds (with and without black layer added for transparency demonstration):

The result is the same for both solutions


I don't have the render, dimensions tabs in the scene panel I don't have the render, dimensions tabs in the scene panel.

How I reset it ?

The problem is that you are currently in Blender's Game Engine. You need to switch it to either Blender Internal or Cycles. I recommend Cycles because of it's realistic lighting.


Show vertex color unlit in viewport I cannot show vertex color unlit - it keeps being affected by some global light. Does anyone know how to do this? I have selected "flat lighting" and "vertex" in color under the Viewport Shading Menu, but I still have a global light. I also tried turning off the light in the scene and tried both solid and rendered view.

I saw what might be a solution here; how to make viewport display diffuse maps in full color? (2.8) but i don't have this "REC709" option.

All i really want is to Vertex Paint in Unlit so that white color is always 100% white. It must be possible.

This should do the trick?

The Name field odf the Attribute node is the name of the Vertex Color layer you want to display.

(The mix is there to prevent the Emission shader from illuminating other objects)


How to make an expanding wave ? If you throw a stone into a pond, one circle starts expanding around the centre of impact. If you pad with you hand onto the water surface continuously all 3 seconds you get many expanding circles whom all are the same distance away from the next circle and its center a new circle starts expanding each time you touch the water.
I would like to know how to realize the second kind of wave expansion.

If you are not interested in a perfect simulation (with wave interference, variations of the speed, true collisions...), but just a quick animation, I would give a try to the Wave modifier

Suzanne's bust is the origin of the wave. It is animated to go up an down on the Z axis. Then the modifier's wave speed and offste was tweaked to match suzanne's frequency to give the illusion that the two effects are related.

Result:


How to overlay Slots on single object I'm trying to set up an object for product visualisation inside Eevee, I'm used to C4D materials along with using mix shaders to overlay decals in blender. However I need to be able to change a fabric material separately to a decal without duplicating the same adjustments in multiple node shaders.
So as far as I understand it, I need to have 3 slots used (1 is for particles so unless there's an issue with 3 slots being used on one object, it's an irrelevant slot).
The slots are (in terms of a layered approach from outer most layer to the base layer):
Slot 1: Decal/print material
Slot 2: Particle slot (for fuzz).
Slot 3: Fabric material
Basically, doing this means I can adjust the position & decal/print texture of the print layer & change the fabric material separately, ie one change of the print shader material can be left along as I swap or change the fabric material.
Currently, I can use the slots with the setting set to alpha clip to show either the print + fuzz, or the fabric + Fuzz, but not the Print + fabric + fuzz.
The only alternative I currently have is to create node groups for every fabric inside one material shader, and use the mix shader node for a node group for every print I'd require, however this seems very unintuitive for the required use.
PS: I'll edit with photos when I'm at the computer next, or post them below.
Thanks in advance. I'm coming from C4D, and am used to being able to layer materials in that. I'm assuming it is possible in blender other than just using mix nodes, I've seen tutorials on applying slots to geometry, but that isn't an option given this is for clothing objects. I know multiple UV maps can be used on the same object, but not sure if that makes a difference for slots.
Thanks again.
Update:
These are the original setups:

This is the Print shader used in slot 1, it has the settings set to alpha clipping to hide a black "nothing" colour, shows the fuzz texture from the hair particles, but not the fabric material from the other slot
This shows the fabric material when used in slot 1 along with the particles, but not the print layer from another slot.
This is how they look when using the mix shaders to blend with alpha mask (the intended look)
These are the group nodes for each slot when reduced to 2 slots (one for the materials, one for the particles)
These are examples of the fabric and print node setups inside each group

Disclaimer: as the question is about workflow, maybe we'll have to change some things about this answer depending on the OP needs. We'll see.
Disclaimer 2: If you are not using the node wrangler add-on yet, that's the time to start. It makes node-inspecting much easier.
I think you can't (and you won't): layering is in the material.
This is the setup I would use for this situation:

The first node (or gruop of nodes) is the shader of the non-decal(layer1), then you have a second node that basdically overlay the shader of the decal in the right places (inside there's a mix shader node and another shader group as shown below) (layer2)

Other shaders have a similar setup: a shader (layer1), if you need the decal, you just add the Decal node (which is the same for all the materials) (layer2).

I would change the material of the model in the material slot on the right. Remember to enable Fake user, or you'll lose them at quitting.

So basically, my "Decal" material is not a material, but a Node Group that contains a shader. Layering happens inside each node group. This way blending can be animated for example linearly, with a mask, ecc... it's more flexible.


As others stated, the OBJ format specification officially does not have the ability to contain any vertex color information, but some apps extend the format to support this feature (RGB values are appended after vertex position values).

I managed to modify the Blender's OBJ importer to import & assign vertex colors as well.

Caution - the current implementation is really dirty at this moment (I am going to dig into the code more in the future), also I have not tested it properly so some bugs can occur.

DOWNLOAD / HOW TO USE

To try the modified importer, download the latest version of the import_obj.py script from my GitHub repo and replace the original one located in blender\2.x\scripts\addons\io_scene_obj (make a backup of the previous one, of course).

Then just cross all your fingers and try importing an OBJ model. To see vertex colors clearly, create & assign a new material to the object, set it Shadeless and enable Vertex Color Paint in Options. Then just set the 3D view shading to Material (as in the gif below).

This is an example of an OBJ model exported from http://www.cs.nott.ac.uk/~psxasj/3dme/index.php and imported using the modified importer:

Please let me know whether it works for you!


Place Image in Front of a Grease Pencil Layer Please refer the 2 images provided. In the image it can be seen that a white grease pencil layer is drawn on the default 3d cube Surface and an image of a  girl (using images as planes addon) is placed is placed in front of the cube.

However once seen in Camera view the GP layer is seen over the girl's image which is not the case in reality. Note that the GP layer is placed on the surface of the 3d cube which is placed behind the girl's image. Please let me know how to get the accurate object placement be seen in the camera view.

In Blender 2.8, to get the image plane to appear in front of grease pencil objects:

Select the image plane
Change the Blend Mode in the material settings to "Alpha Clip"


Rigid Body World (Groups) Explained When working with rigid bodies I have to deal with the Rigid Body World and Groups in the Rigid Body World. I have done some reading - for instance the manual and this question - but it is not very clear to me what is the function of the Rigid Body World "checked" and to have one or more Groups in the Rigid Body World. Who can explain ?

The rigid body world contains global settings for the rigid body simulation.

With the "Rigid Body World" checkbox you can simply disable/enable the rigid body simulation.

In order to understand the groups, you have to understand the following:

The rigid body system uses regular Blender groups to keep track of the objects that need to be simulated.
When you add rigid body physics to the first object, a group called "Rigid Body World" is automatically created, and the object is added to it. You can see it in the Outliner, if you set it to show groups.
When you add rigid body physics to other objects, they are also added to the "Rigid Body World" group
You can create your own groups, and select them in the "Rigid Body World" panel. In this case the objects belonging to the new group will be simulated and the objects belonging to the old group will be ignored.


How to scale two UV islands of different sizes to be an identical size? How to scale two UV islands of different sizes to be an identical size?

I have UV unwrapped my model but want islands to be the same size as each other.

If you just have 2 islands and you don't care how they are oriented, just choose the Normalize option in the UV's menu. That is what it's for.

But let's say you took your time manually unwrapping and arranging several islands and need to match the scale of both groups but don't want to ruin the work you already did.

select only the relevant faces in the model (faces you need to
normalize). Make sure the option in the upper-left to link the model
select to the UV layout is OFF.
You will see in the UV editor that only the selected faces are
visible. This also means that operations in the UV editor will not affect hidden UVs.
Choose from the menu in the UV editor to Normalize the UVs. Now all of those UVs are the same size. This WILL reposition and CAN (unless you uncheck the option) rotate the islands though, so if that is a problem you will need to rotate them back into position now.
Drag those faces over someplace where they will be together, but not intersect other UVs. Select all the faces on your model. You will see that all UVs are visible in the UV editor now. Manually scale the islands you just normalized to make sure all islands are perceptually the same size.

This way, you don't have to touch islands that are already the right size and in the right position.


How to scale a side of already subdivided prism? How can I go from this:

To this?

How can I shrink one side of the prism and/or enlarge the other side after a subdivision?
So is there a way of proportional scaling the edges?

I didn't apply sub mod, what I mean is I just added a bunch of edges by using subdivision

There are various tool that can help you in this kind of operation. Here's four that come in my mind:

Proportional edit:

  Proportional Edit is a way of transforming selected elements (such as
  vertices) while having that transformation affect other nearby
  elements

While in edit mode, enable Proportional editing with the faces to scale selected. Choose "linear" interpolation type, scale on the wanted axis and than adjust the influence radius with the mousewheel.

Lattice modifier

  A lattice consists of a three-dimensional non-renderable grid of vertices. Its main use is to give extra deformation capabilities to the underlying object it controls

While in object mode, add a Lattice object to the scene and set its' vetex number to 4. Position the lattice upon the starting mesh and scale it as it would be the obect's bounding box. Add a Lattice modifier pointing to your lattice to the objecte. Then enter in Lattice's edit mode and move the top vertices toward the center.

Simple deform modifier - Taper

  Linearly scales along Z axis.

Add the modifier to your obhect and choose Taper mode. Lock X scale (or Y) to prevent deformation on both axes and adjust other parameters on your need.

Shear (or scale on axis) the whole face


Coordinate UV option is missing under Mapping I'm trying to texture a simple plane, but whenever I go to mapping I don't find the UV option that should be there. Here are my steps:

Make new object (ShiftA) then add mesh > plane
Add texture and then open the texture I want to use

Go to mapping and then click the coordinate option and there is no UV option.

Check under what context you are adding your texture into, you can only add UV mapped options to textures added to a material.

You are probably adding a texture to the world or brush context


How to iterate over custom properties? I have a number of custom string properties that I added to my scene with:

bpy.types.Scene.prop1 = bpy.props.StringProperty()
bpy.types.Scene.prop2 = bpy.props.StringProperty()
# etc...

I want to be able to iterate over these properties to change their values.

I was hoping I would be able to do something like this:

for prop in bpy.types.Scene:
    prop = "new value";

This doesn't work but I would be iterating over all Scene properties instead of only mine anyway.

I also tried adding my properties' names to a list so that I might be able to access only my custom properties and not all the scene properties:

prop_names = ["prop1", "prop2", etc...]

But then I didn't know how to use these, I was hoping to do:

for prop in prop_names:
    bpy.types.Scene. + prop = "new value";

This also didn't work. So how might I achieve something like this?

There are a few ways to use Python to inspect an objects properties, but in this case you're best off using getattr, setattr.

In the case you describe I think the best option is to store a list of properties,
mainly because there isn't a good way to know which properties you created. (Blender doesn't track a properties owner).

for prop_id in prop_names:
    setattr(scene, prop_id, value)

... for completeness, to copy scene_src -> scene_dst

for prop_id in prop_names:
    setattr(scene_dst, prop_id, getattr(scene_src, prop_id))

Note, theres nothing spesific to custom propertes here, this is typical Python and world with any properties (called attributes in Python)


Accidently deleted a theme So I accidentally deleted the Elysium theme with the minus button in blender preferences. Is there any way to recover it?

As @MrZak suggested, you can get the files from online resources.

Go to the "interface_theme" folder in the Blender Source Code
Copy the contents of the XML file for the theme you want
Go to the folder in which blender is installed(usually located in program files)
Navigate to "2.79\scripts\presets\interface_theme"
Create a new XML file and paste the previously copied item in it


How to make a spiral lollipop? So I'm attempting to recreate this specific lollipop for a class. I was able to model the lollipop, but I'm unable to recreate the twist with 4 colors. I tried modeling 4 elongated cubes and using a simple deform to twist them. I got the result I wanted but it wouldn't work if I tried making it follow the spiral path. I also did a screw modifier on a circle and didn't know how to make it follow the spiral path either.
How would you approach this in the most efficient way?

Edit: I made the lollipop! Thanks for the help!

The Screw Modifier with the Curve modifier is a good way to go
Here is an image example


Auto Smooth can it be applied permanently to a mesh? Is it possible to apply auto smooth permanently to a mesh, so that it looks that way even if auto smooth is deselected and the changes that auto smooth makes can be seen in edit mode?

Update: I am referring to the Data tab, Normals group, Auto Smooth check box.

Auto Smooth option and Edge Split modifier give essentially the same result starting from Blender 2.71 when the support for the sharp edges and split normals preview in the viewport was added for the Auto Smooth.

There is one difference though - Auto Smooth doesn't actually split vertices, it only shows them as split ones. Hence the result of the Auto Smooth is visible in Edit mode but is not editable (e.g. to move out the faces which fell under the angle threshold).

To preview the split normals in Edit mode uncheck the Auto Smooth and add Edge Split modifier, then apply it (depending on the case it has to be in the bottom of the stack so it doesn't interfere with other modifiers and has to be applied last).

It is still possible to undo the results made with the modifier by removing doubles in Edit mode.


What is the proper way of importing rigs from one blend file to another? I bought a blend file which contains 3 rigs and I need to import one of them into my other blend file for animation. I know you can Link blend files together and I was wonder what do I need to link? I see tons of options and from different folders as well. What do I need to import and from where so I don't break the rigged model?

Example of things I can that I can link:

I know this also depends on the blend file as well so whats the easiest way to do this?

You'd better select in the source file all elements you need, Ctrl G create a group, rename it and then save, close, open the new file and APPEND that group. If you use Link instead of append, your rig will not be directly editable in your new file, you will have to make the edits in the source file.
To avoid confusion create a group even with a single element (the rig you need), then you can delete it in the new file: everything will automatically imported correctly.
Anyway, if you need only one rig (one armature with all related bones and constraints) you can rename it and simply append that armature.


Why is everything pink? I downloaded my old Blender project from Google Drive which I made in Blender 2.81. Even though I put all procedural textures, everything is pink. The textures are somehow missing. This is how it looks.

You also have to change the path to the textures. Else the computer don't know where to find them.


How can I export an object to multiple scales at once? Let's say our objet is a ring.

I model it in size 1.
I need to generate 60 other rings sizes by scaling my first model it with predetermined ratios stored in a table.

Is there a way to automatise this ?

I did not find a plugin or script for it.

I still can't write a script by my own but I could modifiy a similar script that exist in order to adapt it to my needs.

Could you help on this topic ?

Regards

When you say export, I expect you need it in a non-blender format, say for 3D printing. Most export options have a scale parameter that can easily save each export in a different size.

import bpy

ring_sizes = [0.8,0.9,1.0,1.1,1.2,1.3,1.4,1.5,1.6]

for s in ring_sizes:
    bpy.ops.export_mesh.ply(filepath="Ring_"+str(s)+".ply", global_scale=s)


How to change the visible angle when using a background image So I'm trying to model using a background image and I really need the front face of the image to be facing the same direction as the z axis.

After adding the background image to the 3D view simply change the axis the image is displayed on.


What's the best way to avoid ngons and tris in a model? Basically the question says it all. I'm asking this because I keep getting a lot of ngons and tris with the model I'm working on. And I plan on letting people use this model for whatever they want(whether it be mods or animations) and I don't want it to be filled with ngons and tris.

What has worked best for me so far is to (A) start with quad-based meshes, such as cubes, UV spheres, and cylinders and then (B) add new geometry by using loop cuts (Ctrl+R) and extruding faces (E) in edit mode.

You can then move vertices manually in edit mode or use sculpt mode (with Dyntopo off) to shape your model without adding vertices or creating ngons.


Accessing my own mesh class I'm scripting my own mesh class but don't manage to access to it.
import bpy
from math import sqrt
from mathutils import Vector
import bmesh

class Triangle(bpy.types.Mesh):
    bl_idname = "Triangle"

    def __init__(self, origin, depth=1):
        Mesh.__init__(name="Triangle.001")
        self.origin = origin
        self.depth = depth

        bm = bmesh.new()

        bm.verts.ensure_lookup_table()
        v1 = Vector((- sqrt(3)/2, -.5, 0))
        v2 = Vector((0, 1, 0))
        v3 = Vector((sqrt(3)/2, -.5, 0))

        bmv1 = bm.verts.new(v1)
        bmv2 = bm.verts.new(v2)
        bmv3 = bm.verts.new(v3)

        bm.edges.new([bmv1, bmv2])
        bm.edges.new([bmv2, bmv3])
        bm.edges.new([bmv3, bmv1])
        bm.faces.new([bmv1, bmv2, bmv3])

        bm.to_mesh(self)
        bm.free()

When I try to instanciate it, it is unknown:
>>> steeve = Triangle()

Traceback (most recent call last):   File "<blender_console>", line 1,
in  NameError: name 'Triangle' is not defined

Blender says, I'm not meant to register this class:

ValueError: register_class(...): expected a subclass of a registerable RNA type (Mesh does not support registration)

How can I access this class into console?
EDIT
My script is imported like this:
import bpy
import os

filename = os.path.join("C:\\yMAK\\triangle", "triangle.py")
exec(compile(open(filename).read(), filename, 'exec'))

Alternatively
If we wish to make a special mesh class based on bpy.types.Mesh
import bpy

class Triangle(bpy.types.Mesh):
    def __init__(self, verts):
        self.is_triangle = True
        pass
    def __new__(cls, verts):
        me = bpy.data.meshes.new("Tri")
        # why bother with bmesh for a tri?
        me.from_pydata(verts, [], ((0, 1, 2),))
        return bpy.types.Mesh.__new__(Triangle, me)

# test
from math import sqrt
root = sqrt(3) / 2
context = bpy.context
tri = Triangle(
   (
        (-root, -.5, 0),
        (0, 1, 0),
        (root, -.5, 0),
    )
)

print(tri)
print(tri.is_triangle)
print(tri.vertices)
ob = bpy.data.objects.new("Tri", tri)
context.collection.objects.link(ob)

output
<bpy_struct, Mesh("Tri.012") at 0x7fd4057b6c08>
True
<bpy_collection[0], MeshVertices>

as well as triangle object linked to context collection.


I created a nice looking ocean but I cant get it to move... Can you help? I followed the instructions of this tutorial, to create a nice looking ocean for my project:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqsOH-qToHs

I am done now, it looks fantastic but when I render it out as a video it does not move. I then rewatched the video to make sure I did everything as stated. But I cant find a clue.

Can you help, do you have advice?

Set your start and end frame

Select render as animation

This will generate an image sequence which you can then convert to video by following this tutorial


How to save the material in library I want to save material in library. i have install Material library vx addon but i want to add other material to that addon how can in add. Plz explain brief. Or is there other addon present that can save my material in library

To add a material to your library, first you have to save your file with the material you want to add to the library.

Next, click add material in the menu as pictured below, and it will be added to the library and available for future use.

The other alternative is to add a new material to the appropriate .blend file in the addon folder. Remember to save it, or it will be lost of course.

There should be a .blend for each material library the add-on provides as shown below.


Can I make the X-Ray mode even more transparent? I am currently modeling a small cabin using a reference photo.
My problem is that my objects are projected over the top of my reference photo, and even in X-ray mode it is hard to see my photo. Can I change the opacity of an object in X-Ray mode to make things behind it more visible?
In this case, I need to make my objects more transparent so I can use my reference photo to model it easier.

You can change the x-ray opacity in the shading dropdown.
It's not exactly linear, but it works.
Or you can put the image in front and make it semi-transparent.


Maya style functions in Blender 2.8 Does Blender 2.8 have in-built Mayalike pie menu to change viewpoint?

And is there a way to show wireframe of objects in solid/shaded view??

My keyboard also doesn't have a numpad by the way.

Thank you

For views you can alt middle-mouse and it changes in the direction your mouse is going.

For your wireframe problem, go to object tab, viewport display, tick wireframe.

To make it global:


reference image won't show I was using image references to create a character however after pressing some keys on my keyboard, which activated a short cut, when i attempted to go into front view to see my reference u=image, it appeared to have disappeared. As i was following a tutorial and therefore was doing it as a learning exercise i was willing to restart the project again, i started a new file. However once i re entered the reference images it still would not appear on my front view (I did set the axis' correctly)

If anyone knows of anything that could help that would be most appreciated,
Thank you,
Nura

Background images will only be displayed in:

Camera Prespective view (Numpad 0)
Any of the preset Orthographic views:

Front/Back (Numpad 1 or Ctrl Numpad 1)

Right /Left (Numpad 3 or Ctrl Numpad 3)

Top/Bottom (Numpad 7 or Ctrl Numpad 7)

To toggle between Prespective and orthogonal view use Numpad 5


What are these block dotted lines? In Object Mode I sometimes see these black dotted lines starting at some of my objects and ending in some random spot in the space. What are they, how do I manipulate them, and why?

These are called "Relationship Lines" Normally, they show relationships between an object and its parent, and an object and it constraints. they can be turned off under options (N) display >  relationship lines


Why my custom enum property becomes an integer property after restart blender? I try to add custom enum properties to a bone in order to change sub-surf levels and masking vertex groups of a mesh. Every time I run the script, it assigns the property like the following:

Enum property state after running the script

When I close the blender, restart it and open up the file, the properties appear in integer values like:

Note: I've figured out that this does not happen, if I reopen the file without restarting blender.

Why does this happen?

.blend files (including the script in EnumPropCheck.blend)

If only a single .blend uses your property, tick the Register checkbox for the script in Text Editor. The text datablock name must end with .py!

The script will be run when the .blend is loaded. Note that auto-run is disabled by default. Click Reload Trusted in the Info header and confirm (Revert).

import bpy

def my_enum_cb(self, context):
    print(self, self.my_enum, context)

bpy.types.PoseBone.my_enum = bpy.props.EnumProperty(
    items=(
        ('identi_1', 'Name 1', 'Descript 1'),
        ('identi_2', 'Name 2', 'Descript 2'),
        ('identi_3', 'Name 3', 'Descript 3'),
    ),
    name="My Enum",
    default="identi_2",
    update=my_enum_cb
)

bpy.data.objects["Armature"].pose.bones["Bone"].my_enum = "identi_3"

If you need this property to be globally available, turn the code into an addon, install and enable it. Don't forget to save user prefs after enabling it, or you will have to tick the checkbox every time you start Blender:

bl_info = {
    "name": "My Enum Addon",
    "author": "Your Name Here",
    "version": (1, 0),
    "blender": (2, 75, 0),
    "location": "",
    "description": "",
    "warning": "",
    "wiki_url": "",
    "category": "Rigging",
}

import bpy

# Define our own panel (optional)
class HelloWorldPanel(bpy.types.Panel):
    """Creates a Panel in the Bone properties window"""
    bl_label = "Hello World Panel"
    bl_idname = "OBJECT_PT_hello"
    bl_space_type = 'PROPERTIES'
    bl_region_type = 'WINDOW'
    bl_context = "bone"

    def draw(self, context):
        layout = self.layout

        pbone = context.active_pose_bone
        if pbone is not None:
            layout.prop(pbone, "my_enum")
        else:
            layout.label("No active PoseBone.")

def my_enum_cb(self, context):
    print(self, self.my_enum, context)

def register():
    bpy.types.PoseBone.my_enum = bpy.props.EnumProperty(
        items=(
            ('identi_1', 'Name 1', 'Descript 1'),
            ('identi_2', 'Name 2', 'Descript 2'),
            ('identi_3', 'Name 3', 'Descript 3'),
        ),
        name="My Enum",
        default="identi_2",
        update=my_enum_cb
    )
    bpy.utils.register_module(__name__)

def unregister():
    bpy.utils.unregister_module(__name__)
    del bpy.types.PoseBone.my_enum

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()

    # This is not supposed to be done in an addon.
    # Every access to bpy.data and bpy.contet during init is prohibited.
    #bpy.data.objects["Armature"].pose.bones["Bone"].my_enum = "identi_3"


Can Grease Pencil get light / shadows like a regular mesh? I was wondering if a Grease Pencil layer can get (or generate) light and shadows like a regular mesh ?
Before Grease Pencil, I was achieving this by loading an image sequence as a texture on planes; and this was casting light.

Now that GP exists, it could improve my workflow a lot (no need to export / re-import the animation, setup a material, etc) - but I need to having it interacting with lights...

Thanks

Realized as visual effects->shadow in current version 2.91.
https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/grease_pencil/visual_effects/shadow.html


Blender 2.83 Displacement - Cycles and Eevee I have problems with working on displacement node. So there I have setup of nodes.

Cycles Render

Eevee Render

On Cycles there's some error in displacement. I tried to adjust displacement with displacement node(also i have enabled Displacement and bump in options). Used displacement + normal map node still the same result. Displacement looks like it moved to right top side instead of being in the same place as headlight. On Eevee it's looking good.
What is the solution to solve this because I have no idea?

The reason there's no error in the displacement in EEVEE is that there is no displacement in EEVEE.

So, if you like what you see there, the simplest solution is to unplug the displacement. But that's not an explanation of what's happening.

If a vector is plugged straight into the Displacement input of a Material Output node without going through a Displacement node first, what you get is a displacement of the shading-points by that vector, in Blender Units, in Object Space. (That is, along the object's local axes, and taking the object's scale transform into account).

You can get the feel of that by plugging a Combine XYZ node into the Displacement input, and playing with the numbers.

It looks as if you would probably want simple displacement along the normals of your surface here -  there are no undercuts. So, if you did want to displace the inside surface of the glass, you would have a UV map of the lens which separated the inside and outside surfaces, and, covering the region of the map representing the inside surface, have an image which would serve as a height map, with 0 values interpreted as no displacement, and 1 values as full displacement.

You would then plug that map into the Height input of a Displacement node, and in turn, plug the Displacement node onto the Material Output.


How to get rid of imperfections after applying subsurf? I'm trying to model a simple sofa in blender but after I applied subdivision surface modifier i got that nasty gap. On the other side it looks good.

here ^ is how it looks in edit mode, there are not two objects but one so moving the small part in won't do.
PS: no need for elaborate stuff since I'm using it only as a prop, it was not intended to be a high quality object in the first place, so any solutions will do (even if it's not 'by the book'). Thank you!

I managed to solve it!

I deleted the vertical edge loop (Alt + RMB) then X → Edge Loop
Then Ctrl + R to make another vertical loop cut and I was more careful not to slide it as far.

This is how it looks now

This is how it looks in the edit mode with the new edge loop

I don't know if it's the right thing to do but it worked for me!


When I set geometry to origin my character's head gets messed up I wanted my character to align down to 3D cursor. When I set origin to Geometry to origin my character's head gets messed up. Please help.

In edit mode press TAB: select the botom faces from the foots

press Shift + S and click cursor to selected

press TAB to set object mode, then press T to show transform panel and go to set origin and click set origin to 3D cursor

Make sure you don't have another object select pressing A to select everything and deselect everything.
Finally select the object and press Shift + S and click selection to cursor(offset)


Cigarette smoke material with cycles I'm doing a blender project with a cigarette smoke. I don't use smoke simulation, the smoke is just a mesh simulated with soft body. Here is the mesh:

I've made a cool texture with blender internal :

But now I want to recreate the same, or the closer possible, material in cycles. Can somebody help my I'm really new to cycle material.

This will do what you want:

The Color Ramp will allow you to control/fine-tune the amount of transparency.


How do I adjust opacity of an "image as a plane" in Version 2.90.1? I want to adjust the opacity of an image overlapping another image.
For example, in this image, I have a car overlapping an airplane.
How do I get that same effect in blender?

All the tutorials I've found are very outdated, the UI has changed so much at this point, they can't be followed. Do I have to setup some kind of crazy thing in the shader editor, or is there some simple opacity slider I am overlooking?
I managed to get the image added with transparency, I just can't figure out how to adjust the opacity so I can see through the image.

Edit Finally was able to adjust the opacity without removing the transparency using the suggestions provided, adding a second Mix Shader and Transparent BSDF (for a simple effect, this was not easy for a beginner):

When selecting your image plane, navigate to the image section of the properties side bar and click on the transparency button to enable it, then adjust the opacity to your desired value.

Alternatively, if you are using the add-on version of images as planes, and still wish to see your image in the final render, you can modify your shader like this, and use the "fac" slider to adjust transparency.


Recreate BI's Edge in compositor? I've read that the Edge post processing effect from Blender Internal is Z based, and something similar can be done in the compositor. Can anyone suggest a setup for this, or have any ideas on how it would be done?

I'm looking for something other than Freestyle or BlenderNPR edge nodes. Scripting is fine.

This probably isn't the answer you are looking for, but you could always render out using BI at the end of production, with a 'shadeless' white material applied in the render-layer settings as the material override (applies to all objects when rendered) Also, set the world colour as 100% white as well.

render result

This would then allow you to composite the rendered image or sequence of images ontop of your cycles render, you can use a colour mix -> multiply so that only the black 'edge' is applied to the cycles render.


How to avoid Mesh Distortion when Curves cutting themselves, especially with Subsurface Modifier? I am failing on a embarrassing challenge. I am trying to create an actually pretty simple form, but I cant finish my work without distortion on my mesh.

This is the object I am working on.

So far I tried different strategies, but I have always the same issue:

As you can see, the Boolean modifier and all my other attempts failed.

The problem is the overlapping mesh obviously, but I don't know how to fix it.
My best attempt so far was to make the whole object from only 1 curve:

But then my Circle looks a not really symmetrically. And if you look closely enough you can still see a little shadow/distortion on the point where the curve hits herself.

Is there a common known workflow or something to help me finishing my project?

As you're talking about booleans it looks like you're open to do it with mesh (rather than only curve), so here is a solution:

Create a torus (Major Segments: 24/Minor Segments: 8).
Duplicate one of its circle, make it another object, extrude on the Z axis.
Boolean the 2 objects.
In Top Ortho view cut in half with the knife, then mirror the whole object.
Use the knife to add some topology: K to activate, Z to cut through, C to cut orthogonally.
Give your object a Subsurf and Shade Smooth to test the result.
Use the same technic and also the Spin tool for the top of the object.


Smoke simulation values are Resetting automatically I simulated smoke in Blender 2.74 and when I changed vorticity to 3 and changed flow type to smoke+fire which is in next tab the vorticity value again changed to default value. Then I tried Alt+A and there is no simulation. and all the values are resetting automatically.

This is because you are turning the domain  into an emitter and then back into a domain.

Each smoke type (domain, flow, collision) plays a different role in the simulation with different settings. By clicking that button, you are changing the active object to a different type.

Generally you'll want to select one of the smoke types for each object and leave them at that. Domain options should be set on the domain object and flow settings set on the flow object(s).

For example, here's a quick setup:

Note that to access the different settings for the domain and flow objects I select the object in question.


Why I cannot join these two vertices with hotkey J? I've made the two open vertical lines using the knife tool, but then when I try joining them with the J hotkey, I can't. Does anyone know why this happens? Thank you in advance.

https://ibb.co/4Nmhwhg

In edit mode J will make an edge between two vertices, and also cut the underlying faces and edges crossed over by the new connection. This does not work if there is no face associated with a selected vertex.

In your screenshot, the lower vertex looks like it is on the horizontal edge but the lack of selection highlighting shows that it is a floating vertex with only one edge attached to it.

Also looking at the upper selected vertex, you will see that there are two horizontal lines, one orange and one black, this would indicate that you have two horizontal edges, one of which has the selected vertex, there wouldn't appear to be a face attached to these edges.


how to add extra sapling presets I have activated sapling addon. I have seen just 4 presets. I have found more presets here

I have found this addon here

After installing i cant find the addon to activate.

Here are few more presets how can i add them. Do i have added separately or once there is no load button to add them. How can i add all those presets in sapling addon. Any suggestion or Help Thanks

Don't know if relevant anymore but custom sapling addons are saved on

C:\Users\YourUsername\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.79\scripts\presets\operator\add_curve_sapling

Hope this helps.


Rendered image looks pixelated When I hit F12 to render an image and zoom in it is quickly pixelated.
How can I render a higher res display? I have looked through the settings and couldn't find a solution.

You can set the output resolution of the render in the Properties Editor > Render settings > Dimensions Panel:

For a description of each of these settings, see the Manual:

  Resolution:
      The Dimensions section has settings for the size of the rendered images.
      By default the dimensions SizeX and SizeY are 1920×1080 and can be changed by adjusting the X and Y fields. These buttons control the
  overall size of the image.

  Percentage:
       Slider to reduce or increase the size of the rendered image relative to the X/Y values above. This is useful for small test renders that have the same proportions as the final image.

Note you can quickly increase or decrease the resolution while keeping the same aspect ratio by setting the Percentage slider below the resolution settings:

Note that to set the Precentage a value greater than 100% you will have to type the value in directly.

Other methods

Note that it is possible to type a quick python math expression such as 1920*2 directly into the value box: (helpful for quick arithmetic to precisely set values. This works for all value boxes, not just resolution settings)