parenting object to an object deformed by armature I have a cat figure rigged by an armature. Also, I have created some details as separate objects (teeth, eyes) primarily for texturing purposes. Is it possible to parent these details to the cat so that they move when I change the pose of the cat with the armature?

Many thanks

Lukas

You can select the teeth, then the body, then ctrlJ to join. But at this point, the teeth vertices won't be part of any vertex group, therefore no bone will be able to move them. So you also need to assign these vertices to the vertices group that they are supposed to be part of, i.e. the group that has the same name as the bone that controls it: Select the teeth vertices, go in the Properties panel > Data > Vertex Groups, select the right group and press the Assign button.

You don't need to join the 2 objects if you don't want to, in that case parent the teeth to the armature With Empty Group, then in Edit mode select the whole teeth mesh and assign it to the vertices group it is supposed to be part of.


Eevee rendering images in a higher resolution than 1980 x 1080 I have been trying to render a JPEG image higher than my standard monitor resolution which is 1980 x 1080. I succeeded in the following resolution 5400x3600 but could not go any larger since blender crashed.
Am I doing something wrong?

Computing power is limited, most computers cannot deal with that size images.
You can try adding a lot more RAM or getting a more powerful GPU (again, wtih more vRAM).
5400x3600 pixels is over 9 times larger than 1980x1080, so that will need at least 9 times more resources. Remember that increasing size means exponential increase.
If your computer cannot handle that then you have to come up with different strategies, like rendering in sections and stitch the tiles together later.
Or you can try using cloud computing or a render farm.


How can I access pre-existing UV maps in an fbx? I am trying to clean up some mistakes in an fbx model that I have and it would help tremendously if I could access the pre-existing UV maps in the model.

My outliner shows one mesh with multiple materials that have multiple textures underneath it.

I want to access the UV map for one of these textures.

Unfortunately, the UV/Image Editor shows one ridiculously complicated UV map that combines the UV maps of all the textures.

How can I select just the one UV map that comes with only one of the textures?

All existing UV maps can be accessed by simply selecting them in the Properties Editor, Data tab in the UV map list. They will be previewed in the viewport when selected, and you need to select the active one for rendering by clicking the camera icon:

When you need to use a few UV maps in a shader, you can specify the vector input for any texture to be the correct UV map with the node not so surprisingly called 'UV Map':


My Donut sprinkles not showing in rendering my blender? My Donut sprinkles not showing in rendering my blender version v2.79  i m begginer i need help please My project link https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wX9mngWBoK5XGccuJMY8Iz3b0koTypxy/view?usp=sharing

You have set the Particle-System > Children > Simple:

Change this option to None:

But if you also want to use Children particles then adjust the Size and to see them in the viewport, set Display > 0 or Display = Render,


Select all overlapping vertices There is "remove doubles" function for removing overlapping vertices and it works nice. But sometimes I'd like to see which vertices will be merged in order to decide whether I actually need to remove them or not. So in this case selecting them first (specifying distance threshold) to highlight would be useful. Unfortunately I have not found any such option in "select all by trait"

Ok, here the script that adds button with such function to "Select all by trait menu". Feel free to improve

bl_info = {
    "name": "Select Doubles",
    "author": "Lambdadelta",
    "version": (1, 0),
    "blender": (2, 78, 0),
    "location": "(Edit Mode) Select > Select All by Trait",
    "description": "Select all duplicate vertices.",
    "warning": "",
    "wiki_url": "http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/68326/select-all-overlapping-vertices",
    "category": "Mesh",
    }

import bmesh
import bpy
from mathutils import Vector, kdtree

def select_duplicate_vertices(context, distance):
    obj = bpy.context.object
    me = obj.data
    bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(me)
    verts = bm.verts
    verts.ensure_lookup_table()

    # Create a kd-tree from a mesh
    size = len(verts)
    kd = kdtree.KDTree(size)
    for i, vtx in enumerate(verts):
        kd.insert(vtx.co, i)
    kd.balance()

    # Deselect all
    bpy.ops.mesh.select_all(action = 'DESELECT')

    # Select duplicate vertices
    for i, vtx in enumerate(verts):
        vtx_group = []
        for (co, index, dist) in kd.find_range(vtx.co, distance):
            vtx_group.append(index)
        if len(vtx_group) > 1:
            #print(vtx_group)
            for index in vtx_group:
                verts[index].select = True

    # Switch to vertex select
    bpy.ops.mesh.select_mode(use_extend=False, use_expand=False, type='VERT')

    # Show the updates in the viewport
    bmesh.update_edit_mesh(me, False)

class SelectDoubles(bpy.types.Operator):
    """Select duplicate vertices"""
    bl_idname = 'mesh.select_doubles'
    bl_label = 'Select Doubles'
    bl_options = {'REGISTER', 'UNDO'}

    distance = bpy.props.FloatProperty(
        name = "Distance",
        subtype='DISTANCE',
        default = 0.001,
        min = 0.0,
        max = 50.0,
        description = "Minimum distance between elements to select.",
        unit='LENGTH'
        )

    def execute(self, context):
        select_duplicate_vertices(context, self.distance)
        return {'FINISHED'}

    def invoke(self, context, event) :
        select_duplicate_vertices(context, self.distance)
        return {"FINISHED"}

def menu_func(self, context):
    self.layout.operator(SelectDoubles.bl_idname, text="Select Doubles")

def register():
   bpy.utils.register_class(SelectDoubles)
   bpy.types.VIEW3D_MT_edit_mesh_select_by_trait.append(menu_func)

def unregister():
    bpy.utils.unregister_class(SelectDoubles)
    bpy.types.VIEW3D_MT_edit_mesh_select_by_trait.remove(menu_func)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()


Can't get procedural displacement to work at all Trying to follow an Andrew Price tutorial for procedural displacement but when the tutorial goes to procedural displacement I get zero effect, except in surface shadows, when the edges of the object should be displaced, and in the tut look like a sea urchin. Have tried this a few times but can't see where I am going wrong, it seems to be a really simple thing but all the other resources I can find are discussing slightly different procedures. To be clear - I am trying to apply a procedural noise texture (not UV mapped) to a simple object. It doesn't make any difference if I subsurf it or not. He says to change the material option from Bump to Displacement in the material settings but in 2.81 it is default anyway. I want to make a big ocean scene with physically large waves.

I have tried some solutions from the youtube comments such as turning on a bit of subsurf - although that makes no difference and I don't know what it has to do with displacement... Tried turning on experiemental features, double checking I am using cycles... Checked all views, including rendering, this thing is still as smoooth as eggs

The property you need to change is rather hidden in the UI unfortunately. Blender allows you to change the behavior of Displacement vector inputs per material. So as a result, there is a dropdown box in the Materials tab in the Properties Editor, under Settings -> Surface -> Displacement:

By default that will be set to Bump Only. Change it either to Displacement - which will displace the geometry - or Displacement and Bump, which will first displace the geometry and then apply the same texture as a bump map on top of that. Result looks like this in your file:

Second, in case you want to go really high with the level of detail, you'll need to enable the Experiental feature set to get Adaptive tessellation. Adaptive tessellation (sometimes called Microdisplacement) will give you more geometric details in areas when needed. Here's where to enable it first:

And here is the checkbox that needs to be enabled in each SubSurf modifier where you want adaptive displacement to kick in:

If you now render, you can see that the detail is a lot smoother, simply because now there are far more triangles in the mesh than before to capture the displacement detail:


How to merge two faces of different normals to create a corner? I want to merge the faces and make sure the vertices match up.

Install this Destructive Extrude Addon

In Edit mode Select the Face and Press Alt+E and select the Destructive Extrude option.

Now you can extrude and if need to snap to face press Ctrl key.

It never creates extra faces and no doubles.


Cannot mirror bones, weight mapping impossible First time using Blender, I have watched and read several tutorials on how to add bones, center and all the basics. But I was never able to get the mirror tool to work.

I then just made with what I could and realigned the duplicate. After putting days of work in I finish only to find out that since it's asymmetrical it can't have weight mapping.

I still have all the limbs as individuals so if I could mirror it would it work? or because the model itself is asymmetrical I can't do it? Would weight mapping work?

You can absolutely have weight mapping in asymmetrical meshes. If the automatic weight assignement fails, probably is because the mesh is not manifold: maden of spare parts, or it has holes or bad junctions, or doubles, or something like that.

In those cases you can either improve the topology of your mesh or go with manual weighting (weight paint or weight assign in the properties panel, vertex groups section): or - even better - both.

What do you mean for "mirror tool": the mirror modifier or the mirror option checked in edit mode? Anyway they both need the origin of the object set in the proper position to act as pivot point of the mirroring.
In the mirror modifier check the clipping option for proper behaviour.


Substance / Blender GLTF workflow = wrong metal render I have a 3D armor which was textured in Substance and exported following that pipeline: https://www.khronos.org/blog/art-pipeline-for-gltf, that is to say with a ORM map.

However, once the maps pluggued in the right nodes in Blender (I'm using the glTF metallic roughness node from https://github.com/KhronosGroup/glTF-Blender-Exporter)...the metal renders like plastic, not at all like in Substance. I have tried to toggle Color / Non-Color Data modes, to darken the roughness... Nothing works.

Here are some screenshots. First what it renders in Substance painter.

Then what it renders in Blender using the gltf nodes

The node connexions:

And finally what it renders when plugging the maps in the Principled BSDF node

Can someone please explain me why I can't seem to get the metal effect right using the GLTF pipeline? :(

Thank you very much :)

An ORM texture stores each map in a channel : Occlusion in Red channel, Roughness in Green channel, Metalness in Blue channel.

You need to use a SeparateRGB node to split the texture into separate channels. Then, simply connect each channel to the corresponding input.


API command for general Edit Mode toggling (TAB press)? I tried imitating Blender's TAB press (Edit Mode Toggle) by using object.mode_set(mode='EDIT'), but this doesn't work for grease pencil objects which require object.mode_set(mode='EDIT_GPENCIL') instead.
I checked the keymap editor but the Enum property there doesn't even match the documentation:

Am I being silly or what is going on here?
TLDR
What API command can I use to match the default behavior of TAB press (not have to worry about object types like mesh vs grease_pencil)?
EDIT: Thanks batfinger and Marcus for helping out!

Keymap sets a toggle.
The operator has two properties, mode and toggle
>>> bpy.ops.object.mode_set(
mode_set()
bpy.ops.object.mode_set(mode='OBJECT', toggle=False)
Sets the object interaction mode

Mesh object active
The TAB Shortcut The toggle property is set to True.
which correlates to
bpy.ops.object.mode_set(mode='EDIT', toggle=True)

GPencil object active
Why is it blank when GP is active, the keymap uses  'EDIT' as the setting, which is not available as an enum item. (See below)  Appears to be some dodgy fix in place behind the scenes, replacing 'EDIT' with a startswith 'EDIT' option.
The shortcut can be emulated by emulating this.
import bpy
ob = bpy.context.object

bpy.ops.object.mode_set(
        mode = 'EDIT_GPENCIL' if ob.type == 'GPENCIL' else 'EDIT',
        toggle=True,
        )

use this in your scripts to emulate tab.
Dynamic Enum
On the "Non Matching". An enum property can be dynamic, ie items added / removed based on context.  If a grease pencil object is active the options are different for if a mesh object is active, etc.
The documentation shows all possible items, of which only a subset will be valid, based on context.
EDIT
On further investigation, the shortcut is using
bpy.ops.gpencil.editmode_toggle()

this can be confirmed by pressing TAB with GP object active and in python console
>>> C.active_operator
<bpy_struct, Operator("GPENCIL_OT_editmode_toggle") at 0x7f3221be1988>

>>> C.window_manager.operator_properties_last('gpencil.editmode_toggle').back
False

when the context object is a gpencil, so without any knowledge of context, could use a try catch clause
import bpy

try:
    bpy.ops.object.mode_set(
            mode = 'EDIT',
            toggle=True,
            )
except TypeError:
    bpy.ops.gpencil.editmode_toggle()

which will still throw a runtime error if the context object is None for example.


How to divide double faced mesh? I have a double faced object, inside and outside, and I want to separate/delete the inside faces. What's the best way to do it?

The easiest way would be to delete the faces then recreate them.

Using edge select in wireframe view you can easily select the edges connecting each end using box select B.
Delete edges X will remove the duplicate faces and leave the two ends.
Select both ends and bridge edge loops (in the specials menu W) will fill in the faces you want.


Is it possible to convert image texture's black color to transparent? I have 100 tif images from confocal microsocpy that have black background (NOT alpha) and I would like to stack them to recreate some color labeled structures in 3D. In order to do that, I need to make the black color transparent. I tried to mix diffuse and transparent shaders, but I don't really know how to indicate the black color to be transparent.

Yes.

First Cycles  Texture Non Color then Mix Transparency and Emission.

Nodes

You might consider processing your images once as format .png for you later convenience and node convenience.

Second a sample from Blender Render. UV Mapped Image. Texture 01 Image .. calculate transparency.  Threshold with color ramp gray scale . Affect color and transparency. Texture 02 color only multiply. You may want to threshold because the image may not be black exactly where you might first think.  There are many was to do this.  Torus Background and Text to show transparency.

2 Textures. Note the color ramp.


Is there a quick way to snap an object's origin to world origin along a specific axis? I know that I can select an object in Object Mode and go to the Properties Shelf (N)>Transform>Location and enter a value of 0 in a specific axis in order to snap the object to world origin in that particular axis, but I would like to know if there is a way to get the same result in the 3D Viewport without resorting to the Properties Shelf.

Does any one know if there is a quicker way to snap an object's origin to the World origin along a specific axis in the 3D Viewport without using the Properties Shelf?

If you want to snap the object's origin to the world origin (0,0,0) all at once, there's the shortcut Alt+G (clear location).

If you want to snap it to just one axis at a time, you can do this by:

Checking the "Manipulate center points" to transform the origin only (and not the entire object).
Changing the pivot point to 3D cursor.
Snapping the cursor to the world origin (Shift+C).
Scaling any axis to 0 to snap the object origin to that axis:
For instance, SX0 Snaps your object to the X axis.

See animation below for a demonstration of the method:


I need to create more faces( but ctrl+r in edit mode isnt working), how do i do it alternatively? I downloaded a model from a website and got permission to use it for non profit/open source projects.

Problem is that I cant use Ctrl+R to divide the faces into smaller multiple faces.

If I use W> Subdivide I get more or less the result I need (far from perfect but it can/could work), but the faces have triangles inside them, causing too many faces that wouldnt crash realistically. Is there an alternative to Ctrl+R or a way to get Ctrl+R working again and remove triangles inside the faces (whithout deleting the faces) where I dont need them? If I remove them manually using X then W> Subdivide wont create vertical edges I need.

I cant use Ctrl+R to do it, any alternative way to do it? If I use knife to do it (easiest way) the edges I get are not vertical.

If I use W> Subdivide I get too many diagonal edges from my current diagonal edges (most of which I dont need, but if I remove them then W> Subdivide does nothing.

Any ideas how to fix it?

This is what I want:

This is what it should look like(12+ or so little square faces per body panel):

You might want the Knife tool (the K tool in edit mode).  https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/dev/modeling/meshes/editing/subdividing/knife_subdivide.html .  It lets you divide faces along a line you choose.

If you decide those vertices aren't in the exact right place you can use Vertex Slide Shift+V to slide them into the right place.
If that model's triangulation is a problem and you want to turn them back into quads, consider the Dissolve Edges operator (in the X menu.


animating transformation of one object into another I wanted to start animating with something less complicated, so I choose a blacksmith, without people, just hammers forging a metal bar into a sword. The only way I could think how to animate the transformation of the metal bar into a sword is to model a sword and a metal bar, the sword put into the metal bar and then animate scaling the metal bar down after each hit of the hammer. Is there a way to make the metal bar transform or should I do my best using scaling?

You can use shape keys.

Model your sword first. Create a base shape key. Then add a new shape key and start deforming it to to the shape of the bar, creating new shape keys along the way. Animate then the shape keys values so that you are left with the base shape key at the end.

Then just let the swordsmith do her job!

The example Blend file is HERE


Blender artifacts when zooming out I facing the problem that I get artifacts around areas where polygons are close together when zooming out: this is also visible in rendered shading.
It seems like some of the polygons disappear:

This does happen with polygons from the same mesh and polygons of other meshes as long as theyre close together.
I checked the normals which are fine.
It is fine when I frehsly reopend blender and open the scene but after editing the mesh just a little the artefacts reoccour.
I already tried making a completely new scene and importing the mesh but the artefacts also happen then.

It can be the Clipping Distance of the Scene view and the camera, try to set a higher number, and those weird clipping artifacts will disappear.


how to make straight edges smoother Im creating low poly game assets, but i have a problem with my models. I want to make the edges of my object look smoother like the one in the photo below, before and after (this is not mine, its from a tutorial on art station)

anyway... if i want to make the edges smoother i have to add subdivide and then subdivision modifier etc, but that adds a lot of vertices, which is not really useful when working on low poly as you may know. the other way to smooth out the edges is to use the sculpting tools, but that also adds extra vertices to my mesh.

I want to achieve smooth edges without having to add anything extra, or at least minimum as possible.  any ideas??

I see at least 2 methods. The one you'll choose will depend on the amount of vertices you want and the time you want to spend on each object.

First method, bevels (faster but more vertices): You can select your object, go in Edit mode, select the angles you want, CtrlB to bevel, and set the bevel values in the operator panel. If the amount of Segments is low you can keep a rather low-poly version.

Second method, bevels + normal map (longer but no additional vertices): You can duplicate your object, bevel the copy, create a normal map from the beveled version, and use the normal map on the low-poly. This way you have zero additional vertex:

Create your low-poly version.

Duplicate it. Select the copy and in Edit mode, bevel the angles you want. Also, pump it up slightly with AltS (Shrink Fatten tool), keep pressing Shift if you want to be more precise. Give your object a Subdivision Surface modifier.

Bake the high-poly normals. To do so, first unwrap the low-poly (Smart UV Project mode), create a new black image in the UV Editor (32 Bit Float option activated I guess), give your low-poly a material with Image Texture > Normal Map > Diffuse > Output. Don't plug the Image Texture for the moment but switch it to Non-Color Data and load the image you've created before. Select the high poly object, then the low-poly, and in the Render > Bake panel, choose Bake Type > Normal, enable Selected to Active, click the Bake button. Set the Ray Distance at the right value, so that you have as less artefacts as possible. Anyway you'll necessary have some with this kind of geometry.

Export the normal map, import it in an image editor software, try to remove as many artefacts as possible, don't try it to make it perfect though, reimport the image, load it in the Image Texture node, plug the Image Texture node into the Normal socket of the Diffuse. You can also bring some corrections on your normal map directly in the 3D View / Texture Paint mode: Plug your Image Texture in the Color socket of the Diffuse to display it on the object, switch the 3D View to Texture shading, and use the Clone brush for example. When you're good, replug the Image Texture in the Normal Map node.


Why does my object not have a material? I can't assign smooth shading to my object (clicking smooth in the shading tab on the left side yields not result). When trying to find out why I noticed that it doesn't have a material in the material panel (bottom right). Why?

This is a custom shaped object I made from a cylinder mesh.

On the bottom right, scroll up and you will see the panel to add materials.
Even if you don't assign a material to your mesh the smooth shading option should still work.
From what I can see, your mesh just has inverted normals.
Go to the panel on the left and click "Recalculate"
if that doesnt work, then click "Flip Direction".


How do I batch import one format, then export to another? I'm hoping this question builds on a previous question, Batch import Wavefront OBJ.

I'd like to batch import a bunch of .3ds files and export each of them to their own .js file (using the Three.js file importer/exporter addon). Is there a way to do this in Python? If so, how would I do this? I have 77 files to convert, so it wouldn't kill me to do it by hand, but I'd rather not.

Or should I find a non-Blender solution? There is an online tool called Online 3D Model Converter. Unfortunately, the exports from this tool are not nearly as clean and small as those from Blender.

Here is an outline:

Make sure 3DS importer and Three.js exporter are installed and enabled

# test
hasattr(bpy.types, "EXPORT_OT_threejs")

# enable
try:
    bpy.ops.wm.addon_enable(module="threejs")
except ImportError:
    print("Threejs importer addon not available")

Loop over all the files and perform below actions for every single one,
you may use glob.glob() or os.walk() unless you want to select the files via UI
(see the Operator Import tempate, you will need to provide
files = bpy.props.CollectionProperty(type=bpy.types.PropertyGroup), docs)
Clear scene if desired, e.g.

 bpy.ops.object.mode_set(mode='OBJECT')
 bpy.ops.object.select_all(action='SELECT')
 bpy.ops.object.delete()

Import 3DS, basically call the operator bpy.ops.import_scene.autodesk_3ds(filepath="the_path_to_file.3ds")
The importer should select the imported files, but there will usually not be an active object. To run operations on the imported data or for some exporters you might need to set one object active (or process each individually and make one active after another).
Export to JS, basically call the operator bpy.ops.export.threejs(filepath="target_file.js", **kwargs),
kwargs stands for all additional arguments you may wanna give to the export operator.


Procedural volumetric texture generated from a script I need to render a 3D density plot of custom mathematical functions as part of a scientific visualization. I've seen some demos and it seems that Blender is capable of volumetric rendering. My question is then: how can I do that?

I see that in the Material tab there's a Volume button which turns on volumetric rendering. Then I can choose a Voxel Data file. Cool. But there are a couple of problems I encountered:

None of the file formats (bvox, raw) seems to have any color information, only the density (which I consider to be somewhat like the "alpha" value – am I right?). So how can I supply the color information for my density plots? I need to have a color assigned to each pixel, not just transparency/density. You can think of it as a temperature distribution in which each point in space has assigned a colour, red = hot, blue = cold etc.
I need to be able to animate this density plot inside Blender by controlling some parameters for the function. So it cannot be just some static data from a file – the data has to be generated on the fly inside Blender (I'm thinking of using some Python scripting) and change in accord with the current animation frame.
The function is quite complicated and the formula can change depending on the selected parameters, so I guess scripting is the only option. As long as I can use math libraries from Python, I guess I can handle the math part. I just hope that Blender is able to handle the rendering part for me, by passing the coordinates of each point in space through my function and generating the voxel data.

Is this possible to do in Blender at all? Or should I use something else?

After a quick look through Blender's Python API I found these classes:
https://docs.blender.org/api/2.79/bpy.types.VoxelDataTexture.html
https://docs.blender.org/api/2.79/bpy.types.Image.html
which seem to be somewhat related to the problem I'm trying to solve. Am I right?
If this could be used to set the voxel values on the fly with a custom math function (by setting the image.pixels property, I guess?), then what's left is the colors and changing with the animation. Any ideas of how this could be done?

Edit:
OK I think I figured out how to handle the voxel colours: turns out I can plug a texture node as the colour. So the only problem now is how to generate this texture procedurally from my custom function in the script that returns an RGB value for the given XYZ coordinates, kinda like the built-in procedural textures (e.g. Voronoi, Noise, Checker etc.) do.

If the available Maths nodes aren't up to the job of creating your required procedural volumetric you can use OSL to create a new shader node to generate your volume. OSL is based on C/C++ syntax and a wide range of maths functions are available (including vector maths, noise generating functions, etc.).

See Blender Manual - OSL, OSL Github, OSL Language Spec within Github

To demonstrate this in action, ensure you have a version of Blender that has been compiled to support OSL - if so you'll have the option to enable Open Shader Language on the main Render properties panel. Enable Open Shader Language and paste the following code into a new Text Editor block named 'simple_generated_volumetrics.osl' :

shader generated_volume(
    color Color1 = color(0.8,0.2,0.2),
    color Color2 = color(0.2,0.8,0.2),
    color Color3 = color(0.2,0.2,0.8),
    float Frequency = 12,
    float Falloff = 8,
    float Bias = 0.3,
    output closure color BSDF = diffuse(N))
{

    float distFromCentre = pow(P[0]*P[0]+P[1]*P[1],0.5);
    float height = cos(distFromCentre * Frequency)/(distFromCentre+Bias)/Falloff;

    color pointColor = mix(mix(Color2, Color1, min(max(0,height*6),1)), Color3, min(max(0,-height*6),1));
    color invertedColor = color(1-pointColor[0], 1-pointColor[1], 1-pointColor[2]);

    BSDF = (invertedColor*absorption() + Color1*henyey_greenstein(0))*(P[2]<height)*30;
}

In the Node Editor, add a Script node and set the text to the newly created text block. This should automatically compile the OSL and the node should be updated to include new input/output sockets as defined in the OSL code. Connect the BSDF output to the Volume of a Material Output node.

Assign the material to a Cube (or other mesh to act as the volumetric domain) and this should produce a result similar to the following :

The above example is produced by calculating the distance from the origin and generating a Cosine wave based on this distance, scaled by the distance. The colour of each pixel is determined by the height and mixed between the three input colours. Obviously the calculation can be amended to whatever you desire.

Note that in my example I amended some of the render settings to get better results. In particular, I swapped to Branched Path Tracing (with increased Volume samples), reduced the Volume Sampling Step to 0.05 (lower values give sharper results but at the expense of render time), and increased the Volume light path bounces to 4.

The 'surface' itself is created using a combination of Volume Absorption and Volume Scatter (henyey_greenstein) to simulate a rough diffuse surface - similar to that used in Give this mesh a uniform thickness on all the tubes and unions

Note also that the ‘30’ at the end of the ‘BSDF =...’ line represents the ‘solid’ density and this could be similarly varied throughout the volume, depending on your requirements (for this I just used it to demonstrate a generated solid volume).


How to add an image in a specific area of the object in Cycles Render? I am trying to add an iris to the eye.

I go to Object Data / Vertex Groups/ and I click in + . I select the area where I want to put the iris.

I go to texture/material and I add my iris.
and Blender put the iris in the whole eye.

I know I miss something but what?

Thanks a lot!

Idle Chit-chat

Your title says "Cycles Render," but your screenshots are from Blender Internal. Also, in your last screenshot, you need to select 3D Viewport > Toolshelf > Edit > Shading: > Smooth for the eye to not be pixelated in the viewport render.

However, if you are going for realism, I would suggest switching to Cycles Render (much faster, newer, better, AND built for photorealism). So, this tutorial is for Cycles. This will be the final result:

Materials

I will use a sphere to represent the eye (smooth shading), and the following eye texture from Google (full size linked) in my demonstration.

With the sphere selected, go to the Materials tab in the Properties panel. + New a material to the sphere. Go into the Node editor, and use the setup shown.

Now, go to the sphere in the 3D Viewport. Tab into edit mode, Numpad 1 to front view, and Numpad 5 to orthographic view. Enter Face Select Mode. Select these faces:

Press U and select Project from View (Bounds). Split the screen into a 3D Viewport and a UV Image Editor by dragging the marks in the top-right corner to the left. Make sure you are still in edit mode. Open the image of the eye through the toolbar at the bottom of the UV Image Editor. The orange should already be aligned over the eye.

Final Notes

I added the nodes at the bottom to create red veins in the eye. It's more realistic.

Here is the finished .blend file:


Display full error at the bottom right of blender 2.8 I am using a python addon throwing an exception and i can't figure out how to display the full error in blender 2.8+ :

tab window and got to toggle system console


Trouble baking normals to face I'm having a little trouble with a normal bake on a face. I unwrapped the low poly head and baked a normal onto the texture from a high poly version. The normal texture looks good but I'm getting a big color difference on the model where my uv seam is. Happens in Cycles and Eevee. Anyone know of a cause for this? I've been playing with setting forever and can't seem to get it to work.

Thanks!

Your low poly and hi poly meshes are overlapping. You forgot to turn off rendering for the low poly model. Click the filter icon in the upper right of the Collections panel and choose the camera (and while you're there, the monitor icon). Deactivate the camera for that object.


Locrot with amature isn't moving mesh at all when playing in timeline I'm doing a school project with a greek solider and I'm getting the last part of creating my model done. My mesh is supposed to simply move his head side to side. When I move his head to one side I press i>LocRot record it to the timeline then move the cursor to frame 40 and repeat the process. But when I play the animation nothing happens at all.

As Brenticus said in his comment the stick bone type can make it hard to tell if the bone is rotating so I switched to octahedral and it works!


How to properly render a curve/thin object in Cycles? I was rendering a bezier curve made on Blender Cycles in 4K resolution but it looks pretty awful, it looks too pixelated and the image doesnt even looks like the curve on preview, how can i configure this?

Two setting for the curve you need to change, to change the curve's resolution.

First to add more loops along the length of the curve change the Resolution of the curve.
The Preview setting controls the amount of loops displayed in the 3D view. The Render setting controls how many get rendered, if it is set to 0, then the Preview number is used.

To add more points around the circumference of the curve change the Resolution of the Bevel.


Animation moves armature I've spent a frustrating two hours trying to animate and running into the same problem.

When I move a specific object in object mode, the armature doesn't move.  When I put it into pose and move that object, the armature doesn't move.  When I record an animation and move that object, the armature moves all over the shop, messing up everything attached to it.

I've cleared parent (I think) between the object and the armature, and between the armature and the object.  (There should never have been a parent there).

Unless the problem is somewhere else, I think it might still be a parenting issue.  How can I see what the parent is - other than with the very-un-clear dotted parent lines (of which there are too many in the scene anyway)?

Thanks,

A

With an object selected, go into the Object sub-panel of the Properties Editor. Under the Relations section is a Parent field where you can click an x to get rid of a parent or use the eyedropper to choose a parent.

Select the armature's root bone then go to the Constraints sub-panel to see if there is a constraint that could be causing the problem.

The Constraint sub-panel is (in blender 2.79) in the Properties Editor, 6th icon along. See picture:


How to reset stencil rotation in texture paint mode? Sometimes I am accidentially rotating the stencil. Is there a way to reset the rotation of the stencil to 0? Pressing CTRL+Z for undoing does not work.

Set Angle to 0.

You can also use this value to precisely rotate your stencil.


Why isn't my mesh properly textured in Blender. Okay, so I just started getting good at Blender, and here's what happened:
I was just texturing a weird mesh, right. It originally looked like:

But I added textures and everything. I would give y'all the start file, if I knew how. Please help. It mostly had to do with separation in the mesh, UV texturing, material texturing, and idk, but some weird lighting. Please reply and please help me if you can. Thanks.

Well, it's hard to tell exactly without seeing the actual .blend file or a screenshot of the various steps you used, but i'll guess that:
... You either didn't separate the various mesh sections physically  or by using "seams", before unwrapping, then selecting specific faces before assigning the materials....
.. or by designating and assigning "vertex groups" to define various sections before "applying" or "assigning" the materials on the "edit level",
... or used an inappropriate or "singular" method of "UV Uwrapping" for the various parts,
... or didn't just "paint your textures" on using the live "texture painting" option after doing a "basic" UV UnWrap....

To fix, you might want to go back into Edit mode and establish "marking seams" to separate the various parts not just by texture or color, but be sure to include an additional splitting seam to allow the Unwrapped sections to flatten out properly for proper "fitting" of the texture to those specific areas... ...If you do this correctly your Unwrap should look like a pattern used for cutting out sewing panels...
....If you did that part correctly, you can use the texture paint tools to "live paint" the textures in 3D or hand paint the various parts of your unwrapped UV mesh islands...
....If you select various faces at a time, you can assign "Vertex Groups" (under the Mesh or "vertex" Data panel) to just those faces, lock them, then unwrap by "View Projection" or whatever method is appropriate, give "that" resulting UVMap it's  own unique name in the "vertex panel as well", assign a material containing the desired texture, and making sure that the desired "unique UVMap" name is chosen under the texture "mapping" options...   ...Then be sure to "deselect" the new vertex group before creating and assigning the next and repeating the process....
...Review a tutorial on UV-unwrapping and texturing a Character as the proper material for your Renderer.... mixing BI material nodes with Cycles doesn't work well....
...If you have the Matcap materials option turned-on on your view Display options, that could also be interfering with what your models surface appearance...
...Hope that helps a bit...


Texture won't appear except for when I press shift + z I'm extremely new to Blender and I'm starting out simple, just making a box and texturing it. I'm following along with the video "TEXTURE MAPPING For Absolute Beginners - Blender Tutorial" by Surfaced Studio on YouTube, and did everything exact (or at least thought I did?) but I can't seem to get my texture to appear normally on my box.

When I press Shift + Z I can see it. After some googling I found that someone had the same issue, which was remedied by setting "Minimum Draw Type" to Texture instead of Solid. I don't seem have this option and can only find "Maximum Draw Type" (other people have had this problem too)

I know the answer here might be to download the latest version, but I'd first like to know if there's something I've done wrong, or if there's something I can do to fix this.

I'm using v2.78 and Cycles Render.

Well, this is embarrassing... But I am relieved at what a simple fix this was.

I found a different tutorial on textures and I repeated my process, except that this time I changed the Viewport Shading to Texture instead of Solid.


How to divide a circle into a square grid? How can I divide a circle into a square grid? Think of the subdivision of a plane, but with a circular border. It should look something like this, just imagine that the circle select cursor is the border:

I searched everywhere for an answer, but I could not find any.
Any help will be appreciated!

This is how I do it:

Create a circle and put it a little over the grid plane;
In Object mode select the circle first, then add the plane to the selection, by pressing ⇧ Shift RMB (the order is important);
Go to top view (Numpad 7) in Orthographic View (toggle with Numpad 5);
Go in Edit mode with ↹ Tab;
Be sure to have all the meshes selected (hit A);
In the T panel (or just by searching with Space) find Knife project and click it.
Invert the selection with Ctrl+I
Delete the selected mesh parts with X.

Like LukeD said in another answer, this causes your mesh to have a mix of ngons, quads and tris, but that's what you asked for in your question. :-)


Mesh appears smooth, however it is not? The mesh itself is straight, but when viewed in texture mode it looks quite bumpy (renders this particular area in game as very bumpy and undrivable).
How do I fix this?
Note: array and curve modifiers used on mesh

Set 2:

Problem is, it renders as the bumpy road, not the smooth wireframe, and thus it is undriveable in-game.

-------------UPDATE-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have found somewhat a solution to this (in Nurbs curve data), it involves changing the twisting From Z-up to minimal or tangent, then playing with the resolution and turn on bounds-clamp (for mesh to hug the wireframe). It is not a perfect solution because now I need to re-do all control point tilts and locations for this 9km track. If anyone has a better solution, please share.

UPDATE 2: Even with twisting to minimal or even tangent, still getting weird artifacts in road mesh. Problem persists.

The mesh is smooth, but very low poly with long thin quads. Such geometry can produce texturing artifacts - that's what you see.

You want to keep the topology in square quads.

To do so make just tileable chunk of the road (rectangle with nice topology), UV unwrap it and repeat it along a curve with Array and Curve modifiers, like so: Create a road along large terrain


How do you create matcap shading yourself? Just a general question I can't seem to find the answer to online.  Matcap shading gives a soft shadow I want for my texture, but I see it's either one or the other, you haven't have it with textures.
Is it impossible to have it with textures due to some lighting contradictions?  I assume if you can do this, it'd be in cycles with composite nodes?

If you want to use the Matcaps that come with blender in your renders, you can add them as an HDRI. Go to your shader tab, select "World" on the left side (blocked by the file manager window in my image - switch it from "Object"), and add an Environment Texture. Click the choose image button, and navigate to \2.90\datafiles\studiolights\matcap\ (or whatever version you're using). The files (.exr) are all in that folder. Choose the one you like.

This will provide the lighting and reflections from the image, but will also make it display as a background as well. If you don't want the background image component, just mis it with a regular background, using the Is Camera Ray output of a Light Path node as a mix factor.


Python: Locate specific islands of geometry within a mesh object If I have a mesh object, and the mesh data is made up of several disconnected islands of faces, and using Python I want to evaluate each island to check if it matches certain criteria, and if it does, store that island's median coordinate in a variable... how can that be achieved?
The example object in this screenshot has two circles I want to match. Each circle has 13 verts, 12 faces (which are all tris), and a total area of approximately 3. So if an island matches those criteria, we can consider it to qualify as the kind of circle we are after. Their medians would be [0,0,0] (the world center), and [0,3,0] (the 3D cursor location).

Now let's say we don't know how many such circles there will be in an object, or even how many objects to expect, and we have to identify each circle center programmatically and add those coords to a list. The fun begins!
I have solved some pieces of this puzzle already. I have written a simple script for finding the area of selected faces (as long as they're all tris, which they will be). Here is that script:
import bpy
import bmesh

obj = bpy.context.active_object

# make sure it's a mesh object
if obj.type != 'MESH':
    print('Error: Object is not a mesh object!')
else:
    bpy.ops.object.mode_set(mode='EDIT')

    me = obj.data # mesh data
    bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(me)

    ta = 0.0 # total area

    print('\n==== Area of selected faces ====')
    for f in bm.faces:
        if f.select: # selected faces only
            print('Face ' + str(f.index) + ' area is ' + str(f.calc_area()))
            ta = ta + f.calc_area() # add to total

    print('Total area is ' + str(ta))

I have also put together a script for finding the median of a set of vertices. I'll include it too for reference, although in its present form it targets the verts of an object's Vertex Group, not selected verts. Needs minor modifications:
import bpy
import statistics

context = bpy.context
scene = context.scene

act_obj = context.active_object # get active object

v_x = []
v_y = []
v_z = []

def cursor_to_vgroup(mesh_obj, vgroup_name):

  # This is an Object with a Mesh, see if it has the supported group name
  groupIndex = -1
  for i in range(0, len(mesh_obj.vertex_groups)):
    group = mesh_obj.vertex_groups[i]
    if group.name == vgroup_name:
      groupIndex = i

  # Now access the vertices that are assigned to this group
  mesh = mesh_obj.data
  for v in mesh.vertices:

    for vertGroup in v.groups:
      if vertGroup.group == groupIndex:

        v_global = mesh_obj.matrix_world @ v.co # global vertex coordinates

        v_x.append(v_global.x)
        v_y.append(v_global.y)
        v_z.append(v_global.z)

        cur_x = statistics.mean(v_x)
        cur_y = statistics.mean(v_y)
        cur_z = statistics.mean(v_z)

        scene.cursor.location = [cur_x, cur_y, cur_z]

cursor_to_vgroup(act_obj, 'Group')

And finally, I've found an interesting script someone wrote to get linked faces, but I'm not sure how / if I can customize it to sort the vertices into islands. And that's where I'm stuck - trying to figure out how to sort the geometry data into islands, so the island geometry can be checked for matches.
Would any Python wizards care to lend a hand?

.blend file contains the mesh object in the screenshot, and the area-getting script.

Search for the 12  tri-fan poles.
Finding all the loose parts is going to be a rate determining step
How to detect disconnected parts within a selection?
How to find the number of loose parts with Blender's Python API?
but  for quoted case

The example object in this screenshot has two circles I want to match.
Each circle has 13 verts, 12 faces (which are all tris), and a total
area of approximately 3. So if an island matches those criteria, we
can consider it to qualify as the kind of circle we are after.

would not bother grinding away to find loose parts,instead search for potential pole verts, ie those that have exactly 12 linked edges and 12 triangles linked.
From there make sure that all the opposite edges of the tris, ie the edge not containing the pole is a boundary. Each vert of the boundary should be connected to exactly 3 edges.
Test script, prints the index of the poles the match the above criterea.
import bpy
import bmesh

context = bpy.context
ob = context.edit_object
me = ob.data

bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(me)

poles = [
        v for v in bm.verts
        if len(v.link_faces) == len(v.link_edges) == 12
        and all(len(f.edges) == 3 for f in v.link_faces)
        ]
print("Potential Poles", [p.index for p in poles])
for p in poles:
    def check(f):
        return (
            bool(
                e for e in f.edges
                if p not in e.verts
                and e.is_boundary
                )
            and
                all(
                len(e.other_vert(p).link_edges) == 3
                for e in p.link_edges
                )
            )
    if all(check(f) for f in p.link_faces):
        print(p.index, "is a 12 tri fan pole")

once we have p and know it is a disconnected tri fan all the 13 verts would be for example
[p] + [e.other_vert(p) for e in p.link_edges]

the area
sum(f.calc_area() for f in p.link_faces)

Putting it all together
(Added by @Mentalist based on @batFINGER's code)
Here the script will check for triangle fan islands of geometry that match the specified face count and total area, find their centers, and take some action after finding those centers (in this example it places an Empty at each).
import bpy
import bmesh
import statistics

context = bpy.context
obj = context.view_layer.objects.active

def place_empty(coordinates): # create an Empty at the specified location
    bpy.ops.object.empty_add(type='PLAIN_AXES', radius=0.1, align='WORLD', location=coordinates, scale=(1, 1, 1))

def check_geom(ob, facecount, match_area, decplaces=3):
    if ob.type == 'MESH': # make sure it's a mesh
        bpy.ops.object.mode_set(mode='EDIT')
        me = ob.data
        bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(me).copy() # bmesh as a COPY
        bm.transform(ob.matrix_world) # that copy gets converted to world coords

        poles = [
            v for v in bm.verts
            if len(v.link_faces) == len(v.link_edges) == facecount
            and all(len(f.edges) == 3 for f in v.link_faces)
            ]
        print("Potential Poles", [p.index for p in poles])
        for p in poles:
            def check(f):
                return (
                    bool(
                        e for e in f.edges
                        if p not in e.verts
                        and e.is_boundary
                        )
                    and
                        all(
                        len(e.other_vert(p).link_edges) == 3
                        for e in p.link_edges
                        )
                    )
            area = sum(f.calc_area() for f in p.link_faces)
            if all(check(f) for f in p.link_faces):
                print('\n' + str(p.index) + " is a " + str(facecount) + " tri fan pole, with an area of " + str(area) )
            if round(area, decplaces) == round(match_area, decplaces): # things to do if the area matches
                bpy.ops.object.mode_set(mode='OBJECT')
                v_x = []
                v_y = []
                v_z = []

                linked_verts = [p] + [e.other_vert(p) for e in p.link_edges] # verts of this island

                for v in linked_verts:
                    # populate lists with coordinates for each axis
                    v_x.append(v.co.x)
                    v_y.append(v.co.y)
                    v_z.append(v.co.z)

                # average each list's values to find the center
                c_x = statistics.mean(v_x)
                c_y = statistics.mean(v_y)
                c_z = statistics.mean(v_z)
                center = [c_x, c_y, c_z] # mean of island vertices
                print('Center location: ' + str(center) )

                place_empty(center) # the action to take upon finding the circle centers
    else:
        print('Cannot proceed. Active object is not a mesh.')

check_geom(obj, 48, 0.045) # params: the object, the face count, the total face area (object must be a triangle fan mesh)

 (684KB)


How to make bezier curve handles always visible How to make the bezier curve vertex handles always visible?
The points are only visible, when I select them, instead of always showing.
Where should I look for settings for this?

While in Edit Mode in a curve, got the the 3D View header, under the overlays popover, towards the end under Curve Edit Mode change Handles to All.


My mesh is pink in weight painting I am trying to weight paint my rigged character (rigify add on used). But it is completely pink when i select the custom shapes. But I can see weights when i click on individual vertex group. Also when trying to paint using vertex group selection, I can only paint it to a value, not to 0?? Did I do something wrong?

On further playing around I found, for some reason when i select my custom shapes, it does not select the corresponding deform bone, unless i select it manually from the vertex group box, and then my weight painting tool doesnt work on it either. I have attached my blend file:

https://ufile.io/6wpqa

The weight paint pink color tells you that you are trying to assign weight relatively to a bone which has no vertex group assopciated, because it's a non-deforming bone: all rigify rig works in a way in which the controllers bones are different than the deforming bones.

If you want to assign weight controlled by the "head" bone you will have to check the "deforming" option and create a vertex group with the same exact name.


How can I move an edge a precise distance from another edge? In the image below, I have an edge loop selected.  I would like to move that edge loop to be exactly 0.30083 from the edge loop on the right.  How can I move it precisely?

Use the snap to edge tool while in edit mode found on the bottom toolbar of the Viewport. Snap the selected edge to the second one and then use the keys G + y + -0.30083 to move it left by the appropriate amount.


Considering the character is not selectable as a mesh, how would I mirror these earrings? Considering the character is not selectable as a mesh, how would I mirror these earrings to the other side of the head/the other ear? (The helixes, stud was just there for reference)

The result that you're trying to achieve is actually very easy to do.

Add an empty.
Position it to be in the middle of your character's head.
Put a mirror modifier on your ring objects.
Use that empty as the "mirror object."


Geometry nodes - lock distributed position in animation I have the following setup:

A plane with an ocean modifier.
A sphere scattered across this plane using geometry-nodes, with its Z coordinate aligned to the surface of the ocean. In other words, the spheres are "riding the waves".
The "Time" attribute of the ocean is animated.

When playing the animation, I get the following problem:

The spheres are changing their distribution because the plane's mesh is deforming. I want to lock the spheres' XY positions, leaving the Z free to align with the waves.
This is the geometry-nodes setup for the ocean:

Thanks for any help!

What version of Blender were you using for this as I get different results using 2.93.0 Alpha - I get a small number of particles popping in and out of existence as the surface moves but most of them stick with the surface as the ocean modifier distorts it. Also, I note that the Join Geometry node in your example has two separate input nodes but the 2.93.0 Alpha version has a single "multi-input" input node, showing you're likely on an earlier version.
Since the Geometry Nodes feature is still under development, I'd suggest re-trying with the latest version and seeing if this improves the situation.


Use Camera/Window projection when texture painting? I am trying to paint a texture mask based on a certain camera angle. This texture will then be used with Window coordinates in the material nodes. However, in texture paint mode, its only possible to paint based on UV maps. I can set an image as a camera background image, but you can't paint on that.

If I paint in the Image Editor paint mode, then I can only see the single image I'm painting, and not the other things in the viewport I'm painting over, so its no good.

Is there anyway around this?

You can give your model a secondary UV map to base your mask on, using Project from View through your camera you have sized to match your mask image. Call up the mask image in the Masking tab either in the mask tool itself or in the Texture Paint tool, and invert as you need to.
Add your image to the image editor to see the scale and set up your camera to match.

Added a second UV mapping layer

Before painting, showing the original mapping active for target image

Here is the paint on top of the mask, holes showing through


Using Blender to map XYZ objects from Homeworld RTS Space map HELP I am new to blender, and not a 3d artist.

I am making a map for a RTS game called Homeworld. The location of objects in this game are in XYZ coordinates of a 3d space.
e.g. "Player Object,{3607, -49, -71754}"

I will be adding new objects into a large script file, the game uses, with the X,Y,Z coordinates. There are so many objects and the space is so large it is hard to visualize where everything is.

What I would like to do is create a Blender workspace that is large enough to match the in game map size, X=47866.359375, Y=27599.160156, Z=44018.109375
NOTE: The blender does not have to be the exact same size I only need it to represent the same size so I can script in 1000's of objects and have a visual representation of where they all are relative to the 3d space.

I would then like to enter, via script, the coordinates so what I am looking at in blender is a map of objects in 3d space.

Furthermore, I plan to add objects in blender to place objects were I want them, related to all the other objects, and then script all the XYZ coordinates to a text file that I can then place in my game map script.

NOTE: To be clear I am not trying to get blender to make the game map. I am just using it to give me a visual representation of where the objects will be in the game.

Writing scripts is not that difficult for me, however after 1 hour in blender I still could not enter an object at, "3607, -49, -71754" without it being so far off my visual workspace that I could not find it.

Any help would be appreciated.

Some possible manipulations or information :

Misc possibilities using Shift+S in the 3D view :

Short cuts :

Shift+C : brings back the 3D cursor to the center and places the view so that you see all objects
Home : shifts the view in order to see all objects
Alt+Home : idem but make so the 3D cursor is at the center of the view
NumPadDot : focus on the selection (one or several objects)
Alt+NumPadDot : set your current view center as pivot point (Alt+'.' again to come back to normal mode)

Outliner view, to search for something and select it :

So for instance, the outline allows you to find and select one of your object, then in the 3D view, you can hit NumPadDot to zoom on it.

Surely I miss here many other possibilities.. but hope that helps.

Edit :

Setting the units can also help :


Creating a Fluffy Cloud I am trying to create a cloud like this

(taken from Is there an easy way to make volumetric clouds for Cycles?)

The closest I am able to get is

I have taken these steps:

Switch to Blender Render
Turn on cloud generator addon (file --> user preferences --> add-ons --> search{cloud})
scale default cube on x-axis by 2 (sx2enter)
go to create tab on left
scroll down to cloud generator and expand
change type to "cumulous" [sic]
click generate cloud
switch to cycles render
expand cloud bounds on outliner
delete "CloudMesh" and "DefinitioinObj" [sic]
remove unnamed material from CloudBounds
click on CloudMaterial
go to node editor (shiftF3)
tick "use nodes"
delete diffuse node
add nodes as in

(taken from Is there an easy way to make volumetric clouds for Cycles? as well)

add sun lamp (strength 3, ~7 units away from CloudPoints)
add hemi lamp (also ~7 units away from CloudPoints)
change Light Path --> Volume --> 5 bounces max (from 0)
change number of samples to 100
render (F12)

How can I make my cloud more white and fluffy? (the color in volume scatter is already white - changed from 0.8 to 1.0 alpha)

File Rendered at 25% of 1920 x 1080 with 100 samples:

Here's what your file looks like rendered with the Sun lamp strength set to 4 (it was set to 1):

The key to having a good "fluff" is a wide dynamic range. Dynamic range is the distance between the brightest and darkest parts of an image. See Render with a wider dynamic range in cycles to produce photorealistic looking images for a good introduction to a whole rabbit hole of lighting, grading, and generally managing the dynamic range of your scene and image.

The simple answer

For the simple answer, suffice it to say that the sun is bright. By making the sun lamp significantly brighter than other light sources, you'll start to get an increased dynamic range and clouds will take on more of a "fluffy" look (bright highlight falling off to shadow) when seen from the side.

By using a bright sun lamp and messing with camera settings (exposure, contrast etc.) to get the final image to have the overall brightness you want, you can get a decent physically-based-ish result without too much fuss.

The proper answer

We know that the sun lamp energy in Blender is measured in terms of irradiance, or the amount of energy (light) from the source hitting another object at a given point in time (the exact units are Watts / meters²).

The Sun's irradiance measured on Earth varies over a whole host of things, not least of which is how much atmosphere the sunlight must go through. Assuming we are simulating light scattered by the atmosphere separately (e.g. with an emissive sky texture), we'll want to make the sun strength something like 1050 W/m². If instead we are sparing no expense and simulating the atmosphere with a large volumetrically scattering object, we'll want to include atmospherically scattered light in the sun lamp and make it more like 1361 W/m² (taking values from Wikipedia).

If this seems insanely bright, that's because it is (have I mentioned the Sun is bright?). By using Sun lamp values around the default of 1, we're putting our Blender scenes over 4,300,000,000 km farther away from the Sun than the Earth (somewhere beyond Neptune)!

Here's an example with a 1050 W/m² Sun lamp, a 300 W/m² sky, and a camera exposure of -7 (with filmic):


Filling holes on the bottom of scanned design? I'm very, very new to Blender, and for an assignment, I've used the Trnio app to create a 3D image of a stuffed animal that I then imported into Blender. This is the result (as you can see, Trnio also scanned in the floor that the animal was sitting on):

The scanned bit of the floor aside, my problem is that the bottom of the animal wasn't scanned, as it was on the floor, and so I get this opening below:

My task is to both close the bottom of my design while also cleaning up a bit of the extra floor. But I can't seem to close my gap. I've tried selecting vertices, but this took a very long time and turned out to be quite a mess. I'm not really sure what the solution is, and would greatly appreciate some help.

Sometimes I've found that doing it piecemeal, fixes the issue, i.e.

selecting the open area's vertices using ALT+LClick on an edge of the open loop
deselecting half of it with using Box select
press F to seal it with a new face,
then selecting the remaining open half and hitting F to seal it


Wireframe horizontal vertices - retro video game effect How am I able to recreate this effect? I have used the wireframe modifier to utilise the crossing mesh on existing models but would love to be able to only have a horizontal vertices that hide the vertices behind to create the shape.

In your Wireframe Modifier, uncheck Replace Original. Up the Material: value to 1.

Go to the Materials tab. Make sure you have two material slots, the top being black and the bottom being green.

This will make it so that you have something black in between the green lines to stop light from the hidden green lines getting through.

Jimmy Gunawan's image; cropped and modified:

Blender Nerd's image from his YouTube video; cropped:

A gif I created:

Check out the gif's .blend file!


Why is my world background different in these files? I tried to repeat what I did in the first file with the background image but the image does not show up in the second file.

In the first image you can see that you have "equirectangular" as an option, which isn't there in the second image. So I assume you have first Color node set as Environment Texture and the second as an Image Texture.

Click on the Color dropdown and select Environment Texture, then choose your image. That should solve it.


Spontaneous generating edges? I am making a racing game, and on the small test track I created, when I play it, the cars sometimes just randomly hit something on the track.

I tried changing it to wireframe and found that blender had put in some edges for some reason.

Why did it create these edges? Is there any way to stop blender from doing this? This is what it looks like before you play the game.

That's the result of Triangulation of NGons in the game engine, it doesn't effect the original geometry.

in game mode

Back out of Game Engine, the geometry is not changed. If it bothers you the solution is to make the geometry without NGons in the first place. This means cutting up the NGon into triangles or quadrangles. A fast way to convert an NGon to the elementary polygon types is:
Ngon to Tris

in edit mode

select the ngon

press Ctrl+t (this creates Triangles)
should generate something like this

Tris to Quads

With a set of Triangles selected press Alt + j , and blender will try to make quads from the geometry.

Sometimes it isn't possible to convert all selected Triangles into a set of Quads. invariably there will be times when the algorithm leaves a few Triangles, even though geometrically it would be possible to neatly Quadify all selected geometry. This is not a bug (really, we could argue about this), but rather a limitation in the algorithm.
this might produce geometry like this:

The algorithms that do this don't have the benefit of our eyes and brains, to make the best decisions. Sometimes you have to do the tessellation yourself


v2.80: Keyboard Shortcut for Import / Export STL Files I tried to find a way to abondon the slow mouse action on importing and exporting STL files... The keymap seems not have mapping for import/export...

For the export I normally use the export button within the 3d printing toolbox (great plugin btw!) but a keyboard shortcut to export the selected object(s) would be sooo helpful..

Any ideas?

Best Regards
Stefan

You can do this off course (this is Blender)

The fastest way is to mouse right click on export stl button and assign a short cut. (you can press nothing but click other area to left it be empty keymap)

After you assign a shortcut to it, go into setting panel and the keymap setting, the setting of export/import will be included in Windows group:

You can assign different key map for it, and also all option that you can find on the exporting panel. The options will appear grey-out, which indicate that it is using default parameters. You can click on any of them to change the setting, override it. In your case, check the selection only button.


Fixing bones/armatures Looking at the attached picture, I am trying to obtain the example on the right by just rotating 'BONE'
Is there a way of fixing the end of 'BONE.002' to the point shown with the grease pencil?

There are several ways you can do it; a couple of them:

set a copy rotation constraint on the bone.002, targeting Bone and a copy rotation on the upper bone (local space, if something reotates in a weird direction check axis view in the armature propreties and set the appropriate bone roll to every bone in edit mode).

extrude a new bone from the upper bone and set it as target of an IK constraint of bone.002, lenght 1; set the upper bone to copy the rotation of "bone" as the previous example.


how would i rotate an angle Torus Hi how would i  go by rotate an angle Torus at 45* to revolve around the origin like in gif 1 and not like gif2 ? I would like to do something simulator to this video  thank for your help

You can limit the movement by locking other axes for rotation. Open the numeric panel (N, or click on the + sign on the top right of the 3D viewport.

Then lock the rotation for the X and Y axes.

Your object can then rotate on Z axis only.

An alternative without locking the axis is pressing RZ on the keyboard, the rotation movement will be restricted to the Z axis.


Mirror an object so that key framing is possible? I would like two sphere objects, one mirrored from the other in the Y axis, such that when I keyframe the movement of the "master" object (in object mode, for animation) the mirrored one behaves as a mirror of it.

Must be a simple thing I'm missing? At present it seems possible to only mirror inside edit mode, within the object. Then when I keyframe the object it moves both accordingly, but not mirroring the "subject".

This can be done without mirroring by simply creating two unique objects and then adding a Transformation constraint to one of them.

What this constraint does is allow you to map any transforms of one object to any transforms of another object. In some ways this can be easier than setting up drivers. Here, the Y location part of the constraint is inverted, while the Z and X location parts are mapped one-to-one.

In the included Blend file, I have two spheres. The one to the far side of the center plane is Transformation constrained to the sphere on the near side of the center plane. The pic below shows the settings I chose to get the sphere on the far side of the center plane to mirror the motion of the one on the near side. By selecting and keyframing the sphere on the near side of the center plane, the other sphere will follow (but won't have keyframes of its own).

If you choose to play with the file, note that I added a second constraint, a Limit Location constraint to the near sphere, but this has nothing to do with your problem. So don't let its presence mislead you. I just thought it would fun to see the near sphere bump into the center plane and go no further, as if there was a real mirror in the middle, and the far sphere was merely a reflection of the near one. :)


Can't find menu to change to left click select I really love new left click, but in new 2.8 beta I can't find a menu for changing it.

The only way I found is to load factory settings on each start of 2.8 beta.

Any idea how to fix it?

You need to go to Edti > Preferences > Keymap > Select With

Hope that helps.

Good Luck


How to use/enable multi-therading in Blender 2.8+ So, I have an AMD Ryzen 7, it had lot's of cores and threads. So I wan to know that does Blender support Multi-therading by default or do I have to enable it. Also, is there an option to tweak this if it is supported? For

It's on by default, it will use all the cores you have available. Although if you have a capable GPU you might want to use that instead.
Some things are single threaded thought (I think physics and cloth sims are single threaded, but I don't know if that changed lately).


Camera coverage calculation inside a room In my current research, we are trying to create a 3D cow room/housing. Once the room is created, we are planning to place the blender camera (use it as a CCTV camera) in two different locations of the room. Our final goal is to calculate the total area the camera can capture compared to the total area inside the room. In this scenario, four walls and the floor will be considered to calculate the total area. Is it possible to do it in Blender?

Bisection using frustrum planes.

In the answer to this How to find all objects in the Camera's view with Python? @ideasman42 has written a little method to get the for planes of the camera frustrum.
For a simple room can utilize this to chop away any walls
In gif above the wireframe box roof included is chopped to result and its percentage of originals face area printed to system console.
Script: Run in object mode with room as context and camera of interest the current active scene camera.
The mesh created after chopping and removing mesh outside is added to scene with global coordinates.
EDIT corrected for ortho camera.
import bpy
import bmesh

def camera_as_planes(scene, obj):
    """
    Return planes in world-space which represent the camera view bounds.
    """
    from mathutils.geometry import normal

    camera = obj.data
    # normalize to ignore camera scale
    matrix = obj.matrix_world.normalized()
    frame = [matrix @ v for v in camera.view_frame(scene=scene)]
    origin = matrix.to_translation()

    planes = []
    from mathutils import Vector
    is_persp = (camera.type != 'ORTHO')
    for i in range(4):
        # find the 3rd point to define the planes direction
        if is_persp:
            frame_other = origin
        else:
            frame_other = frame[i] + matrix.col[2].xyz

        n = normal(frame_other, frame[i - 1], frame[i])
        d = -n.dot(frame_other)
        planes.append((n, frame_other, d))

    if not is_persp:
        # add a 5th plane to ignore objects behind the view
        n = normal(frame[0], frame[1], frame[2])
        d = -n.dot(origin)
        planes.append((n, frame[0], d))

    return planes

context = bpy.context
scene = context.scene
dg = context.evaluated_depsgraph_get()
ob = context.object
camera = scene.camera
cloc = camera.matrix_world.translation

bm = bmesh.new()
bm.from_object(ob, dg)

bm.transform(ob.matrix_world)
total_face_area = sum(f.calc_area() for f in bm.faces)
for n, cf, _ in camera_as_planes(scene, scene.camera):
    bmesh.ops.bisect_plane(
            bm,
            geom=bm.verts[:] + bm.edges[:] + bm.faces[:],
            plane_no=-n,
            plane_co=cf,
            clear_outer=True,
            )

face_area = sum(f.calc_area() for f in bm.faces)
# comment out (or delete) 3 lines below for no new object
ob = bpy.data.objects.new("Test", bpy.data.meshes.new("Test"))
bm.to_mesh(ob.data)
context.collection.objects.link(ob)

# print result
print(f"{100 * face_area / total_face_area : 4.2f}%")


Interactive Blender Enviroment I am about to develop an application with blender and the openpose library. I want to read the pose of the person using the application and replicate it in it's avatar inside the enviroment.

I saw blend4web and was going to attack this problem this way. I am not sure this is the only and easisest way to tackle it... does anybody have any suggestions?

I figured it out, I used the BGE and a python script that interacts as a client. It communicates via socket with the server as it updates it current position in the enviroment.


Default cube not displayed When I start Blender, the default cube is not displayed. Instead, only the center point of it is shown. When I add other meshes, I also see only the center point. How do I exit this strange mode?

EDIT:
I just found out, my other models now look crazy:

This one has a problem in user perspective:

may be u have done this way so the cube is invisible and only the pivot point visible


How do I evenly distribute topology? How the do I create a model with EVENLY
spread topology?!

￼That this is one of the most basic stuff on topology, especially if you intent to sculpt on your model.

I couldn't find any answer to that question.

If you mean maintain a more-or-less even mesh density (and appropriate mesh density), this is something you need to pay attention to throughout the modeling process and adjust for as you go. It's not like you just push a button and make it even.

If you notice at some point that an area is too dense, dissolving edge loops, sliding edges, and smoothing geometry are some common operations that can help you maintain consistency.


How to add hair particle to ocean modifier? I'm trying to add hair particles system to ocean (so hair will move with the ocean movement) but I realized that I need to bake the ocean before doing that. Can somebody have some tip how to do this?

Thanks for answers!

Move the particle system down the modifier stack, so that it comes after the ocean modifier.
(Use the Triangle icons to the right of the modifier to re-arrange the order)

Then, on the particle system settings enable Use Modifier Stack

From the Blender Manual:

Use Modifier Stack
Take any Modifiers above the Particle Modifier in the modifier stack into account when emitting particles.


how do I make an object bend or break if hit with sufficient force? How can I make a Ridged body simulation mesh so that it's solid under normal conditions, but if a heavy object collides with it, it bends as the force is transferred?
(i.e. like a ball through glass or a bullet through steel)

Unfortunately, dynamic fracturing/destruction is not truly possible yet. Though there are some interesting experiments:

Blender Demolition - Proxy Mesh Utilization (Demo 6)
Real-time Shattering Demolition physics in the BGE
BA thread with a patch developed by the author of the above videos

However, you can fake fracturing with the Cell Fracture addon (which is bundled with blender, you can enable it in CtrlAltU> Preferences > Addons > Cell Fracture) and rigid-body contraints:

It's not necessary, but you can get finer control over how an object is fractured by using the Grease Pencil:

Fracture the object into separate objects by pressing Cell Fracture in 3D view > Tool Shelf:

Make them rigid-body objects and constraint them using another addon called Bullet Constraints Tools:

Use the Calculate Mass tool to calculate and set the mass of all selected objects based on volume. I used the Glass (Broken) preset for the shards and the Bronze preset for the monkey:

Manually animate the render visibility of the original and fractured objects in the Outliner (camera icon), so that the original is used until it is fractured by an impact, or use post processing. (see related post)

You can simulate bending with soft-bodies, however tearing is not possible. (though again there are some tests)


Can't paint or select bones in weight paint mode I just started using Blender and started a little project. I made a model and the bones myself. I used the automatic weight when parenting the armature and the model.
When I moved the legs in pose mode, the middle body bent so I thought I will just go weight painting and make some adjustments. But the model is mostly grey in weight paint mode. The bones are grey also when selected. Just a tiny bit of color is visible near the selected bone.

I tested with a cube and it worked well. I have been trying to find a similar case from the internet but have not seen one. Thank you for the help.

You have the Face Mask activated. It's a mode that allows you to only paint on whatever faces have already been selected when you were last in Edit Mode. It's activated by the button near the red arrow shown here. Click it again to return to the more deeply colored standard weight paint mode.


How to change properties panel layout I've watched information of new 2.9 changes and noticed that UI is more friendly. I've downloaded version 2.9 and I still can't get what I saw.
I Googled but didn't find anything. I have added an image of what I want to change.

Mystery solved.
New features are shown on blender.org on older version. It confused me.

I feel so stupid. Sorry for taking Your time.

Thanks for responses
Best Regards


Why do my lamps require an insane "strength" value of 1 million? recently, I was using mesh planes to emit some light, and they had a strength of 8.0.. this worked well
now, I want to swap these out for area lamps (to improve performance)
i've positioned these area lamps in the place of my emitter polygons
i've scaled them such they have 1.0 transform scale, and in the lamp settings, I set the size to 1m across (to size-match the previous emitters)
the problem is, the lamps require a crazy "strength" of at least 1 000 000 (one million!) to produce any reasonable amount of light... this seems bonkers!
point lamps, area lamps, and the others, are all effected
my scene is scaled using the Centimeters preset.. the foreground is only a meter a way, and the more distant background is more like 5 meters back
i've paid special attention to the sizing and scaling of this scene, I can't figure out why the mesh emitters are working with a sane Strength of 8, and the lamps require something out of this world? something must not be right...

Edit: Remastered scene corrects scales, problem persists

stage-crazy-lamps-2.blend

i've remastered the scene so that all of the objects have a proper scale factor of 1.0
this should correct any sizing discrepancy/confusion
my scene must be in centimeters preset, all my other work is in centimeters
the area lamp size is now definitely 1m, as highlighted in the above screenshot (and it is not affected by the 1.0 transform scaling factor, also highlighted (I also verified the delta scale is also 1.0))
despite correcting the scaling of my scene, strength 1 000 000 is still required
is blender simply not accounting for my scene's Unit Scale setting?

Your area lamp is not 1m across, it is 100m in size, hence the strength required.

Your Blend file seems to have pretty messed up scaling factors, for starters your viewport has a clipping distance of 50µm which is causing all sorts of display precision issues and Z-Fighting.

Your whole scene is huge in reality, most objects are several meters high, have very high scaling factors, and your room is more than one kilometer long.

Most problems probably stem from the fact that your whole scene has a Units Scale factor of 0.01, which is giving you a false sense of scale, and falsely reported units value

Go to the Properties Window > Scene > Units > Units Scale and set the value to 1


Issue with rendering a simple low poly scene. Render is warped and deformed Just re-learning and created a low poly scene to render. For some reason, it is coming out pretty warped and deformed. My books array not appearing correctly. Tv screen is half showing. wall and lighting seems really bad. and the blinds too.
I am on a 2017 macbook pro with Radeon Pro 560 4 GB & Intel HD Graphics 630 1536 MB. It has a quad core as well..
Here is the image:

Here is the project file:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-lSe9MND1Tl0ez3lgN-F91UytQ8HBnHY/view?usp=sharing

You have a Subdivision Surface Modifier attached to your room, with the number of subdivisions set to 0 for the preview, but 2 for the render. If you want the render to be the same as the preview, turn down the number of subdivisions for the render. However, if 0 subdivisions is what you like the look of, you might not need the modifier at all, or if you still need the "floor" subdivided, consider using "Simple", as opposed to "Catmull-Clark".


How to convert blender scripts bpy to python scripts py I am new to Python and Blender and would like to know:

How to convert Blender scripts (bpy) to Python scripts (py)?
What is the difference between Blender scripts and Python scripts?

Scripts written for Blender are Python scripts (*.py). The difference is that they may use Blender's API through import bpy which is not available to a regular Python interpreter out of the box. If the script is using anything from the bpy namespace it can't be executed outside of Blender, that is unless you build and install Blender as a Python module. In this case you get (limited) access to Blender's Python API to functionality that does not require a UI. As long as a Python script does not use Blender's API, then it can be executed by a regular Python interpreter without any modifications.

How to convert Blender scripts to Python scripts?
You don't. If it uses Blender's API you can either execute it in Blender or you have to install Blender as Python module for your Python interpreter.
What is the difference between Blender scripts and Python scripts?
The use of Blender's API is the difference. Other than that they are just regular Python scripts, the programming language is the same.


Interacting with rigid body objects as animation plays [B2.83] In Blender 2.83, I do the following steps:

create a plane and a cube. Give 'collision' physics to the plane, 'cloth' physics to the cube.
run the animation
simply move the plane around by pressing 'G' to make it 'hit' to the cube.

At this point, you can see that the 'cloth' cube responds to your actions interactively.
However, we cannot do this with rigid body. When the plane is either an 'active' rigid body or a 'passive' one, it does not react to the 'active' rigid body cube...
We can easily see that this is working in Blender2.79.
But I cannot do it in Blender2.8.
Was this intentionally removed or is there a bug?
In this stack exchange question the same question is also asked: Physics in blender 2.8 - can't interact with objects while simulation is running
Yet there is not a clear answer.

Sounds like a bug, maybe try checking the "animated" checkbox in the physics settings


Glass Volume Material with Caustics and Colored Shadow I am trying to build a glass shader for a glass volume material and I want

a photorealistic image of the glass object
the caustics good enough
correct color of the shadows of the glass object

Here are some setups with a blue coloured Suzanne I tried.

First a standard glass shader

It is clear that it does not work. Next the Tricky Glass node setup like in this post How to illuminate the darkness inside glass objects in Cycles?

This is nice for window glass etc but does not work when caustics is involved. Next one, I tried a setup of CynicatPro (PBR Glass Shader for Surface and Volume Absorption for Volume)

No Caustics. So next experiment .... I added the fake caustics like in this article http://urchn.org/post/fake-caustics-in-cycles to the Tricky Glass setup and also added Volume Absorption

Now we have a coloured object, coloured shadows and caustics, but is this material correct ? This was the setup of the material.

To be honest I am not sure if I did this right. Any comments ??

The last setup I tried was much alike the previous one but now I inserted the PBR Glass setup of CynicatPro. With this setup I hope to have a correct representation of the coloured glass object and the shadows/caustics in place.

This was the Node setup of the PBR experiment:

As understanding and creating complex materials is still very slippery grounds for me I am very interested in your feedback and suggestions.
So ... what about the results ? Especially the last two experiments. Could you give feedback on my node setups (especially the two last ones) ? IF you think I am totally wrong what would be your setup ? FYI, I think the last setup is the best one. And you ?

EDIT: AFTER THE ANSWER OF THE NINJA I UPDATED MY BLENDFILE AND THE IMAGES IN THIS QUESTION

You're getting a glow because you're adding two transparent BSDFs, so transmitted light is getting doubled. If you want transparent tint with the fake caustics, you would just multiply the transparent color and the fake caustics mask.

However, normally you wouldn't want to apply any color tint to the transparent BSDF, just the fake caustics. The volume absorption shader will take care of tinting the fake caustics. You can fix both of those node setups by just deleting the add shader and the transparent BSDF connected to it.

Adding color to any surface shader represents a color change that happens at the surface, while the interior is clear. This is usually not the case with glass unless the surface has been covered by a transparent paint. Normally the color is within the glass and the surface is clear, so all color should be in the volume shader.


How do I make one object glide to the same position as another object with logic bricks? I'm currently in the process of learning BGE and was trying to make a board game. The idea is that once a player picks a square on the board the object should be able to glide to that part of the board...I've went under the assumption that the easiest way to do this would be to make the piece steer towards the target object then keep moving until it hits the object. Can anyone show me how this is done?
It is a game that uses the same 8x8 board as chess with each piece being able to move 1 space per turn so I was curios if there was a way to make a piece glide a specific distance in a certain direction?

e.g - If I were to press 'W' my object's X position = X + 2

Thanks

Have an steering actuator pathfinding to object "Target".
enable self-terminated at the actuator

When selecting a field

Place the "Target" at the selected field.
activate the steering actuator

The object will navigate to the object "target" until it reached it's position. Make sure the objects can intersect (target should be ghost or an empty).


Mechanical Simulations With Real-Time Physics So, I know this is probably something that would better fit with a full-blown CAD program, but I love Blender, and I know Blender is capable of this sort of thing, I just don't know how to go about it.
What I'd like to simulate is a mechanical object and its movements. The machine is composed of two arms extending form an axle which rotates. Each arm also has two mini-axle extensions which also rotate. I'd like to be able to simulate the forces at work (more notably, the centrifugal and centripetal forces) to see if this mechanism produces the gyroscopic forces I think it will.
Is there a physics library or plugin anyone can recommend? Also, I expect this to be a fairly straining machine in the real-world, and would like to simulate the stress on the materials.
Thanks :)

Blender is very effective in representing physical simulations, it has many options and virtually total control of Bullet.

But I've never seen that these "representations" can
extract physical data on the forces involved in each simulation. Blender has no options for that, to my knowledge, I hope to be wrong.


Fast repeats/flashes video clip So I've been pulling the last bit of my few hairs out of my skull for half a day now trying to figure out why my rendered video is NOT smooth like it is in the preview.
Demo: http://seodagger.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/1111-2222.avi
It's like it loops each soft cut (in the video strip) a dozen times before it moves on. This does not happen when I play it in the editor, but happens every single time I render it. Any ideas?
Been following a bunch of "rendering tutorials" just to make sure I am not missing anything but I'm starting to go nuts :(

Codecs.

Prefaced with my usual “very difficult to diagnose from a distance.”

All codecs are not created equal, and are complex beasts when it comes to decoding. This is especially true for encoded files that could be subject to massive frame compression such as screen captures.

Best test is to render each source file long sequence into a  stills or AVI JPG format from within Blender prior to editing, and then edit the resultant output.

If this works, and if you are so inclined to learn about the dark alchemy of codecs, I could explain further if required.


3D Earth using curve to mesh I'm trying to make a globe model for earth using fairly accurate projections. I've been able to convert the SVG into mesh, then into a sphere using this guide with Simple Deforms. However, since the vertices are only on the outline, when I deform the shape, it turns out like this monstrosity.

Is there a good way to easily add some curvature so this? Thanks!

The problem I see with using an SVG file, that the once it gets converted to a mesh the topology is going to be a mess, mostly long triangles that are not going to deform or subdivide well.

It might be easier to use an image to do the displacement on a sphere (and use it also to create the texture).


Chandelier with physics I would like to model a shape which is enclosed like such a chandelier, so that I can apply some wind force to make it move.

The basic structure of the enclosing, cloth like material should somehow look like that:

I have had a look at lot of tutorials showing how to make String/Noodles, but there are two things I do not really know how to do:

1.:  How to attach a rigid Disk on a string, or chain of vertices

2.:  How to create this whole lot of string with this whole lot of disks attached?

I appreciate any help, since I do not have any Idea how to do that. If coding is necessary, its no problem, I fine with it, since coding is what I normally do!

Thanks in Ahead!

You were probably searching for the wrong keywords for your tutorial, you may want to search for "Physics Chain" instead.

This one seems to put you in the right direction.

Anyway you will have to model your chain of links in some sort of rest pose, using the Physics tab in the 3D view Toolbar set all chain objects to Add Active except for the ends of the chains or any fixed objects they will attached to, which should be set to Add Passive instead.

For all of them make sure you change the Collision shape to Mesh under the Properties window > Physics Tab > Rigid Body Collisions Panel > Shape and the Source to Final if they are using any sort of modifiers.

Also set the Mass and Margin properties to a low value under the Rigid Body and Rigid Body Dynamics panels, like 0.001 depending on the dimensions your objects.

You will almost likely need to increase the precision steps of the simulation  to a higher value under Properties window > Scene Tab > Rigid Body World Panel > Steps per second. Probably a high value like 1200 or higher.

Also for simplicity sake if you have repeating parts in your lamp like equal chain strings you may want to make a group out of them and clone the group instance instead, so Blender will only calculate physics for one instance. Although if you plan to make it react to physics this will not work.


Everything is hidden except one object I'm working on some animation shots and suddenly everything was gone. Except one object.

I have tried to open the scene on other computers, reboot, unhide all,...

Any ideas?

Not a solution to the problem (which might be me doing stupid things on my file) but a solution to preserve my work:

I have opened an earlier version of the shot (which was working fine) and imported the actions from the bad version.

Thank you for your help everyone!


Racing game side walls I am currently designing a track in blender for a racing game in Unity.
My question concerns the side walls:
If you look at current formula e games like Real Racing, there are commercials all along the side walls (e.g. DHL, Visa, ...). I also want to randomly distribute different commercials along the racing track.

Are there any common/best practices for doing this?

I would hardly recommend, that distributing textures randomly on a Mesh, is a task you would perform in Unity.

Theoretically it is possible to distribute textures randomly on a Material. But if you don't bake them to a simple UV-layout, I am afraid, you wont be able to ship this material to Unity.

But I would ask this question on a Unity focused platform.

EDIT:

But if you want to do something like this in Blender, I think this is only possible with the help of Python scripting or an osl shader.

Even if this Question will be closed, I have to share the result of my tests, because if not, I would have wastet to much of my time.

The closest result wich I found was to procect multible textures onto the mesh like decals. Therefore you have to use external objects as texture Coordinates.

The results can only be seen in the render mode.


Cycles Viewport render ( Shift + Z ) is much brighter than final render I am new to Blender and this was my first project. I got the lighting to look ok in the viewport render preview (Shift + Z ) but then i do the final render ( using cycles) it is incredibly dark.
Viewport:

and final render :

I have tried rendering on GPU and CPU with the same result.
As this is the first time i've ever used Blender, it's probably something stupid, but any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Your area lamp is disabled for render (last icon on the first line):


how to draw a torus with grid? I want to model a torus with grid, i.e torus code in topology quantum computation, just like followin, but I do not know how to draw grid.
Maybe using texture might be helpful, but are there any other ways?

Did you try using a wireframe node or modifier. You may be able to duplicate the torus and then apply the wireframe to the outer torus if you want it to look more 3D. But you can also try the wireframe node.


How to break a voxelated object into voxels? I'm trying to create some objects which are voxelated (pixelated), and break apart into voxels on collision. Like the effect achieved in the movie Pixels(2015). But I don't know how. I got this far:

1. I create a sample mesh.

2. I apply Remesh modifier with "Blocks" option.

3. I get the voxelated mesh I want.

4. BUT, HOW DO I BREAK IT INTO THOSE VOXELS ?

What I tried

I tried Cell Fracture Addon, but it creates conical shards. I want cubical shards.
I tried Fracture Tools Addon, it does offer "Flat" cracks...
but it does not line up with the blocks of the mesh and also each shard is containing multiple cubes.

Is there something else I can do ?

I don't know enough scripting. Can you write one ?

The Remesh modifier is made for modeling the surface only. Despite the look could appears quite similar, they are not voxels. It's probably easier to look for another workflow such as...

Particle system - Grid

From the manual:

  Particles are set in a 3d grid and particles near/in the elements are kept.

The emission algorithm automatically kill the particles outside the mesh (it must be watertight for correct results). Then you can just duplicate a cube in each particle's location as shown in the picture below.

In order to get the cube size that allows no gap between faces you must take into account the reference object bounding box's size and the grid resolution parameter.

In the provided example, for a cone that stays inside a cube of 1 unit and a resolution of 100 particles, the cube size is 0.01 units.

And here's a Suzanne made of cubes splashing on the floor:

EDIT: ADDED BY OP

For those who can't figure out how to make those particles behave well physically:
Is there a way to make particles behave like rigid body objects?
Look at the answers by WChargin and MarcClintDion.

In a nutshell, the generated blocks are particles internally, so they will always behave like points, dimensionless. But we want the boxes to behave like real cubes, don't we? So, we extract (generate) real objects from those duplis, by doing this:

Now that they are independent objects, we enable  physics on one object and copy it to all the rest by doing this:

Done.

By the way,
If, for example, you are making them fall on a floor and letting them scatter away, some might pass through the plane, as in the OP's case. So you should increase the (floor) plane's collision margin until no cube passes through.
If it is apparent that cubes are not actually touching the floor due to increased collision margin, then you can change the plane's origin to make them look like they are really hitting the floor.