Can I set the Brick Texture Node horizontal mortar size to be equivalent to the vertical mortar size? I'm using Blender 2.73 and I'm trying to create tiles using the brick texture node.  The problem I'm having is that the horizontal mortar size is smaller than the vertical.

Is it possible to have them be equivalent sizes?

the mortar size is a percentage of the width or height so they won't be equal unless width = height
or  you can try this :

tweak the scale on the Y axis till you get the effect


How to create a dithering effect? How does one create this effect and be able to control the level of dithering?

For Eevee, the principle is similar to the one used in this answer.

Simply you can change the input parameters and play with the Voronoi texture options.

I've changed few things to the node setting.

Voronoi input is set to camera texture coordinates.

Voronoi changed to 2D and distance to edge.

Colors inverted.

Inputs on the right tuned.


How to fix this problem while modeling a sphere from default cube? <img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/HgRX9.png" alt="I have made a sphere from default cube. In OBJECT MODE  I have applied subdivision surface modifier and shaded smooth effect on cube to make a perfect sphere . But when I go into EDIT MODE to add loop cuts on a sphere, the shape of the sphere has became distorted even I have also enabled " Adjust Cage " in subdivision surface modifier.
Image 1" />

When adding loop cuts on a sphere. the shape has became distorted.

There is no problem there. Everything is working as intended. Loop cuts change the resulting form of surface subdivision. If input geometry had no result on subdivision surface modifier, it would be absolutely no good for modelling because you could not make different forms with it. I would suggest looking for the right technique to model what you want to model instead of trying to 'fix' a technique intended for something else.


Import a GIMP XCF on Windows 7 How do you import a GIMP XCF File into Blender when running it on windows 7?

I see all this stuff for how to do it in Linux, but is there anyway to do it with windows?

And what is this http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Extensions:2.6/Py/Scripts/Import-Export/GIMPImageToScene talking about?

There is an "import GIMP" addon currently available, but it doesn't look like it's very stable at this point. You can activate it under User Preferences > Addons > Import GIMP to scene. Use key search word GIMP to locate it. Then it just a matter of opening the import menu, selecting xcf and importing the file. like I said though, it's kinda unstable, wait for more hardy versions to come out if you can.


Curve edges of cylinder extrusion inward like an arc I have a cylinder which I've extruded like so:

I want to convert those edges to be curved like an arc inwards like so:

Such that the entire bottom section is curved (the faces along with the edges).
Note: beginner

Just make your extrusion (E, ShiftZ in my case) and bevel the inner edge loop (CtrlB).


How to create an array of objects with offset in python I am trying to create an array of cubes with python.

So far, I have:

class RunSimulation(bpy.types.Operator):
"""Run CrowdMaster simulation"""
bl_idname = "scene.cm_run_simulation"
bl_label = "Run Simulation"
bl_options = {'REGISTER', 'UNDO'}

def execute(self, context):
    scene = context.scene
    groupObjs = bpy.data.groups[scene.agentGroup].objects
    halfAgents = scene.agentNumber // 2

    for object in groupObjs:
        if scene.groundObject == object.name:
            self.report({'ERROR'}, "The ground object must not be in the same group as the agent!")

    bpy.context.scene.objects.active.select = False

    if scene.positionType == "formation":
        if scene.formationPositionType == "array":
            for a in range(halfAgents):
                obj1 = bpy.data.objects[groupObjs[1].name]
                ground =  bpy.data.objects[scene.groundObject]
                offset_x = (obj1.dimensions.x + scene.formationArrayX)
                obj1.select = True
                obj1 = obj1.copy()
                if scene.positionMode == "vector":
                    location = Vector((scene.positionVector[0], scene.positionVector[1], ground.location.z))
                elif scene.positionMode == "object":
                    objStart = bpy.data.objects[scene.positionObject]
                    location = Vector((objStart.location.x, objStart.location.y, ground.location.z))
                obj1.location = location
                scene.objects.link(obj1)
                location.x -= offset_x

    return {'FINISHED'}

But this gives me

The offset value is formationArrayX

How can I add that offset in between each item?
Right now, it just adds all the cubes in the same place. All of my code in multiple files is at https://github.com/johnroper100/CrowdMaster.

Currently your duplicating an object and moving it by -(2a + 1.5) units on the x axis. This doesn't give you a offset between the objects as objects are still exactly 2 units away of each other (because a changes by 1).

You should multiply formationArrayX with a, instead of adding it. To get something similar to the screenshot you posted, increase formationArrayX to something like 3. You also don't need offset2 then.

Also note, that your current code duplicates all objects you added before in each step. Only the last one created is offset, all others stay at the initial position. This is because the duplicate operator duplicates all selected objects and you don't un-select objects after translating

EDIT: This answer was only valid for an earlier version of the opening question. Code has been changed since then.


How to get input from RFID reader in Blender Game Engine? In Blender Game Engine, I'm trying to get input from an RFID reader that reads data in form of 10 digits e.g. 0010293221. I've tried using the 'Keyboard' sensor to get the key. And I've also tried using the 'Always' sensor with true pulse mode too. The key was read fine but not all of it. For example, the RFID that suppose to be read is 0010293221, but I got 01293 or something like this. Let's say it skipped some digit (not particular digit but different digits in each reading) and it didn't read all 10. Sometimes I got 5 digits, sometimes 3, or 1...

I've tried reading and put the input into others program e.g. Notepad and even Blender Text Editor window and it worked just perfect. All 10 digits were read correctly. But within the runtime game there's problem like I describe above.

It seems like the key input from the RFID reader is too quick (frequent) for BGE or else?

Anyone have any solution for this?
Please help me.

Thank you.

This may be a problem with the frequent changing of frames (including logic events) in the game engine. Using the subprocess module to start a new process outside of the game engine main loop may solve the problem.

For example, this is what I used to retrieve data from an HTTP server and communicate what I had fetched back to the game engine.

import bge
import subprocess

gD = bge.logic.globalDict

if gD['OS'] == 'Linux':
    saa = subprocess.Popen(gD['ModulePath']+'RetrieveFormData.py', shell=False, stdin=subprocess.PIPE)
    goa = saa.communicate(bytes(gD['ServerIP']+','+gD['InstallationPath'],'utf-8'))
if gD['OS'] == 'Windows':
    saa = subprocess.Popen([sys.executable,gD['ModulePath']+'RetrieveFormData.py'], shell=False, stdin=subprocess.PIPE)
    goa = saa.communicate(bytes(gD['ServerIP']+','+gD['InstallationPath'],'utf-8'))

I hope this provided you with a clue if nothing more.


How to render a final edited video So, here's the deal. I have a few clips and transitions in my sequence editor that make a complete 20 second video. Now when I save it, it's saved to my output folder as a BLEND1 file. I need to convert/render it to either an AVI or MOV, basically something I can upload to YouTube. Not sure how to do this. Any help would really be appreciated!

you need to RENDER your video - use the "properties" panel for this.

PS.- don't forget to check the "sequencer" and uncheck the "compositor" under "post processing".


Sculpt brush size lock in 2.8 Where did the brush size lock go for sculpt mode in 2.8???

From what I can tell is you just have to change the Radius Unit to Scene for the scale to stay consistent with the model. Changing it to View will scale the brush according to the user view port.


problem with insetting faces i want to inset the face to 1 mt.
actually the face is 20x20.
when i apply it to  mi its insetting like  this
but i need the result of the face 19 x 19 after insetting
 but im getting like that when i inset by 0.1 but its not correct to the actual diensions

In Object mode, select your object and press Ctrl+A, then select Scale.

This will make sure the Local scale of the vertices, match the Global scale of the scene.

This probably happened because you scaled your object in Object mode rather than in Edit mode.


Why does the view transformation controls become frozen sometimes? Sometimes the view transformation controls become frozen and just won't let me move around the scene.
If I copy and paste my objects into a new scene, the problem goes away.
Why does a scene get locked up sometimes?

You are likely experiencing a problem that blender has with the Viewport navigation where it becomes progressively less responsive.

Try pressing Numpad., or use Shiftb to drag out a Zoom To Area box.

This restores the view navigation function.


How to duplicate an object in 2.8 via the Python API I know how to successfully duplicate an object by using

bpy.ops.object.add_named(name = 'TemplateObjectName')

If the template object named 'TemplateObjectName' has animations, particle systems and modifiers attached to it, the previous call will create a duplicate object that also has those components. However, if I duplicate an object using

template_object = bpy.data.objects['TemplateObjectName']
new_object = bpy.data.objects.new('NewObjectName', template_object.data)
collection.objects.link(new_object)

how do I attach the template object's animation, modifiers, particle systems...?

Make copies of ID data with ID.copy()

For blender data ID objects ie objects in bpy.data.objects meshes in bpy.data.meshes actions in bpy.data.actions  the ID object has a copy method .

For a bpy.types.Object object copy, the copy will have the same transforms, parent, modifiers, constraints, animation data et all of the original.  All linked data will be same as original. eg if mesh of original is bpy.data.meshes["Cube"] so is the copy's.  Fortunately the mesh also has a copy method.

template_ob = bpy.data.objects.get("template")
if template_ob:
    ob = template_ob.copy()
    # link to collection if need be
    collection.objects.link(ob)

the copy ob has the same linked data as the original template_ob.data is ob.data is True.

    # assign a copy of the mesh to copy object
    ob.data = ob.data.copy()

Assuming we've checked original has an action then to make the action a copy of original's

    action = ob.animation_data.action
    # make it a copy
    ob.animation_data.action = action.copy()

To unassign

    #make it None (no action assigned)
    ob.animation_data.action = None

Or in one fell swoop, remove all animation data including actions and drivers

    ob.animation_data_clear()

Constraints and modifiers data are not linked. The copy has the same of each, including the same names, as original.  The vertex groups and target objects pointed to will be same as original, and may need to be adjusted.

To remove all modifiers and constraints on copy

    ob.modifiers.clear()
    ob.constraints.clear()

Duplicate Object operator. bpy.ops.object.duplicate()

can also use the duplicate operator.  As with operators they work on the context and selected objects, which if need be can be set within a script.

Alternatively with an override dictionary. Early testing and 2.8 appears much simpler on this front.

Test code (can confirm works as expected when run in python console on 2.8)

Duplicate an object template_ob with linked data

bpy.ops.object.duplicate(
        {"object" : template_ob,
         "selected_objects" : [template_ob]},
        linked=True)
ob = context.object # newly duped object

linked=False is the default.

Making a new object with copies of originals data.

From question:

template_object = bpy.data.objects['TemplateObjectName']
new_object = bpy.data.objects.new('NewObjectName', template_object.data)
collection.objects.link(new_object)

  how do I attach the template object's animation, modifiers, particle
  systems...?

Strictly speaking this is not a duplicate. It is a new object that shares the originals data part.  Or similarly in your answer where it shares data part, and original action or copy thereof. Results will match in the simplest of cases,   ..and may be the answer you are seeking. However for others wishing to duplicate their objects in 2.8 using this method

Can they be assured that nothing is affected by not having  a property of original on the new object?

The action or driver may refer to data paths of properties on original that either,
will not be defined, or set to default on the new object.
Relations: modifiers constraints animations could require  the original having a certain parent or transform.
How to go about copying over the constraints / modifiers of the
original? What if they have drivers? Should target objects be duped,
Vertex groups? .

To reiterate, making a new object sharing some chosen DNA of the original is IMO not duplicating.  Obviously there's no need to write a script with all the options required to emulate ob.copy()  just like there's no need to use ob.copy() to add a new object with default settings, and only a few chosen attributes of ob

Putting the body of Porsche on your new car, and driving it like it's a Porsche, doesn't make it a Porsche, it may however achieve the result you are after


Find all meshes that use a specific material Is there a way to find meshes that use a specific material?

I have duplicated material and it appears that some mesh using those duplicated materials even if I don't find any in the Outliner list.

I know some materials are not used because there is a "0" next to the material's names.

Please help!

You can use the select drop down in the viewport to select > select by > material


Turning high poly to low poly UV normal gone haywire I am trying to make a low poly game character the high poly baked to my unwrapped low poly. I attached pictures of rendered and not rendered. Why is the rendered low poly colored like the normal map? Shouldn't it be the same color just with the light bending around it as I would expect? What did I do wrong? There isn't much stretching in the unwrap. I can't find any other examples that look the way my rendered image does.

First, you need to set the shading of the model to smooth and set the shading mode to GLSL.

Then you need to create a material and add the normal map texture in the texture panel. Then in Image Sampling section enable Normal Map, in Influence disable Color and in Geometry enable Normal


How to non-destructively solidify only certain faces? Sometimes I would like to solidify only certain parts of a mesh.  I know I can use the solidify under the faces (Ctrl+F) menu, but often I would like to do it in a non-destructive manner using the solidify modifier.

The solidify modifier does have an option to solidify only a particular vertex group.  However when I use this option it solidifies (i.e. duplicates) the entire mesh, but only moves out the vertices which are in the vertex group leaving the areas not in the vertex group with double overlapping geometry.  This results in a giant hideous z-fighting mess, as shown below.

So can I have the solidify modifier apply only to the vertex group and not create this mess?

There are really two ways of handling this issue.

1) As Denis suggested in the comments, check Only Rim. This won't give you thickness, but will just displace the faces in the vertex group.

2) Offset the Factor a small amount:


Blender 2.91 UV Editor. Rip edges keeping them in the same position fails I am trying to rip edges or faces from a UV map and keeping them in the same position to move the whole created island afterwards.
If I try to do that by Selection the edges or faces I want to Rip, press V and then press RMC the ripping process doesn't happen. This operation works well in edit mode. You can click any edge press V and then RMC. The geometry remains in the same place but the "cut" has been done. After that, you can select the whole polygon island by clicking Ctrl+L.
However, in UVedit mode if you press RMC instead of moving the edges and you try to select the UV island you can check the whole UV island is still joined to the whole group and everything is selected.
Is this a bug, or am I doing something wrong?

Indeed it seems like a bug, sorta, I tested and the rip actually works, but once the selection changes, the UV vertices gets joined again (because they are at the exact same place)
tested and worked workaround is to move it a very small amount, like .0001, but not too small so that it doesn't round to zero


Overlap image texture on a material I'm trying to understand nodes, I have this complex material with PBS images textures combined  by color dodge mixer node with a gradient texture for paint it half white and half aqua green.
First I want know if this is the good way to do that.

Then I wanna add an overlay texture (made with photoshop and graphic tablet) to add some details:

So I've tried with mix shader:

On the viewport shading It's seems working (even if it's lighter):

On cycles' preview seems the material is letting pass light trough, in some areas, and the texture is almost invisible:

I've tried also by using one single principle BDSF by adding a mix node but the texture is already almost invisible (I've tried different type of mix without any success)

You're currently telling Blender that there's transparency behind your image, but after that it is mixed with a Mix Shader that is a 50/50% mix between your wall background and your image. In order to put your image over the wall you need to plug the Alpha output of your image into the Factor socket of the Mix Shader, not into the Alpha socket of the Principled BSDF, so basically, if I simplify, it should look like that:


Should I join a character and its accessories into one object for an animation? I'm very new to blender, I made a low poly character that I want to rig for animation the character is a scuba diver. I made the character first then the accessories such as scuba mask and tanks and so on. My question is.
Should I join the accessories to the character or not join them, if they are not joined is it then harder to make a animation. Do I rig the character without the accessories first then add them?

Welcome to Blender Stack Exchange!

There's no real right or wrong answer here. If your character is really low poly, and all the accessories are permanently attached, then joining the objects is fine. However, keeping the separate also works well.

The advantage to keeping things separate is it allows you to edit any object at any point. It also makes assigning materials easier, and can even make rigging a bit easier. The reason for this is you can parent an object directly to a bone. This is really useful for objects like a scuba tank or mask that won't have to deform.

At the end of the day, I'd just pick one and give it a shot. You can always separate or combine objects if you think another way would work better. We're always here for any specific questions you may have along the way too.


Question about modelling birdcage I have been trying to model a fancy birdcage, similar to the one seen below, but I have run into a problem: I have created the bottom and the bars, the problem is I want to place the bars in a perfect circle and placing them by hand is tedious and often leads to inaccuracy. Is there any way I could, for example, place the bars along a circle curve? Or is there any other way that I could place the bars in a perfect circle?

I have not included a .blend file or a screenshot of my setup, because it is a very simple setup, just imagine the bottom as a default cylinder and the bars as the default bezier curve.

Thank you in advance!

As mooboots said in his comment, use the array modifier:

Create the curve of the bars and and empty
Make sure that both the empty and the origin of the curve sre in the center of the disk
Apply all eventual rotation and scale of the curve and the empty
Create an Array Modifier on the curve
In the modifier, disable Relative Offset and enable Object Offset. In the field below insert the empty. There shouldn't be any visible changes
Rotate the empty on the Z axis using a nice angle (like 5, 10 or 30 degrees) ans increase the Count slider in the modifier
Done

You can still change the curve or the angle, just remember that if you want to move them you need to always move the empty and the curve together


Pivot point problems when "adjust edit cage to modifier result" selected on amature modifier I have an armature with the "adjust edit cage to modifier result" option selected on the modifier. The problem is the when I go into edit mode and select a face, I cannot get the pivot point to be the individual origin or median point.

That's how blender works, it could/should be reported as a bug.

The mesh is deformed to match the armature during edit mode but the manipulator widget doesn't get the same deformation. If you toggle the edit cage display on/off you should see that the widget stays in the undeformed location of the selected face.

The same thing is happening with snapping the cursor.

While the widget is drawn visually in the wrong location it still functions correctly, as do the keyboard shortcuts G,S,R.


Bevel and subsurf are weird after inset faces. I used hardops. Simple noob question I want to have nicely rounded recess, instead I get weird face.

I beveled with hardops
Subsurfed
Now my goal is the left object.

I achieved it with boolean. But i find it too long. Instead of I did:

inset face (I key in edit mode)
scale it down
extrude and move it down along z axis.
I have something weird.

I tried to use  creases and bevel groups, but I can't get it work. Also tried to extrude instead of inset. The same result. Whats causes the problem? The bevel? The subsurf? The inset? Some HardOps parameters?
I'd be really grateful!

To elaborate on Zak’s answer a little, the issue stems from these four edges at the corners of the mesh:

When you use the Bevel modifier with the Angle limit method, only sharp edges will be beveled. These four edges are certainly not sharp—the faces they’re connected to are completely flat—so they don’t get beveled at all. This produces corner geometry that looks like this:

Of particular note is the fact that this edge loop still only contains exactly four vertices:

Since the bevel didn’t actually add any additional geometry to this edge loop, subdividing it will distort it into a circle, for the same reasons that a simple four-vertex plane will approach a circle after subdivision.
One way to fix this is to set the Bevel modifier’s limit method to None. This causes all edges to be beveled, even ones that are completely flat, which adds the necessary additional geometry at the corners:

Now all the edge loops have extra vertices, reducing distortion when subdivision is applied:

Note that this only works okay because the upper rim is completely flat: if it were curved, then the additional geometry would cause pinching at the corners, and you might need to find a different approach.

As a final note, while this solution works okay for such a simple example, but in general, beveling all the edges might be too extreme. In situations where you want more control, you can use the Weight limit method and explicitly mark which edges you want to be beveled using CtrlE ▸ Edge Bevel Weight. For example, this can be used to mark everything except the corners as edges to be beveled:

With subdivision, this produces a nice, round shape:


Multiple bakes are not working I'm stuck with a situation in my animation for fluid effect. The first time i baked the scene to check rhe results of how things will be. Then I added another object as obstacle in my domain and baked again. It shows im progress bar that its baking but the result showed rhe previous bake outcome. I removed the baked files from cache and again baked again same results. Closed the blender, restarted and baked but results were still the same as old bake. I just got too frustrated now, can anybody help pls ?

Thanks.

Check the relative path and absolut path of the bake path.

check the scale of the baking domain is 1.0 in all the directions.


Weird shading error on mesh I was making a hand in Blender when something weird happened. I extruded an edge, and the new surface was discolored:

Making additional extrudes will cause the new faces to be discolored as well:

Deleting the new edges and extruding again yields the same result, but extruding from the thumb(which is the same object but isn't connected to the main hand) will color the surfaces normally. I've tried flipping the normals, but everything seems fine there. No matter how much the vertexes are shifted around, it's still colored differently. Any ideas on how to fix this?

Found the issue. Somehow a bunch of vertexes got duplicated, and that made an indent in the mesh.


When I do an inward extrusion the walls of the cube remain, whats going on? I am trying to reduce the thickness of this cube.  When I select the face, extrude along the Z axis, the face of the rectangle goes up, but leaves the walls remaining.  Why is this happening and how can I fix it?  My normals seem to be pointing in the right direction.

I would not use extrude there, instead I would make a loop cut like I shown with blue line, delete the plane I marked with red lines, including the edges, and then fill up the hole using F hotkey.
Let me know if that helped, otherways I'll make a more detailed answer later, when back from work.


Why are all these different colored lines showing up in Edit Mode? I was working on a project and went to edit a mesh when suddenly, all these multi colored lines appear (in a glitchy-looking way, like when you duplicate a mesh in the same position).

I did some googling, and it seems that the colors represent things like Crease, Bevel, Sharp, etc. But I can't figure out how to hide them from view, which is really annoying.

Hope someone can shed some light on this issue.

The white lines are most likely edges, that have been "marked as sharp".

This happens quite often, when importing objects from other file formats.

Select your mesh, go into Edit Mode, hit A to select everything, then hit Ctrl+E and select "Clear Sharp" in the popup menu.

There also might be double vertices in your mesh (hard to say from the image alone).

To remove double vertices, select your mesh, go into edit mode, hit A to select everything, then hit W and select "Remove Double Vertices" in the popup menu.


Can I apply D-noise to a folder of rendered stills of an animation? I wanted to apply the D-Noise filter to an animation and I suppose there must be a way to apply it as each still is rendered but I couldn't find it and had to start my render to meet a deadline. My stills are pretty noisy as I am using emission so would be great if there is some way to apply it to a folder.

I'm sure there is a way in Python but I cannot really do anything at all in Python so please any other way.

So it just turns out that if you render to stills and then use the Blender video sequencer to run those stills together into a video file you can just enable D-Noise at the bottom of the view 'Layer tab' - it slows things down a fair bit but it works a treat.


Weight painting in rigging and particle systems combined I modelled and rigged a rabbit. There are many vertexgroups name-connected with the bones. One of the groups is the head and the eyes are included. I made a separate vertex-group for the eyes eventhough they are not connected to the armature but it is just handy to be able to select them (for texturing eg).
The eyes move with the rig when they are joined to the mesh. But when I apply a particle system (hair) to the head they are also planted on the eyes. So when I then weightpaint the eyes blue in the head, the particles are gone but the eyes don't move with the rig anymore.
So the weightpaint seems to conflict for rigging and particle systems? Is there a way to separate weightpainting for particles and for rigging?

Solved it! There was one thing I forgot to try and that was adding bones for the eyes. Eventhough I did not plan to animate the eyes this probably is the only way to do it. Made 2 eye bones and 2 vertexgroups with the same name. The eyes move with the rig now and there is no hair on the eyes.


Finding an object's location/scale with values set to zero? Is there a way to find the exact location, rotation, and scale of an object that has these values set to zero, possibly through clear object transformations?

I would like to set an object that's originally made for a child rig (location, scale), to the values of this adult female rig.

Unfortunately, the only values that are still there are the dimensions. This Blender file was extracted by a program that makes smaller and specific files from FullBuild.package game files.

This is also the case with the Blender file of the object I'm trying to convert to the adult female rig. Values are also set to zero.
I tried copying the dimensions of the adult female hairstyle to the (target) child hairstyle just to see what happens but that makes the mesh twice as big.

I've searched a lot here and elsewhere but did not find any info on 'unsetting' clear object transformations which probably means it's not possible. I just want to make sure this the case.

Is there another way to copy the scale, location to an object? Any help is highly appreciated!

If the location and rotation values of an object are set to 0, and scale values are set to 1, it means that it has its location, rotation and scale either set to default or applied (scale zero would make it compressed to a single point). As far as I know, there is no way to retrieve the original values (unless undo apply transformations immediately, without saving and closing).

There's a possibility to estimate the original location: applying location makes x = y = z = 0 but it means the object's pivot is at (0, 0, 0) - so you can temporarily use "set origin to geometry" to get its actual position, in a sense.

Here an example starting situation:

After using the command set origin to geometry:

You get its current position, e.g. Y-translated, in the example.

To get rotation and scale after applying them is impossible, as far as I know, unless you have a reference object, but that should have been planned in advance.


Where is the misc tab when you press n? When I press N , next to item, tool, and view should be misc right? It isn’t there for me but I need it for kinematics settings

When you open up the Spider-man model it blocks a script for the rig, which Blender asks your permission to run or ignore. I enabled the script the second time running it and the Misc tab showed up for me.


Why the Emission on Hair Particle System is disable? I need to edit the NUMBER of EMISSION, but it disabled after I use WEIGHT PAINT with VERTEX GROUPS.

How can I edit emission after this?

You have to switch to Object Mode and Delete Edit, only after that, can you re-edit simulation properties again.


Slide edges with absolute values I have a cylinder I wish to adjust the length of. This is simple when aligned to one of the three axes, as I'd just grab the end edges, set the axis, and type the distance to move by. However, this is not aligned to any axis, thus making this a little more complicated. While I can rotate the whole mesh to align with an axis and follow the aforementioned method, doing this for multiple objects would be time consuming, and I'm wondering if there is a better method.

According to the 2.79 manual, there are vertex and edge slide tools. However, the edge slide shifts the selection by a percentage, not an absolute value. The vertex slide supposedly has a way to set an absolute value by pressing E, then entering your value, but I haven't had much success with it. Both edge and vertex sliding seems to have the same effect, whether I've pressed E or not.

What am I doing wrong here? Alternatively, is there any other way to achieve the desired results?

The quickest way would depend, not on whether the cylinder-object is aligned to the world axes, but on whether the cylinder's mesh is aligned to its own Object (Local) axes.

If the cylinder is aligned to its own axes:

For an absolute length, you can set its size in that dimension in the 'Dimensions' panel of the properties region of the 3D View, in Object Mode. Beware. This will scale the object's transform matrix. It's probably desirable to  CtrlA > Apply the scale, to bake it into the mesh.
To move one end by a numerically entered amount in Edit Mode, you can just set your Transform Orientation to 'Local' , and (supposing the cylinder was created with Z along its length) hit  GZZ [the number].

If the cylinder is not aligned to its own axes:

You can create a Custom Orientation from a longitudinal edge. Select the edge, and hit CtrlAltSpace.  (I usually check 'Use after Creation' and 'Overwrite Previous'.) Now any translation or scale you make with GYY or SYY will be in that edge's direction, and will accept numerical entries.

For absolute transforms, you can always create a jig. Just duplicate, for example,  a single vertex at a known zero point, then transform it to the full extent numerically in the desired Transform Orientation, and use it as a snap target for translation, scale, or rotation, before deleting it.


Blender 2.8 reference image disappeared I am currently working on a 3D model and I was using a reference image to get the proportions right. Sine 2.8 doesnt have the background image feature I was using an empty object as image. After fixing up some non-manifold edges I just noticed my reference is not visible anymore even though it is still listed in the outliner.

Does someone know why that is and how to fix it?

Image empties are as overlays and you disabled them to display. Enable them back and your image will be displayed again:


Mirror Lamps on x axis Does anyone know how to mirror lamps on the x axis, like a mirror modifier would for a mesh? I have tried Ctrl+M, and it did not work. Thanks.

You can do it manually with a duplicate lamp:

Space, Snap Cursor to Center, Enter
Set the pivot center in the toolbar on the bottom to 3D Cursor
Select your lamp, S,X,-,1, Enter
Done.

If the lamp is changing position more often, duplicate it and add an object constraint:

Select the dupli lamp
Properties, Constraints, Add Object Constraint, Copy Location
Check Invert for the axis you want to mirror.
For directional lamps, also try Copy Rotation


Makehuman modelling with py script? I used MakeHuman in a combination with Blender to model and animate a character and it works perfectly. The Problem now is, that I need a variaty on different human models. Tall, small, chubby, thin and so on. Since MH is open source and developed with python it should be possible to do the modelling automatic (random measurements) from a script. Is this possible? And how? I already found out that there should be a scripting tab in the MH GUI, but I think I need some additional tool therefore to enable it?!

Hope someone has done something like this, I could not find anything helpful in other forums.

The scripting tab can be enabled under Settings->Plugins->7_scripting. When you restart MH, there should be a Scripting tab under Utilities. I have not yet run across any documentation, but the GUI does have some example API calls that you can append to your script by clicking the button. Good luck; I'm trying to figure out how to use it, too.


Shrinkwrap Modifier Doesn't Conform After Having Geometry Follow Profile I'm trying to retopologize a flower stem that I sculpted.  I am applying a shrinkwrap modifier to a circle where I close follow the geometry and then as I understand it, the shrinkwrap modifier should conform to the original mesh.  It seems to be conforming decently but it is super blocky and isn't smooth.  I thought it might have to do with the fact that the sculpting underneath isn't smooth enough.  What're your guys thoughts?  I'd be curious to understand what is going on "under the hood" with the modifier and triangles (and their normals) from a mesh sculpt.  Here are the images, the first one shows the blockiness of the wrap and the 2nd one shows my sculpt:

Change the order of your modifiers.  Shrink Wrap first then SubSurf. See which one you like better.


Export ANT landscape as heightmap I found this old question by "omuverde" on blenderartists[1]

It's there a way to export a ANT Landscape generated terrain from Blender to a heightmap?  I saw a tutorial that did it by positioning the camera above the terrain and rendering the heightmap but i'd like a more elegant way of doing this.
So, is there a way or am I going to have to write a script to sort verts from the mesh in the right order?

I repost it here because the question was never answered, and the suggested method (render the heightmap as an image) may have issues with the choice of lightsource. Also It is preferred that the image is exported in linear colorspace.
[1] http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?115406-ANT-Landscape-to-Heightmap

It can be achieved by baking the height of a mesh.

Before you start, make sure that the origin of the object is beneath or at the lowest point of the mesh, preferably the latter. Negative values do not go well with images.
Go to the UV/Image Editor and create a new image

Go to the 3D view, select your mesh, go to edit mode, select all vertices with A, go to orthographic view by pressing numpad 5 and top view by pressing numpad 7.
Press U and click Project From View (Bounds)

Go back to Object Mode, go to the node editor add a new material for the mesh. Add a Texture Coordinate node, a Separate XYZ node and a Math node. Connect the Object output from the Texture Coordinate node to the Vector input of the Separate XYZ node, the Z output of the Separate XYZ node to the upper input of the Math node and the output of the Math node to the Color input of the Diffuse node. Change the operation mode of the Math node to Power and the bottom value to 2.

Add an Image Texture node, select the just created image in it, but do not connect it to any other node.

The Node Editor should look like this:

Make sure you have the Image Texture node selected, go in the Properties Panel to the Render tab. Go to the Bake options, change Bake Type to Diffuse Color and click Bake.

You can now find the height map in the UV/Image Editor by selecting the image you created at the start. Do not forget to save the height map by pressing F3.

Note that this method is not perfect, a mesh created using this height map will not be completely identical to the original mesh.


How to "Chamfer" or Bevel Outer Edges of a Plane like in 3DS Max? I've been following Grant Warwick's hardsurface modeling essentials video on Vimeo, using Blender 2.80. Following the tutorial, I've made a basic hill-type shape by extruding a plane multiple times in edit mode.

Warwick, using 3ds max, was able to select the outer edges of the mesh and "chamfer"/bevel it. I used the knife tool to show what he did:

When I try doing the same in Blender 2.8, however, I can't seem to bevel the outer edge of a plane/mesh. So, I try adding a loop cut instead. But the edge flow doesn't go all the way around the mesh; I can only add one loop cut vertically, or one cut horizontally:

Is there a way to bevel an outer edge of a plane/mesh in Blender? How can I do what I did with the knife tool, to get an even edge without too many manual steps? Is that possible in Blender?

On an edge selection,CtrlShiftR, Offset Edge Slide, will get you most of the way there. It will slide a copy of selected edges along existing ones, and can be set to give an even offset. However, it doesn't create rail edges (in your case, at the corners) where they did not previously exist .. you would have to go round and J connect the vertices at the corners.

If you had to do so many of those it would be tedious, you could:

Extrude your selected edges any old where, so they are no longer on a boundary
Select the top faces I and inset the whole region with 'Boundary' unchecked
Alt-select the extruded face ring, and delete it.

Or, you could go round with K cutting across existing edges, making a  rough inset, and create the corner-rails, with no concern for accuracy, and then use GG to slide it, hitting E to make the edges parallel to the boundary. (F flips which side of the slide to be parallel to.)


Composting/Post processing animation Sorry if this is the wrong place (I tried researching).

1. Could someone explain difference between post-processing and compositing in terms of animation.

2. Is it possible to animate(key frame) compositing ex. A warm feel is added for first 5 seconds(sunset) then its night (so instead of a warm feel a more cold dark feel) so I need to change the compositing throughout the animation.

3. Should I instead just create the animation normally and composite it in another software.

Going through each part of the question, one by one:

Post-processing and compositing are pretty much the same thing. Post processing is generally more color oriented, and compositing is a bit more VFX oriented (keying etc. ). But for all intents and purposes in blender, they are the same thing, and done at the same time, in the same place.
Yes, you can key frame nearly every single property value in the compositor, the key is just to choose the right ones when working with colors, or odd things can happen...
Yes, you'll do the compositing/post-pro last, You can do it all in blender, or use different software, like Adobe After effects, or the now 'free'* Fusion 7. For the color stuff (Post-Pro), you could use After Effects, Adobe Speed Grade, or DaVinci Resolve. Most of this software isn't cheap, which is why I recomend doing it in blender, which for the large part, has a fully capable feature set.

*Non commercial, with some non-key features removed, the full version costs about $1000


Subdivision/decimation is not working as expected I am trying to subdivide the following mesh which is split in 3 objects and each object is structured from quads:

I tried both the following two functions:
def subdivide_objects():
    obs = [o for o in bpy.data.objects
        if o.type == 'MESH' and (o.name == "Wall" or o.name == "Ceiling" or o.name == "Floor")]

    for obj in obs:
        me = obj.data
        # New bmesh
        bm = bmesh.new()
        # load the mesh
        bm.from_mesh(me)

        bmesh.ops.subdivide_edges(bm, edges=bm.edges, cuts=12, use_grid_fill=True)

        # Write back to the mesh
        bm.to_mesh(me)
        me.update()

def post_process_objects():
    bpy.ops.object.select_all(action='DESELECT') # Deselect all objects

    for o in ("Wall", "Ceiling", "Floor"):
       obj = bpy.context.scene.objects.get(o)
       bpy.context.view_layer.objects.active = obj
       if obj:
           obj.select_set(True)

           # Get into edit mode
           bpy.ops.object.mode_set(mode="EDIT")

           # Subdivide faces
           bpy.ops.mesh.subdivide(number_cuts=12)

           # Return back to object mode
           bpy.ops.object.mode_set(mode="OBJECT")

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

but for some reason both are not giving the desired result, but as you can see a faulty one:

Any idea what I am missing here (attached the .blend file)?

Update:
After applying @Lucca's solution, for some reason I am still facing the same problem on some specific parts of the plane as you can see in the following images:

It doesn't seem that I have duplicate vertices or something now thus ny idea why still the subdivide operator does not work properly.

Example for @batFINGER 's solution:
Still problematic:

It's not a problem with your code, but rather with your base objects. You have several overlapping vertices and edges in there.
Take a look at this screenshot:

See how there is no orange line indicating connected edges to the left?
If I pull the vertex point to the right, this happens:

This kind of 'malformed' model will play havoc with expected outputs.
There are quite a few vertices like that in your model. Fixing them by hand can be tedious, so it's a good idea to start with using Blender's 'Merge vertices by distance' functionality. In newer versions of Blender (I'm using 2.91, don't have a 2.8 install to check right now), this can be accessed by selecting two ore more vertices (using A to select all will do in your case), then pressing M -> By Distance:

Just repeat this for each object, then run your script again:

I assume that looks like what you expected.
I've attached a .blend file with the fix I did:


Add verticies or Faces how do i fix the gap in my cats nose? there are also holes in the legs that i would like to patch up. :)

If you select 2 vertices and press F, a new edge between the vertices is created.
If you right click on it and choose subdivide you can add 1 or more vertices to that edge.
If you select 4 vertices and press F, a face will be created.


Will a character work well with animation if it wasn't made with t-pose? So I modeled a low poly character for a friend and he will rig it and animate it, but I modeled it with the arms resting on the sides, not in a t-pose like it should be. Will it work anyway or will it become a problem when animation is done? I'm talking about simple walking animation, nothing complex.

I would not stick to a concept if it doesn't fit your needs. If your character's limbs can't even reach t-pose it's moot anyways. The main issue you might run into is axis alignment. It is a good idea to stick to 1 axis for bone directions, but it can't ever be possible in a complex character.
If your character's rest pose is different from the t-pose, use the one that's closest to what the char. does most of times. But note that IK constraints are easier to set up in t-pose.
I would suggest using none-t-pose and pose a few extremes, if there's no problem, there likely won't be one in the future.


scaling issue, particles don`t scale down why? i made this donut from classic blender guru tutorial, i tried to put this into a scene so i appended the model in this scene, now in viewport it is normal but whenever i render the particles above it renders larger. i am using blender 2.82. i have scaled down the donut. particles don`t scale down why? please help

Ok, you cannot scale particles you need to scale the particle instance.
In your case most likely you need to scale the cylinder


Split long thin faces into less elongated ones I am processing OBJ files generated by another program. This involves tidying the mesh, marking the seam and unwrapping. It runs in background mode.
The input OBJ files often have very long thin faces in areas of tight curvature that cause issues with unwrapping. I have a solution that picks vertices either side of an area of long thin faces and uses bpy.ops.mesh.vert_connect_path to cut the faces. This works, and produces a minimally distorted UV. It's rather clumsy though, and generates so many Assert stack traces that I had to pipe stderr to /dev/null, but it does work!
So I am looking for alternative solutions. The basic intention is to identify all long narrow faces and then split them into smaller faces that are a bit closer to squares/equilateral triangles. bpy.ops.mesh.subdivide, and other functions such as triangle fill and poke are not useful because they split the face into more faces that are just as narrow. Looking at the bmesh functions, I came across bmesh.ops.bisect_edges, bmesh.ops.connect_verts, bmesh.ops.triangulate, bmesh.ops.subdivide_edge and bmesh.ops.triangle_fill, but the documentation is a bit sparse.
What would be the most efficient method? I can identify the problematic faces quite easily, but I'm not sure of the best way to split them.
Here's what I'm currently using. I have a list of tuples of BMVerts It was easier to identify them using bmesh, but the vert_connect_path operator uses MeshVertex, so I'm making the rather dodgy assumption that the indexes are the same:
    (looping around the X=0.05cm ring while in bmesh and pairing up vertices)
        vertPairs05.append((topLeft05XVert, bottomLeft05XVert))
        vertPairs05.append((topRight05XVert, bottomRight05XVert))
...
# more processing (which doesn't delete anything but does add faces to fill the other end), then save:
...
bm.to_mesh(me)

bpy.ops.object.select_all(action='DESELECT')
scn = bpy.context.scene
scn.objects.active = bpy.data.objects[0]
bpy.ops.object.mode_set(mode='EDIT')
bpy.ops.mesh.select_all(action='SELECT')
bpy.ops.mesh.customdata_custom_splitnormals_clear()
bpy.ops.mesh.normals_make_consistent(inside=False)

for pair in vertPairs05:
    bpy.ops.mesh.select_all(action='DESELECT')
    bpy.ops.object.mode_set(mode='OBJECT')
    me.vertices[pair[0].index].select = True
    me.vertices[pair[1].index].select = True
    bpy.ops.object.mode_set(mode='EDIT')
    bpy.ops.mesh.vert_connect_path()

This works, but takes about a half to one second for each path, and generates a number of Assert errors and stack traces, all apparently identical:
blender(BLI_system_backtrace+0x33) [0x560a2b4dfe93]
blender(BM_face_splits_check_legal+0x56f) [0x560a2b02dd8f]
blender(+0x163c365) [0x560a2b065365]
blender(bmo_connect_verts_exec+0x5ba) [0x560a2b0659aa]
blender(BMO_op_exec+0x31) [0x560a2b026901]
blender(bmo_connect_vert_pair_exec+0x1091) [0x560a2b0689f1]
 ...
BLI_assert failed: /build/blender-Nh0fvZ/blender-2.79.b+dfsg0/source/blender/bmesh/intern/bmesh_polygon.c:1164, BM_face_splits_check_legal(), at 'BM_face_is_normal_valid(f)'

Using Blender 2.79, the Ubuntu package for 18.04.4 LTS. No reason why I couldn't install a more recent version of course.
I'm using Bmesh for analyzing the mesh because it's a lot easier to navigate around with it. I'll do some more research on those functions I came across above, but my reason for posting was because splitting a face seems like an operation that others would hopefully have encountered before.

UPDATE 2:
Here's a Blend file showing the long narrow faces that have been produced, and the resulting distortion in the UV.

From a different blend file

Showing how my first attempts at cutting the faces have resulted in much less distortion.

I've done some research and tried a number of methods, so I'll document them here. Feel free to improve on my rather basic Python!
First some code that identifies the long edges, and bisects them (adds new vertices along the long edges:
import bpy
import bmesh
from mathutils import Vector

...

# There's only ever one object in the data I'm processing. Could also specify by name
# e.g. bpy.data.objects['surfboard'].data
me = bpy.data.objects[0].data
bm = bmesh.new()
bm.from_mesh(me)

EPSILON = 1.0e-3

...

longFaces=[]
edgesToCut={}
for vert in bm.verts:
    if abs(vert.co.x-0.05) < EPSILON:
        for edge in vert.link_edges:
            leng=edge.calc_length()
            if leng > 0.4:
                for face in edge.link_faces:
                    longFaces.append(face)
                cuts=int(leng/0.2)-1
                # Categorise according to number of cuts, for efficiency because
                # bisect_edges can cut more than one edge at once.
                if cuts not in edgesToCut:
                    edgesToCut[cuts] = []
                edgesToCut[cuts].append(edge)

for cuts, edges in edgesToCut.items():
    bmesh.ops.bisect_edges(bm, edges=list(set(edges)), cuts=cuts)

This focusses on the edges connected to the x = 0.05cm line, which are the issue for me, and assumes that if a face has a long side, it must be thin, which is true for the cases I'm dealing with. This could be altered to suit, e.g. to actually measure the width and make cuts based on how thin the face is. But the idea is to find the problem faces and add extra vertices where they will be useful.
I use list(set()) to weed out duplicates.
Next, I could use
bmesh.ops.triangulate(bm, faces=list(set(longFaces)))

which will automatically split each face into triangles. However for me, that just creates lots of long and even thinner triangles than the faces I split, which actually makes the unwrapping worse. So I devised a manual solution by scanning the vertices on each of the faces and measuring to the nearest vertex on that face. If they're not already connected, then I can mark them for connection:
# For each face, test if each vertex is connected to its closest sibling
longFaces = list(set(longFaces))
vertsToJoin = []
for face in longFaces:
    edges = face.edges
    # Make a mapping of the vertices on each edge
    connectedVert = []
    lastVert = False
    firstVert = False
    for vert in face.verts:
        if lastVert:
            connectedVert.append((vert, lastVert))
            connectedVert.append((lastVert, vert))
        lastVert = vert
        if not firstVert:
            firstVert = vert
    # and join to the beginning
    connectedVert.append((firstVert, lastVert))
    connectedVert.append((lastVert, firstVert))
    for vert in face.verts:
        # What's the closest other vertex?
        minLength = 9999
        minVert = False
        for vert2 in face.verts:
            if vert != vert2:
                vec = Vector(vert2.co - vert.co)
                if vec.length < minLength:
                    minLength = vec.length
                    minVert = vert2
        if minVert\
                and (vert, minVert) not in connectedVert\
                and (vert, minVert) not in vertsToJoin\
                and (minVert, vert) not in vertsToJoin:
            # Only join if they're the closest and they're not connected already
            vertsToJoin.append((vert, minVert))

At this point I tried bmesh.ops.connect_vert_pair; it seemed logical! However it's actually quite slow; even though I give it two vertices on the same face, I suspect it may be pathfinding elsewhere too. If I set faces_exclude to [all faces minus the one I want it to use], it deletes the face and doesn't connect anything. I'm not entirely sure what the exclude parameters do; there are very few examples of their use. But I did find this tiny nugget in the source code regarding them:
/* tag so we won't touch ever (typically hidden faces) */

So I wrote the following code to take each pair of vertices and join them, thus splitting the faces, checking that there's exactly one face in common with each vertex pair:
for vertTuple in vertsToJoin:
    # Could use bmesh.ops.connect_vert_pair but it takes a couple of minutes.
    # This takes about 45 seconds.

    # Find the common face, which may not be the one we had earlier
    commonFaces = list(set(vertTuple[0].link_faces) & set(vertTuple[1].link_faces))
    if len(commonFaces) == 0:
        print('Vertices not on same face?')
        continue
    elif len(commonFaces) > 1:
        print('Vertices on multiple shared faces!')
        continue
    face = commonFaces[0]
    firstFace = []
    inSecondFace = False
    secondFace = []
    for vert in face.verts:
        if inSecondFace:
            secondFace.append(vert)
        else:
            firstFace.append(vert)
        if vert == vertTuple[0] or vert == vertTuple[1]:
            inSecondFace = not inSecondFace
            if inSecondFace:
                secondFace.append(vert)
            else:
                firstFace.append(vert)
    bmesh.ops.delete(bm, geom=[face], context=3)
    bm.faces.new(firstFace)
    bm.faces.new(secondFace)

That last code block takes by far the longest (of the identify faces / bisect edges / split faces process), but is faster than the other face splitting methods except triangulation.


Subdivision surface creating face where it shouldn't So the thing is i'm modelling or trying to model a toilet, but when I'm going to use the subdivision surface modifier it kind of tries to close up the toilet, well, entrance, openning, whole... How can I fix that?

The reason subdivision surface is "closing up" the hole for the toilet basin is because you have no vertex information to continue subdividing from there.
Subdivision surface attempts to take a single face or edge and divide (hence the name) it into multiple parts. (Two parts if an edge, four if its a face)
Blender currently supports two modes of subdividing, Catmull-Clark and Simple. Catmull-Clark subdividing subdivides and attempts to smooth out the new faces by determining the proximity of each face to each other, thus creating a roundish shape. Simple subdividing subdivides each face, while retaining the original shape of the object.
If you have an unclosed portion of a mesh which you are subdividing, the dividing and smoothing of the faces on the unclosed edge will smooth and start to draw closer to each other.
In your case, you should probably either extrude the face further into the basin and close it up at the bottom, or extrude it and form a pipe or something out the back of the toilet if you don't plan to close the mesh up.
This would make the smoothing of the modifier less visible at the mouth of the toilet, and give you a better result.


Where can I find internal Python scripts I've made around 30 python scripts using the built in blender python editor.

I need to compare changes to the scripts with a different version of the scripts.

Is there anyway I can find the individual python files in windows file explorer?

The only other alternative I see is copy and pasting all the python scripts out of blender into their own files.

Thanks :D

Here is my temporary solution, I export all of the python files by running this script...I have a bad feeling this could be done much easier

import bpy
import os

numtexts = len(bpy.data.texts)
texts = bpy.data.texts

for i in range(0,numtexts):
    f = open(os.path.normpath("scripts/"+texts[i].name),'w')
    numLines = len(texts[i].lines)
    for j in range(0,numLines):
        f.write(texts[i].lines[j].body)
        f.write("\n")
    f.close()


Grease Pencil 2.8 Continuous Stroke In Blender 2.8 (Grease pencil),  is it possible to quickly resume drawing an interrupted line (on a surface) by connecting the beginning of the new stroke to the end of the previous one without going into edit mode to join the vertices?

To resume a drawn line you can select Stroke under the Stroke Placement option in the Blender 2.8 viewport, and choose All points, First point or Endpoints for attachment.


How to make physical simulation of unmixable fluids (like oil and water) in any container I wish to make an animation of pouring water over oil or vice versa. In physical simulation, how do I make oil thicker than water and make both liquids behave realistically when stirred and left to settle?

The fluid simulation engine that ships with Blender isn't capable of mixing two fluids.

They would require two separate domains, with different parameters, being baked at the same time and reading the other domain's status frame-by-frame as input for themselves. Unfortunately, this kind of "simultaneous bake" isn't possible.


Multiple extrude along curve I'm attempting to write an addon that will perform multiple extrusions along a curve.  Perhaps there is a simpler way that already exists but in case there isn't I am trying to do the following:

Suppose I have a triangle (so 3 vertices).  I would like to extrude it 10 times along a curve so that it merges to a single point.  There could be some 'apex' (forgive me if I'm not using the correct terminology) that I could move along the curve and 'up' and 'down'.  So it could be, for instance, from 0 to 1 where .5 would be in the middle and also a linear curve, AKA a straight line :)

I need some formula to calculate the vertex XYZ coordinates for this.

I hope that makes sense.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

The last few weeks I developed all sort of spline evaluation stuff for my Animation Nodes addon. For that I created a small library that deals with curves. (Bezier and Poly splines for now only)

When you want to use this package for your addon, you should make a multifile addon. To explain how that works isn't the topic here. You may want to google it, look at other multifile addons or ask another question here on stackexchange.

Then create a new folder in your addon directory called 'splines' or whatever.
And copy the content of this folder inside:
https://github.com/JacquesLucke/animation_nodes/tree/curve-sockets/data_structures/splines
(I hope this link will still be available after I removed the branch, otherwise tell me in the comments)

Here is how to use this library:

from . spline import from_blender

# the object can be any blender object, but should be of type CURVE obviously
# it returns a list of splines, because one curve object can contain multiple splines
user_splines = from_blender.createSplinesFromBlenderObject(object)

# choose the spline you want to use
active_spline = user_splines[0]

# only needed when you want the spline in world space
active_spline.transform(object.matrix_world)

# this internally creates the individual segments (at least for Poly and Bezier Splines)
# and prepares everything for evaluation
active_spline.update()

# get 50 points distributes over the spline
samples = active_spline.getSamples(50)

# getting samples with equal distances is a bit more complicated
active_spline.ensureUniformConverter(resolution = 100)
uniformSamples = active_spline.getUniformSamples(50)

# To evaluate individual parameters (what you called apex):
location = active_spline.evaluate(0.5)

# The same applies for evaluating the tangents/derivatives of the spline
tangents = active_spline.getTangentSamples(50)
uniformTangents = active_spline.getUniformTangentSamples(50)
tangent = active_spline.evaluateTangent(0.5)

For more details you may want to take a look at the code


How to connect Blender to Arduino? I want to connect an Arduino (eg: Uno) to Blender and animate blender objects based on arduino inputs.

The way I did it was by writing serial information to the usb port from the arduino and reading it from inside blender with pyserial.

I did run this in the Blender's game engine, which may or may not be what you want. The Blender side looks something like this (code is not very clean, I just hacked this together quickly for fun, but hopefully to gives you some idea of how you could implement it):

from bge import logic
import serial
from mathutils import *
from math import *

def startup():
    ser = serial.Serial('/dev/ttyUSB0')

    scene = logic.getCurrentScene()
    object = scene.objects['Suzanne']
    print('startup')

    logic.globalDict['serial_bus'] = ser
    logic.globalDict['main_object'] = object
    logic.globalDict['light'] = scene.lights['Lamp']

def loop():
    ser = logic.globalDict['serial_bus']
    object = logic.globalDict['main_object']
    light = logic.globalDict['light']

    # this is where the data is actually read from the serial interface
    data = ser.readline().decode()
    pot, var, phot = data.partition(";")
    print("pot:", pot, "phot:", phot)

    object.localOrientation = Euler((-.31,0,radians(float(pot)))).to_matrix()
    light.energy = 10 - float(phot) * (10.0/800.0)

The Arduino side is just Serial.printing numbers separated by semicolons.

How exactly you want to animate objects in blender depends on your usecase. If it's for a real time demo, you probably want to use the BGE (or use another game engine entirely, such as godot). If you want to use it as a secondary input device in Blender's viewport (e.g. a sort of DIY 3D mouse), you'll probably want to look at writing an addon.


How to set transparent node on mesh I have a simple mesh (face) and i want to add image (eye) on it. I tried

When i connect to alpha i get black result. Any suggestion or help. Thanks

This is how you set up an image texture to use alpha transparency:

(Replace Diffuse shader with any shader that produces the output you want)

You will need to mix in your wood texture either before or after this. Do something like:

(Just use the alpha channel to mix between your wood and image)


Normal map curved edges with black shading I have been learning how to bake normal maps in Cycles for a little while. But I have run into a slight problem. I get these black edges/shading on curved edges.

Edit: I added .blend file.

So my question is. How can I fix/prevent this from happening?
Also I am using a cage.

Reagrds,
Koreenium

This is caused by the fact that the normal color (let's say R: 127, G: 192, B: 255 -> aka a normal pointing up at about 45° when you view the bitmap normal map in image editor) which defines the particular little space on the actual polygon which is also pointing upwards, let's say at a 88° angle compared to the camera view vector. The resulting angle of the vector pointing up for that little tiny space on the polygon is then 88° based on geometry +45° based on normal map which is far more than 90° and thus looks black since the ray as far as Cycles is concerned basically goes into the polygon.

Normal Map used in the above picture:

One way to "fix" this is by using fresnel to gradually reduce normal map strength at grazing angles. This won't help you in Game Engines I suppose but as far as I've seen they handle this little problem well as I only encounter it in rendering engines.


Set viewport perspective using walkthrough? Sometimes, I find it easiest to position my 3D viewport perspective using either the walk or fly through mode.  I find it less clunky than the usual 3D port navigation tools.  This is especially true if I'm trying to match my perspective to a photograph.
But when I exit walk/fly navigation after positioning everything how I want it, it snaps back to the position the viewport was in before I started navigation.  I want it to just stay put.
I'm not talking about moving cameras, I'm just talking about the 3D viewport perspective.
I'm essentially asking the same thing as in this question, but that one has no working answers.

To keep the current position when using fly or walk viewport navigation, simply left-click when you are happy with the position. This will keep the current view.
As seen in this image


Python: Rotate object according to vectors I have my custom axis XYZ vectors (Yellow color in the screenshot below). They are normalized. I need to rotate an object according to these vectors. Is it possible to do this with the python API?

You can use the rotation_difference method of the mathutils.Vector object to calculate the 3 axis angle difference between two vectors.

This function is used as follows:

# Calculate the angle between two vectors. Returns a Quaternion object.
vector1.rotation_difference( vector2 )

Here's some sample code that uses this function:

import bpy
from mathutils import Vector
from math import degrees

v0 = Vector(( 0,0,0 ))
v1 = Vector((-0.792312741279602, 0.6056182980537415, -0.0739390179514885))

rot = v1.rotation_difference( v0 ).to_euler()
print( [ degrees( a ) for a in rot ] )

Output is (angle rotation in each axis):

[ -77.31130736634618, -146.788879528308, -40.89379056097038 ]

Now if you want to rotate an object according to this rotation difference, all you need to do is to assign the value of rot to the object's rotation_euler property:

obj.rotation_euler = rot

Note: the image can be a bit misleading since the cube and corresponding empty's location is not the value of V1 at all. V1 represents the rotation / direction values only, with respect to the zero vector (V0).


How to batch import images as brush textures? I have a folder with some b&w images that I want to use as brushes textures while sculpting.
Is there a way to automatically load these images as brush textures, or do I have to do it one by one?

There is an addon just for this, Import BrushSet. You can download the addon from here.

After you have it installed, simply click on File > Import > Brush Set.

You have to choose a folder (don't pick any images, just the folder) and the addon will import all the images in that folder and set them up as brush textures. (It would be a good idea to make a separate folder with only the images you want to import)

It's as simple as that.


Why is my render blurry? In the camera settings I didn't set anything regarding Depth of Field but it is still really blurry.

I have bump maps included in the sofa, curtains, floor but none is visible because of the blurriness. So I thought maybe it is bc of the distance of the camera but that didn't work as well. Samples are at 1048.

To explain the depth of field, make sure you have the right camera set as active.

Also, the missing detail in your objects could be the result of the denoiser.


Why does my soft-body fly around? My blend file

I'm playing around with the Softbody engine in Blender to create something like this:

...but I've had no luck yet. Whenever I try to simulate, I get very strange results like this or this, shown here (links are better quality):

Although they're hilarious and fun to show to my friends, they're not what I'm trying to achieve.

Okay the problem of flying around appears to be the collision ball size calculation. You had it set to average. When I set it to minimal, it worked. I admit, I have no idea why this happened, it may have been a collision fight with the plane, but changing it does fix your problem.

I also tweaked a few other settings to get it to look like the target animation, it's not perfect, but it's better than what you had. :)

Turned off Stiff quads (you don't want anything stiff on this guy.)
Turned friction up to 1.00 (that may have been part of your problem, he's as slippery as an eel)
Angled him a little so his legs don't fold up. (didn't work real well, but I'm sure if you try you can get it right)
And (optional) changed skin texture to something shiny so I could see bounding and stretching problems. (also that skin texture is disturbing :D)

So the effect isn't quite right, but hey! he doesn't head for Florida every time you hit play. Noodling him is your job as the artist. Have fun...


How to join vertices of two objects Is there is more automated and accurate way to connect two vertices of neighbouring objects?

I tried to move them manually, but it is a bit difficult to do it just in point.

I'd like to make flat and smooth faces for the bottom and sides. The top face is going to climb a bit to align with vertices of the other - higher object...

You can use Snap during transform tool set to Vertex.

Then you can snap directly one point to another or just choosen axis for example G > Z then hover desired vertices.

And if you want to trully connect them then you should have meshes joined and after Snap hit W and Remove Doubles.


Cycles viewport render different than f12 render? What could cause this?
f12:

Viewport:

(the f12 has fewer samples, but even when the viewport is at lower samples it looks different..)

I know about color management, but that is at the defaults..

EDIT: oops.. I know 'log' is not a default, but that is because I was fiddling with it. The image above is rendered with 'default'

The material is quite simple, only a translucent shader. (for testing) I even tried appending everything into a new file to reset all the settings, but no difference.

EDIT2: Uploaded blend
http://www.pasteall.org/blend/22200

The flower mesh has a solidify modifier which is only enabled for rendering. The extra thickness from this modifier makes the translucent material give a different result.

In general for differences between render and viewport, check these:

Object viewport and render visibility in the outliner
Modifier viewport and render visibility
Particles and hair resolution settings
Curve, surface and metaball tessellation settings
Render layer settings
Color management settings
Compositing nodes and sequencer strips


How to turn particles in circular shape I want to rotate my particles in circular (cyclone) fashion. I want my particles to be in lines shape and not sphere. I tried to add Bezier curve converted to mesh and applied as particles. But its not having the turn effect. How can i achieve this type of effect. Any suggestion or help. Thanks.

What you need to do is shift+a go-to curve/circle. Then add an object to the scene.
give that object a particle system and leave it all at default other than the object

then select the circle and go-to Physics and add forcefield

change the type to curve guide

you should be good! If you assigned the object with the particle system to itself you just need to duplicate it. Moving the particle emitting object will change the orbit size around the circle.

This is what it looks like (as a png sequence)


How can I make a hole in a hole in a hole? How can I make  of a hole in a hole in a hole by using Blender?

There is an image from this book.(page 22)

Add a UV Sphere SHFT+A > UV Sphere with 48 Segments and 32 Rings.

TAB into Edit Mode and select 97 verticies on the top and press X to delete them.

Select one vertex on the side and press X to delete it.

Select the vertices that make up the edge of the newly created hole and press SHFT + ALT + S and drag the mouse to round them.

EDIT: I noticed that after add a SubSurf Modifier when I was finished that there was some puckering around the hole on the side. In order to fix this with the newly rounded still selected press E + SHIFT + X and Extrude in just slightly.

Add a default Torus by pressing A > Torus. Scale it down by pressing S.

Select a vertex on the side of the Torus and press X to delete it.

Select the vertices that make up the edge of the newly created hole in the Torus and press SHFT + ALT + S and drag the mouse to round them.

Add the hole in the Sphere to the selection and press Space Bar type in "Bridge" and select "Bridge Edge Loops.

Press 1 to go into Front View and delete the vretices on the left half and on the bottom half.

Add a Mirror Modifier check the box next to "Clipping" And Z

Select the vertices that make up the edge of the hole at the top of the Sphere and press E + Z to Extrud them down on the z axis.

With some Loop Cuts in the shafts and some Proportional Editing and a  Subsurf Modifier and Smooth Shading.


Best way to join objects for texturing and game engines? I’m modelling a game asset and I’m wondering what’s the best approach for joining a mesh which consists of many different parts. I don’t want to overlap my objects because they all have different vertex count and they are different shapes.

What I mean is if I have an object and it consists of many parts and I want to model and texture them separately, is it ok to join them later using a simple command such as ctrl+J. Or would that not be good when they are exported to a game engine in terms or re-applying textures and things like that.

Waiting for help!

The correct workflow is to wait as long as you can before joining anything. Having separate objects is useful for UV mapping, baking normal, and texturing in general. For this reason you should aim at joining your object only when it's time to model a low poly version of it, and in the case where you don't have a low poly version you should only join them just before exporting your mesh to your game engine.


Cycle Normal Pass in Camera Space I am wondering if there is any way that we can alter the cycle normal pass to output value in camera space. Currently, as far as I know, the normal is in object/world space, which does not change when the camera is moving around.

I have tried using matcap, but the result is undesired. Matcap coasts a new material on the objects and overrides its transparency (eg. leaves will appear as just a rectangle)

UPDATED: The interest render engine is Cycle, and as far as I know, in Blender Internal, the normal pass is already in camera space. That could be a solution, render the scene twice, one with Cycle and the other with Blender Internal. However, it is not desired since the overhead would be too much.

This can be achieved using the Vector Transform node to transform the Normal from World coordinates into Camera coordinates to match the Blender Internal Normal result.

Use the following material :

The key part is the Vector Transform node - this is set to transform the Normal from from World to Camera space. The remaining nodes perform some necessary conversion since BI appears to map camera space in opposite directions to Cycles - so the X and Y both need to be multiplied by -1 (Z is unaffected).

In order to apply the normals to the whole scene (to create a Normal 'pass') you can use the Render Layer Material Override setting to create a whole layer that renders all materials as this and include that pass in the compositor in place of the Normal.

As a comparison, this produces the following result :

Blender Internal :

Cycles :


what do the difference between using GPU or CPU for rendering? I wanted to speed up my rendering time, and I found that using GPU speed up a lot. But I don't have a very fast GPU (NVIDIA GeForce 320M 256 MB), so I want to know what do the difference between using GPU or CPU, so I would compare my CPU (2,66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo) with my GPU (NVIDIA GeForce 320M 256 MB).

Gpu's have many cores (yours may have 72 cores) but they run at lower speed (frequency) .Gpu cores can understand simpier instructions that a cpu core can understand.Cpu has much less cores than gpu cores but they run at higher frequency and they understand complex set of instructions.These are some key differences.


What is the range of random values given by Object Info node? When using the Object Info node and the random option is chosen, what is the range of values this output can take? For example, does it generate random values between [0, 1], etc.?

Yes, Random output of Object Info Node generates numbers in the $0$-$1$ range, as stated in this Blender Artists thread.

If you need different values you can use the Math Nodes to convert it into the desired range.

You can also get random colors by running the output through a Color Ramp node


Face surface/shading looks wrong in a FBX export from sketchup? I dont have the original file anymore, of this fbx file that time ago get from the sketchup , and now remade some parts but still looks weird the surface.
If I'm not  worng there is an option to fix these problems, but I dont know what is exactly.
A thanks in advance guys if I can count with your help.

this is the blend file:
https://ufile.io/an4cp

Ok, I turn off the Auto Smooth and now everything is normal. THANKS !!


Hotkey for toggling pivot center? Hi read about the hotkeys for changing pivot center, but is there another hotkey to toggle between those modes ?
Thanks

With the 'Pie Menu: UI Pie Menu Official' addon enabled, press the semicolon ";" key to change the the pivot point with a Pie interface.


Mass replace names in vertex groups I have a character that is setup with a rig and vertex groups. I want to switch to using Rigify. Rigify has the same bones as the current setup, but different names. To save time weight painting, I need to rename all the bone weight vertex groups to match the bone names used by Rigify instead of the current rig. So I need a tool or script that will take a bone name such as lowerarm_L and rename it to Forearm.L (or whatever rigify calls it.) I can make the bone name list myself.

I will need to do this on multiple characters, so making a script out of it would be very helpful. How can this be done?

The list of vertex groups can be found in the object properties, we just need to search for the names we want and rename them.

You could fill in name_list from the start or just add one or two names as you find them and re-run the script. This is set to rename vertex groups in the active object.

import bpy

name_list = [
    # old name - new name
    ['lowerarm_L','forearm.L'],
    ['lowerarm_R','forearm.R'],
    ['upperarm_L','upper_arm.L'],
    ['upperarm_R','upper_arm.R'],
]

v_groups = bpy.context.active_object.vertex_groups
for n in name_list:
    if n[0] in v_groups:
        v_groups[n[0]].name = n[1]

Note that matching names this way is case-sensitive, for an insensitive match use -

v_groups = bpy.context.active_object.vertex_groups
for n in name_list:
    for vn in v_groups:
        if vn.name.lower() == n[0].lower():
            vn.name = n[1]


How do I snap two similar geometric shapes to each other with rotation and scaling? I have two objects that feature similar shapes on various sides.

I want to snap those similar sides to each other in a way that they are matching each other - that is, that they are both oriented so that they face each other, rotated that they align and possibly scale so that they match.

Can anyone give me a hint how to do this?
In read a lot about snapping and watched some tutorials and I also tried this add-on: https://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Extensions:2.6/Py/Scripts/3D_interaction/Precise_Align

However, I can't get this to work. There must be a way, I know I have done this before in Autodesk Inventor, but I can't remember how and I can't use Inventor anymore anyways.

In the end, I want to snap several of them together and use array modifiers to tile them in space.

Here is an image of the objects I want to stick together:

And here the file:
http://www.pasteall.org/blend/41722

Thanks!

Flip Normal Vector

For the sake of clarity, after recaluculating normals, I colored the faces to match in blue and the triangle that we'll be use as pivot in red.

Letìs get into edit mode, pick the tris and run the Create Empty operator. Note that we can change the vertex of application with the Swap Empty Origin button.

By examining the empty arrows, we can say that our Z axis is normal to the tris surface and pointing toward the inside of the object, the X is running along the smallest edge and the Y is going where it must be.

Chamge object and repeat the process being sure to choose the right vertex. You can switch the normal vector of the empty by checking the box in the command's options or even remap the whole axis system if needed.

In this particular case we'll need te X axis to be running along the short edge and the Z axis to be pointing outside the object, in order to make the faces ...ehm..."facing" each other.

Finish by matching th empties location&rotation and then eventually adjust the relative scale.


No shadows cast/shown in viewport Material View for Blender Cycles Please have a look at this comparison. I wonder if I'm missing something or if Blender can't currently cast shadows within Material View in the viewport if I'm using Cycles. As you can see, on the right, shadows are cast on the side of the object that's not being hit by light. That's not happening with Cycles (on the left). This is using Material View. If I change to Render View, it shows them, so it is not a wrong setting (I mean, it's just the startup setting, just changed the Sun into another kind of lamp).

It's my first time getting into Cycles, but this is stopping me. And I have already searched everywhere for an answer and failed. I mean, I took the time to search well because I wouldn't think this could happen, but apparently nobody else in the web asked for this.

The point here is that I need to work using the Material View. It is faster for modeling and texturing. It's what I've always used within Blender Render. But that won't work with Cycles, and I don't want to use the Render View "live" because it is slow and the constant render destroys my CPU. Even if I switch to GPU the processes are high resource users and use a lot of RAM (not with a cube btw, this is just a quick test). My whole pc would be constantly busy with this only program and I don't get why, if until now, using Blender Render, I was able to do tons of stuff at the time without making my pc suffer because of Cycles. My pc's specs are not the problem: 16GB Ram /i7 8cores 2.5GHz /Geforce GT 650 2GB. Everything works here, of course a constant render doesn't properly, but I see no point in having a constant render unless I need it for feedback.

Here's the .blend file:

Blender does not currently support Shading in the Material Viewport while in cycles. (I'm only reposting this as the answer so you can mark this post as resolved by clicking the green check mark)


Faces get distorted when scaled or moved As you can see in the image, the selected face (on the right) is distorted.
I have four questions here:

(1) Why does it happen?

(2) Does it affect the final output when rendering?

(3) How to fix it?

(4) Is it a bug? (If so, should I report it or is that already done by someone?)

It's difficult to see from your screenshot but:

1.) A plane, by definition, is two dimensional.  A face in Blender is simply a plane.  Once you edit the face in a way that destroys the two-dimensionality, Blender doesn't quite know what to do with it, because it expects that the user understand graphics and geometry.

2.) Yes, most certainly.

3.) You must subdivide the face in a way that "allows" it to remain two-dimensional.  Triangular faces, by definition, are two dimensional, because for any three given vertices, they exist in the same plane.  Therefore, subdividing it into triangular faces is the easiest way to resolve this:

4.) Most certainly not.


The process of rendering animation in Cycles Render I am a relative noob to Blender. I have started using it to create animations and motion graphics to use for my video projects.

I made a trophy in Blender and animated the camera to add some motion to the scene. I have seen how to render to AVI or MPEG in Blender Render, but can't find how the optimal way to handle your rendered animation in Cycles render.

I rendered out to PNG's and I have seen some stuff to add the sequence to the video timeline, but after that I am stuck. I guess since I plan to do several short animations for intro slides and effects in my videos I would like to know the "proper or best method" to get the high quality animation into my Magix Video Pro x6 editing program. (They "Magix" advertise on the website to be compatible with Blender AVI files).

So since after I wasted about 40 minutes searching on youtube, google and forums, I am hoping somebody can show me the right method to get my animation into its own video object.  I thank you all in advance... sharing is caring :)

You could render it out to an AVI video file and import it into Magix that way.

In my opinion it's better to render out to an image sequence and then import that into Magix. The reason being is you eliminate one phase of video compression that way and Magix has better source material to encode to your final video file.

If you render out your animation to a series of PNG files (you can set the amount of file compression in the Output settings), Magix should be capable of importing the image sequence into its timeline.


Make all objects on an array fit exactly on a curve I created cube, then I created circle-curve and scaled it. Then I set modifers on the cube: array to fit the curve length, and next a curve modifier. But my cubes not fit exactly on the curve, and I don't know why :-/ If someone finds a solution to this problem, please share it.

I attached screenshots of my steps.

Fit Curve changes the number of copies in the array to fit within the length of the curve object specified in Curve.  If the length of your mesh is a multiple of the length of the curve, then there will be an exact fit.  It is up to you to scale your mesh.


Real messy hair with Blender? I followed alot of hair tutorials but what I don't like about the hair is that it's always too perfect. It's like fresh from the stylist. So I wonder if it's possible to create more natural hair that's randomized into a more messy look with strands everywhere without having to create every strand manually. Is there a way to somehow randomize the messyness? I have tried with the wave and curly settings but they only create curly and wave over the whole hair body and not just single strands and these "flying" single hair fibres.

Use the technique by Nazar Noschenko in his Youtube Tutorials

Multiple Particle Systems for different parts of the scalp with few parents and many children to have maximum control.

Messy hair is the result of positional varation and well-placed hair strands (parents). I'd advise to use multiple systems for "types" of hair.
Messy realistic hair will have many additional properties (which can be easily researched on the internet and the manual):

varying length
varying thickness
varying clumps
varying positional color
varying color along the strand

I will only focus on the first positional variation. I would also limit the children to the simple method.

 Top: Interpolated, Bottom: Simple
If you require the strands to end neatly as if trimmed by scissors, you will have it easier using interpolated children. If you want to be able to part the hair or create individual strands with greater control, you should use simple children.

I have color coded the systems with different settings. Use at least seven segments for the hair to gain control when editing the strands shape in particle edit mode.

Base Layer
With only jittery (messy) hair, we will have difficulty covering all of the scalp. I added a base layer (scalpA and scalp B) to cover the scalp intially.

Use the Clump curve to clamp the ends of the hair together. This way, we can prevent stray hairs from penetrating the hairband. I also added a slight amount of roughness to randomize the hair. If you don't add roughness, the hair will be to uniform and quickly form bands around the parents, which almost look solid.
Ponytail
I added another particle system for the ponytail to have more control over it. The children for the ponytail have a larger Radius, since the hair at the ponytail is more loose. (The hair on the scalp is tightened by the hair band.) In particle edit mode, I varied the length of the parent strands. Using the clump curve, I clumped the particles together at the beginning to prevent the hair from intersecting the bands. This is the reverse of the scalp hair, which gets clumped at the end. I also increased the random value, but set the threshold to ~50%. This means, that only 50% of the hair will be randomly offset. The result are clear strands in the ponytail, with 50% of the hair jittered more randomly. This supports the notion of some hair beeing distributed when the ponytail is tightened due to friction and some hair straightened, because it gets pulled.
To move the roots, disable Preserve Roots temporarily.
Scalp Overlay
Moving on to the more messy jittered hair, let's overlay another system above the scalp systems. I used very few parents with very large children Radiuses. The clump curve decreases towards the end and a high random value is used. When combing the parents, I tried to introduce more variation in direction. Most strands conform with the scalp layers at the first segments, but go in other directions thereafter, which would come from the hand brushing against them and/or gravity pulling them downwards.

Strands
After the base layers, I would add more refined layers, which apply to the specifications of the character.
Hero Strands
Hero Strands stick out. Using the clump curve, they initially grow thinner, which increases the density and makes them more refined. You can use them to set accents. They have to be distributed manually and with care, as they are easy to distinguish. Use varying length and shapes and don't put to many hero strands next to each other.
Messy Strands
The messy strands aren't really strands, but rather parents which control a bunch of disconnected hair. Just like the hero strands, I would distribute them manually according to character specifications. They use high values for Random and for Endpoint. The endpoint property scatters the children at the ends. With this system, we can add singular hairs to multiple locations. I use it for short hairs or hair ends, where the hair did not fit into the hairband and is too disorganized.


What methods should be used to model the curved lip on this model? I'm about 6 weeks or so into learning blender, and I'm working on this model for a scene I'm doing. I've used what I've learned from the few tutorials I've done so far and got this far.
I'm stumped on how model the piece I've circled on my reference photo, I've done some boolean operations and I tried to make it by extending out that top edge and using a boolean with a cylinder like I did for other parts of this, but it just wouldn't come out right. I've also tried just manually extending and bending it but the nature of the curves on multiple axes makes that very difficult and I assume there's a simpler way that I'm just not aware of.
Any advice is appreciated!

You can use the Bevel tool:

Create a 90° angle, bevel it:

Select the bottom vertices, same thing, bevel them with ShiftCtrlB:

Create additional topology if necessary (use the knife tool, K to activate, Z to cut through, C to cut orthogonally):

Extrude with AltE > Extrude Faces Along Normals:


How to render just one scene? I have a blender project with 4 separate scenes which get combined in the compositor.  Three of them are quite simple and mostly finished, while I am still working on the main one.  However, every time I hit F12 or press the render active scene button it re-renders all 4 scenes, which is a waste of time.  Additionally, each scene must be rendered at a different frame, which for some reason I seem to have to re-tell it every time I render, which makes having to render every scene every time an even bigger pain.  So is there a way that I can just render one scene?

Not sure if you mean this, but I think you clicked the 'Render' button in the properties panel (which is the same as pressing F12). But if you click the small 'render' button in the compositor (Node Editor) it will only render that scene.


UV Unwrap: Unwrap Mesh to fixed pixel per unit I'm building a game asset and want to keep an eye on equal mapping aspect ratio.

So my question is:
how can I unwrap my object so that blender keeps a fixed ratio of 1 unit = 20px in the UV map. It doesn't matter if the UV mesh extends the UV texture, I will rearrange and scale manually.

Google or Stack Exchange didn't give me a good answer.

David's comment was the answer I was looking for.
TexTools is perfect for that. While in UV Editing mode it allows you to calculate the actual Texel-per-Unit-Ratio. You can also set a specific texel density manually which scales the UV islands to that specific size.
It also offers many more options for UV editing.
A smaller version only to change the texel density ist the Texel Density Checker on Gumroad.
Both tools work together without interfering each other.


By using proportional editing, vertices are moved in the wrong axis So I am following Andrew Price's 2.8 Donut tutorial but sometimes (not always) when I move vertices with Proportional editing, it moves the vertices around it really unpredictably (see screenshots below).

I don't know how to make it all move adjacent to the camera rather than bits shooting off that I didn't even grab directly in the first place.

Is there any way I can do this?

---Screenshots---

Before:

Grabbing with PE (looks fine):

After:

Have you applied scale to the object? Object>Apply>Scale. Did you use "Connected" in proportional editing? Also have you checked that X-mirror is not enabled in options?


DupliFrames creating too few objects I've followed this tutorial:
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:2.6/Manual/Modeling/Objects/Duplication/DupliFrames

I've made a Curve > Path. I've then set frames under Path animation to 600 frames and enabled Follow. I've enabled duplication for the cube to frames and unchecked speed. Then I've parented my cube to the path.

On my path there should now be 600 copies of my cube/object. But there are only about a 100. Why is this happening? How can I fix this?

My blend file:
http://www.pasteall.org/blend/26936

Ohh, found out.
Under the "Duplication"->"Frame" option in my object settings, I had "End" set to 100. Size it up and more objects were created.

EDIT:
Apparently: If you set "End" to let's say 800, then 800 objects will be created no matter how many frames you've set up under "Path animation". So if under "Path animation"(in your curve settings) you've set "frames" to 600, Blender will still create 800 objects. The 200 extra objects will be put in the same place as the 600-th - in other words, at the last position.


Drifting a car in bge I want to make a rally game.How to make a python or logic bricks (if it is possible) that can make a car drift when I turn left and right.

(blend example file)
   ==>https://drive.google.com/open?id=1yny39dZCLL8pv886YI0fmaarocPItcwh<==

in this example you can drift(go sideways) get drift score(depending on drift speed) very simple actually. Feel free to use this example .


Blender 2.91.2 Mantaflow fire + smoke simulation doesnt fully render in Eeevee (very little smoke and no fire at all) vs in solid object I tried cleaning cache and changing its location to somewhere else, tried modular and all baking, still same result.
I tried changing to cycles but same result.
If needed, I am using AMD R9 380 4GB.
View in solid object.

Rendered image.

My domain settings.

My domain material shading.

SOLVED USING 2.93 ALPHA (RESULT):

Problem solved! Seems like it's the problem with 2.91.2 itself. Tested using 2.93 Alpha and it works well. Had to change blackbody intensity in shading editor of the domain and everything works well so far. Updated pictures in post.


The end grain problem I'm trying to figure out how to create a render that accurately represents the effect of applying a clear coat or oil treatment to a wooden artifact such as a box with finger joinery or dovetail joinery such that the end grain of the objects are darkened.  What I've found so far simply applies the wood texture and there's no means of tweeking the faces that need darkening. Is this an easy fix or am I delusional?

You can go into the Node View and use different nodes like Coloramp etc to change characteristics of your texture. These can be bound to keyframes in your animation.