Application mtree not working (MacBook Pro, Catalina 10.15.7) I'm trying to download and install the MTree Addon (latest release) from Github on a MacBook Pro Catalina 10.15.7 Blender v2.83.4.
It is the first time I'm trying to download a 3rd party addon, so it's highly likely that I'm making a mistake.
What I've done so far:

Downloaded the .zip file from Github and unzipped it

Copied the file containing the .py scripts and pasted it in the Blender "addons"-folder

Opened Blender then Edit>Preferences>Add-ons, where the checkbox for the mtree-addon doesn't seem to show up.

Then I tried:

Copy same folder containing .py files

Pasted it in the "addons_contrib"-folder

And this message shows up in the "Add-ons" section of "Preferences" in Blender:

This conflict confuses me, since it means that the contents of the folders are recognized but, as I said, the checkbox for the add-on doesn't appear in the Preferences.
Any help or idea as to what could be the problem?

You have to download the 2.8 version of mtree i have version 2.83.10 and had the same problem when i downloaded the master but you need the 2.8 version.
to do that goto:
github
after downloadin the zip just goto preferences addon - install addon - navigate to zip and click install addon, wait a few seconds and then select mtree from the checkbox and mtree awayyyyy...


Confused About Linked Rigs & Meshes The majority of my question is identical to this one:
Cloth sim : collision with external linked group meshes
The OP found a workaround, so it was never really answered.  I wasn't sure if there was a way to "reactivate" the question, hence my duplicate.

I have a rig that I created with the Rigify add-on (first time I've used it, and little experience with rigs in general).  I believe I skinned & grouped it correctly, per the Humane Rigging videos.  I linked it from a second blend file and made a proxy.  I put a simple baggy robe mesh over the character mesh, with the intent of using the cloth simulation to make the robe flow properly as the character moves into the final position.

Here's where it gets tricky.  I need to add a collision modifier to the character mesh - but where is it?  It's not on the Outliner, and selecting it in the 3D View just selects the linked group.  Some experimenting showed that I can make a separate proxy for the mesh, but it's not connected to the rig.

I thought the second answer on this post was a solution, but I couldn't get it to work; I'm not sure it would be any different than the mesh proxy I already tried:
How can I modify the mesh of a linked character?

Any ideas, pointers to videos or tutorials, etc., are greatly appreciated.  I can post blend files if no one sees an obvious problem with what I'm doing.

[Update 1]  I've created four simple blend files to demonstrate the problem.  They're very simple, low-res examples to reduce the file size.

char.blend - a simple 4-bone FK armature with a rough cylindrical shape.
scene_appended.blend - a scene that appends char.blend, adds a collision modifier to the skin mesh, and drapes a cloth over it.  This works as expected.

In char.blend, for linking via a group, I wasn't sure if I was supposed to include the mesh in the group, so I did it both ways.

scene_linked-rig.blend - the same scene, but it links a group in char.blend containing just the armature (rig_group).
scene_linked-rig-skin.blend - the same scene, but it links a group in char.blend containing the armature and the skin mesh (rig-skin_group).

With (3) and (4), I have no idea what to do, since I can't find the mesh in order to attach the collision modifier.  I've tried all the combinations of "make local", "make single user", etc., that I can think of, but nothing seems to work.

[Update 2]  Playing more with these simple files, I discovered that adding the collision modifier in char.blend works.  Oddly, this didn't work with my real models.  Unless I did something wrong.  It's still not ideal, since I can't figure out how to change (or even find) the modifier in the scene if I need to.

I think I found the answer, at least for this specific situation.  It was in "How can I modify the mesh of a linked character?", but it took me a while to figure out how to make it work.  Using scene_linked-rig-skin.blend above:

The rig (char.blend) is already linked in as a group and proxied, according to instructions found elsewhere.  The group contains the rig and the mesh (and should contain any other necessary objects).  Note that the "group instance" Skin is visible but outlined in dark red (as is the rig, which is in the same group).

I linked the Skin object from the same file (appending, as mentioned in the link above, seemed to do the same thing).  The Skin is outlined in blue.  The Physics tab options are all grayed out.

With the Skin still selected, I did "Object... -> Make Local -> Selected Objects".  The Skin outline changed to green and the Physics options became active.  I clicked on "Collision".

Now the cloth simulation works!  The Skin also follows the rig (you can't see it very well since it's under the cloth).

A few interesting notes:

The skin stays with the rig, even though it's not a child of the rig (at least not according to the Outliner).  [Update] As mentioned by Jerryno below, this is due to the armature constraint.  Parenting the skin to the rig isn't necessary (I had no idea!).
This still doesn't work in my "real" scene (i.e., the one that prompted me to ask this question).  But it does if I link my "real" rig into a new file.  I suspect some data-block is stuck somewhere.
The mesh data-block is still linked (and hence not editable).  This will make the file size smaller.  It can also be made local, if desired, by choosing "Selected Objects and Data" in step 3.
It only appears to work correctly if the 3D cursor is at the origin when the rig is linked.  The rig appears where the 3D cursor is, but the skin only appears at the origin, and the offset is fixed from then on.  If you move the (localized) skin to the rig, the deformations get all wonky.  Maybe someone else has a workaround for this.
If you want to tie the cloth to the armature (e.g., for clothing), CTRL-P will parent it to the proxy of the armature, and things won't work correctly.  Since you can't select the original armature directly, you have to then edit the armature modifier and choose the original armature.


Exporting shape keys animation to .dae Is there a way to do it? When I chech "export shape keys" and reimport the file after the export there's no animation or keyframes but the shape keys are there.

According to the docs it doesn't look like this is possible (at least as of  Blender version 2.79).

At the very bottom of that page:

Important things to remember

only armature animation on mesh, single skin controller

I read that to mean it isn't possible to export shape key animations to .dae from Blender at this time.


Making Emission Object Invisible with Volume Scatter I am desperately trying to animate a 'tour' through an interior space and am having trouble getting enough light in the space. I have added emission to mesh shapes to light the various areas and even though i turned off their visibility to the camera they are still visible to some extent. I believe this is doe to the fact that I have Volume scatter on the main light source. I have tried enabling/disabling VS in the Cycles Setting under the Object button but it does not help. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

You have to go to the object tab under cycle setings, ray visibility and deselect the camera. It should not be rendered anymore.
You may have to set the surface to emission, not the volume.


Why dont i get curves on the graph editor? Whenever I do an animation the graph editor gives me curves.

But im not getting any curves.

Some curves may not be visible due to their high value, or too low value.

First of, check if you see all curves by adjusting vertical zoom, with CTRL +  MMB, then drag up / down.

Also, you can check the Normalize button at the bottom toolbar of the graph editor, and all curves will be clamped between -1 and 1 so you can see them all in a more condensed area of the graph.


Material not showing up in Material (or Rendered) View Mode First off, I read the Questions that may have my answer First.. but still no resolution.  Details are that I can't seem to understand why a mesh that I had to separate apart just so I could color the rubberized handle blue, around the chrome handle (which will animate 45 degrees and I have the key ring and tag set to Ridgid Body Physics).  I took a screenshot of the Red Handled Lever colored just fine, and the attempted Blue Handled Lever.  The main thing I can see with everything I've successfully colored (placed a Material On) is the list of materials at the very top. With the Red (and all other colors that show up successfully) there's just one material in the list, with no toggle up/down window to show the collection of materials.  But when I click on the attempted blue one, you can see the list, along with the toggle up/down feature present.

In edit mode select the part of the mesh you want to use a certain material, then select that material from the list and press the Assign button.


Blender python custom UI button run custom function? I am currently in the process of writing a project in python for Blender to simulate crowds automatically. However I would need for there to be a custom UI to allow the user to choose their settings such as min to max speed, how much they want locations to randomised by etc. But from tutorials I have watched, and links I have followed all seem to have the buttons and sliders only do what is already predefined in blender and does not allow me to make it execute a function I have wrote. I managed to find a workaround for creating a custom shape by adding it to the operator menu, but is there a way for it to save the value of a slider to a variable rather than doing a predefined Blender function.

import bpy
import math
import mathutils

class TargetMakerPanel(bpy.types.Panel) :
    bl_space_type = "VIEW_3D"
    bl_region_type = "TOOLS"
    bl_context = "objectmode"
    bl_label = "CrowD"
        def draw(self, context) :
        layout = self.layout
        scene = context.scene
        TheCol = self.layout.column(align = True)
        TheCol.operator("mesh.make_target", text = "Add Target")
        layout.label(text=" Random Speed:")
        row = layout.row()
        row.prop(scene, "frame_start")
        row.prop(scene, "frame_end")

class MakeTarget(bpy.types.Operator) :
    bl_idname = "mesh.make_target"
    bl_label = "Add Target"
    bl_options = {"UNDO"}

    def invoke(self, context, event) :
        Vertices = \
          [
            mathutils.Vector((-0.5, -0.5,0)),
            mathutils.Vector((0.5, -0.5, 0)),
            mathutils.Vector((0.5, 0.5, 0)),
            mathutils.Vector((-0.5, 0.5, 0)),

          ]
        NewMesh = bpy.data.meshes.new("Target")
        NewMesh.from_pydata \
            (
            Vertices,
            [],
            [[0, 1, 2], [0, 1, 3], [1, 2, 3], [2, 0, 3]]
          )
        NewMesh.update()
        NewObj = bpy.data.objects.new("Target", NewMesh)
        context.scene.objects.link(NewObj)
        return {"FINISHED"}
    #end invoke

def register() :
    bpy.utils.register_class(MakeTarget)
    bpy.utils.register_class(TargetMakerPanel)

def unregister() :
    bpy.utils.unregister_class(MakeTarget)
    bpy.utils.unregister_class(TargetMakerPanel)

if __name__ == "__main__" :
    register()

In my code I would ideally like it so that the row that slider that says "Start Frame" would allow me to recognise that value and assign it to a variable called MinSpeed.... Rather than it automatically changing the frame as blender had already defined it as...

You can use custom properties in Blender by defining it like so (for example):

bpy.types.Scene.your_property = bpy.props.IntProperty(
    name = "Name your int prop", # as you want it to appear on the slider
    default = 1, # optional
    description = "Short description of your prop, to show in the popup"
    )

or

bpy.types.Scene.your_property = bpy.props.StringProperty(
    name = "Name your prop",
    default = "default value for your prop (optional)",
    description = "Short description of your prop, to show in the popup"
    )

You can read this for documentation about properties: http://www.blender.org/documentation/blender_python_api_2_68_2/bpy.props.html

Later, you can use your property in the code, by calling it like so (for example, and assuming you're in a function with context available, like your invoke function of your MakeTarget class) :

if context.scene.your_property == 2:
    do_something()

And, to use it in Blender's UI (TargetMakerPanel class):

row = layout.row()
row.prop(context.scene, "your_property")

Blender will automatically make the UI that correspond the property type. (eg. a slider for an IntProperty, input box for a string, etc.)

You can see more examples here : http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Dev:2.5/Py/Scripts/Cookbook/Code_snippets/Interface#Using_scene_properties_to_store_information

Hope this helps!


BGE: Move character from Scene1 to Scene2 and keeping the character to Scene2 How can the character (red star) go thru a door from Scene1 to Scene2?
Scene 1 is the current one and Scene2 is to be loaded after the character go thru the door.
Scene1 is the exterior and Scene2 is a building.

I've created a  blend file as per coments but is not working.

You wont be able to actually "transfer" the player object in-game.  But you can create an instance of the player in each scene beforehand.

Move the player to (0, 0, 0) on a non-visible layer
Add it to a new group.  I named mine "Player"
Do Shift+A -> Group Instance -> Player in each scene that needs to contain the player.

This method will not copy properties that have changed since the scene started.  You'll likely need a Python script for that.

EDIT - Quick example of transferring specific properties between scenes

1. Run this on your player right before changing scenes

import bge

def saveProps(cont):
    own = cont.owner

    props = {}
    props['name_of_property'] = own['name_of_property']
    props['another_property'] = own['another_property']
    # ... etc

    bge.logic.player_props = props

if __name__ == '__main__':
    cont = bge.logic.getCurrentController()
    saveProps(cont)

2. And run this when a scene first loads, basically the first script in reverse.

import bge

def getProps(cont):
    own = cont.owner

    try:
        props = bge.logic.player_props
    except:
        # Props dict not defined.  This was likely the first scene.
        return

    own['name_of_property'] = props['name_of_property']
    own['another_property'] = props['another_property']

if __name__ == '__main__':
    cont = bge.logic.getCurrentController()
    getProps(cont)


How can I change the camera to include more of my scene? As you see in the picture I am looking at the room modeled through the camera perspective:

I want to change my camera settings to be able to render a picture of the whole room. How can I do that?

This is the Default 35mm frame

There are two ways you can bring more content into frame.

Lower the focal length of the camera, in this case from 35mm to 25mm

Back the camera up (I prefer fly mode over grabbing because I can see the result while doing so)

Go into fly mode, shift + f,
do not move the mouse while doing this (otherwise you will change what you are looking at)
back up, s

Note that cameras with a low focal length can look weird, look at this 10mm example


Bone heat Weighting Failed while Rigging I've done a lot of research into the problem, but I'm a blender noob. I have

Removed Doubles
Recalculated Normals
Removed All Vertex Groups
Removed Subsurface Modifier
Added the Decimate Planar Modifier
Ensured The root is where it needs to be
Ensured Positioning for the Mesh and Bones are all set to Zero and Scale to 1

I tried to upload the blend file to Blend Stack exchange but its 80Mb and the max is 30, so I put it on drop box. Thanks for anything you can do to help.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/22gaww9l0w47sgo/Chaplain1.blend?dl=0

:Edit I uploaded the backup file, the new file is at the right point, sorry and thanks again.

In your file I founded 30.000 doubles and I applied the decimate modifier. The existing problem of bone heat weighting failed still exist, and is probably due to the overlapping geometry, which automatic weighting doesn't like.

I think you will have to split the character into various spare parts (in edit mode select one vertex, Ctrl L to select linked, P to separate).

This is a good practice also to optimize the animation performances: objects like skulls or some parts of the armor should not deform, they should only solidly follow a bone instead. Parenting an object to a bone (bone option after Ctrl P) is also lighter to calculate for Blender, so you will have less lag during animation process. I think you will have also to retopologize the sections that actually need to deform in the classical way, because the geometry is very bad and it will lead to ugly deformations. It's a long run, good luck (or start with a simpler character :)).


Dynamic menu creation : how to get the selection? I think it's a stupid question and the answer may be right in front of my nose. I create a menu populated by the text_blocks of the Text Editor, asking which text I want.

Then.... how do I process the selection ?

Here's my menu :

class Choose_Text(bpy.types.Menu):
    bl_idname = "OBJECT_MT_select_file"
    bl_label = "Where is my text ?"

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

        for i in bpy.data.texts:
            layout.operator("something", text=i.name)

I guess, all the menu items should lead to the same operator and transmit a variable, is that right ?

Thanks for any help !

The menu invokes an operator and this operator would need to receive the filename as a parameter.

I assembled a few lines (sorry for not renaming the classes) I'm sure this can be improved.

AnimMenu - iterates over all loaded text files and add them to a manu in the main header. The files name is handed over by a StringProperty.

AnimOperator - Is invoked when a menu item has been selected it reads the value of the property and shows how the filename is received and how to retrieve files content.

import bpy

text=""

class AnimOperator(bpy.types.Operator):
    bl_idname = "object.anim_operator"
    bl_label = "Pose Anim Operator"

    text_name = bpy.props.StringProperty(name="anim_text_name")
    @classmethod
    def poll(cls, context):
        return context.active_object is not None

    def execute(self, context):
        print("invoked script %s" % text )
        print("invoked script name=%s" % self.text_name )
        txt = bpy.data.texts[ self.text_name ].as_string()
        print("do something with script")
        return {'FINISHED'}

class AnimMenu(bpy.types.Menu):
    bl_label = "Anim Menu"
    bl_idname = "OBJECT_MT_anim_menu"

    def draw(self, context):
        layout = self.layout
        for txt in bpy.data.texts:
            props = layout.operator("object.anim_operator", text=txt.name)
            props.text_name = txt.name

def draw_item(self, context):
    layout = self.layout
    layout.menu(AnimMenu.bl_idname)

def register():
    bpy.utils.register_class(AnimOperator)
    bpy.utils.register_class(AnimMenu)
    bpy.types.INFO_HT_header.append(draw_item)

def unregister():
    bpy.utils.unregister_class(AnimMenu)
    bpy.types.INFO_HT_header.remove(draw_item)
    bpy.utils.unregister_class(AnimOperator)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()


Can I pin a custom startup file permanently? I would like to create a start-up file that does not move from the menu, and disappear after I select and load a few different project files.

I previously set up files but they keep moving out of the menu start-ups when I choose other file names.  How do I pin this permanently to the menu, and can I add more than the 5 or so available without opening up extra file windows?  Thanks.

To be more clear as some misunderstood, I am looking to PIN files permanently to the recent files menu on start-up, permanently, as more than one start-up file.  The below solution only changes the default start-up = 1, not many as preferred.  Every time I use a file that I set up as a template, I have to save the file as a new name for the project, as I should, but the template is then replaced in the "recent-files start-up menu", so how can I pin them or add more default settings for extra start-up files, just to be clearer.

Or will I have to have a separate folder full of "templates" and navigate to it on start-up, if pinning is not an option? Can I not just alter the default 5 menu options such as "2d", "3d", "video sequencer" on the left? Thanks.

This is actually really easy to do: go to the File tab, and scroll down until you see Save start-up file. Click on this, and it will make the current Blender setup the default setup. This can also be done by pressing "CTRL-U" on the keyboard.


Some objects not rendering I'm trying to render a group of cylinders with volume materials however some of them are not showing up. What's causing this?

Here is the blend file: https://www.dropbox.com/s/0bp0fha9gyalf0g/renderhelp.blend?dl=0

Thanks for helping!

The issue is that your objects are too thin.  To fix this, you could scale your object up along the Z axis, or increase the Density Scale, or change the material type to Surface.  I would recommend changing the material type.


Cloth simulation doesnt work I am following a youtube tutorial, but the cloth simulation doesn't work as desire. May I know what the problem is? I have not idea what is going wrong

Yes. The Blender cloth simulator will not work if you only have a simple un-subdivided mesh. If you go to edit-mode, and set the subdivision setting to around 50 subdivisions, then the simulation should work well. Setting the step quality of the cloth simulator to about 7 yields a fast simulation, while not using up too much RAM.


Why do you have to not be in edt mode to delete materials or shape keys? In edit mode, you can't delete materials or shape keys. If you switch to object mode, it works fine. Why? Is there a specific reason that these can't be deleted in edit mode?

I'm using Blender 2.8.

Yes there is a small reason behind this. This happens because when we remove a shape-key object's vertex data is changed to the current shape-key state which have to be rcalculated so for removing lags or software crash. That's why you can't  delete shape key in edit mode. Whereas in concern to the materials the can be applied, removed and added in edit mode. If you are unable to do this it means that you are not currently having an active material slot available you will have to add and leave a material slot empty on order to create materials and make a material in order to apply then on your mesh.


How controll RGB node with FloatVectorProperty (Blender 2.8) I can draw in panel an rgb controller , but not know how to update the rgb node inside material, i can get the name in update function , but not undertand the right way to assign parameter to node rgb, my property are register in Propertygroup:

def update_huesat(self,context):

    ob = bpy.context.active_object
    nodes = ob.active_material.node_tree.nodes
    set = ob.active_material.slot_setting

    for n in nodes:

        if n.name == 'My node RGB name':

           ###how to ?? =  set.rgb_controller

class MySet(bpy.types.PropertyGroup):

    rgb_controller: FloatVectorProperty(name="Diffuse color",subtype='COLOR',default=(1.0, 1.0, 1.0),min=0.0, max=1.0,description="color picker",update = myupdatefunction)

i Can get the node but not undertand to assign that controller.

in the register function i register that with :

Material.slot_setting = bpy.props.PointerProperty(type=MySet)

This allows me to have a custom property on the material slots

The update method

We define a property with bpy.props on a type, (eg bpy.types.Material) to have an update method

def update(self, context):
    ob = self
    id = self.id_data
    ...

where self is the instance of the object type the property is on.

In the case of a property group, as in code below, where the type is a material, then ob will be, for example bpy.data.materials["foo"].slot_setting and id will be the material.  bpy.data.materials["foo"]

Very similarly to this answer the test code below sets all RGB nodes belonging to the material to the value set for RGBA.  For RGBA set the size to 4 on the float vector property.

import bpy
from bpy.props import FloatVectorProperty, PointerProperty

def update_rgb_nodes(self, context):

    mat = self.id_data
    nodes = [n for n in mat.node_tree.nodes
            if isinstance(n, bpy.types.ShaderNodeRGB)]

    for n in nodes:
        n.outputs[0].default_value = self.rgb_controller

class MySet(bpy.types.PropertyGroup):

    rgb_controller: FloatVectorProperty(
            name="Diffuse color",
            subtype='COLOR',
            default=(1, 1, 1, 1),
            size=4,
            min=0, max=1,
            description="color picker",
            update = update_rgb_nodes)

# test rego code
bpy.utils.register_class(MySet)
bpy.types.Material.slot_setting = PointerProperty(type=MySet)

# test draw code in text editor footer

def draw_color(self, context):
    ob = context.object
    ma = ob.active_material
    self.layout.prop(ma.slot_setting, "rgb_controller")

bpy.types.TEXT_HT_footer.append(draw_color)

# test call set active material on active object to red
ob = bpy.context.object
ob.active_material.slot_setting.rgb_controller = (1, 0, 0, 1)


Keeping two 3D Views in sync? I have two 3D views, one for each of my monitors. The first view with a solid shading and the second with the rendered view of Octane render.

It would be great if when rotating my solid shaded view the rendered view would update, on the other monitor, to reflect the same change.

Is this possible with Blender?

One way to get any number of 3D views to copy the view angle from one is to have all the 3D views in Camera view NumPad 0. Then check "Lock Camera To View" in the "View" section of the properties region N.

The downside to this approach is that you always have to stay in the camera view, you can not use any of the view navigation controls. However you can hold Alt while panning the view to snap the view at 45° angles.

The 3D view on the left is the view copying the center's view. The center is where I'm rotation the view, and where Lock Camera To View is checked. The 3D view on the right is just to show what is happening in the scene.


Adding a Bezier Curve with a single point at 3D cursor [beginner] Complete beginner to scripting. I'm trying to create an add-on that would allow me to add a bezier curve with one single control point (vertex) at the 3d cursor.

This is what I have:

bl_info = {
    "name": "Single Point Curve",
    "category": "Object",
}

import bpy

class HalfBoolMirror(bpy.types.Operator):
    """Single Point Curve"""      # blender will use this as a tooltip for menu items and buttons.
    bl_idname = "single.point.curve"        # unique identifier for buttons and menu items to reference.
    bl_label = "Single Point Curve"         # display name in the interface.
    bl_options = {'REGISTER', 'UNDO'}  # enable undo for the operator.

    def execute(self, context):        # execute() is called by blender when running the operator.

        # The original script

        bpy.ops.curve.primitive_bezier_curve_add(view_align=False, enter_editmode=True, location=bpy.context.scene.cursor_location, layers=(True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True))

        bpy.ops.curve.handle_type_set(type='VECTOR')

        bpy.context.object.data.show_handles = False

        bpy.context.object.data.show_normal_face = False

        bpy.ops.curve.de_select_last()

        bpy.ops.curve.delete(type='VERT')

        bpy.ops.curve.select_all(action='TOGGLE')

        for area in bpy.context.screen.areas:
            if area.type == 'VIEW_3D':
                ctx = bpy.context.copy()
                ctx['area'] = area
                ctx['region'] = area.regions[-1]
                bpy.ops.view3d.snap_selected_to_cursor(ctx, use_offset=False)
                break

        return {'FINISHED'}            # this lets blender know the operator finished successfully.

def register():
    bpy.utils.register_class(HalfBoolMirror)

def unregister():
    bpy.utils.unregister_class(HalfBoolMirror)

    if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()

This gives me an error when trying to enable the addon in User Preferences. The error is

line 18
    bpy.ops.curve.primitive_bezier_curve_add(view_align=False, enter_editmode=True, location=bpy.context.scene.cursor_location, layers=(True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True))                                                                                ^
TabError: inconsistent use of tabs and spaces in indentation

At some point I also got an error saying "incorrect location" or something at line 18. Unable to reproduce it now...

The script works as intended when running it in the script editor such as this:

import bpy

bpy.ops.curve.primitive_bezier_curve_add(view_align=False, enter_editmode=True, location=bpy.context.scene.cursor_location, layers=(True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True))

bpy.ops.curve.handle_type_set(type='VECTOR')
bpy.context.object.data.show_handles = False
bpy.context.object.data.show_normal_face = False
bpy.ops.curve.de_select_last()
bpy.ops.curve.delete(type='VERT')
bpy.ops.curve.select_all(action='TOGGLE')
for area in bpy.context.screen.areas:
    if area.type == 'VIEW_3D':
        ctx = bpy.context.copy()
        ctx['area'] = area
        ctx['region'] = area.regions[-1]
        bpy.ops.view3d.snap_selected_to_cursor(ctx, use_offset=False)
        break

But I can't get it to work as an Addon.

Trying to run it here I got a bad identation error on line 52 in register().

Fixing that I could install the addon, then it complained about

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "D:\Duarte\System\Blender\2.78\scripts\modules\addon_utils.py", line 349, in enable
    mod.register()
  File "D:\Duarte\System\Blender\2.78\scripts\addons\SinglePointCurve.py", line 44, in register
    bpy.utils.register_class(HalfBoolMirror)
RuntimeError: Error: Registering operator class: 'HalfBoolMirror', invalid bl_idname 'single.point.curve', must contain 1 '.' character

Apparently your bl_idname = "single.point.curve" on line 10 can only have one one "." period character in its name.

Changing it to bl_idname = "singlepoint.curve" seemd to fix the problem and the script installed fine, though I could not see it anywhere in the UI.

This is my final result

bl_info = {
    "name": "Single Point Curve",
    "category": "Object",
}

import bpy

class HalfBoolMirror(bpy.types.Operator):
    """Single Point Curve"""      # blender will use this as a tooltip for menu items and buttons.
    bl_idname = "singlepoint.curve"        # unique identifier for buttons and menu items to reference.
    bl_label = "Single Point Curve"         # display name in the interface.
    bl_options = {'REGISTER', 'UNDO'}  # enable undo for the operator.

    def execute(self, context):        # execute() is called by blender when running the operator.

        # The original script

        bpy.ops.curve.primitive_bezier_curve_add(view_align=False, enter_editmode=True, location=bpy.context.scene.cursor_location, layers=(True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True))

        bpy.ops.curve.handle_type_set(type='VECTOR')

        bpy.context.object.data.show_handles = False

        bpy.context.object.data.show_normal_face = False

        bpy.ops.curve.de_select_last()

        bpy.ops.curve.delete(type='VERT')

        bpy.ops.curve.select_all(action='TOGGLE')

        for area in bpy.context.screen.areas:
            if area.type == 'VIEW_3D':
                ctx = bpy.context.copy()
                ctx['area'] = area
                ctx['region'] = area.regions[-1]
                bpy.ops.view3d.snap_selected_to_cursor(ctx, use_offset=False)
                break

        return {'FINISHED'}            # this lets blender know the operator finished successfully.

def register():
    bpy.utils.register_class(HalfBoolMirror)

def unregister():
    bpy.utils.unregister_class(HalfBoolMirror)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()


Is it possible to split a vertex? Is there a quick way to turn that triangle into a square by "splitting" the selected vertex? Something like an extrusion that will follow the edge.

The red arrow is where the new vertex should go, the green one is the position of the edge that is linked to the new vertex.

I know I can make something similar with the hotkey V to separate the vertex but i still have to fill the gaps:

I also know that I can simply use the knife tool to add an edge and then remove the edge between the two triangles to have a quad.

The final result I want to achieve:

It is simply that I wonder if there is a way to slide a vertex with some of its edges (not all) or if it is not possible.

Yes, you can just hit Alt + v to split it while hovering over the edge you would slide it on and then click g to slide it:

It's also in Mesh -> Vertices menu(Ctrl+v) as Rip Fill

Edit: I just realized this is not completely the desired result you show in the picture, because there is still an edge left where it was originally and you would need to dissolve it with Alt+x, however I think this is the closest thing. I think it would not make sense to have a tool that would remove the edge, because in that case it would in most cases leave untidy geometry, that might be best to avoid, so I can understand why there is no such a tool precisely as you described.


What is this group that applies transforms onto objects? I downloaded an asset kit which when imported into blender places objects inside some sort of group (screenshots below). On their own objects have incorrect size and rotation, but when placed within this group, they appear as they should.
I want to cleanup this asset kit and remove these "transform" groups so I am just left with my objects, I can do this, but it seems like very manual work (I need to delete transform group and then manually apply its changes onto an object). Perhaps there is an easier way?
So, this is how it looks in outliner, group I am asking about is one with icon that has 3 branches

This is transform that this group has, which actually makes object look correct

And this is transform that object itself has

That's an Empty, you could parent objects to that empty and that will become the new world zero for the object. Your object has keyframes (that's why is green) and probably that's the reason for the "incorrect size"


Object Just Black in Shading Tab? I'm new to Blender, and I'm running it on a low-level Windows machine. Intel Core 2 Quad 3.2ghz processor, 12 gb of ram, and an ATI Radeon HD 4300 graphics card.

I'm really not looking to do any heavy lifting in blender, just some small projects for class. When I make any shape, even a simple UV sphere and click over to the shading tab, my object is all black. I can't figure out why.

I've run this on my Macbook as well and got the same problem.

Here's a screenshot:

It's most likely an issue with the shading mode. There are several ways to preview objects in Blender: wireframe, solid, shaded, textured, etc. Try clicking around on these:

Also, in your screenshot, you're in "World" editor mode (in the Shader editor). Make sure your world background isn't pure black/set to 0. If you don't have any lights in the scene, this is the only thing lighting it, and if it's set to 0 or pure black then there is no lighting at all, hence everything is black.


How many CPU cores does Blender support and make sense? everybody,

i want to "build" a new computer for myself. Blender benefits from several cores. How many does Blender support and how many do actually make sense?

Greetings
Ralf

The more, the better in most cases, but you do need to be aware of single thread performance as well. If you get a processor with lots of cores that has very poor single thread performance and use it for work, you might struggle with some operations that cannot use all of the cores. Generally physics simulations tend to use multiple cores a bit less efficiently because they tend to need the results of previous calculations in order to continue so the calculations are difficult to do in parallel. Some other every day modelling tasks also suffer from this. For rendering - the more cores you have, the better, unless you render loads of really fast frames(seconds) in which case preparing the scene for rendering might take more time than actually rendering and during the preparation there are some things done with single thread only - in that case it might be slow.


Blender Cycles Procedural Cut Aluminum (Cut Aluminium) Photo rendering aluminum extrusion profiles in Blender Cycles.  Tried achieving this using image textures, but doesn't work very well.  It's so reflective, you take a photo at one angle, and your object always has that same reflection, even when you rotate the camera.

How could the same be achieved with procedural texture?

It's very shiny, highly reflective, with saw marks that reflect light at different angles.  Also has a rainbow reflection in the metal at certain angles.

Rainbow part not necessary, but would be a bonus.  I've noticed other metals have similar effect.

I could achieve something like this. Remeber to have UV map with 45 degree rotation, or as much as you want.

I've had better results using PBR shader (not diffuse/glossy mix) from CynicatPro but you can find him on YouTube and whole PBR tutorial here will be too much.

I couldn't do this rainbow reflection at angle but Noise Texture mixed with... Light Path, Camera Data??? could be the thing.

EDIT:

Here's the .blend file:


Bloom in Cycles for animation or ring transparency in Evee? I am making a space scene and I am having a problem with not being able to solve either one of these problems. Cycles renders the rings around my planet properly by making the space between the ring transparent. In Evee it displays the black between the rings and doesn't recognize it as transparent. For making a shadow on the planet it also shows the full ring that the texture is on and not the pattern the texture is making. In cycles I can not find a way to to do the bloom I can get in Evee and have it to where it is over the whole animation; but the rings and shadows from the rings onto the planet render correctly. If anyone knows a solution to either problem it would be greatly appreciated.

Go to the compositor and add in a glare node between the render output image and the composite node. Then for the type, choose "Fog Glow". Adjust the settings to your liking.


Rendered Normals color getting distorted? I am trying to render the Normal output of the geometry node, and then bring that back as a window projected texture. But when I do, the image is very different from the original socket output:

Why is my image different, when its literally just a render of the same thing? I am aware of color management distorting the render. I have tried rendering with different Display Devices, View Transforms, both .png and .exr, different color spaces on the texture node, disabling Save as Render, etc.
From my understanding, being in Display Device: sRGB, Standard view transform, and then setting the texture node to Linear or Non-Color Data ought to work, but it doesn't. What else could be going on?

I think the main cause of the differences is the way data is encoded when the normals were rendered initially.
If you save that in jpg or png, colors are encoded as integers. So that leads to some rounded values that cannot be converted to the exact initial normal values.
So you can save this rendered file with OpenExr format to keep things as float values:

(codec can be "none" or "zip looseless" for accuracy, if needed... give a try to the codecs depending on what you want, file size vs. accuracy).
The result can be this (not perfect though):

Instead of this using png:

Additionally, keep the image texture as "non color" or "raw", and as you said in the question, set "raw" and "non color" in the color management part.
Edit: other thing that alter the rendering is anti aliasing. If using Cycles, set the pixel filter to box in the film section. Rendered back using the image texture projected on the window should give a better result.


How to fix incorrect faces I'm currently modeling an aircraft and still learning a lot about modeling best practice and the general approach how to create a clean model mesh. As you can see from the image, there are two faces on the wing upper (also same on the lower) side that do not look right, even though the normal seem to be consistent. My guess is the problem may be caused by the intersection of the wing root at the fuselage, even though I do not know why this is creating a problem as the vertices are all connected cleanly.

.blend of the model

You probably created this faces after enabling smooth shading and they are not updated yet. Go to object mode, enable Flat shading and then Smooth shading again and this faces will start looking as they should.


How do I find global rotation values of a child object? Object1 is a child of Object2. I rotated Object2 thus rotating Object1. In the Transform section of the N panel Rotation values of Object1 are 0,0,0. How do I get global values of rotation of Object1 related to world?

This may seem trivial when you have only 2 objects, but actually I have a chain of child-parent relations, each one rotated by some degree. Calculating this by hand would take ages.

I need to align rotation of the object that is not part of this child-parent chain with the object that is.

Add a Copy Rotation constraint to the object you want to rotate. In constraint panel, set Target to that child object;
After seeing it being aligned well, CtrlA >  Visual Transform;
Delete that constraint, since you don't need it anymore.

Edit:

If you just want to "know" the global rotation info, you can simply AltP > Clear and Keep Transformation, then you will see the visual rotation applied, which is the global rotation. After getting what you want, you can simply CtrlZ to undo.


Transparent blue plastic material which emits light Hi I am creating a Doctor who Sonic screwdriver model in Blender and am having difficulties creating the material for the blue light on the end.  Preferably I'd like one material which emits light and one which doesn't.
Reference pic for without light:

Honestly I don't really like the pics on Google of it emitting light
Here's a video in which you can see it with the light on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgSgplNgpmw#t=58
Any help is much appreciated!

I would use two objects (or separated parts of the same object), the emitting object being separate from the cover.
As far as the materials go, it depends on how much you want to fake it to increase render times/decrease noise.
Realistic
A realistic setup is probably the simplest, with just a simple emission shader for the emission object and a glass shader for the cover.
I've used clipping border (⎇ AltB) to give you a cut away view of the objects:

The main thing to note is that the cover is not solid, it is hollow (this can be done with a quick solidify modifier). The reason this is important as it has a large impact on the way light is refracted through the cover.
With some simple compositing to simulate the way a camera will behave when exposed to a bright light source (bloom), a nice glow can be achieved:

The downside to this is that it will produce a lot of noise. This image was rendered with 1000 samples, but as you can see it still needs some more:

Fast/less noisy
This is more complicated, but should help rendertimes by reducing the amount of noise at the cost of physical accuracy.
There are probably several ways to optimize such a setup, but here's one of them:
The main point here is that a point lamp is used to do the actual illumination  instead of the emission mesh.
The point lamp is also not refracted, it's light is allowed straight through the cover, but absorbed where the cover mesh is thicker (kind of faking those nice caustics from the "realistic" example)
To make sure the volumetrics don't cause too much of a slowdown, make sure volume sampling is set to Equiangular and that Homogeneous is enabled on the cover material:

Rendered in 200 samples:

As you can see, there is still a little noise, mostly caused by the mesh light which is emitting light that gets refracted/reflected by the cover. I couldn't immediately think of a solution which would make the mesh light only illuminate the inside of the cover, and not refract outwards.
The only reason the mesh light isn't making as much noise as in the "realistic" render is that it is dimmer than in the realistic version. This isn't very noticeable though, since the lamp provides plenty of light.


Reflective and transparent material on poster I'm doing an interior scene and on one of the walls, I have a poster with a thin fram around it. To make it a little bit more realistic, I want to create a material just like a thin and transparent plastic board above the poster with reflections.

I made a separate object close to the poster, but I guess I could also apply this effect on the image texture?

But anyway, I tested to use window glass materials like this, but it is perhaps too much reflections:

How can I make a more realistic glass shader?

Any suggestions of node combinations to create a transparent and reflective plastic material or reflections on image texture?

As you do not need anything like refractions, I don't think you need to consider the Glass shader.

In this situation, I would personally create a simple mix of Transparent and Glossy shader, and adjust the mix until you got the look that you wanted. Obviously it will be a mix of high transparency, and just a little glossy.

To get a physically accurate result, you could use the Fresnel or Layer Weight nodes to control the mix (so you get more Glossy on the glancing angle, and less Glossy when viewed straight on). Add a Math node to multiply the Fresnel and you can play around until you get the result you want.


Smoke Simulation has weird artifacts and looks low res I can't figure out why my smoke looks like this. It has weird artifacts and looks like it was rendered on 144 resolution. This was actually rendered in 2560 x 3840. I also used 400 samples and I'm using cycles.

Here are the domain settings

And here are the emitter settings

I've done a few simulations that have turned out perfect, but this one is just not working.

Edit: so I increased the domain resolution but the wisps look weird now. They looks low res also. Is there a way to get rid of the wisps. Maybe increasing the density or something.

You can:

Increase the domain's Division value (this will change how the smoke simulates, interacts and looks and will increase simulation time)
Turn on Smoke High Resolution (this will introduce noise into the simulation to add detail, more info in manual).
Check if the domain material has Cubic set for it's voxel interpolation (should be by default):

Volumetric domains are like raster images but in 3D. Imagine rendering a low resolution texture close to camera on a FullHD render - no matter what you do, even if you go to 4K, the texture would still render as ugly blob.


Rigid body falling through conveyer belt I made a conveyer belt and then I tried putting a cube on top of it. The belt carries the cube like you would expect, but about half way through, the cube falls through the belt.

Video

That happens to me sometimes. I dont remember exactly what i did to fix it but i think the problem was caused because it had something to do with moving the origin and editing the mesh once a rigid body is added to the mesh. I think if you CtrlShiftAltC and select origin to center mass it might work.


How to make a twisted wrapper/cloth How do I make a twisted wrapper like the following?

I've tried to twist a plane / a cone, but many faces just go though others.

If you want to use the cloth simulation, you have to assign both ends to bones.

You also have to create the Pinning group for the cloth simulation. At the pinched end, I used only a few vertices for pinning, otherwise the circular structure will remain rigid.

Animate the right hand bone twisting.

This is the result with a cloth simulation.


Creating a patterned carpet Couldn't quite find the answer I was looking for so if you know how to or can link to an existing post that would be great!

I'm trying to create a carpet based on an image (Persian Rug). I've created single colored and multi colored rugs using vertex groups but they have been quite simple. Does anyone know how to take an image of a detailed pattern with many colors and apply hair to it and have it match the colors/ separate based on color? There must be a fairly fast way of doing this.

Thank you!

Mesh> Add Images as Planes> Select desired image saved on your drive (Must enable Add-on in User Preferences)

 Add Particle System, change to 'Hair', under render settings, disable emitter and leave set to 'Path'. Add children 'interpolated'. Also might want to increase number of hairs to 5000+ so you can see it when you do a quick render with shift+z.

 Now when you render, you should see your image with the correct hair color!


Fur looking different than the preview when rendered It is the first time I'm trying to make fur in Cycles, I'm far from being an expert so I followed Blender Guru's tutorial for that and it looks the way I want it in the preview. But once I tried rendering, the fur looks way more long:

I have already tried to turn down all the sizes, to zero even, but nothing changes, it still looks super long when I try to render.

I'm also using subdivision surface on the meshes.

Like I said, this is my first time trying hair/fur and my blender knowledge is very limited so I'm sorry if this is a beginner mistake but any help would be very appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

EDIT: here's the blend file!

I got it.

Just when I set Particles>>Render>>Degrees:7 and B-spline>>Steps:7.

I think it has relations with Particles>>Display>>Color also set to 7.

The picture below:


Changing views in 2.8 jumps out of ortho I work mostly in ortho mode but after I switch to side, top, left, right or bottom view, and then move around the view changes to perspective. How can I ensure that it always stays in ortho view?

You need to deactivate Auto Perspective in Preferences > Navigation > Orbit & Pan.


More time is spent on render preparation than on the actual rendering. What can I do? I'm new to blender and I'm stuck on this giant unsolvable problem that no one seems to have any solution for.
I've modelled a quite complex scene in Blender: roads, bridges vehicles, buildings, trees etc. When I try to render an animation using cycles, it takes about 5 minutes per for scene preparation alone. Things like synchronizing scene, update mesh, building bvh etc. The thing is, that actual rendering only takes like 30 sec per frame. So 90% of the time is consumed for building the scene.
I've tried many things like reducing samples, light bounces etc., but they only reduce the rendering time and not the scene building time.
It has come to a point that I can't really output anything. I might have to leave 3d modelling because of this.
Is there any way that I can save the scene building cache and use that for every frame? Only vehicles in my scene have any animation. 95% of my model is static. I don't understand why it has to be like this. I'm sure I'm missing something very basic here.
What can I do?

If scene preparation takes a very long time, here are a few things to consider/try:
General
Before the actual rendering part starts, a few things need to happen. All the necessary data in your scene needs to be turned into its final form that will be handed off to the renderer / loaded onto the render device.
For every object, all modifiers will be applied and meshes will be triangulated. The resulting geo will be copied to the memory of the render device. Also, a BVH will be created for every object.
Any textures also need to be copied.
(disclaimer: no renderings expert, please correct in the comments if any of this is wrong)
Now, this gives us a few hints to possible optimizations. I'll focus on things concerning preparation times.
I'll start with the simple one:

1. Textures
Every texture needs to be copied, which takes time in the preparation phase. Reduce size and amount if possible. Less data = shorter times to copy.

2. Objects
Count: In general, it will be faster to have fewer objects with more polygons than many objects with fewer polygons (if both have a similar total poly count) as each object is treated separately. So, join as many objects as possible to reduce the number of objects. (You might want to keep a copy in a disabled collection, so you can go back at any time)
Modifiers: Modifiers have to be evaluated before rendering. We can take that time from the preparation stage by applying all modifiers beforehand. (Again, keep backups if you need to go back.)
Then we come to the BVH part. BVH can accelerate raytracing quite a bit and is usually a good thing, when most of the render time is actually spent rendering. But BVH building takes time. Again, fewer objects will make this faster, because a BVH will be created for every object. (please correct me if this is incorrect.) Also, we can accelerate BVH building by turning off "Use Spacial Splits" in the Performance Tab under Acceleration Structure.
This is something you'll need to try and see what the impact on overall render time is.

3. Meshes
Poly count: Again, we have the simple rule: Fewer polygons will be faster to process and to copy. A few things to watch out for are: (1) High poly background objects, that could be simplified a lot without appearing visually different in the final render. (2) Having the Subdivision Surface modifier set too high. See what the lowest setting is without affecting your result.
Instancing: Another way to avoid unnecessary geometry is to use instances rather than copies of meshes. This means that two equal objects use the same mesh data 'under the hood'. Therefore, the mesh will only be copied once to the renderer.
In your example, that could be a building. If the same building appears twice in the scene, you can make sure that only one instance of the mesh data is used for both of them. This happens automatically when you duplicate with Alt + D rather than Ctrl+D. If you already have made duplicates, you can select all objects, you want to use the same mesh and press Ctrl+L -> Object Data.
In this screenshot you can see that I have two Cube Objects using the same mesh. (The number 2 indicates the number of users of this mesh.)

4. Debugging
Sometimes, for no apparent reason, you can experience a great loss of performance by one single 'thing' that's not working correctly in your scene. So it's good to look for the cause. With more experience you'll be able to judge if a scene takes roughly the time it should take, or if something is actually wrong.
Here are things to try: Turn OFF rendering on all objects and start with one or a few and see how long it takes. If it renders quickly, add some more, and so on. You don't have to go one by one of course, the important thing is to narrow it down and find the problem.

This is by no means supposed to be a complete list, rather than a good starting point to cover the most common cases. Again, feel free to add more information.
And as always: Happy blending! ;)


How do you disable physics force field for multiple objects/meshes? I have 500 meshes grouped together and I can't find out which one of them has the force field physics activated, but it's there. I assumed a possible solution would be to select all objects, disable force field physics for the active object, then apply the changes to the rest of them... but, if so, how do I do that?

Thanks!

The object with the force field has circles around it, so it should be shown, else you could play the simulation with AltA and see where the force comes from :)


Audio track complete it is possible to use Python to signal when an mp3 file, or other audio file, has finished playing/reached their end? I know how to play them, as per the BGE code below, but don't how do I check if the are finished?

sound = aud.Factory('audio.mp3') #loads mp3 or wav file
if not 'play' in ow: #will play sound only once
     ow['device'] = aud.device()
     ow['device'].play(sound)
     ow['play'] = 1

Thanks in advance!

There's a status property: aud.Handle.status

You could check it in regular intervals until the status changes to AUD_STATUS_STOPPED or AUD_STATUS_INVALID, see the API docs.


How to re-open operator tab I just want to reopen with a hotkey, I alredy know that I can open it after we work with.

You can re-open it with F9. Although, the object operator settings menu cannot be accessed once you make an edit to the object.


How to force the update of a property in python? I'm writing a function that should return the frame when a field reaches a certain value in the property window.

To be more specific here the function:

def getFrameFromPercentagePosition(context, pCurveObject, pPercentagePosition):
    context.scene.frame_current = 1
    while pCurveObject.data.bevel_factor_end < pPercentagePosition:
        context.scene.update()
        context.scene.frame_current += 1
    return context.scene.frame_current

The field bevel_factor_end is animated between 0 and 1 and I want to know the frame when its value reaches the pPercentagePosition value.

But, after some debugging, I've found out that pCurveObject.data.bevel_factor_end is always 1.0 in this script. However, when I do manually in the interactive console by asking the bevel_factor_end of the active object, it gives me the right value.

How can I make sure that a got the correct value for this property?

When using python to alter the current frame you should use scene.frame_set(f) which will update the scene so you can see animated values as they are at that frame.

A possible logic error in your code - you mention the value is animated between 0 and 1, if frame 1 is keyed to 0.0 then frame 1 will always return as being less than the tested value. You may want to consider a range that is acceptable to matching the value.

if val > (target - 0.1) and val < (target + 0.1):
    return frame

You should also find fcurve.evaluate(f) to be an easier and possibly faster solution as you don't need to update the scene to get the curve value.

def getFrameFromPercentagePosition(context, pCurveObject, pPercentagePosition):
    scn = context.scene
    fcurve = pCurveObject.data.animation_data.action.fcurves.find('bevel_factor_end')
    variance = 0.05
    for f in range(scn.frame_start, scn.frame_end):
        val = fcurve.evaluate(f)
        if val > (pPercentagePosition - variance) and val < (pPercentagePosition + variance):
            return f


Render the depth map in grayscale I need to feed in an image processing software an image where the color of a pixel means the model's surface distance from the camera. 100% white would mean the closest distance, black - the furthest. Of course, I'd need to control this min and max distance to find the most appropriate values for every particular 3d model.
If I could get those values in HDR range, that would be much better than just 256 levels.

I noticed there's an option to select Z-Buffer in the channels in render result view, but I am not sure I can get the color levels work as I need.

Please suggest the most appropriate method how to get access to the depth data.

The far and close ranges for the scene can be controlled with the camera far and near clip distances.

The best format for you to export depth information would be on an OpenEXR file. Z infomation would be stored as 32bit linear data, not restricted to the grayscale values form 0 to 1 and not mapped to the 256 values of 8 bit images.


Delete a line of unwanted pixels What could be the cause of a line of pixels highlighted in the image below? All positions should match perfectly. It seems to be at certain angles, but it's also in the animation render.

Here are block positions.

Combining cubes together so they are touching is not the best flow to make a mesh.
If my suggested fixes didn't help I suggest using Extrude tool when creating a single more complicated mesh.
Select a face

Then use combination E Z 2 to extrude it up by 2 units

Select the side face

And type E Y -5

You will end up with a single object with a single mesh (and no islands) that renders correctly.

When animating simply use this mesh for static shots, and when things need to move just hide it, and use your separated meshes.
EDIT:
Issue seems to be visible only in Eevee rendering engine.
Eevee

Cycles


Beginner Help on Materials, Shading, and Textures I have been using blender for some time now and I still can't wrap my head around 4 things, Shaders, Textures, and Materials. What I've understood from researching the internet about them that textures are like a skin that you put around your object or mesh and that there are different types of textures (skins) which are called maps. I don't know what the hell are shaders, I've read so much about them trying to understand and I still can't. Materials are all the texture maps combined together to give the unique look of the material.

Can someone please just tell me if I'm right with my understanding or correct me if I'm wrong and just give me extra helpful information, thanks

A Shader, or BSDF (Bidirectional Scattering Distribution Function), is the math definition for calculating light bounce. Different shaders such as Diffuse and Glossy have different definitions.

Materials are datablocks that can be applied to meshes. Think of it as a real material in the world (like wood).

Textures are images that mostly add photorealism to your mesh. The most common texture maps are

Color or Albedo: The color of the material.
Reflection or Specular: How much light the material reflects.
Glossy or Roughness: How concentrated or diffuse the reflection is (like a mirror vs brick).
Bump or Displacement: A grayscale map used to make the material go up and down with lighter pixels representing higher areas and darker pixels representing lower areas.
Normal: A purple-blue map that defines the direction of displacement.
Ambient Occlusion: This makes lower areas darker.

There are a lot more maps, and you can find definitions about them by googling.


Do I need to even use blueprints? So, i was planning to model a car in blender. I checked out many tutorials and videos regarding this, and saw that everyone was using blueprints to model the car. So my question is, Do we actually need blueprints or can we do well enough with reference images to look at. And, if at all blueprints are better choices, can you lead me to a good blueprint-setting up tutorial that would work perfectly. Thanks in advance!

Andrew Price did a tutorial on modeling a 747 where he used orthographic drawings of the plane as backgrounds in the scene and then modelled over the top of them.  The backgrounds can be associated with the view direction.  He also suggested in his tutorial a web repository of ortho drawings that you can goto for different vehicles.  I think the images were free, but I'm not sure.
Andrew goes through laying out and sizing background images, drawing over them and the other steps involved in constructing a model using this approach-which you see frequently in industrial design.
The advantage of this approach as opposed to just using reference images, is that it gives you dimensionally accurate references for laying out your meshes, eliminating a lot of the guesswork in determining sizes and proportions of elements in an object-especially if the camera angle and lens make those difficult to gauge.
As you gain experience and proficiency, you'll be able to rely on your memory more and incorporate your own ideas into the process.
Experts like Ron Cobb and Syd Meade can conjure incredible levels of detail and accuracy from their grey matter by virtue of being able to understand the interrelationships of geometry in their subjects and having exceptional control and discipline in their creative processes. So as to whether you can do well enough with reference images, I'd say that depends entirely on you and what you're trying to accomplish
But if you were a Syd Meade or Ronn Cob or John Laseter, you'd know it.  For the present, you should use the sketch layout (blueprint method) of modeling because it gives you the most opportunity to study how geometric shapes go together to create forms.
Where reference images really come in handy is in understanding the effects of light through different materials, how cameras and optical effects add impact and how composition creates drama in a scene.


Horizontally align objects in front or side 2D views Is there a way to horizontally align the "red object" in the exact centre of the blue lines?

Snap Shift+S the cursor to vertices that will align it where you want the object to be (e.g., four corner vertices that are equally spaced apart vertically and/or horizontally).
Snap Shift+S the object to the cursor position.

Note: this assumes that the origin is at the center of the single plane. If not, you could set the origin to the center with Shift+Ctrl+Alt+C (origin to geometry) or go into edit mode, select the vertices you want to move and do Shift+S (selection to cursor (offset)).


How to generate Perlin Noise for materials I want to generate something like this in the shader editor:
However, I can only find standard noise that I can't work with. How can I generate Perlin Noise?
Thanks!

You have set the Type to "Hard", if you set it back to the default "Soft" you will see it's the regular Noise Texture, compare it to this article Wikipedia: Perlin noise.
If you want to achieve a look like "Hard" you have to tweak the distribution with a Color Ramp, here's a simple try on it:


How to add more editors So I opened blender and to my supprise certain windows are missing as seen bellow

I want the default editors that come with new blender files. How would one go about adding them back in, I need it arranged like when you open a new blender file like this?

In this case, when a window shows 'Back to Previous', it means that you can press ctrl-up arrow and return to the non-focused layout. This view has been focused on the current active window with the ctrl-up arrow.

If you open a new file and it doesn't have the layouts liek you are used to using, sometimes you can get them back by reopening the file with 'Load UI' unchecked.


Moving nodes between scenes How to move a node group from one scene to another?
Is it possible to move a shader node tree from one scene to another, or for that I have to merge the nodes in a group?
Thanks in advance!

To create a new scene with the same nodes, click on 'plus' icon and choose the Link Object Data option.

If you have two different scenes, you can copy the nodes from one to another. Select them and copy with Ctrl+C, then paste to the new scene.

In every scene you have the access to the all created material nodes. Just click on material browser and choose the desired material.


How to simulate cloth on a fast moving character? I have a character which moves and jumps around rather quickly. I'd like to add a cloth simulate cape. However it stretches and snaps around into itself due to the character's fast movements, making a big mess.

What are some ways to get a more realistic behavior when adding cloth simulated clothes to fast moving characters?

I tried slowing the characters animation to half speed. The cape then works better, but I can't find a way to speed up the baked simulation..

Fast dynamic movement is often a problem for Cloth Solvers/Simulators. Extremely fast dynamic movement such as this requires a much more precise simulation: this means that you have to increase the Simulation "Steps" Per Frame parameter to the extreme. This will slow down your simulation time significantly (hours instead of minutes). However, you will get a more precise/correct simulation as a result.

If you cannot wait the numerous hours it takes to simulate a cloth simulation with high steps per frame, then consider reducing the subdivision on your 2D mesh/plane. In this way, it will simulate faster due to less mass/particles to simulate. Note: this will help you gain simulation speed, as you also sacrifice realism.

Finally, If you've tried the highest "Steps" possible and it still isn't giving you sufficient correctness/stability for the simulation. Then you might consider using a Cloth Solver/Simulator that uses Implicit Solvers (Witkin, Baraff 1998) as opposed to Explicit Solver (I suspect that the Blender's cloth solver is using an Explicit Solver).

Reference for Witkin, Barraf 1998: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~baraff/papers/sig98.pdf


Moving in a straight line For testing purposes, I have selected a face of a cube.
Then I dragged the face down using the green arrow.

It seems to have worked fine at first.
However, when I then rotate the view, I can see that it didn't work straight.

How could I ensure that using the green arrow will move the face down in a straight line?

I don't know if there is a way to achieve this with the green arrows, but it is done easily using the movement hotkeys. If you press G, the vertices will move freely. If you press x, y, or z after that, they will only move in that direction. But if you press G + Z + Z, it will not move in the global z direction, but in the local z direction, which is what you want here. For example, in the image below, I have a rotated cube, and I move 1 face not upwards, but in the direction that is it facing, by pressing z twice after pressing g.

I hope this helps!


I try to add a New Texture to one of the scuplt brush but it doesn't work I'm learning Blender. I use a book where I'm told to add an new texture to Scuptldraw, I select new and the preview of the texture is black and my brush doesn't work anymore. It's the same for any brush of the scuplt mode : I can use the default texture, when I add one I have no file browser opening, it becomes all black and doesn't work anymore.
Help !!!

You can choose the file to use in your texture in the properties editor, Texture tab:


Remapping Component Selection Hotkeys Is there a way I can map verts / edges / faces to my 1 2 and 3 keyboard buttons like Modo? Having to go through a pie menu to select different component modes really slows me down a lot. Can't seem to find them under the user preference/input menu. Thanks!

You can use Ctrl+Tab and select Vertex, Edge or Face from the popup menu, which will appear under the mouse. As far as I know, this is the fastest way to switch.

Update for 2.8: This function is now available by default when pressing 1, 2 and 3. To remap this back to the original behavior see this question.


Smoke Generator does not work When I try to run the smoke simulator in Blender 2.62 I get no smoke at all. When I attempt to render, the only output is a black screen.
What am I doing wrong here that is making the smoke simulation not render?
Is it a mistake I made, or a problem with Blender version 2.62?

It sounds like you managed to simulate the smoke, but you can't render it. The reason is probably one of two:

You're using Cycles in a old Blender Version
You're using Blender internal, but haven't yet setup a material.

If you're trying to use Cycles to render smoke, it is possible now. Volumetric shading (the shader that makes smoke) is initial supported since 2.71. (see Release Log)

Setting up a smoke material is kind of difficult, so read the docs if you want all the details (they also have some screenshots if you get lost).

Here's a quick rundown of how to create the material:

Make sure you're using Blender Internal.
Select Volume from the material type (right between wire and halo)
Set the density to zero (we'll be affecting the density with the texture)
Go to the texture tab and create a new texture.
Change the texture type to voxel data.
In the Voxel data panel, do two things:

Set the file format to smoke
Set the domain object with your domain object's name

Scroll down to the influence panel
Check Density, Emission and Emission Color and leave them all at 1.000.
Hit Render!


UV Mesh Not Unwrapping Correctly So all I want to do is unwrap this UV mesh correctly so I can export it to Photoshop, however once i unwrap it I get a mess of jumbled shapes that leaves no reason whatsoever. I made a video of it so that someone could help me if they would like.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diXBAGYHFBM&feature=youtu.be

I apologize in advance my voice is very low.

Your mesh is displaying dots along some of the edges. There are quite a few in the video, I marked a few below. These are actually face centres and show that there are hidden faces:

In edit mode select everything and choose W> Remove Doubles and this should get rid of the extra faces by merging close vertices.
From the blend file you supplied I also found many internal faces:

These need to be deleted (X> Faces). You can then also use Ctrl+N to recalculate normals to make sure all your faces are pointing the right way
 before unwrapping again.


Using CHIP cluster to make a render farm? The $9 CHIP computer has mali 400 GPU. Can a number of this be used as a render farm? Will it be a cost effective alternative?

Short answer: If you can get Blender to compile on it, you might be able to get CPU rendering. GPU rendering is not going to happen (the Mali 400 doesn't have a compute pipeline to support OpenCL or CUDA).

Will it be a cost effective alternative to a "real" render farm? Not likely.


Combinate path and normal animation? I have a short question. I want to animate a man, who walks through the room, then takes a chair and sits down.
I want to make a walk cycle and then a follow path animation for the walking part. When the man reaches the chair, can I continue to animate the man normally? Like "out" of the path I mean?

Thanks a lot

I think you can use a parent>"follow path" (say 100 frames) to animate the first part, the "walk", then just insert keyframes for the second part of the animation at the end of the first part (say starting at frame 101).

In a much simplified example,

this could be the path animation (1-100)

and this the keyframe after (101-200)

and this would be the result


How to animate characters sliding? So I know how to animate using bones, I created some simple animations with human, however I want to try animating human on rollerblades. I've got no problem with making key frames for bones, however using rollerblades give character a momentum and they should slide.
I can't figure out how to keyframe the model sliding. Even though I animate bones, then move the whole rig to other location when I hit insert keyframes location+rotation the model still stays still.

What am I doing wrong? Is there any tutorial I could use for that?

I would create an Empty and in Object mode click the Armature then the Empty and hit CTRL + P and set parent to object. Now when you move the empty, the whole object should move. You can get fancy and create a curve for the path and have the empty follow the path for the animation. I can attach screen shots or a .blend file if that's helpful.


Textures turn black in material and render mode I downloaded a free shader setup from a site and after unwrapping it, the texture comes fine in the texture shading viewport. But when I shift to Material, or render shading, the object is just plain black. I cannot seem to understand where the mistake is. I am using cycles render.

When I tried using an another random image texture, there was no problem. I could see the texture in all modes. So idk where I am going wrong with this shader.

Edit: Sorry for being so vague. So I am using Blender Cycles v2.78. I downloaded a wood shader from a site called Chocofur, with the node setup as attached. This is how it looks in Texture Shading.

The node setup:

However, when I go to material, or rendered shading, this is how it turns out.

Now just to check whether I was doing something wrong, I used a plain image as a texture in one of them, and it seemed to appear fine both in material and render shading.

So I am guessing there is something within the shaders settings.The thing in red in the node setup is probably the problem since it says something isn't defined. I am not very thorough with using nodes and maybe that's why I can't figure it out. I hope I've been clearer this time. Let me know if I need to attach the blend file for reference.

You need to use a newer version of blender.

You can't use the Principled BSDF shader in versions previous to 2.79
.


Why is the camera in the viewport smaller than the focal length suggests it should be? I launched Blender, in the default "Startup file". I changed the Camera Location X, Y and Z, halving them.

Then I changed the "Units" in the "Scene" to Millimeters as you can see in the following screenshot; in the same screenshot you can see the cube "Dimensions" is 2mm.

The rendered image is fine:

But I do not understand the mutual size of the cube and the camera Focal Length: the cube side length is 2mm and the focal length is 35mm, so the focal length should be ~17x longer than the cube side but in the following screenshot the focal length seems shorter than the cube side.

What am I missing?

The size of the camera in the viewport is not the same as the focal length. Scaling the camera object won't change the focal length or the rendered image, but will change the size in viewport.

For focal length = 32mm, the camera object will look like the principal plane is 1 BlenderUnit away from the camera center. This is probably an intuitive scale so that the camera object does have a fitting size for a usual scene. If it were acutally 35 BlenderUnits big, everyone would scale it down right away.


Blender 2.8 "Shadeless" material setup not shadeless The following node setup is not functioning as a shadeless material.

When the input is set to white, the material renders as grey. You can turn up the emission value, but that does not guarantee that the material colour will render as the same as the input RGB.

Can true shadeless material be created in Cycles/Eevee?

The material is shadeless. However the rendered output isn't 1:1 the RGB value of the emission shader due to color management. If you were to change the View Transform in the Color Management panel to Raw you'd have perfectly white pixels. This is however not recommended for renders where the result should resemble anything like a (virtual) photograph. See the explanation of Troy Sobotka on color management in Blender.


How to change number of vertices for cylinder after created it? I've created a cylinder object which is fine at first. But as modeling goes by I've decided to change some properties,like number of vertices, of the cylinder just to see it in real-time. But cannot find the solution.
Search the internet only come up as using "Adjust Last operation". I know I can just add new one. But for the sake of knowledge and future work flow.
Thanks in advance.

You'll have to do it more or less manually.
Two ways come to mind.

01) Screw Modifier - when your mesh has a uniform profile (Eg. greek columns, wheel rims)

02) To sphere function - when you run out of options :)

Add loopcuts and use Mesh > Transform > To Sphere to correct the the circles


I have been useing Archipack with 2.8 for a while. I mooved to 2.83 and it stopped working After so long with 2.8 i decided to switch to 2.83 I treid to install Archipack and it game me this error.

I think the data structures have changed, and an object created in an older version of Blender is liable to cause problems. Try creating some small object from scratch and see if it behaves better.


modeling in blender units Does it make sense to simply model in blender units? My thinking is if I model in blender units and just think of them as inches, feet, mm etc. Now if I want to append a "blender unit" object into a scene that I consider in inches, can I measure a length on the appended object and simply scale that object by a multiplier to make it match the proportion of the scene that I need? Would this work?

Blender units are actually metric.

One blender unit is 1m.

Of course you can disregard that, and model however you want, but when it comes to dealing with light falloff and depth of field in cycles or physics or fluids and cloth and other simulations, the calculations are done using blender (metric) units. In other words blender is trying to simulate those things based on dimensions, light energy and other forces in the real world.

For things to work as the tools are designed, it is recommended to make the objects as their real size would be in the real world.

Note that you can set the units (in the scene settings) to be in the scale you need: metric or imperial

For 2.8X

For 2.7X

and within those settings you can choose to work in cm, mm by changing the scale

For 2.8X

For 2.7X

Read: Can I change entire scene scale?

You can also change the scale on the viewport to make the manipulation of the geometry easier when working with very small or very large objects.


What amount of samples to use? Okay, so I've been working on a living room scene for a bit, now I want to render. Everyone online is saying it's a good idea to use 1000-5000 Samples. So I set it to 1000 and my render time for a single frame will take around a year... So I compromised and set it to 100. Rendering a single frame took 12 hours:

Am I missing something completely? I'm rendering with a GTX 1060 6GB and an i5-4460. Here's my sampling settings:

That's about right for something with that many samples =)

You have square samples enabled so it isn't 100, but 9,216 (96 x 96) samples. You should be playing with other things to get the render times down:

Clamping...you are already clamping indirect some, but also try clamping direct a bit.
Try the other performance/sample settings such as filter glossy
Disable all caustics if you don't mind the impact in your image
Reduce the number of bounces for things like glossy and diffuse (especially glossy)

Here are two good articles filled with more tips:

http://www.blenderguru.com/articles/4-easy-ways-to-speed-up-cycles/

http://www.blenderguru.com/articles/7-ways-get-rid-fireflies/


How can i import the world nodes to another .blend file? I would like to use the sky from this file for another project. I tried to use copy/paste and Append, but none of them worked. Do you know any solutions?

You can append the world settings from this file to yours.

To append type Shift + F1 or go to File --> Append.
Navigate to where you saved this file, then click it, and then the world "subfolder". Select the item called "World" within.

Then go to your world settings in the Properties Windows --> World Tab, and choose the new world (Probably "World.001") from the dropdown menu.


AO Maps, Directed AO Maps and Cavity Maps, Oh My! I've seen several questions on here about what Ambient Occlusion is, on a high level, but not much getting into the mathematics. I am including links to the relevant links I've found on the subject, but I would very much appreciate someone filling in the gaps, and tying it all together.

[ Updated: I am aware that Ambient Occlusion, as it was used in Blender's internal render engine for global illumination has long been passé. I'm talking about something I'll call "local Ambient Occlusion". While I'm mostly interested in procedural textures, it's easier to explain my intent with a high-poly and low-poly model pair. Imagine baking both models AO into separate textures on the low-poly model. Now divide the AO texture from the high-poly model by the AO texture from the low-poly model. What you should get is the AO texture details from surface of the low-poly model without the global AO from the low-poly model itself. You can think of this as similar in purpose to a normal map or a bump map. In this question I am referring to this "local Ambient Occlusion" map to give additional detail not found in the geometry, rather than anything to do with global illumination.]

Firstly, on a non-Blender specific but mathematical level, what are Ambient Occlusion maps, Directed Ambient Occlusion Maps and Cavity Maps, and how are they different from each other numerically and computationally? Here is the most detailed article I found on distinguishing AO maps from cavity maps, but it seems a bit muddy on details. This article did a bit more to differentiate AO maps from Directional AO maps but doesn't mention cavity maps. I know that AO Maps are used with Cavity Maps, and Directed AO Maps replace conventional AO Maps, but beyond that things seem a bit fuzzy.

Secondly, how would I go about baking each of these from a high poly to a low poly model in Blender (in Cycles)? Several questions ask about baking AO Maps, but I haven't seen Directional AO maps or Cavity maps addressed at all.

Lastly, computationally, how would I go about incorporating support for AO maps, Directional AO maps and Cavity maps into a PBR Uber-shader (such as one similar to what Andrew Price describes in his two part "Making Realistic PBR Materials" series)... Bonus points if you can include support for (parallax) distortion maps too.... My understanding is that the cavity map can be easily supported by using it to mix the diffuse shader color with black, but I'm unsure of the other two, nor the distortion map.

Thanks in advanced for all your help.

Your question is really multiple questing so should probably be split up, but I'll answer what I can anyway.

Ambient Occlusion is mostly a hangover for old rendering methods where there was a a global 'ambient' light/colour which was used to brighten the scene in lieu of more proper global illumination techniques such as pathtracing (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shading#Ambient_lighting). This ambient lighting method is used by blender render for example. Ambient occlusion is a way of improving on this by re-introducing dark shadows in cavities. Because of this, unless you are using a very low number of bounces, this should not be necessary at all in cycles. If you do need to, ambient occlusion maps are usually used to multiply the diffuse texture (often this is actually merged into the one texture).

parallax mapping is just an advanced form of bump mapping which accounts for view angle and is really for realtime engines. When rendering with cycles you are better of just trying proper displacement mapping either through the modifier or the experimental rendertime feature

In my understanding, cavity maps are just textures that allow you to distinguish cavities in your model, they can be calculated in any number of ways. I imagine various software calculates them differently, and ambient occlusion maps can certainly be used as cavity maps. They are largely used for masking and effects in various texturing tools.

I haven heard of directed AO maps, but your article suggests that the directed part comes from the light source, so this would easily be doable the same way as a normal AO map assuming that the light and the object the map is for are both static. I guess it might be possible to do something clever with normal + light direction to control the strength of normal AO to get a similar effect.


Scale object in place keeping its origin New to blender, working on some plugin for 2.8.

I need to scale an object, but keep it in place. These objects come from a file and I cannot mess with their origin nor position.

My original thinking was to set the object origin to geometry center, apply the scale, then restore the origin. But I haven't found a reliably way to do this.

Is there a way to scale an object in place without changing its origin?

Matrix equivalent of global scale bounding box center.

Note both of these examples use the bounding box center as pivot point.

Could as suggested scale the mesh, akin to edit mode scale.  If scaling the mesh  use local coordinates. Note this alters the mesh coordinates, but keeps the origin and object global translation same.

To scale about a non origin point, first translate such that pivot point is origin, then scale, then move back.

import bpy
from mathutils import Matrix, Vector

context = bpy.context

scale = (2, 2, 1)

ob = context.object

bbox = [Vector(b) for b in ob.bound_box]
o = sum(bbox, Vector()) / 8

T = Matrix.Translation(o)
S = Matrix.Diagonal(scale).to_4x4()
T2 = Matrix.Translation(-o)

M = T @ S @ T2

ob.data.transform(M)
ob.data.update()

And a global version.

Make a scale matrix and two translation matrices, one to make scale origin bounding box global center, the other to move it back.

Note this will not alter the mesh or its origin, but will translate the object to match the scale, to give object appearance of scaling in place.

import bpy
from mathutils import Matrix, Vector

context = bpy.context

scale = (2, 2, 1)

ob = context.object
mw = ob.matrix_world
bbox = [Vector(b) for b in ob.bound_box]
go = mw @ sum(bbox, Vector()) / 8

T = Matrix.Translation(go)
S = Matrix.Diagonal(scale).to_4x4()
T2 = Matrix.Translation(-go)

M = T @ S @ T2

ob.matrix_world = M @ ob.matrix_world


How can Tris be used to an Advantage? Tris are things you would avoid when it comes to shading, and good Topology, so do Tris do any good?
Also I am currently working on Game Asset Creation and I would like to know if Tris are actually something I want definately to avoid.

There's a big misunderstanding regarding tris. A lot of people say that you should never use tris, and they're somewhat right. But the main reason behind not using tris, is because they can be harder to work with, and they can cause issues with deformations. Although, before exporting/baking your model for use in games, it's advisable that it's triangulated anyway.

The thing is, people tend to go to overly extreme lengths to avoid tris, when in reality, adding a tri is a lot better than trying to work around having one.

One other thing to keep in mind, is that all faces are converted to triangles at rendertime anyway. You aren't speeding up rendertimes (If I'm not mistaken, some of the optimizations that are being added to blenders viewport are actually for quads only) but by using tris, but you are controlling how the faces are cut up (this is the big thing that effects shading).

Tris also cut off edge loops. So if you do something like this

and then you try to select one of the edges,

it will stop at the triangle. The same thing happens for both Tris, Poles, and N-Gons.

So, advantages to using tris

Can keep topology simpler in certain situations.
Much more effective at controlling shading on low poly models
Stops edge loops
Controls how the surface will be cut up, instead of allowing it to
be randomly done at render time.

Disadvantages of tris

Can be harder to work with at times
Can cause issues with deformations and subserf
Stops edge loops

In games however, There is a stage in the process where triangulation is often unavoidable and should be carefully embraced.

There is a point in the video game workflow where your game model should be completely triangulated, because most game engines will robotically do this for you if you don't, with often undesired results. Some concave surfaces will become convex and vise versa, while some unwanted/useless loops form from the resulting triangulation. You'll want to triangulate it before you export, and DEFINITELY before you bake normals. Here are two big things that can go wrong if you don't.

surface/color baking, especially normal baking, where you transfer details from Hi-res objects onto low res objects are very dependent on how a model has been triangulated. Rays cast from the high res surface to the low, virtually filling in low res gaps with information. So that if you export a model and it's map out to a different program, the triangles may be automatically cut differently to how they were in the other program, resulting in unwanted artifacts.

Surprising deformations/shape, The way that you animated/modeled the       object may appear different because of the engine's method of triangulation, 'what you see is what you get' should be the aim. (this may need a better explanation.)


Change pivot or local origin of an object How can I change the local origin of an object, without changing the object location in the world space.

This is the object located at position (0,0,0) in the world space

This is the same object located at position (0,1,0) in the world space, but with its local origin offset so that the object is in the same place

Is there a way to do this in a single step?

One way to do this is by entering Edit mode and placing the 3D cursor where you want the new origin. (When doing this, you can be very precise by selecting vertices, edges or faces and using them as guides. If you pick several points and snap the cursor to them using Shift+S → Cursor to Selected, Blender will use the average of the selected points to determine the new location of the cursor).

You then go back to Object mode and use Ctrl+Alt+Shift + C → Origin to 3D Cursor to update or change the object origin to the location of the 3D cursor.
For 2.9+ you need to go to Object Menu, and select Set Origin > Origin to 3D Cursor.


Why is my 2D animation grey in video editing tab? This is how my animation actually looks like:
But when I add the scene strip in the video editing tab, it's grey, this is how it looks like:
And when I render it:
Why is this happening?

In the Properties panel of the strip, under the View tab > Scene Strip Display, you can select Shading: Material Preview or Rendered. That will show you the original colors.


How to offset bezier curve? I am not able to find offset bezier curve option in blender which is available in most of software

Someone will tell if I'm wrong but it looks like there's no easy way to do it. In this question they talk about an Offset Tool but I don't find it.

You could do it this way, but at the end you will need to convert your curve to mesh:

Select your curve, go in the Properties panel > Geometry.
Play with the Extrude value.
Duplicate your curve with shift D and Enter.
Play with the Offset value of your second curve.
Convert your curve to mesh with alt C.
If you decide to come back to curve, again alt C. As you will have a lot of vertices you can use the Simplify Curves addon (play with the values on the bottom of the T panel).

You could also directly convert your curve to mesh, then extrude your mesh on the Z axis, and alt S (shrink) the shape. Then convert back to curve if you need, and again, use the Simplify Curves addon if you want to limit the amount of vertices.