Volumetric Windows 10 logo effect I'm trying to recreate the windows 10 background effect on a logo I've made in blender.

Half the logo has a glass like material, the other half has a steel like material. And I'm using cycles at the moment.

I've put various light sources behind the logo and tried a few variations of volumetric scatter in the world to get the god ray sort of feel coming off the logo, but it's just not looking anywhere near as effective as I'd like.

I know the win10 background was a real set and photographed, but has anyone come across a tutorial to do something similar in blender?

I'm very new to the tool, I'd appreciate any pointers in the right direction.

Emulate light scattering using a volumetric emission shader

Using Volumetric scatter produces the most accurate results but required a considerable number of render samples to get satisfactory results. A much more efficient alternative is to fake the light scattering using an Emission volumetric shader.

Create an image of the light emission - black where there is no emission and brighter where light is emitted. For example, to mimic the Windows logo you could start with an image as follows :

You can use the Surface of a mesh to render the image of the 'window' and the volume for the rays and the shader will use the Object coordinates. It's helpful to move the Origin of the mesh to a point on the surface and to use a Mapping node to re-orient the coordinates to something more intuitive. In my case, I've used the default Cube, moved the origin to the centre of the face crossing the -Y axis and rotated the coordinate space so that X/Y is along the axes of the window and Z represents the distance from the window.

To achieve this, start with the default cube, open the Properties panel (N) and move the 3D cursor to 0,-1,0. open the Tools panel (T) and Set Origin to 3D Cursor.

Assign a material and add the following nodes :

This arrangement remaps the X, Y, Z coordinates so that the XY plane maps to the 'back' of the cube and the Z coordinate represents the distance from the 'back'. In this way we can easily map our Texture coordinates (XY) and use Z to represent the depth. The re-mapping of the origin ensures that 0 depth (Z) represents the 'back' face of the mesh.

Using an Emission Shader to add the Image texture will result in the image being rendered on both the 'back' and 'front' surfaces of the mesh. To 'hide' the front face we can use the Z coordinate to set Strength to zero whenever Z is greater than a constant and adding in a Transparent shader makes the mesh transparent (Note : I've set the Transparent shader to be less than 100% White so that it shows in this image - normally this would want to be 100% transparent so the mesh is not visible.)

To add the rays we can start by simply adding another Emission shader driven from the same image and connected to Volume Material Output socket rather than Surface. This will produce parallel rays :

NOTE : The MixRGB Add nodes translate the coordinates so that the textures are centred around 0,0 rather than the texture origin falling at the bottom-left of the image.

To get the rays to diverge you can scale them using the Z coordinate - the scale should be '1' at the 'back' surface and increase as Z increases.

It may be useful to be able to control the direction of the rays and a similar technique can be used to add offsets (also based on Z) to Skew the rays as they travel through the volume.

The rays should fade along their length. For this we can simply vary the strength based on the Z coordinate :

We also might want them to spread out as they travel. Again, the Z coordinate can be used - this time controlling the effect of a high frequency Noise texture to scatter the rays :

Finally, we can add some variation to make the rays less uniform.

Bringing it all together produces the following material :

Tweaking the source image and varying the Z-coordinate of the noise used for the rays and adding a Fog Glow in the compositor can produce the following :

Of course, you aren't just limited to single-colour source images :

Blend file attached.


How do I simulate a rotating, wobbling and falling spinning top...? looking to physically simulate a spinning top in Blender. I'm a moderately experienced Blender user, but not very familiar with its physics systems.

At the moment I have the (rigidbody) top spinning using the 'animate' property in the rigid body options, switching it on and off as I rotate the object 300 degrees in Z over 10 frames (similar to this method). Subsequently, the top spins, slows, stops - without wobbling or falling over, which is the behaviour I'm seeking.

Ideally, this should be physically simulated - I've found a few tutorials on replicating this behaviour through keyframed / curved animations and that's not what I'm looking for. I'm hoping to get something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3UEPaJXb6c Any ideas?

---EDIT---

So - my latest version of this project is available here. I've changed some of the settings for the Rigidbody World in the Scene Pane (physics steps to 1000, extended the length of time the physics is modelled for to cover the whole of my animation) and converted the rigidbody for the top to use Mesh for the Shape.

I've resized my top to be approx .36m in diameter, .246m in height.

If the top is placed directly on top of the surface of the 'floor', on 'play' it leaps a few meters into the air before landing, spinning, on the floor.

When the spin stops, the top still stands perfectly upright.

My top still doesn't wobble.

I've inspected some examples of this kinda of project with tops which spin and wobble without needing an initial angle, so it should be possible to achieve the goal of this project. I just can't seem to get it working.

Really would appreciate any help on this!

The main issue is that in RB sims the center of gravity is assumed to be the origin point of the mesh, in your case you have set this to the lowest point of the mesh (the tip)... therefore perfect balance is achieved..


Oscurart Tools installation I am running Blender 2.75. I installed Oscurart Tools and simply can't find the tool. I enabled it in User Preferences, but I don't see the panel on the left hand side of the screen.

Can someone assist me with this? I am fairly new to blender and not all up on where some tools can be found. I have tried to search on here for Oscurart Tools and I have come up with nothing.

Oscurart tools  are included in the  addons_contrib folder with blender distro 2.75, which going by your screenie, is the one you are using.

I'm using 2.76.1 RC and have v3.2 not sure if that's the one with 2.75.

Version 3.2 (and the whole addon_contrib) is here
https://git.blender.org/gitweb/gitweb.cgi/blender-addons-contrib.git/tree/HEAD:/oscurart_tools

Notice that you have to enable the "Testing" category to see them in the list.

They're in the toolbar of the 3Dview, press T in the 3D view, then click the Oscurart tools tab.

http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?294671-Oscurart-Tools-Update-(rig-model-render-setting-amp-more)


How to Generate surface from points Hi Guys,

I have a set of points in 3D. How can I convert this into a surface ?

A vertice-only cluster is to be wrapped in a 'skin'.  The cluster has no edges or faces, just a host of vertices on their own.

A plane was laid on top that was large enough to accomodate the vertice cluster in the X/Y axis' and raised to be comfortably above the highest peak in the cluster.

It was then subdivided with at least as many subdivision/vertices as the vertice cluster.  I subdivided all four edges with the value of 100.  If that's not enough subdivide all four edges by 2 (or more), then again by 100 to produce 200 x 200.

Both the subdivided plane and the vertice cluster have their respective 'scale'  "Applied" with CTL-A.

The Shrinkwrap Modifier was used on the plane to in essence, lay a 'skin' over the cluster, citing the cluster as the target and  choosing "Nearest Vertex" option.

The settings can be tweaked to suit and  once satisfied, the modifier can be 'Applied' to convert the generated skin into hard mesh.

This is then 'smoothed' in the tools panel which can still leave it a trifle 'blocky' so the "Smooth" modifier was also used, it's own settings tweaked to give the final result.  That modifier was also 'Applied', leaving the shape in it's finally meshed form.

Not sure if this is exactly what you're seeking, but it should be a start at least.


Blender 2.8 and Google Earth Studio (GES) 3D camera integration/import I read lots of threads about Blender 2.8 and GES camera integration and coordinate system issues, however I can not find anything useful in terms simple workflow. Is there a way to import 3D camera information from GES to Blender 2.8?
There is a short tutorial on YT, but it is not much of a help.

I use both software for personal education, but am willing to invest some $ into add-ons/plugins which would integrate two solutions.

Thank you.

Matt

I actually just solved this problem a few seconds ago for myself after I found AE2Blend:

https://blendermarket.com/products/ae2blend
($10)

After installing the add-on in blender, I ran the script from Google Earth Studio inside AE and then literally copied and pasted the keyframes into Blender.  Couldn't be easier.

Only issue I'm facing right now is that I animated the Camera Target in GES and that effs up your camera in AE, so I'm currently looking for a solution for this before I have to reanimate.

Good luck!

Gonzalo


Particle system is not using density vertex group My particle system doesn't seem to be using the vertex group which I set to effect the density. I am a little bit confused as to why this is happening.

Here is my blend file http://www.pasteall.org/blend/33498

Thanks

This is because you have a 'Multires' modifier above the 'Particle System' modifier, which is altering the geometry. Blender applies the modifiers to the object in the order they are in in the stack (see more here).

Because the vertex group gives specific vertices weights and the multires modifier changes those specific vertices, ie more are added, positions are changed etc., the vertex group has changed by the time the particle system 'sees' it.

To fix this you can either move the particle system modifier above the multires modifier (so the particle system is calculated before the multires modifier changes the geometry and sees the original vertices of the mesh) or you can check the 'Use Modifier Stack' checkbox in the 'Emission' section of the particle settings:

Note: Those two different methods will give slightly different results. The 'User Modifier Stack' option will act as though the multires modifier has been applied to the mesh, so the mesh will be higher resolution, potentially giving a smoother result to the particle emission. If you instead change the modifier order, the particle system will completely ignore the multires modifier and only use the original, untouched geometry to emit particles from.


With 2 maps on same material i am not able to see and paint on 2nd map in texture mode I have applied 2 maps to same material, they use same UV. In texture paint mode 3D view with solid display. I can only see 1st texture map (topmost in the stack) and paint on it.

But on the contrary in texture paint mode with Texture display mode. I can only see the last image in the stack (in this case Helper overall). But when i paint in 3D view it starts painting on top most image in the textures stack (in this case checkers)

How do a paint on 2nd texture (in this case Helper overall) in 3D view? I am able to paint by temporarily by moving the texture slot up

And in texture display mode of texture paint i had to disable 2nd texture to see the first texture

What is happening ? Is there a right way of doing this?

I added two textures to the material as shown in the following image.

Now you can switch between the textures using the Texture Paint mode Slots tab.  You'll notice that the Slots tab shows up in the tools tab for me.  You can make this happen by shift clicking on a blank area of a tab's working space to pin it so it always shows up regardless of what tab you are currently using.


How to choose a 1 camera out of 2 cameras in the scene to align using CTRL + ALT + 0? I have a simple problem. I have 2 cameras in the scene and I would like to align only of them when I press CTRL + ALT + 0.

At the moment, one of the camera is set and I want the new camera to align with CTRL + ALT + Z but my first all set camera moves instead the added new camera.

Any suggestions?

W

Solution:

Select the camera you want to align to the view port.
View > Cameras > Set active object as camera
Align the view you want in your view port and press CTRL + ALT + 0

It will align the camera made active to the view you wanted.

Thanks to Dan for pointing another thread that helped me get my answer.

Good Day,
W


Create UI slider for each member in a custom vertex layer (floats) I have a layer of vertex properties that I would like to expose through a Blender UI panel, so I can edit them. Through examples I learnt that you can expose the property and have it displayed and editable using props in the layout.

For example to display the cursor I could do

layout.column().prop(view, "cursor_location", text="Location")

But I can't do the same at all for selected list of vertices.

I have the following code.

class path_mesh_viewer_panel(bpy.types.Panel):
    bl_label = "Path Node"
    bl_space_type = 'PROPERTIES'
    bl_region_type = 'WINDOW'
    bl_context = "scene"

    @classmethod
    def poll(cls, context):
        return (context.active_object is not None and
                context.mode=="EDIT_MESH")

    def draw(self, context):
        layout = self.layout
        ob = bpy.context.active_object
        me = ob.data
        bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(me)

        node_width_key = bm.verts.layers.float['node_width']

        bm.verts.ensure_lookup_table()
        bm.edges.ensure_lookup_table()

        if bm.select_mode != {'VERT'}:
            layout.label("Vertex select only", icon = 'INFO')
            return

        selected = [vert.index for vert in bm.verts if vert.select]
        if not selected:
            layout.label("Nothing selected", icon = 'INFO')
        else:
            for i in selected:
                # I would like to have UI element here so I can edit the vertex layers
                layout.column().prop(bm.verts[i][node_width_key], "", text =     'INFO')

The last line immediately complains and gives out the following error in the System Console.

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "E:\paths-visualizer\blenderview.py", line 94, in draw
layout.column().prop(bm.verts[i][node_area_id], "", text = 'INFO')
TypeError: UILayout.prop(): error with argument 1, "data" -  Function.data expected a AnyType type, not int

location: <unknown location>:-1

Why am I getting the error? I have declared the vertex layer in code that creates the mesh, I can access it fine but not in the UI. Is there any way to do it?

Layout.prop() supports bpy.props and ID properties only. You can't use it for custom data layers such as bm.verts.layers of the Bmesh module.

You would have to create a (temporary) set of properties for (selected) bm.verts in order to display their custom data. Because there are no proper callbacks to detect changes to the mesh, the only way I see is to use brute force: re-fill a CollectionProperty on every panel redraw with as many elements as there are (selected) vertices. These elements can be displayed without problems, but it's highly inefficient.

It would be much better to have a button the user needs to press to update the template_list() with selected vertices, so that it doesn't happen all the time (i.e. 20x per second when moving the mouse over the panel).

import bpy
import bmesh

class MeshVertLayerList(bpy.types.UIList):
    def draw_item(self, context, layout, data, item, icon, active_data, active_propname):
        if self.layout_type in {'DEFAULT', 'COMPACT'}:
            layout.label(item.name)
            layout.prop(item, "value", text="", emboss=False)

        elif self.layout_type in {'GRID'}:
            layout.alignment = 'CENTER'
            layout.label(text="")

class MESH_OT_vert_layer_add(bpy.types.Operator):
    """Tooltip"""
    bl_label = "Add Vertex Layer"
    bl_idname = "mesh.vert_layer_add"

    @classmethod
    def poll(cls, context):
        return (context.object is not None and
                context.object.type == 'MESH' and
                context.object.mode == 'EDIT')

    def execute(self, context):
        bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(context.object.data)
        try:
            bm.verts.layers.float['test']
        except KeyError:
            bm.verts.layers.float.new('test')
        else:
            return {'CANCELLED'}

        return {'FINISHED'}

class HelloWorldPanel(bpy.types.Panel):
    """Creates a Panel in the Object properties window"""
    bl_label = "Hello World Panel"
    bl_idname = "OBJECT_PT_hello"
    bl_space_type = 'PROPERTIES'
    bl_region_type = 'WINDOW'
    bl_context = "data"

    @classmethod
    def poll(cls, context):
        return (context.object is not None and
                context.object.type == 'MESH' and
                context.object.mode == 'EDIT')

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

        ob = context.object
        me = ob.data
        bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(me)

        try:
            l = bm.verts.layers.float['test']
        except KeyError:
            layout.label("No custom data layer 'test'.")
            layout.operator("mesh.vert_layer_add")
            return

        wm.mesh_vert_layer.verts.clear()
        for v in bm.verts:
            if v.select:
                item = wm.mesh_vert_layer.verts.add()
                item.name = "Vertex #%i" % v.index
                item.index = v.index
                item.value = v[l]

        layout.template_list("MeshVertLayerList", "", wm.mesh_vert_layer, "verts", wm.mesh_vert_layer, "index")

def upd(self, context):
    try:
        me = context.object.data
        bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(me)
        bm.verts[self.index][bm.verts.layers.float['test']] = self.value
        bmesh.update_edit_mesh(me, tessface=False, destructive=False)
    except:
        pass

class MeshVertLayerVert(bpy.types.PropertyGroup):
    value = bpy.props.FloatProperty(update=upd)
    index = bpy.props.IntProperty()

class MeshVertLayer(bpy.types.PropertyGroup):
    index = bpy.props.IntProperty()
    verts = bpy.props.CollectionProperty(type=MeshVertLayerVert)

def register():
    bpy.utils.register_module(__name__)
    bpy.types.WindowManager.mesh_vert_layer = bpy.props.PointerProperty(type=MeshVertLayer)

def unregister():
    bpy.utils.unregister_module(__name__)
    del bpy.types.WindowManager.mesh_vert_layer

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()

As a side note: custom data "propagates" on mesh operations such as extrude.  There's a patch in the making to disable it: https://developer.blender.org/T42865

edit: It's possible to bind an update operator to SELECTMOUSE RELEASE to update the CollectionProperty after a selection change. It will work for right-clicks only however. I'm not sure if it's possible to do the same for modal selection operators such as lasso.

import bpy
import bmesh

class MeshVertLayerList(bpy.types.UIList):
    def draw_item(self, context, layout, data, item, icon, active_data, active_propname):
        if self.layout_type in {'DEFAULT', 'COMPACT'}:
            layout.label(item.name)
            layout.prop(item, "value", text="", emboss=False)

        elif self.layout_type in {'GRID'}:
            layout.alignment = 'CENTER'
            layout.label(text="")

class MESH_OT_vert_prop_update(bpy.types.Operator):
    """Tooltip"""
    bl_label = "Vertex Properties Update"
    bl_idname = "mesh.vert_prop_update"
    bl_options = {'INTERNAL'}

    @classmethod
    def poll(cls, context):
        return (context.object is not None and
                context.object.type == 'MESH' and
                context.object.mode == 'EDIT')

    def execute(self, context):
        ob = context.object
        me = ob.data
        wm = context.window_manager
        bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(me)

        try:
            l = bm.verts.layers.float['test']
        except KeyError:
            return {'CANCELLED'}

        wm.mesh_vert_layer.verts.clear()
        for v in bm.verts:
            if v.select:
                item = wm.mesh_vert_layer.verts.add()
                item.name = "Vertex #%i" % v.index
                item.index = v.index
                item.value = v[l]
        return {'FINISHED'}

class MESH_OT_vert_layer_add(bpy.types.Operator):
    """Tooltip"""
    bl_label = "Add Vertex Layer"
    bl_idname = "mesh.vert_layer_add"

    @classmethod
    def poll(cls, context):
        return (context.object is not None and
                context.object.type == 'MESH' and
                context.object.mode == 'EDIT')

    def execute(self, context):
        bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(context.object.data)
        try:
            bm.verts.layers.float['test']
        except KeyError:
            bm.verts.layers.float.new('test')
        else:
            return {'CANCELLED'}

        return {'FINISHED'}

class HelloWorldPanel(bpy.types.Panel):
    """Creates a Panel in the Object properties window"""
    bl_label = "Hello World Panel"
    bl_idname = "OBJECT_PT_hello"
    bl_space_type = 'PROPERTIES'
    bl_region_type = 'WINDOW'
    bl_context = "data"

    @classmethod
    def poll(cls, context):
        return (context.object is not None and
                context.object.type == 'MESH' and
                context.object.mode == 'EDIT')

    def draw(self, context):
        layout = self.layout
        wm = context.window_manager
        layout.template_list("MeshVertLayerList", "", wm.mesh_vert_layer, "verts", wm.mesh_vert_layer, "index")

def upd(self, context):
    try:
        me = context.object.data
        bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(me)
        bm.verts[self.index][bm.verts.layers.float['test']] = self.value
        bmesh.update_edit_mesh(me, tessface=False, destructive=False)
    except:
        pass

class MeshVertLayerVert(bpy.types.PropertyGroup):
    value = bpy.props.FloatProperty(update=upd)
    index = bpy.props.IntProperty()

class MeshVertLayer(bpy.types.PropertyGroup):
    index = bpy.props.IntProperty()
    verts = bpy.props.CollectionProperty(type=MeshVertLayerVert)

addon_keymaps = []

def register():
    bpy.utils.register_module(__name__)
    bpy.types.WindowManager.mesh_vert_layer = bpy.props.PointerProperty(type=MeshVertLayer)

    wm = bpy.context.window_manager
    km = wm.keyconfigs.addon.keymaps.new(name='Mesh', space_type='EMPTY')

    kmi = km.keymap_items.new(MESH_OT_vert_prop_update.bl_idname, 'SELECTMOUSE', 'RELEASE', any=True)

    addon_keymaps.append((km, kmi))

def unregister():
    bpy.utils.unregister_module(__name__)
    del bpy.types.WindowManager.mesh_vert_layer

    for km, kmi in addon_keymaps:
        km.keymap_items.remove(kmi)
    addon_keymaps.clear()

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()


How do I rename all object as same as their material name? Newbie. I have a scene with so many objects. I want to rename them at a single time same as their material name. How do I do that? Is their any script/plugin?

Name objects after active material
May or may not work as you expect.  All objects could share one material and hence renaming would end up with objects named "Material", "Material.001", ... following the blender naming convention for unique object names.
An object can have many materials.
Test script have renamed every object in scene after the name of its active material if it has one.
import bpy
from bpy import context
from bpy import data

# all objects
all_objects = data.objects
# scene objects
scene_objects = context.scene.objects
# selected objects
selected_objects = context.selected_objects

for ob in scene_objects:
    if ob.active_material:
        ob.name = ob.active_material.name

for all objects in blend edit and use
for ob in all_objects:
    ....

similarly for selected_objects


What should be selected in order to store a pose? I've a mhx rig (created with makehuman) when I select fingers and 'links' and store a pose in a pose library the pose can't be assigned.
With other poses arm/legs (set to IK) etc. this works fine.

What should I do to store the pose of the fingers (Could the bones to select be in a different layer)?

Note: Selecting and keyframing the bones works. My goal was to script poses from a control file to  keyframes. I didn't notice that the NLA-Editor was made for tasks like that.

Not familiar with the MakeHuman rig specifically, but generally speaking, on a sufficiently complex rig, you typically have control bones and deformation bones. You only set keyframes on the control bones... this is both in animation as well as building a pose library. Judging from your screenshot, I'd say you should only set keys on the larger, L-shaped finger bones and not the bones located within the mesh geometry. Those should remain hidden in nearly all cases.


Image Texture is fine in Render View but renders distorted After modelling a character I've unwrapped the model with Smart UV Unwrap and then painted up an image texture. Everything is fine in Rendered View both in Evee and in Cycles but the texture renders crooked as though the unwrap is messed up.
I tried loading an older save with the finished model and unwrapping and painting it again with the same end result - the image texture renders crooked and parts of the mesh even loose the Shade Smooth look (see the right wing of the owl).
What am I missing? Have I messed up while modelling?

It definitely looks like z-fighting. Likely caused by a copy of the object on top of the one you want to render. You cannot have two surfaces that overlap and use the exact same point in space, the 3D engine will not know how to render that and display one surface or the other randomly.
Check if you don't have a copy of the object. Delete it or disable it for render.
See:
Avoid rendering hidden objects (blender 2.8)
If the mesh is duplicated as part of the same object, then enter edit mode and do Mesh > merge by distance to get rid of duplicated vertices


Why don't Edges appear when I switch to wireframe shading on an object? I'm very new to blender so I'm trying to follow this tutorial on creating a base mesh. At 2:37, the guy in the video presses z and turns on wireframe shading on the object. On his tutorial, all the vertices seem to be connected which makes the mesh much easier to work with. When I try to turn on wireframe shading (in edit mode), I just seem to end up with all the vertices floating with no edges connecting them. I've tried resetting my prefences to factory settings in case I had accidently hit a shortcut at some point as well. Screenshot of my cube with wireframe shading.
Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Backdated to Blender 2.8 rather than 2.83 which sorted the issue. Seems to be a bug in the latest version.


Hiding source of particle instancing I have emitted instanced object as particle. I can hide emitter with Emitter checkbox but how can I hide source object? It is still visible in scene, but I want only instance. If I hide source object, also emitted object dissappear.

One way is by putting all the source objects on a separate layer (M).


How to load ".npy" file into Blender? I have a 3-dimensional volume array of size (64, 64, 64) which has an extension of ".npy". I wanted to visualize in Blender so that I can do post-processing work from the software.

I tried loading through script as np.load('data.npy') after importing numpy library. It did not show me any error, but I am unable to visualize it.

Is there a way I could load ".npy" file extension in Blender and visualize it. Or, is there a way I can convert the possible format for blender.

Numpy point cloud
Test script.

Get the verts of context object
Save as test.npy
Load saved file
Create mesh with saved verts
Add mesh to new object and link to scene

Test script
import bpy
import numpy as np

context = bpy.context
ob = context.object
me = ob.data
# get the coords of context object
coords = np.empty(len(me.vertices) * 3)
me.vertices.foreach_get("co", coords)
print(coords.reshape(-1, 3))
# save to .npy file
np.save('test.npy', coords.reshape(-1, 3))
#load it into another array
verts = np.load('test.npy')
print(verts)
# new mesh
me = bpy.data.meshes.new("Verts")
# load in verts
me.from_pydata(verts, [], [])
# create object and link to scene
vob = bpy.data.objects.new("Verts", me)
context.collection.objects.link(vob)
# give same global transform
#vob.matrix_world = ob.matrix_world


BGE: Can Python do more than the Logic Bricks? In Blender, as I'm sure everyone knows, there is a game engine and I've been neglecting it. I don't have any big plans for it, just to see what it can do. But there's two ways two ways I can do this:
1. Python or
2.Logic Bricks

I don't know Python, but I was wondering, does Python have any more capabilities than the logic bricks? Would I be limiting myself by using the logic bricks? Are all of Pythons(and really all coding languages) logic represented in three drop-down lists of Sensors, Actuator, and Controllers?

Sorta Related Question

Which is more efficient for performing simple actions, Python, or Logic bricks?

Yes a python script can do more than logic bricks. Most likely you will use both.

There are three types of logic bricks - sensors, controllers and actuators. Sensors are used to input data to the game engine such as keyboard and joystick or internal data like collisions that you may want to react to. Actuators perform actions, they may start an animation or they may alter a property. Controllers then provide a connection between the sensors and actuators.

Controllers are where python comes in, a python controller allows you more control between the input and the action. In the simplest form you may use a python controller that does a test before starting an actuator or maybe dynamically adjusts a sensors properties and at the other end of the scale you can go all the way and just use one python controller which is connected to an always sensor that looks at all of the input and alters all game data itself.

So start by using logic bricks to get your game running and then when you get stuck with something that just doesn't work the way you want it to, create a python controller for it.


How can I get import an .FBX point cache animation to Blender? I'm trying to export an .fbx from Cinema 4D of a skinned object that I baked to a point cache and import it to Blender 2.81.

The point cache is working with Maya, but not with Blender.

Here is a video of what I'm experiencing:

Can anyone help me get this point cache working with Blender & .fbx? Thank you!

Blender's FBX toolset doesn't support point cache data.  So you'll have to separate out the mesh from the point cache.  Just export the object as an FBX, then save out your point cache in either the LightWave .mdd or the 3DS Max .pc2 format.  You can then apply the point cache back to the object in Blender by using the Mesh Cache modifier.

However, if you simply want to transfer the model and animation, you can try using Alembic, which from what I saw in your video, C4D can export and Blender can import.

Cheers!


Wringing a torus around the circumference of its major radius Would it be possible to wring the tube of a torus around the circumference of its major radius, like this?

This was done by shifting the texture coordinates by using a Texture mapping node. However, the object I have in mind would be low poly and flat shaded, i.e. the location of the edges would be visible, so texture shifting would make the texture slide over the torus rather than giving the appearance of the tube being wrung.

you can use a cylinder with array and curve modifier :

apply the array modifier and Unwrap the cylinder then you can get the result :


How to change color in animation? I press 'I' for inserting a keyframe, but couldn't find 'color keyframe' in menu.
There are only 'loc','scale','rot'
If I change object's color in a certain frame, then the color of object is changed too over all frames.
Then how can I change color in amimation?

Hover the the Object Color property in the properties window and press I


Python: create adaptives Suffix i want to know how to create adaptive suffix, that are "content aware" of the situation,  to avoid erasing object that have the same names. i think that this is a classic use of python, could someone explain or give me a link to a explanation/ tutorial that can help me understand how this adaptive renaming system work ?

for example in this code below im automatically creating a save as copy in the directory file.

import bpy
import os

try:
    os.mkdir(os.path.dirname(bpy.data.filepath)+"\\save as copy\\")
except:
    print('directory already created')

Dir = os.path.dirname(bpy.data.filepath) + "\\save as copy\\"

bpy.ops.wm.save_as_mainfile(copy=True, filepath= Dir +"Copy.blend")

the only problem is that it erase the previous .blend everytime i do the action, id much prefer to implement an adaptive suffix, that create "copy 001" if copy already exist; "copy 002" if 001 already exist... i could do that with condition but i dont know how to reproduce the steps indefinitely.

in a precedent code someone show me a way to do this ? i dont know if its specific to the situation or not, but i didnt understand how to reproduce thoses act for my situation:

import bpy

context = bpy.context
scene = context.scene
A = context.object

i = 1
pref = "%s Mirror " % A.name

name = "%s%d" % (pref, i)
while A.modifiers.get(name):
    i += 1
    name = "%s%d" % (pref, i)

bpy.ops.object.modifier_add(type='MIRROR')
A.modifiers[len(A.modifiers)-1].name = name
bpy.ops.object.empty_add(type='CUBE')
bpy.ops.transform.resize(value=(0.01, 1, 1), constraint_axis=(True, False, False), constraint_orientation='GLOBAL', mirror=False, proportional='ENABLED', proportional_edit_falloff='SMOOTH', proportional_size=0.00439353)
E = bpy.context.selected_objects[0]
E.name = name
A.modifiers[name].mirror_object = E
A.select_set(state=True)

i tried

import bpy

i = 1
pref = "neww"
name = "%s%d" % (pref, i)
while bpy.context.object.name.get(name):
    i += 1
    name = "%s%d" % (pref, i)

for ob in bpy.context.selected_objects:
    ob.name = name

i also tried

import bpy

i = 1
pref = "new"
name = "%s%d" % (pref, i)

while ob.name = name
    i += 1
    name = "%s%d" % (pref, i)

for ob in bpy.context.selected_objects:
    ob.name = name

dont work

found it

import bpy

i = 0 #default number
pref = "new" #name
name = "%s%d" % (pref, i)

for ob in bpy.context.selected_objects: #for every object in selection
    i += 1 #add i+1
    name = "%s%d" % (pref, i) #redefinie name
    ob.name = name

if i wanted to just keep the same name, i need to replace pref by

pref = "%s" % bpy.context.object.name

if i want to make the prefix into a suffix or add _ - ect i just need to change

name = "%s%d" % (pref, i)
to
name = "%s_%d" % (pref, i)

basically its simple, for each object in my selection, i add +1 to i = 1
that's it

there is also a special python function that transform the number into numbers like 001 002 003 010.. ect... ii only work with strings so you need to convert the number into a string first:

newnumberfilledwithzeros =str(10).zfill(3) #will be = to 010

with all thoses examples, here what i came with this example below,
and witouth the " "%s" method, its actually not necessary for this small exercise.

name="hello"
#if you want to keep the same name and just add the suffix ? use this line below instead
#name= bpy.context.selected_object.name
start=0 #could start at -1 if you want the first obj to be named 000
zeros=3 #3x= numbers like 001,019... 4x = 0012,0003... ...
for ob in bpy.context.selected_objects:
    start+=1
    f=str(start).zfill(zeros)
    ob.name = name + f
    #result will be "hello001" "hello002" "hello003" ect..
    #want to be "hello_001" ? just to this below
    #ob.name = name + "_" + f
    #want to do a prefix ?
    #ob.name = f + "_" + name


What type of normal and specular map nodes is correct for these textures I am creating a plugin to import some model files from a game to blender, with all the textures and materials created automatically. I am creating a principled bsdf node from python and assign relevant textures to it depending on what I read.
However, I don't think the rendering result is correct, and I think that's due to the textures not being exactly what the shader inputs ask for.
For example, this is one material that is being created:

This is the original texture

This is the texture used for the Normal map

and this is the texture used for the Specular

However, the result is too "shiny" and it seems very wrong to me

Is what I am doing at the moment the correct thing to do according to this specific texture types that I am having? Or do I need to add different nodes than those?

If you are talking about the unwanted white pixels appearing like the one on the seats, you could use clamp indirect which is found in the light paths section or use clamp indirect which is found in the sampling section or you could even try using the denoiser which is in the render layer tab.


How can I change the hover color of tools in the UI? How can I change the color or light intensity of tabs that are hovered over in blenders user interface?

For example if I hover over the translate option in the tools tab while in the 3d view, it changes color. How can I customize that color?

In the user settings there is a "themes" tab. Use it to change any colors you see fit!

You can also look around - there are many color schemes to be had!


How to bypass 3D view axis when selecting vertices behind it I've run into this problem many times, it's nothing major, adjusting my view or reselecting with lasso instead of shift+clicking the individual point tends to fix it. But it's a little frustrating there's no solution and it keeps interrupting my workflow.

 Red circle = un-selectable vertex

As shown in the image, when a vertex is selected the axis (for transforming) displays over it. The issue is that it sometimes is in the way of a vertex and prevents selecting the individual point with shift+click. Is there some way I can prevent this from happening? If I had any idea how to set it up so that holding shift would hide the axis I would give that a try, but I don't.
Is there an alternative to context-toggle I could use so that it hides only when shift is pressed?

[Blender 2.79]

The duplicate and answers provided so far do not address what I'm looking for. Seeking to reduce clicks and annoyance, trying to avoid having to zoom in / manipulate view to get a better angle, the toggle would be annoying unless it was only invisible while shift is held.

You can CTRL Spacebar or click the button to the left of the Transform Manipulator buttons and the bottom of your view


Blender 2.83 : Edge Bevel not round I'm new to Blender. I'm using Blender 2.83 and I saw in some youtube tutorials that you can  make a cube's edge round using bevel (edit mode), however I wasn't able to replicate it.
Here is what I did:

go to edit mode
select edge
ctrl+B and mouse wheel up to create more segments

The final result created a flat cut not a curved one. Here is a screenshot:

uncheck "custom profile" (just below "grid fill / cutoff")
(or create a round custom profile ;))


How to fade out loudness of an audio track? how can the loudness of an audio track in the VSE be faded out at the end of a track?

Thanks for help!

highlight the strip, open panel (press N  if closed), find the Volume field and change the value.

You can animate the value, set to zero at the last frame and keyframe it by pressin I while hovering it, than $1$ (or any other) several frames earlier.


I can't render on blender using a GPU on mac Whenever I try to render on my GPU it says:

OpenCL build failed: errors in console

Here is my Computer Specifications:

macbook pro mid 2014
i7 2.5Ghz CPU
Nvidia GT750m
OSX 10.11.2 / El Capitan

Macbook Pro sometimes have 2 graphic card available for it's system. An intergrated one and a standalone GPU. Make sure the GT750m is selected in
your user preference with CUDA turn on.


how to make a stroke, like in vector software (illustrator, flash, animate, etc.), with a round cap? I am trying to make 'flat' vector lines in 3D space. I don't want to use a grease pencil object because I still want to use the 3d object modifiers.
So far, my solution is to make a Bézier curve, use the extrude option in the Geometry tab and add a solidify modifier. I also added a bevel modifier but it only makes the corners slightly rounded.
Is there a better way to do it? Especially is there a way to have round cap?
(In my picture I did a round cap by hand, but then I lose the ability to edit/animate my stroke (made with 2 vectors))
Thanks for your comments!
EDIT

By digging into the curve modifier that was recommended, I kind of found a solution:
I made a square plane and a filled circle of the same size (it's important that their origin is in their middle)
I also created a curve which has the same origin as the square.
Then, to the Plane, I added the Array modifier>Fit type>Fit Curve as well as the Curve modifier.
This makes a curve that follows exactly my Bézier curve. Then with the Array modifier, it is possible to add Start/End Caps, I selected the circle for that.
With a few adjustments and a Subdivision modifier it worked.
Now it's not a perfect solution, especially if I animate that stroke, the shape constantly changes.
Also, the fact that both origins have to stay at the same place doesn't make it easy to use... :(
Does anyone have a better idea?
thanks

a solution (that is not perfect):
Make a square plane and a filled circle of the same size (it's important that their origin is in their middle)
Create a Bézier curve which has the same origin as the square.
On the plane, add an Array modifier>Fit type>Fit Curve as well as a Curve modifier.
This creates a curve that follows exactly the Bézier curve. (see picture for details)
Then with the Array modifier, it is possible to add Start/End Caps. Selected the circle if you want Round Caps. With a few adjustments and a Subdivision modifier it works.
To secure the whole thing, I advise adding 2 Object Constraints on the Bézier curve: CopyTransform (the plane) and Limit Distance (0 m) (see picture for details).
This blocks most of the possible problems that you will get if you try to move the plane object.
This method doesn't let you easily change the width of the stroke (which depends on the plane's size)
Trying to scale the whole thing might get you in trouble and break the link between the plane and the Bézier Curve.
Good Luck!!


How to make a fabric with a solidify modifier doesn't pass through itself? I've created a sail. I made a plane of right form, applied to it solidify modifier and cloth modifier . But when I added a wind, back surface of the fabric touches front surface and passes through it.

How to fix this?
If I turn on self collision - fabric swells, like a pillow.

Don't apply the solidify modifier , put it the last  here is an example setup :

the mesh is subdivided before :
the subsurf modifier is added to smooth the mesh after simulation then we add the solidify modifier.

Solid view :


Separation into different objects fails For practice I am trying to model an object and need to duplicate and move a face (similar to the way it's done in blender guru's doughnut tutorial for the icing).
So I marked the faces I want to duplicate:

...used shift + D and then moved the duplicated face:

...and then used P and "selection" to make its own object out of it:

However, as you can see in the last image, the separation somehow fails. Its marked in red and I cannot do any transformation or so to the new object.
Does anybody know what's wrong here?
Thanks in advance!

As @james-t and @Christopher-Bannett wrote in the comments, edit mode needs to be exited first and then re-entered under the new object.
Thanks guys!!


Clothes weight paint / skinning I have a model with a jacket on it as separated object. I don't know how to attach/weight-paint jacket to make it deform without intersections with model and itself.

Some parts of jacket, the edge areas, are double layerd to mimic it's not flat. That makes the job even more difficult because while deforming the jacket upper layers intersect with bottom ones.
In addition there is also a belt which is also an separated object.

How not to get lost in all relations between vertices and weights assigned to them from different bones? When I set up weights for one pose they are not matching for another. I can paint this way to endlessness.

I can't manage with those under layers of jacket also. I can't paint them while they are covered. I know I can use face masking mode while weight painting but if I mask upper layers I can't see if they are still intersecting those bottom.

There is also problem with subsurf modifier. When it's on I see the model the way it will look finally but then everything slows down so it's hard to work. On the other hand with disabled subsurf modifier the mesh looks and behave different way so I can't repair all those intersection issues.

Maybe there is some technique or good tutorial that provides inf. how to weight-paint/skin the mesh properly? I attaching screen shots to ilustrate the issue.

Use the data transfer modifier.

1- Select the cloth

2- Shift select the rig

3- Ctrl-P to ''Set parent with empty groups''

4- Select the cloth Alone

5- Add the ''Data transfer'' modifier (anywhere in the stack) then within the modifier:

6- Source object - Select your Rigged mesh (body)

7- ''Check'' Vertex Data (first in the list below Source object)

8- Select (highlight) Vertex Group(s)

9- Click Apply

10- Forget about most of your nightmares and forget about destructive solutions.

You may have to do some additional  Weight paintings  or Shape keys with drivers for the clothes to react the way you want with some flexion but at least, the clothes won't get through your base character as you move your rig with this method.


How do i make an object emit an object that is emitting objects? How do i get an object to shoot out an object that is shooting out objects with the particle system.

Blender 2.8 will have this feature, that will allow complex manipulation with particles (not only with particles):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQi2BqlQtnI

If you want to try something similar right now, you can try to use Animation nodes, but you need to know, that it has not so good performance as particles.


Double-Click-rename on a list item does not call __setattr__ I have a custom list to show some Groups to the user like this:

class RenderGroups(bpy.types.PropertyGroup):
    image = StringProperty(
            name="Image",
            description="The image-texture of this group")

    def __setattr__(self, attr, value):
        _name = "name"
        print("Hi", attr == _name)
        super().__setattr__(attr, new_value)

class RenderGroupUIList(bpy.types.UIList):
    def draw_item(self, context, layout, data, item, icon, active_data, active_propname):
        if self.layout_type in {'DEFAULT', 'COMPACT'}:
            row = layout.row()
            if not item:
                row.label(text="", translate=False, icon_value=icon)
                return
            row.prop(item, "name", text="", emboss=False, icon_value=icon)
            if item.image not in bpy.data.images:
                row.label(icon="ERROR")
        # 'GRID' layout type should be as compact as possible (typically a single icon!).
        elif self.layout_type in {'GRID'}:
            layout.alignment = 'CENTER'
            layout.label(text="", icon_value=icon)

The problem now is the following:

When I access an element of the list (C.object.test_list) with C.object.test_list[0].name = "New name" it prints "Hi"
When I set the name of an element of the list via double clicking on the item in the Pane I show the list in, the Info-Header tells me bpy.context.object.test_list[1].name = "New Name" but "Hi" never shows up in the console (Yes, the System Console in this context)

EDIT: closely connected to this question. I need to check for updates of prop.name, not prop.image.

Your custom __setattr__ method is called if you add or change a collection item via Python (e.g. Python Console). It is not called if you change an entry via the UI.

The reason is probably that bpy properties are no regular python objects / properties. If you access it directly via Python, it is handled like a regular Python object. The UI however is handled in Blender's native C code (so are change events in Blender in general), and it obviously disregards custom __setattr__ handlers.

The proper way to check for property changes is to supply a callback function to the update attribute on property registration, or specify a getter and a setter function.

import bpy
from bpy.props import *

def update_cb(self, context):
    print("image =", self.image)

class RenderGroups(bpy.types.PropertyGroup):
    image = StringProperty(
            name="Image",
            description="The image-texture of this group",
            update=update_cb)

class RenderGroupUIList(bpy.types.UIList):
    def draw_item(self, context, layout, data, item, icon, active_data, active_propname):
        if self.layout_type in {'DEFAULT', 'COMPACT'}:
            row = layout.row()
            if not item:
                row.label(text="", translate=False, icon_value=icon)
                return
            row.prop(item, "name", text="", emboss=False, icon_value=icon)
            row.prop(item, "image", text="", emboss=False)
            if item.image not in bpy.data.images:
                row.label(icon="ERROR")
        # 'GRID' layout type should be as compact as possible (typically a single icon!).
        elif self.layout_type in {'GRID'}:
            layout.alignment = 'CENTER'
            layout.label(text="", icon_value=icon)

class HelloWorldPanel(bpy.types.Panel):
    """Creates a Panel in the Object properties window"""
    bl_label = "Hello World Panel"
    bl_idname = "OBJECT_PT_hello"
    bl_space_type = 'PROPERTIES'
    bl_region_type = 'WINDOW'
    bl_context = "object"

    def draw(self, context):
        layout = self.layout
        layout.template_list("RenderGroupUIList", "", context.object, "coll", context.object, "idx")

def register():
    bpy.utils.register_module(__name__)
    bpy.types.Object.coll = bpy.props.CollectionProperty(type=bpy.types.RenderGroups)
    bpy.types.Object.idx = bpy.props.IntProperty()

def unregister():
    bpy.utils.unregister_module(__name__)
    del bpy.types.Object.coll
    del bpy.types.Object.idx

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()

Be careful with writes to the property inside a callback, there is no protection against infinite loops - you need to handle that yourself.

http://www.blender.org/api/blender_python_api_2_73_release/bpy.props.html#get-set-example


VSE, python API: get time point in video file under marker There is a scene in Video Sequence Editor with several video strips one after another in time. Each strip corresponds to a video file. Along the timeline I have several markers.

What I'd like to do is to take a marker and return a videofile path under the marker and a time position in this video file at which marker points.
I'm thinking of writing  a python script to do that automatically for a long scene with lots of markers. What would be a preferred way to do that?

This will print the Marker time (in seconds since it's corresponding video strip started) with it's corresponding video strip's path for every marker in the scene's timeline.

import bpy

scene = bpy.context.scene

fps = scene.render.fps / scene.render.fps_base

all_markers = sorted(scene.timeline_markers, key=lambda m: m.frame)

all_strips = list(sorted(scene.sequence_editor.sequences,
            key=lambda x: x.frame_final_start))

for strip in all_strips:
    if strip.type == 'MOVIE':
        start = strip.frame_final_start
        end = strip.frame_final_end

        for marker in all_markers:
            if marker.frame >= start and marker.frame <= end:
                time = (marker.frame - start) / fps
                path = strip.filepath
                print(time, path)


How to lock center vertices with mirror modifier? I'm having trouble keeping center vertices in place while editing a head.

Am I missing a lock function?

You want to enable clipping in the mirror modifier.
From the blender manual page for the mirror modifier.

Clipping
Prevents vertices from crossing through the mirror plane(s). Note that this is only valid in Edit mode (i.e when using object transformations, translations, scaling, et cetera, in Object mode, vertices will happily cross these borders.)
If Clipping is selected but vertices are outside of the Merge Limit the vertices will not merge. As soon as the vertices are within Merge Limit they are clipped together and cannot be moved beyond the mirror plane. If several vertices are selected and are at different distances from the mirror plane, they will one by one be clipped at the mirror plane.


Why isn't the cube's collision properties working? You can see the particles in the above image, but, despite the cube having had "collision" properties in the settings, it won't block the particles?

...and here's the physics settings I'm using.

Here is the .blend file: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByScwSCTIaUGUkZoTXhoTFhjU3c/edit?usp=sharing
Many thanks

This reproducable as Phillip Kinkade mentioned, when the particle system animation was baked without the collision object, later adding wouldn't make them collide.

Free Bake
Position your collision object
Bake

After the three steps above no more particles will go through the cube:


Normal Map Problem (Inverting Color?) I made this model in Blender and Textured it in Substance Painter. While in Substance I didnt see any problems, but when exporting it to Blender and applying the maps i got weird artifacts and color problems. I used Blender 2.8, I have good specs (so no performace issue), and the newest version of substance painter. I have not changed any settings in blender - they are all on the standard setting & I rendered with eevee. In Substance Painter I chose the Unity Setting for Baking.
Without Normal Map:

With Normal Map:

Material in Blender:

Normal Map:

In Sketchfab it works, altough i get pretty visible seams there. Maybe someone also knows a solution to that:
https://sketchfab.com/models/9a6ee7b916b34d358621eae53d6d89a4

Thank you for helping me!

You may be experiencing issues because of different normal map types. DirectX and OpenGL normal maps differ in the green channel. It is inverted. To convert one type to another you would need to invert the green channel of the map. This can be done with nodes inside Blender:


Change custom Node input through Python console I have a custom node simulating a laser:

The node itself is pretty complex with rotations and whatnot, but it's attached to a Lamp object. In short what it does is illuminate a pixel if some conditions are met (mostly boolean checking with some algebra). It's based on this. I have to create a demo to show the laser properties and how it can be tunned and changed. I would like to change the input values of this node (elevation,azimuth, turning around the laser beam axis and laser width/girth) from a python script.

How can I select and change the input values for this node and how can I set them depending on the frame number?

The group node in the material has input sockets and you can set the default_value of each socket. The default_value is used when there is no link to the socket to get a value from another node.

mat = bpy.data.materials['Material']
gr_node = mat.node_tree.nodes['Group']

gr_node.inputs['Elevation'].default_value = 15.3


Set Custom Toggle Hotkey for Grease Pencil Stroke Tools not Working? In Blender2.9, while trying to set a Custom Toggle Hotkey in User Preferences for GreasePencil-> Draw_on_Back command using wm.context_toggle_enum with context attribute tool_settings.use_gpencil_draw_onback, pressing the  hotkey(END) doesn't execute the toggle command .
Why isn't the toggle command getting activated by this hotkey?

The toggle hotkey has to be created in Window context rather than GreasePencil(Global).


Smoke Animation Lengthened past 250 frames The start up to the point where I need the smoke/mist animation is way over the 250 frame mark.

Is there a way to lengthen the smoke animation to be over 250 frames? Or is there another way.

The duration of all simulations (smoke, physics, particles, cloth, rigid body, etc) depends on the start an end frame settings for the simulation's cache.

For fire and smoke, select the smoke domain, then look for the cache settings of the simulation. By default the cache goes from 1 to 250 frames, but you can make the start and end frames make it whatever you want.


Hair particles not appearing in cycles mode I have some hair that I've created in one of my projects. At some point, somewhere, I must have pressed a hotkey by accident, because now none of the hair is rendering in Cycles. It fails to appear in both Cycles rendered viewport or in a full Cycles render. The hair does show up in Eevee and every other viewport mode.
Potentially useful info:

Just as a test, I started another project and was able to get hair particles to render in cycles. I also created another object in this file and tried to put some hair on it. The hair on the new object also didn't render. So it's particular to this blend file and seems to be some sort of global setting.
Note that there are actually three hair particle systems in this
file (eyebrows, upper lashes, lower lashes), and none of them are showing up. So I don't think it's a setting specific to the particle system.
Nonetheless... in the particle system render settings for all three systems, I have "Render as" set to "Path", so that's not the issue. Also, there is a material applied to the hair, but the problem is not solved by deleting it.
None of the "Hair" options in the Cycles render settings have any effect.

I've googled this extensively, and there's apparently a setting called "ray invisibility" that you can turn on or off, but all of information about it I could find are from earlier versions of blender and I can't find this setting anywhere in 2.83. I don't know if that's the problem, but somebody please tell me where to find this setting so I can test it.
Please help, this problem has ground my project to a halt and I feel like I'm losing my mind here.

So I ultimately downloaded the experimental Blender 2.9 and it fixed the issue. I guess that means it's a bug.
EDIT: Another fix, should this happen to any of you, is to create a new project and append all of the assets from the original project. The hair will then render properly in the new project.


Colorize hidden parts from camera projection I am doing a camera projection (from a picture onto a 3D object). In the picture I am projecting from, there are some hidden parts of the object due to the geometry of the object itself, and I would like to avoid Blender to "invent" those hidden parts of the texture by repeating other visible parts so I can know accurately and quickly which parts are still needed to be photographed in order to complete the full texture of the object.
My idea is to bake the projection over a green chroma texture but I do not want the UV project modifier to complete the texture regarding those hidden sections of the 3D piece (which is currently doing).
Does anybody know how to avoid that?
EDIT:
Just discovered the image is being projected onto every voxel colliding with each ray from the camera, which means it is being projected onto backfaces where (in my opinion) it should not. Researching deeper in this, I just found a topic which describes my problem and potential solution:
Cycles, UV Project Camera Modifier projects forwards and backwards
It suggests to use object's negative Z coordinates to "blank" those parts of the texture and therefore avoid printing backfaces. Is there any other solution?
Tell me if you consider to remove or to solve this thread or mark it as duplicated in case there is no other possible solution.
Thank you again for your feedback.
Best regards,
maije

You've indicated a few details in your comments: you're using the perspective of the camera for your UV projector; you want to do this using only scriptable tools (no mouse strokes).  For that, the linked answer you gave won't help you.
You need to make a mask for your projected image.  As I indicated in comments, the easiest way to make this mask is just by hand, with texture painting.  But it's not impossible to do it another way:

Make your object flat shaded.  Give it a diffuse material.  If it's not UV mapped, give it a non-overlapping UV map (a smart project or lightmap project would be fine.)

Place a point light at the location of your UV projector camera.  Set the radius to 0 and the light to something really high (like 100,000).

If necessary, remove everything but the object and point light from renders.  Set bounces to 0.

Create an image texture node in your material and bake combined to a new image.  Save your image.

Create compositing nodes using your baked image (not a render).  For each pixel of your image, check to see if the brightness is greater than 0.  Make your output 1 if it is, 0 if it isn't.  Set your color management display device to None.  Set your rendering resolution to the same resolution as your baked image.  Render.  Save the render.  As necessary, revert to settings used at the start of the process.

You now have a mask created using only scriptable operations that represents the occlusion (only) from your UV projector.

Let me know if that image is bugging out for you-- Imgur looks like it's freaking out or something.  Check comments for a different image host.


How to make toothbrush Bristle animation Hi all, I am a student and a newbie in using blender. I just know the basic for the modelling and animate with time frame. I want to make an animation for brushing teeth but I don't know how to animate the bristle. I want to make the bristle to be soft and bending when contacting the surface of the Teeth and not penetrating into the teeth model. below i have attach the sample animation picture that i made but the bristle is not real as it penetrate into the teeth model. Can anyone help to teach me how to make the bristle soft and deform/bend when contacting the surface of the teeth? I really appreciate your help. Thank you everyone!

As suggested by mma78 in the comment try a Hair Particle System.

Brushing the default cube

Make an emitter plane:

Copy a few faces of the lower side of the toothbrush head where the brushes sit. In Edit mode, duplicate Shift+D, press Esc or RMB to leave it where it is, and separate selection with P)
In Object mode, rename the plane, and parent it to the toothbrush (Ctrl+P). Parent must be selected last = highlighted light orange.

Add a Hair Particle System to the bristle plane

150 particles
3, 5, or 8 segments (I used 8. Test it, less can make the bristle stiffer)

In Field Weights turn off gravity:

Gravity: 0.000  (we do not want to bend the bristles to the ground)

Adjust these values for render and the shape/appearance of the bristles:

Render:

[_] Show Emitter (disabled, we don't want to render it)
Path → Steps: 5

Viewport Display:

Strand Steps: 5

Children: Simple

Radius: 0.02m (adjust this to your toothbrush size! Value here is for the 2m default cube!)
Roundness: 1.000

Clumping:

[X] Use Clump Curve
(edit a curve. Make it round in the top right corner. This makes the bristles heads round)

Hair Shape:

Strand Shape: -0.850    (for rounded bristles)
Diamenter Root:  0.3m    (adjust this to your toothbrush size!)

enable [X] Hair Dynamics. Run/bake the simulation and play with the Hair Dynamics values:

Collision

Distance: 5cm (adjust this to your toothbrush size!)

Pin Goal Strength: 10
Structure:

Vertex Mass: 0.3 kg (default, higher values make the bristles inert)
Stiffness: 30 (higher values result in less bending)
Damping: 0.300 (default, increase if the bristles swing too much)

Happy teeth brushing!


BGE Mouse Look Min and Max Bounds Changing? I have written a script in python that successfully saves and loads the position and rotation of my player cube and camera for use between scene transitions. However, something is going wrong with the minimum and maximum rotation values of the mouse look actuator. I have a feeling that I should be adjusting those values in python at the same time I change the camera rotation from the save, but I'm really hung up on this.

Here is the code I wrote:

import bge
from bge import logic as g

def save():
    s = g.getCurrentScene()
    pos = s.objects["player"].position
    rotP = s.objects["player"].worldOrientation
    rotC = s.objects["player_camera"].localOrientation

    g.globalDict["pos"] = [pos.x, pos.y, pos.z]
    g.globalDict["rotP"] = rotP.to_euler()

    g.globalDict["rotC"] = rotC.to_euler()

    print("SAVED")

def load():
    s = g.getCurrentScene()
    s.objects["player"].position = g.globalDict["pos"]
    s.objects["player"].worldOrientation = g.globalDict["rotP"]
    s.objects["player_camera"].localOrientation = g.globalDict["rotC"]

    print("LOADED")

It's as if these values are being changed by something:

Thank you for your time. I'm really stuck on this.

You should use the actuator.angle attribute, or actuator.angle[0] if only the X value is needed. Here's a example script I made and test file attached here.

import bge

from bge.logic import expandPath
from ast import literal_eval

def main(cont):

    # Objects
    own = cont.owner

    # Sensors
    S = cont.sensors['S']
    L = cont.sensors['L']

    # Actuators
    MLook = own.actuators['MLook']

    # Properties
    path = expandPath('//save.txt')

    data = {
        'pos' : list(own.worldPosition),
        'rot' : list(own.localOrientation.to_euler()),
        'mouse' : MLook.angle
        }

    ### PROCESSING ###
    # Save
    if S.positive:

        with open(path, 'w') as opened_file:
            opened_file.write(str(data))
            print('Saved data to', opened_file.name)

    # Load
    if L.positive:

        try:
            with open(path, 'r') as opened_file:
                data = literal_eval(opened_file.read())
                print('Saved data to', opened_file.name)

            # Set obj data
            own.worldPosition = data['pos']
            own.localOrientation = data['rot']
            MLook.angle = data['mouse']

        except:
            print('Cant load saved file')


Increase Motion Blur Effect 2.81 I'm a first time blender user who would like the increase the motion blur effect for my scene. Essentially, my goal is to reproduce this; I have followed that user's instructions(I have yet to overlay the images though).

I would like to increase the blur trail of my molecule and emphasize the rotation. I'm open to a different approach! Thanks!

This is my shutter curve:

To exaggerate motion blur use a larger value for the shutter. The slider is limited to 1, but  click on the shutter value and manually type a larger number.

Also, don't use rolling shutter, set it to none.


Bone Constraint/ Location rotation issue Trying to get my model to clench his fist with the location rotation bone constraint however when applied the bone barely rotates at all. Is there something i left out?

Blend file

Switch your Pivot Point setting from 3D Cursor to Median Point.


How to emit Smoke from an Object? In Maya, there is a tutorial showing emitting smokes from a sword mesh, and then he generates a flipbook of it. What's the name of this and How do I do it in Blender?

The tutorial doesn't show it from scratch, just showed this but didn't explain anything about it.

Simply select the object and in quick effects apply quick smoke in blender


Noob Question: Can't find my skeleton after upating to 2.9 So I've had Blender for years now but I'm still a noob at it. I made a bipedal model, an armature, and weight-painted it in Blender 2.7. I then figured it was about time to update it to 2.9. After I did that, I can't see my armature anymore! I have tried Unhiding everything with Alt-H, clicking around the Outline, toggling the X-Ray for the mesh, fidding with Viewport Display settings in Properties, but nothing seems to be working. It is such a simple thing yet I've spent literally an hour trying to figure it out, and I am getting really frustrated with myself. Thank you for your help!
The armature I want to be visible is Penguin>Skeleton

Edit: Here is a link to my .blend file:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1darEP59YbALtv4lqDqYXXS6K270zA3_n/view?usp=sharing

it's disabled in the viewport. select it in the outliner, enable disable viewport filter, and switch it back on -


Problems with an animation I'm newly started with Blender, and happy with it so far. I am doing some simple animation, with a simple character flying through the air and hitting a big sphere, and what I want is for the character to disappear and a shape which looks a bit like goo to appear on the sphere where the character landed. I have been looking for a couple of hours with no luck, if someone could point me into the right direction, that would be great.

To address the goo goal.

(01) Fluid Particles

This link

http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:2.6/Manual/Physics/Particles/Physics

Fluid Particles

(02) Some mesh animated using Wave Modifier and or Armature.

(03) Particles

(04) Fluid Simulation

Most preferred listed at top.  Suit to your tastes.

... Some would have dynamic 3D gravity qualities.

Some video sites have video instruction on these topics.

You stated you are "newly started".  Please assume that the above is work the first time .. but not too much work.  It might be a lot of work for some other people.


Outliner -> vertex group select, not yet implemented: is it a bug? Blender 2.69 on Ubuntu 14.04..

I don't think you can select the vertex groups via the outliner (because it is not yet implemented), but you still have to select it via the properties panel --> Data object data --> vertex groups
(in version 2.75 it is also not yet implemented)


What is difference between poke face and triangulate face in 3d modeling Can anybody explain what is difference may be it's at geometry level and operation of it and what possibilities are in both tool for better explanation

Poke face is on the left, Triangulate is on the right. Appears that Poke ends up with a vertex in center of the face and Triangulate ends up with just an edge.


A script to exclude specific vertices from Shapekeys? I've created a bunch of Phonemes Shape Keys for my character. I unparented and re-parented the mesh to an armature. And this seems to have messed up the vertex assignments.
The phonemes are still okay-ish but I noticed that the there are unwanted vertices (around the eye) that are changing when turning up the shapekey value. Is there a way to "freeze" these vertices while activating my original phonemes shapekeys?
I'm so sorry I can't upload the file due to proprietary issues.

I reproduced the issue on the attached Suzanne head. The "Smile" shapekey involves vertices from the lips, and "wrong" vertices near the eyes. How can I keep the shapekey and yet exclude the eye vertices and make sure they don't interfere?

Found the answer on BA! So all I need to do is to

Select the Basis Shape Key, Tab into edit mode
Select the vertices you want to keep unchanged,
Hit Ctrl+V >Propagate to Shapes.

And it will overwrite the vertices shapes in that particular area and thus will not change anymore. The downside is that it is going to apply it to all the shapes (my understanding) but that's ok for now.


Python.h missing in Blender Python? I'm compiling an external C package for my Blender  2.78a Python 3.5.

My compiling script looks like

from distutils.core import setup, Extension
import numpy
setup(name='_tifffile', ext_modules=[Extension('_tifffile', ['tifffile.c'], include_dirs=[n
umpy.get_include()])])

Upon running it, I got

tifffile.c:71:20: fatal error: Python.h: No such file or directory
 #include "Python.h"
                    ^
compilation terminated.
error: command 'gcc' failed with exit status 1

I looked into /blender-2.78a-linux-glibc211-x86_64/2.78/python/include/python3.5m/ and indeed didn't see Python.h.

In general Python community, people suggest simply uninstalling the current Python and reinstalling the dev version. I don't wanna hack the Python bundled with Blender like that.

How can I solve this problem?

First, if you install blender with your linux distro,
then a proper installation of python3 and blender with your particular distro should solve your problem.

e.g. for debian:

sudo apt-get install python3 python3-dev
sudo apt-get install blender

Second, if you really want to install the python header files
for the python that runs inside blender, then you can do it the following way:

Find out the exact blender python version:

/path/to/blender-2.78a-linux-glibc211-x86_64/2.78/python/bin/python3.5m -V

Download and install the python header files from the official python homepage:

point your browser at https://www.python.org/downloads/source/
download Gzipped source tarball from the exact same python version as your blender python version
cd ~/Downloads/
tar -xzf Python-3.X.X.tgz
cp Python-3.X.X/Include/* /path/to/blender-2.78a-linux-glibc211-x86_64/2.78/python/include/python3.5m/

That should get you rolling.
Best, Bue


Beginner question: Collision is not working I'm a total beginner and just finished the famous donut tutorial.

Now I've started with my first own project and facing a problem that I cannot solve.

I modeled a light bulb and would like to fill it with stones. I've set up a rigid body system, but the stones are passing through the bottom of light bulb instead of staying in it.

I've made a simplified test then, where I just created some spheres and throw them into a  half cutted sphere (bowl). There it worked perfectly, but when I try the same with my stones and the light bulb it does not work.

Can the scaling of my models be a problem? The size of the stone is roughly 1cm... probably even less and the glass ~3mm. Can that be an issue?

Based on the comment i would suggest the following solution:

Make a copy of the container object, adding a "-simhelper" at the end allows for easier identification later.
Select the copy and adjust the thickness of the solidify modifier to at least the size of the objects that are gonna fall in. Explanation a bit below.
Make the copy invisible in render by going in the Object Properties, under Visibility un-check the Show in Renders and in Viewport Display un-check the Shadow and maybe set the Display As to "Bounds".

This way the simulation helper object will not bother you in the viewport or render.
Select the simhelper object and then the original, make sure the original is highlighted as yellow, active, and press Ctrl+P "Object", making the simhelper a child of the original, in case you have to move the original later.
Now you can disable the "Rigid Body" on the original
Test the simulation and adjust the thickness of the solidify modifier as needed.

Little Explanation:
The Reason for using a thicker simulation helper is that the simulation uses sub-steps to catch an intersection, if the object falls to fast and passes through the walls without being caught by the simulation, it keeps falling and results in your problem situation.

Happy Blending


I want to remove one object from my render so that it leaves just a transparent background I want to remove the pool water from my image, so that there is only a transparent background, so that I can add the pool I rendered in luxcore in photoshop.
Right now, because I could not get it to work, I used the following node setup. Mixing the images right in blender; but I didn't like the color of the luxcore render in that.
Any tipps?

I'm not a very advanced Blender user so take this for what it's worth... Could you not render the scene without the water (using Cycles, I assume) and then simply take that image and the "pool" from the LuxCore render and merge the two in Photoshop?
Theoretically, you could also remove the water from one image and replace with colour corrected water from the other image in P'shop, too.


uv image editor alpha? So I made an image in the uv image editor thats really simple (really just a line) and when I made the new image I checked the alpha box. but the background is simply black. Is there a way to make a new image in the uv editor that is nothing but the alpha to start with?

When creating a new image in the UV Image Editor, change the Alpha channel of the Color to be 0. Then be sure that the Alpha check box is checked.


Import video as round plane new here so hope someone can help and new to Blender also. I am trying to import video to play on a circular plane instead of square, what is the best way to make plane circular?

delete your plane.
Shift A -> Mesh -> Circle -> Tab (edit mode) -> F -> Circular plane


How to decrease point light effect? I have two renders in Cycles and EEVEE, I want to achieve in Cycles the same effect like I have in EEVEE. I don't want to light the entire room. I tried using nodes it doesn't work.

You can use the Light Falloff node to adjust how light falls-off with distance. See associated answer Custom light falloff in Cycles. Switching to Linear falloff may get the effect you're looking for.
Alternatively, (also as described in the linked answer) you can use the Ray Length to manipulate the lamp emission strength directly - in order to get finer control of light strength over distance.


Select whole hierarchy from different parents at the same time I have a script that runs ok as long as there is only one parent (Empty object) selected since I need to select the whole hierarchy, but if I have many parents (Empties) I'm unable to do the same, it always work for the first parent (Empty object) leaving the others untouched. Is there a way to acomplish it?
This is not the prettiest code ever but it works until that point I'm facing.
This is how the hierarchy looks after running this piece of code, but as you can see, after that I would need to perform a Clear Parent and keep Transform and this is what I cannot accomplish.

import bpy

collectionFound = False

for myCol in bpy.data.collections:
    #print(myCol.name)
    if myCol.name == "FBX REVIT Scene":
        collectionFound = True
        #print ("Collection found in scene")
        break

# Creates a new collection
if collectionFound == False:
    myCol = bpy.data.collections.new("FBX REVIT Scene")
    bpy.context.scene.collection.children.link(myCol)

# Set the new collection as active
def recurLayerCollection(layerColl, collName):
    found = None
    if (layerColl.name == collName):
        return layerColl
    for layer in layerColl.children:
        found = recurLayerCollection(layer, collName)
        if found:
            return found

layer_collection = bpy.context.view_layer.layer_collection
layerColl = recurLayerCollection(layer_collection, 'FBX REVIT Scene')
bpy.context.view_layer.active_layer_collection = layerColl

# Selects whole hierarchy
myObj = bpy.context.view_layer.objects.active
bpy.ops.object.select_grouped(type='CHILDREN_RECURSIVE')
myObj.select_set(True)

# Move selected objects to another collection
# List of object references
objs = bpy.context.selected_objects

# Set target collection to a known collection
coll_target = bpy.context.scene.collection.children.get("FBX REVIT Scene")

# If target found and object list not empty
if coll_target and objs:

    # Loop through all objects
    for ob in objs:
        # Loop through all collections the obj is linked to
        for coll in ob.users_collection:
            # Unlink the object
            coll.objects.unlink(ob)

        # Link each object to the target collection
        coll_target.objects.link(ob)

bpy.ops.object.select_all(action="DESELECT")

structures = [
    {
        'name': 'CURTAINS',
        'items': [
            "Curtain Wall Mullions[!A-Z]*",
            "Curtain Wall Mullions",
            "Curtain Panels[!A-Z]*",
            "Curtain Panels",
        ],
    },
]
for structure in structures:

    selection_pattern = bpy.ops.object.select_pattern

    for item in structure['items']:
        selection_pattern(pattern = item)

    # Pattern Selection which search only inside a custom Collection
    all_in_list = bpy.context.selected_objects.copy()
    collection = bpy.data.collections['FBX REVIT Scene']

    bpy.ops.object.select_all(action="DESELECT")
    for object in collection.objects:
        if object.type == 'EMPTY':
            if object in all_in_list:
                object.select_set(True)

I found the solution so others can benefit from this as well.
After the las line just add:
for obj in selected:
    bpy.context.view_layer.objects.active = obj
    bpy.ops.object.select_grouped(extend=True, type='CHILDREN_RECURSIVE')
    bpy.ops.object.parent_clear(type='CLEAR_KEEP_TRANSFORM')


Set 3D cursor to stay at center at all times? I don't use the 3D cursor much and it usually causes more problems then it's useful to me. I know ShiftS moves it to center, but is there a way I can keep it there (even if I accidentally press LMB?)

In User Preferences you can change the assigned key that sets the location of the 3D Cursor. I would recommend setting it to Shift + Left Click so you can still move it when necessary, but you won't relocate it by accidentally left clicking anywhere.


How can I animate a Mobius strip on local Z axis? I'm new to blender and I created a Mobius strip which I would like to animate by rotating on local Z axis. When I drag my mouse to rotate (R > ZZ), I get the effect I am after. When I animate with keyframes, the animation chooses a completely different rotation path to get to the next keyframe.

I will try to attach my .blend file as this is difficult to understand without looking at it.

How can I animate this properly?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Have you tried adding a driver to your z rotation axis? I would start by adding a driver on the z- rotation of your mobius strip. Create an empty object, and animate it going up on the z-axis or something, and use that as your drivers input variable. This should work if you only need to rotate on the z-axis.

Here's a video for a quick look at drivers:
enter link description here

Aaand here's the docs if you really want to dive in:
Blender Driver Docs

I took your mobius blend file and applied this method:

Hope this helps!


what other option in python keymap line for 'PRESS'? I'm noob in this thing so I don't exactly know how to ask this.

so there is this line in a phyton script that responsible for setting key combination that will trigger the 'script', in this case is this one:

kmi = km.keymap_items.new(GPCRot.bl_idname, 'LEFTMOUSE', 'PRESS', ctrl=True, shift=False, alt=True)

so the script run when I press ctrl+alt+lmb, so from there I understand that the 'press' on the line above is responsible for the click behaviour. So is it possible to have other type of click('press'), like for example adding hold function so that the script would continue to run until I release the key?

thank you.

Enum as below:

value (enum in ['ANY', 'NOTHING', 'PRESS', 'RELEASE', 'CLICK', 'DOUBLE_CLICK', 'CLICK_DRAG', 'NORTH', 'NORTH_EAST', 'EAST', 'SOUTH_EAST', 'SOUTH', 'SOUTH_WEST', 'WEST', 'NORTH_WEST'])

You can find the reference here: KeyMapItens

If you want to simulate holdup method, use the 'PRESS' and 'RELEASE' with if stament. Or maybe 'CLICK_DRAG'


How to make a glowing crystal texture in Cycles? This is my node setup and the type of output I desire. However, this works well if the shape used is a sphere. I want to apply this same effect on an elongated sphere (some close to the shape of a rice grain) evenly. How do I go about it without increasing the geometry of the scene?

You can achieve a similar effect using the OSL shader developed for this (Distance from the surface as an input node for use with volumetric materials) answer.

Here is the material node set up :

Note that I've swapped the IOR for the Glass shader compared to your answer. I believe you must have flipped your normals to get the effect in your example image - adjusting the IOR produces the same effect for refraction.

This produces the following result :

Adjust the Multiply node and the Emission strength to adjust the glow.

EDIT : You can adjust the prominence of the glass by either reducing the IOR further (although depending on the look you're looking for this might be undesirable - the refraction might look 'odd' since low IORs don't exist in the real world) or by adjusting where the 'glow' starts - either by adjusting the Color Ramp to increase the 'black' region or by adding a Subtract node to shift the start of the glowing region away from the boundary. I've updated the material to include the Subtract node (and have removed the unnecessary Mix shader).

Here's an example with decreased IOR and increased gap between the glass and the glow.


Flatten the base of STL file & cut it into a regular shape I want to flatten the base of my STL file & cut it into a regular shape (e.g., round, square...).
The results I expected should be the same as this video shows (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSNy9iUqDbI). I tried but I did not succeed with his method in blender.
If anyone can help me, I would be appreciated. It is best to give a detailed method because I am a beginner in this. Thank you in advance.
My STL file is here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/by7fdw49x05savj/terrain_test01.stl?dl=0.

Import model from stl format

In edit mode, select all vertices and delete duplicates (Merge distance in 2.80) with desired accuracy

Select all faces in edit mode and Extrude it down

Resize selected faces by Z axis to 0, align it by lowest vertice of top surface

Select all faces, again remove duplicate vertices and Recalculate Normals (if everything fine you do not need to make it Inside)

Add Cylinder object and make it right

In edit mode remove cylinder top face, select all leftover faces and Extrude region to cover the main object

Add Boolean modifier to Terrain and set up Difference with Cylinder

Profit!


What does the coordinates node do? The input node, in Blender Render, called "coordinates":

outputs the geometry local coordinates, relative to its bounding box as RGB colors.

But the coordinates of what object?

No matter what I do to any object in my scene, the coordinate node outputs the exact same image.

You can try this kind of configuration :

The bounding box is considered as a local space from (0, 0, 0) to (1, 1, 1), and each vertex of your mesh has a position into this bounding box. The 'coordinates' node gives this position.

Here with a sphere, no vertex has coordinates greater than 0.8, so you don't have any white part (this is a top view) :


Scaling/extruding snaps vertices when no snap enabled When I'm scaling a circle (mesh to give it faces). I hit E then S for Extrude Scale, drag to position (everything is looking good to this point) then when I click to confirm all the verts snap to various other verts.

Might have something to do with Auto-merge.


Can't Move Objects, Transforms Show Movement, Not Reacting To Physics So I created this project earlier today, it was working fine. Went on to something else then came back to render and all my objects are stacked. The Loc/Rot/Scale is all reset visually but the values show up correctly. If I try to move any of them, the values update but visually it stays in the same place.
Also, applying transforms visually kind of fixes it. They go into the same grouping/spacing as they should but in the wrong location. If I then set the origin to geometry they restack themselves.
Also, they are not reacting to physics as they should. No animation in this version whatsoever.
I created another project and started over and am having the same problem. Not only that but resetting the timeline doesn't reset the objects/physics, they keep animating as if the timeline is much longer.
I had to dumb down the blend file a lot in order to upload, so only one object. But it should get the point across.

I guess the cause of the problem is that the start value of the simulation is smaller than the timeline's one.


Application Template on Blender 2.8 - Not working? I´ve followed the application template install guide from the official manual:
https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/advanced/app_templates.html#app-templates

Yet I don´t see my splash screen or my configurations automatically loaded.
What other steps I need to take to make the application template run?
Are custom splash screens deprecated?

As of today (Jan 25 2020) Blender 2.83 alpha has been fixed to receive Application Templates again from the "blender" top left icon in the UI. Later when activated, the Application template can start from the "...." on the startup splash screen.


Isn't the function PURGE ALL intended to purge all the unused assets in a scene? I tried this over and over, but it appears to not be working correctly from my point of view.
Several textures that are not used anywhere are not being purged.
I tried to close and reopen Blender, but when I open the file, it still again loads unused textures.
This is also very clear with a texture that I used several days ago for the world sphere, then I didn't use it anymore: it's still sitting there for nothing. Why? Nothing is recalling it: no material, no world, no scene. Why is it still there?

I know this happens... it's not fun.
If you switch your outliner window from View Layer to Blender File, you can look at the stuff in your file and right click and delete anything unneeded.

As you've noted it's usually images that need removing.
Technically, once unused they should be purged from your file by virtue of not being saved in the first place because they don't have any users.  I'm not sure what is marking these as used, honestly.  My suspicion is opening an image in a UV editor or something.


How to import texture maps from Poser to Blender? How to import texture maps from Poser to Blender?
The texture maps for props won't import to Blender. I've tried exporting FBX files.
Does anybody have a fix?

Some time ago the "blender3dclub" started a Poser prop/character importer module for Blender 2.6x. I dusted that project off and ported it to Blender 2.8x, and started making some improvements. It now loads props (PP2/PPZ) and (CR2/CRZ) files and supports morphs (a.k.a. shape keys) for both props and characters, and loads the armature for characters. It currently doesn't automatically add the armature modifier.
Materials and textures, unfortunately for your question, don't work very well at this point. The plugin is still very much a work-in-progress.


How to draw a Rotoshape (mask) in the Compositor? How can I draw a rotoshape/spline in the compositor to be used as a mask, so that the mask/roto will also still be editable inside the compositing window without have to render the mask as image first?

Is it possible in 2.8 ?

Masks work the same way they worked before 2.8

Masks are not edited in the compositor: Create, manipulate and animate your masks in the image editor or the movie clip editor. You can add keyframes to the spline points.

To use the mask in the compositor you use an Input > Mask node.

There is no need to render masks as images.

To automate the rotoscoping process you could also use motion tracking. See this link: Can a mask stick to a shape in the motion tracker?


Silent command line rendering I'm using a simple script to create and render a scene and when I run the script from command-line as blender --background --python hello.py it prints lots of lines like:

Fra:1 Mem:7.99M (19.13M, Peak 27.65M) | Scene, Part 243-256
Fra:1 Mem:7.99M (19.16M, Peak 27.65M) | Scene, Part 244-256
Fra:1 Mem:7.99M (19.16M, Peak 27.65M) | Scene, Part 245-256
Fra:1 Mem:7.99M (19.16M, Peak 27.65M) | Scene, Part 246-256
Fra:1 Mem:7.99M (19.13M, Peak 27.65M) | Scene, Part 247-256
Fra:1 Mem:7.99M (19.13M, Peak 27.65M) | Scene, Part 248-256
Fra:1 Mem:7.99M (19.16M, Peak 27.65M) | Scene, Part 249-256

Please, does anyone know how to render silently, i.e. not verbose? --verbose 0 didn't help...

You can redirect stdout to nul:

blender --background --python hello.py 1> nul

In the script use import sys and one of the following to print to stderr:

print("blah blah", file = sys.stderr)
or sys.stderr.write("blah blah")
or sys.stdout = sys.stderr at the start of the script and later print("blah blah")


Incomplete Normal map from bake Hello, I've been trying create a normal map of muscle anatomy for an asset I bought. I had copied my lower poly (5000) man asset, subdivided to (1 000 000) and sculpted on the Muscle anatomy. However when it comes to bake, the normal map created only covers part of the characters body.
both models are UV unwrapped (I unwrapped lower poly one and copied it for the higher poly).
I am using cycles but no amount of tweaking the ray distance or using a cage allows the whole map to be made (unless I'm missing something)

Sculpt

Low poly topography and UV

How the high(red) and low poly overlap

Any help would be greatly appreciated, I've been stuck on this for hours and followed all the tutorials I can find to no avail.

Thank you so much. I'm not sure how my unwrapping had a square that covered it, but once I edited the UV to scale the giant square into a tiny one and put it somewhere not overlapping it worked resulting on a complete normal map.


How to position an office chair's legs? Seriously. How? There are five of them. Do i just eye ball it and risk getting it all wrong or is there an exact way of achieving it?

Use the Spin tool.

Create 1/5 of the chair base then move the 2D cursor to the center of the chair.

The 2D cursor will be the center of the Spin.

In Top view select the 1/5 chair base and then use the spin tool to create the other legs.

Use the Spin settings as shown in the screenshot below.


Parenting or ChildOf I'm confused a little bit. I think the CTRL+P and ChildOf constraint quite same thing. But ....
So please anybody explain what is the main difference or behaviuors between the two approach. Sometimes I recognised differences but I can't define exactly why.

The reason to have a ChildOf constraint is for cases where you need to change parenting during animation. Like when a character needs to grab an item, or throw it- at the moment this happens, you can animate the constraint influence and be able to animate the object properly.

You should use normal parenting for everything else, because this method is far simpler, and simply more correct. The hierarchy is visible in Outliner, mostly exporters will work with it e.t.c.


Cant change color space of image texture i just baked a moon texture on a new texture but the problem is now for the displacement , i cant change the color space to non colour this leads to some problem in the displacement , as you can see the color space option is blured

Its not my awnsers it belongs to @scurest , i saved the image as a png and it worked


Blender UV project missing Image? I was recently doing a Project needing the UV project modifier, but the Image selection menu appears to be missing as of Blender 2.8. I have attached both 2.8 and 2.79 screenshots to show you what I mean, Thanks!

I believe that image option and override was used only for blender internal rendering.
2.8 does not have that render engine any more, so there is no need for those options in the modifier.

The  functions didn't have any effect in cycles. The images have to be part of the textures connected to shaders.

Read the answer and the comments on the link.

Image setting in UV Project Modifier


Shadow in transparent background in blender 2.77 cycles I heard about shadow in newer version in blender 2.77 without any compositing and i don't how to do that,anyone tell me how to add shadow in transparent background in blender 2.77 cycles.

Try going in "Film" and check "Transparent" and make it Gaussian.


Add video sequence as background for 2d animation Hey so I'm messing around with the 2d animation aspect of blender 2.82 and I can't figure out how to set the background as a video sequence like how you would do if you were motion tracking and rotoscoping.. I don't know if I'm missing something here. But I'm just trying to add a video sequence as reference without having to load each individual frame as an image.

Add an empty.
In Object Data Properties make it display as Image
Choose video & set image Source to Movie


How to align two curved surfaces of the same object? I have a mesh that is folded around an edge and curved. Currently, both curved parts are already aligned very closely, but not perfectly. I would like to align them more precisely with some fixed distance in-between.
Important conditions:

the operation must be non-destructive; the surface must retain its vertices in unchanged order because it has shape keys attached
I don't care which parts of the surface will be aligned - it could be the lower part aligned to the upper or vice versa or even both aligned to some average positions in-between

How do I do that in Blender 2.92 ?
Edited:
All the modifier based solutions seem to be inappropriate because Blender does not permit using modifiers on objects with shape keys, and I really need the shape keys to remain intact for morph animations.

The Shrinkwrap modifier has an 'Offset' setting. If you make one of the surfaces the Shrinkwrap target of the other, projected along target surface normals, with an offset, would that do the trick?


how to make blender automatically use relative paths 2.8 How can i make blender always use relative paths?

I looked into the preferences but couldn't find any setting for this. apparently in 2.79 there was such a setting but in the newest version it seems to have disappeared.

This is located in Edit> Preferences under the Save & Load category, then Blend Files> Relative Paths:


Set up a render farm with multiple OS and spec I have quite a few computers at my disposal- about 100 mac pro's bought 2 years ago, just as many windows PC's of varying age (1-3 years), 50 linux machines and a good few terabytes of storage on a central server. I'm seriously considering getting everything together into a cycles render farm. How can I set something up easily and quickly which will make use of everything I've got?

You could install BURP on one or more machines, and the BOINC client on the rest. That way you don't have to worry too much about the composition of your farm. This is what we also use on Renderfarm.fi as our backend.

BURP: http://development.burp.renderfarming.net/projects/burp/wiki/How_to_download_the_code