Animation nodes bake to keyframes not working with polygon decomposed offsets I have encountered problem baking my animation nodes to keyframes. I use polygon decomposition with offsets and they work perfectly fine. Whenever I try to bake to keyframes, everything but this gets baked properly. My project is big (3600 frames) and I cannot afford not to bake it, Blender crashes.

My only theory was that it does not work because of loop being used for offset objects, but lately I have found out that another object decomposed to polygons did not work either. Both objects are rendered as their originals used without any offset effects. Can this be the cause? And if so, how to prevent this? I would like to remove dependency to animation nodes. Thanks

EDIT: I have found answer, exporting objects to alembic file solves this. Now I encounter new problem, importing alembic files to blender crashes it when importing big .abc files. Anyone knows how to solve this problem?

The Mesh Object Output node does not support keyframe baking. A list of nodes that support keyframe baking are listed below:

Cycles Material Output.
Object Attribute Output.
Object Data Path Output.
Object Matrix Output.
Object Transforms Output.
Object Visibility Output.
Shape Key Output.
Text Sequence output. (Text input is not keyframe-able)
Text Object Output. (Text input is not keyframe-able)
Curve Object Output. (Splines input is not keyframe-able)


Using Blender & Python for Batch Image Conversion, getting unexplained Runtime Errors I need to import a bunch of models which use .dds textures, which are not supported by Cycles, but they are supported by Blender. I can open such a .dds in the image editor, and press F3(Save image as) to save it as a perfectly functional .png file.

However when I try to do this through Python, it fails without a useful error message, and no new file gets created.

Here is my code:

# Set current panel to Image/UV Editor
area = bpy.context.area
area.type = 'IMAGE_EDITOR'

for i in bpy.data.images:
    area.spaces.active.image = i
    newPath = i.filepath.replace("dds", "png")
    bpy.ops.image.save_as(save_as_render=False, filepath=newPath, relative_path=True)

Which will throw this useless error:

Couldn't save picture.
D:\Path\FileName.png: No error
Error: Could not write image: No error
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "D:\ProjectPath\TexConvertTest.blend\Text", line 19, in <module>
  File "C:\3D\Blender\blender-2.79-windows64\2.79\scripts\modules\bpy\ops.py", line 189, in __call__
    ret = op_call(self.idname_py(), None, kw)
RuntimeError: Error: Could not write image: No error

I tried running it with admin priviliges, but no difference. Any other suggestions would be appreciated!

Don't use operators unless there is no other way. In this case you're making your life overly complicated with them. This is my proposed approach:

for i in bpy.data.images:
    new_path = i.filepath.replace(".dds", ".png")
    if new_path == i.filepath:
        print('Refusing to overwrite %s (name=%r)' % (i.filepath, i.name))
        continue
    i.save_render(bpy.path.abspath(new_path))

I've also taken the liberty to change a bit more:

Replacing .dds instead of just dds. You don't want to change adds-liquid.dds into apng-liquid.png. For more reliable manipulating of file paths I would recommend pathlib rather than string manipulation.
Using bpy.path.abspath() to convert any blendfile-relative file path to an absolute path. Without this, saving the file won't work reliably.
Added a check to prevent overwriting a non-DDS file.
Applied PEP 8 -- Style Guide for Python Code to your variable names.


Copy rotation constraint adjusting influence doesn't work In the gif below, I applied a copy rotation constraint to the lower bone of the upper arm. It is copying the rotation of the larger bone directly on top of it. While the influence is set to 1.00, it works fine, but the moment I turn it down the entire bone flips to a completely different direction. I made sure it is copying the correct bone, and the rotation is set to local space.

This is the effect I'm trying to achieve

It may be just a problem with the armature itself. In a separate file, I recreated the shoulder area with the same constraints, and it worked perfectly. The mesh does not get messed up when I add the copy rotation constraint or adjust the influence. If it works here, then what is causing the constraint to fail in my original file?

Try on edit mode, go to the arms and reset the roll value for both bones Alt+R


Unparent object but keep animated properties I have an object (with some keyframed animation) parented to an empty (also with some keyframed animation), basically a rotating object rotating around an empty.

Now I need to get rid of the parent but keep the same animation, with all properties keyframed in the child. How?

The reason for this is that the object is a control object in a fluid simulation, and it does not seem to work with an animated parent.

The file is here

The relevant object is the Torus parented by the Empty. There is no need to bake the fluid, because that is not pertinent to the question.

I tried the answer in Children of parent maintain current position after parent removed? but it didn't help, but then again, that question was a bit different.

You can do this by baking the keyframes. This will overwrite the current keyframes of the child object and replace them with keyframes of both its own animation and the parent animation combined, so it retains the same movement but without having to be parented.

Select the object and choose Object> Animation> Bake Action. Set the range of the animation to bake, the Frame Step (to insert a keyframe on every nth frame) and enable Clear Parents (for some reason, for your example you also have to enable Visual Keying to get it to work correctly). After that you can click 'OK' to bake.

The baking process will then begin (which could be time consuming depending on the range of the animation and the Frame Step value).


Add animation at certain frame I got this animation:

And I'd like to add another animation +- at frame 300, but it starts at the beginning. How can I do it?

I don't exactly know what you're going to say, just type "300" on the third text field (in the photo, the one with "1")


Rigify Generating Broken Armature? new to Blender but quite familiar with Maya. Been learning Blender 2.8 and all was going well until I hit the Rigify. For whatever reason it seems to have not attached the blue joints to the green bones, and not to attach the green bones to the mesh.

When I move the green lines in any way it has 0 effect on the mesh, basically all I can do on the arms and legs is translate the blue circular joints around to create the illusion of rotation. The green guys do nothing.

I've lost track of how many Rigify tutorials I've watched and how many times I've restarted, even in a fresh scene with a different character. What could I be doing wrong here?

Running Blender 2.81 on Windows 10, using the basic human metarig, have not deleted anything from the Metarig, positioned metarig in edit mode, Python auto-run is enabled.

That is odd. It looks like the Rigify rig is set to IK. You have to select one of the bones for the arms in pose mode and set the IK-FK (hand.L) value to 1.00. See picture

You can adjust this for every limb and is one of the useful options of Rigify.Hope this helps!


Why Scaling and Dimension don't align I've created a kind of a planter using curves (this tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAAnpRR2ILg)
My initial object was very small - matching my base measurements of 1mm, so I wanted to scale it up:

I couldn't find how to exactly scale it in edit mode: in the n-menu
I see nothing mentioning "dimensions". Also in "Object Properties" - I can't find the way to scale the dimensions.
So I manually scaled it in edit mode and later made it more exact in object mode.
This changed the scale - I can't say I understand how all that scaling and changing dimensions work :-(.

Now when I set the right dimensions in the n-menu in object mode and later fix the scale with CTRL+A => the dimensions "overshoot" and when I fix them, the scale undershoots - somehow I can't get the right measures in 1:1:1 scale.
Can anyone please help? - what is the CORRECT way to EXACTLY size an object?
just for reference: I want an object 120X120X140 mm (XYZ) in size
Here is the file:
Thanks,
Roy

For precise scaling, consider using Orthographic View and grid snapping.

Enable View > Orthographic View (Numpad 5), and then choose one of views, Shortcut: ~
Enable Snapping > Increment, and check Absolute snap. This will ensure snapping to grid.
The grid will scale when you zoom in and out


Rendering shadows on transparent background / converting model from cycles to internal render I'm trying to render a model over existing video footage. So I need to render the shadows on a transparent background so it can be superimposed on the footage. I know there is a way to do this in the blender render and not cycles but I'm getting stuck with this file. I can't get the model of the building to show up in the render, I think it has something to do with me converting this from cycles. And I can't get any shadows to be cast at all. I've attached a link to the .blend any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

Blender File

Someone commented with a different post with the answer, thanks!

Render shadows over a transparent background in cycles


A fast way to make clothes I'd like to know if there is an addon, a tool or something else to make clothes quickly, like makehuman or Manuel bastioni lab as regards making persons.

Thanks

Actually, MakeHuman does include Blender add-ons, such as MakeClothes.  If you download MakeHuman for free, then you can use this add-on in Blender to make clothes off of a MakeHuman base mesh created in the add-on.  You can also use MakeHuman to create the clothes from a library, and expand the selection with free downloads on MakeHuman’s website.


Low lying fog bounding object rendering as solid I'm trying to make a low lying fog, and the box I used as a boundary on the smoke rendered as a solid object, blocking everything inside it.
How can I fix this?

As an alternative to smoke you can use volume scattering.

In an example like this:

Add a mesh that uses a volume scatter node as the volume.

Using a gradient and a color ramp you can control the height and density of the fog.

Using additional textures to affect the transparency of the volume scattering you can get a less homogeneous mist.

To move the fog animate the mapping used on the textures.

Here's the file:


Can't bevel - Invalid boundary region to join faces - edge dissolve I have the tray model as shown below. [Image 1]

Here is the blender file: Trays

Which was created by boolean subtracting the spaces.

I want to bevel the top edges, but the booleans left over extra edges [Image 2], so the top is not a 'single face', and this ruins the bevel (with 'Clamp Overlap' off). [Image 3]

I have tried Dissolve Edges, but blender says "Invalid boundary region to join faces". I have tried removing double vertices. And I have tried scaling in Z axis to 0 to ensure all vertices are on exactly the same plane, then Dissolve Edges - still doesn't work.

How do I make the entire top 'one face' so that my bevel will work? Or another solution?

Thanks!

Got the answer thanks to advice on: Can't bevel an NGon

I learned that blender 'needs' the extra edges, and that having an ngon is a bad idea. So I created all the extra geometry (by extruding along normals and manipulating some vertices/faces), and then the bevel works:

(I also now created the whole mesh without doing a boolean operation).


crease in model when subdividing When subdividing I get a giant crease down the middle of my models face. I'm relatively new to 3D modeling and would appreciate any help that is given.
I have a mirror modifier and subdivision modifier on. I'm not sure what other information I would need to give. If more information is needed please let me know. Thank you for anyone that helps.
This is when the model isn't subdivided.

this is when it's subdivided

Credit goes to Jachym Michal
"Hello :). My bet is on flipped faces: Inaccurate Shading on Object – Jachym Michal 22 hours ago"
It's in the comments, just recalculate normals to face outside, a (selects all) -> Shift-N


Whenever I render the project in Evee as png files, they're all the same frames So I made a project where I had motion captured my face and have applied the movements through tracking and bones on my Head Object. I had followed this tutorial :  https://youtu.be/uNK8S19OSmA

Now whenever I play the animation in my viewport, it works perfectly, but when I hit Ctrl f12, it renders the animation as png images in the folder I had specified, but all the png files seem to be exactly the same.
I also made sure that the Render Step in the output menu was set to 1, but it did not help.
Here's the mediafire link to my project :
 https://www.mediafire.com/folder/ixo913oiuelm6/

Can anyone suggest a solution??

Thanks

Seems like the range of your Start and End was only 1 or several frames? Check if the frame range is correct.


How to bake displacement map to different object? I have copied a high poly mesh, decimated it and uv unwrapped it. Can i now bake a displacement map from the high poly mesh onto the uv map of the low poly copy and apply it?

You have to have low an high poly mesh in the same position, enabled Selected to Active in Bake options and new image texture in each low poly mesh materials(if there is more then one) texture node. Then You select high poly mesh first and low poly second and hit Bake.If you would like to know more details, here is a good tutorial on this topic


Blender Sapling addon I had made the tree using add-on in Blender render.
1.But many of the leaves end aren't join to the branch (after using texture and i don't use UV)
2.Selecting all leaves in edit mode and after pressing Unwrap the Blender stops responding(maybe due to too many leaves.)
Is there another way to unwrap.

The leaves generated by the Sapling addon are already unwrapped. You should be able to texture them without unwrapping.

Incidentally, you can unwrap them the same way that the addon does by choosing "reset" as the unwrap mode. This just maps each face to the whole UV area, so you can use one image for all of them.


photorealistic scratched Brushed alluminium I want to do a brushed alluminium piece (quite like a cylinder with little rounded corners) but the brushing is radial on the top and then linear on the sides. Making two textures is inconvenient and not seamless.

How I can do this with tha material nodes?

(I thought about 2 displacement maps but I couldn't make the thing work)

heres is a (blurry) photo of what I exactly want

Here Is What I Currently Have

OK i found the answer so I post this for other people:
I used only one bump map and I just streched the texture over the cylinder

(I used This texture https://www.poliigon.com/texture/metal-radial-001)

Here is the Uv map

here are the nodes

here is the result


Can't animate keyframed node properties with f-curve - they are disabled I need a 'pulsing' light in my scene, so I have animated a material's emmission strength over a few frames and keyframed that with 'I'.

I want that infinitely repeating using f-curve since I need it pulsing throughout any length of animation, but f-curve is disabled in the Dope Sheet (see attached), and I see nothing in the Graph editor.

(In the Dope Sheet I select the keyframes and 'shift-E -> f-curve' but it does nothing)

Anyone seen this before? Thanks

Select current node, that you want to edit in f-curve editor:

or unclick  only include channels related to selected objects and data (icon with mouse pointer)

This features restore to default state:


Edge offset evenly spaced around an asymmetrical object? Given a rectangle with a subdivided mesh, if I edge select around the rectangle and scale outward (on the X/Y in this case) it will not scale the edges evenly. The distance from the rectangle to the final landing space is uneven (see screenshot).
How do I scale an asymmetrical object evenly, so that the sides are equidistant to the origin?
Note, I extruded the selection first so you can see the uneven sides more easily post X/Y scale.

If you're creating a non-manifold mesh, as illustrated, you can use the shipped add-on Edit Mesh Tools > Edge Tools > Offset with the Extrude option.

Less long-winded if you are extruding a face-ring.. AltE > Extrude Along Normals, with Offset Even checked.


Are there any other script delays besides sleep? In my game i need a way to delay a script for x amount of seconds.
Generally I would use the following...

import time
time.sleep(x)

but when I use this Blender decides to crash.
Is there any other delays I can use that will not crash Blender or is there something wrong with the way I am using sleep?

Blender doesn't crash and you don't use it wrong. Because the BGE has only one thread you stop it for x seconds. So never use time.sleep(x) in BGE. What you can do instead is using a delay sensor, timer property or a variable that increments every frame. Here's an example for the last option that's probably the easiest one to do (taken from this thread from Blenderartists):

obj = cont.owner

if not 'init' in obj:
    obj['init'] = 1
    obj['timer'] = 0.0

obj['timer'] += 1.0 / logic.getLogicTicRate()

if obj['timer'] > 10: # 10 seconds
    #Do something

It basically just creates a property in your object and increases it every time the script is executed. If your script is executed every logic tick the property will count in seconds.

But you need to keep in mind that since you don't stop your script as it is but it starts over from the start every time it's called, all your variables defined like var = None will be gone (or have a new value). Meaning that if you have any variables you still need after delaying the script you'll have to store it either in your object (obj['var'] = None) or in the globalDict (bge.logic.globalDict['var'] = None).

The way you want it is that the script gets activated by a sensor and waits for a rotation to finish to apply a movement. What you can do is executing the script over and over again until then time is up and the executing the remaining part. And that's quite simple. Just add a property to your object (for example a property called execute). I guess the boolean type would fit the best for that so we'll use that one. Then add a property sensor, select your property, use the value True and activate True Level Triggering. Now the script gets executed when either the collision sensor or the property sensor or both are true. Now the property execute still needs to be controlled from the script. Therefore the lines obj['execute'] = True and obj['execute'] = True are needed. And the property obj['timer'] needs a reset after it's over 10 (in the example script) as well. obj['timer'] = 0.0 does the trick. And don't forget to import the logic module. Otherwise it's undefined and you'll get errors.

That's the full script:

from bge import logic
    obj = cont.owner

    if not 'init' in obj:
        obj['init'] = 1
        obj['timer'] = 0.0

    obj['timer'] += 1.0 / logic.getLogicTicRate()
    obj['execute'] = True # due to this the property sensor gets activated every logic tick and the script gets executed every logic tick.

    if obj['timer'] > 10: # 10 seconds
        obj['execute'] = False # now it doesn't get executed every logic tick
        obj['timer'] = 0.0 # reset the timer so that it can be used again
        #Do something

And here's the described logic brick setup:


How to get pixelated edges look? (PS1, DS, etc.) I've been making low poly models but I'd like them to have the "pixelated" look that models have in some (mainly)older games. This especially includes PS1 games and 3D DS games. I'm not talking about the textures, but the way the overall thing is pixelated/no smooth edges. It seems to be the way the overall graphics were rendered. It's often more apparent when things are moving, but you can still see it in pictures too. Here's a few examples:

The pillar and bookcases here

Just look at the character

This model uses pixel art textures, and pixelated edges compliment the look so well

I don't know how to best get this look but I'd really love to know, it'd help me a lot.

I have now tried the solution from the post regarding the filter width, and it works in 2.79 as well. You need to change the "filter type" value under "film" in the "render tab" to a low value. Please note that this will only be visible in the final render.


Can I set the start point of a bezier curve? I have a closed bezier loop that insists on a particular point being the start/end. Is there a way to change which point is considered the start, as in which point represents 0.0 evaluation time? I've deleted and rejoined segments all over, and every time I close the loop, it goes back to the same point.

The thumb rule is that basically, for a closed spline, the last segment created upon closing a curve is will contain the first vertex of the curve spline.
So if you want to make a certain vertex the first one, then delete the segment immediately before or after it to make that vertex the starting point. Then close that spline again.
As far as I know there is no easy way to determine which of the gaping vertex will actually become the first one. And on 2D curves, you can't tell them apart easily because there are no normal arrow indicators to guide you.
If you don't like the outcome though, you can always open the curve again, and call Switch Direction operator, either from the Search menu, Right Click context menu, or Segments > Switch Direction, reverse the result as desired then close the spline again.

For 2.8+ you can also activate the addon Curve Tools from the preferences, and under the Edit tab of the 3D View sidebar under Utilities > Set First Point allows setting an arbitrary point as first for selected splines.


How can a force be applied not to the center of a rigid body object, but to one specific vertex of the object? Scenario: a stationary bar-shaped (rigid body) mesh floating in space (i.e., neither gravity nor friction/drag), that gets a short-lived force vector applied to one of its corner vertices, where the objective is to do a physics simulation/animation of the bar's movement in response to that force.

Problem: Force Fields seem to only work on the center of the object. Obviously, the somewhat complex rotational motion that would be expected in reality is not simulated at all. I guess the solution might be to use Particle Physics instead, but I haven't been able to find out yet how exactly. Can you help me?

Simulations which include moments of inertia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moment_of_inertia)  and off-center forces can be created by combining objects though rigid-constraints, and applying forces through empties near each object. This animation shows the results that can be obtained. This simulates an object in space, without gravity, affected by forces applied at the corners.

In blender, objects behaves like point masses (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_particle#Point_mass) located at the object origin.  To simulate moments of inertia, several object must be combined using rigid constraints. This screencast illustrates two cubes affected by forces and moving based on moment of inertia.

Note: There may be simpler ways to do this...

Procedure to replicate this animation (Blender 2.76)

Turn off gravity.

Create a slab for the object which moves.
Create 4 spheres. Place one at each corner of the slab.
Enable rigid-body physics for each sphere.

Enable rigid-body, fixed constraints to connect the spheres together.

Parent the slab to one of the spheres. At this point, all of these parts will move together.
To apply forces to a corner, do the following. Add an empty. Place it just below the origin of the sphere where the force will be applied. Parent the empty to the sphere. Enable forces for the empty. Set the forces to behave like a plane. Set the forces to a tube shape. Set the maximum distance and maximum radius for the forces to keep the effect local to the sphere. This can be done at each sphere. If forces are wanted in other axes, then rotate and empty and adjust its placement.

Use keyframes to animate the forces and drive the movement of the sphere.
It may be necessary to adjust the physics solver settings to ensure the rigid-body constraints behave properly.

The blend file for the animation is at:


My FBX import doesn't have any animation and looks very deformed. Help! I'm new to blender, and I've been working on this game that has a reload animation for the First Person. When I look at the .blend file, the animation is there and the 3D looks fine. However, when I export it as FBX file and then Import it back to blender, the animation is gone and the meshes look all squashed up. I've been looking everywhere to try to fix it, but I've got no such luck.
This is what it looks like on the .blend file:

This is what is looks like when I import it FBX file.

Did you apply all the modifiers? Its usually the root of my problems when I'm exporting things to other formats.


How do I make those rhombic indents in this water bottle? Image in description I'm relatively new. I know how to make a water bottle starting with a circle and extruding upwards while using a combo of extrude and scaling to make indents, but how would I do something like this? Thanks for your help!

To make the shape, use the Mirror, Array and Simple Deform (Bend mode) modifiers:
Create a plane, rotate it, apply the rotation, subdivie, mirror:

Array it 6 times, make it bend with a Simple Deform modifier (Bend mode)

Change its shape, extrude inwards:

Give it a Subdivision Surface modifier, add edge loops to sharp the edges:

As the medium part is divided by 4 and not 6, you're going to make it apart. Draw the curve with some extrusion, delete the faces to only keep the edges:

Create another plane, subdivide it so that it has the same number of edge loops as the bottom part (18 faces), use the previous shape to cut it with the Knife Project tool:

Now again, mirror, array and bend with a Simple Deform modifier:

Extrude inwards, add edge loops:

Merge with the bottom:

Correct the shape etc:

You probably need half the edges, you can simplify whenever you want:


How to get matching voronoi texture in 2.8? I have seen this tutorial and i don't know how to get matching settings in Blender 2.82.
Blender 2.82 has different Voronoi Texture node, and I can't follow the instructions.

Old (2.7x) Voronoi texture

I would reccomend ignoring the other setting until you need them and just use the basic functions


Settings to make viewport playback drop frames in order to keep up with actual animation speed? I'm animating a character in 24 fps, but my computer is only able to playback at 20fps at the most in this scene, so when I play the animation in the viewport it's actually much slower than it should be. This makes it harder to animate because I don't actually see the animation in the actual speed it should be in.
Of course I understand this is a technical thing: my computer is not capable of drawing 24 frames per second in this particular scene and nothing will change that. A work around is to hide other objects and simplify as much as possible so the computer can keep up with the frame rate.
But there's another possible solution that other softwares use (3ds Max, for exemple): to simply drop frames in order to keep up with the real animation speed. So even though the computer can't draw 24 frames per second, it draws as much as it can but skips a few frames as not to lag behind the "real speed" of the animation. This solution also has it's down sides, but in many cases it's better to drop frames than to preview the animation in 'slow motion'.
My question is: is there a setting somewhere in Blender that does that (makes the viewport playback drop frames to keep up with the 'real speed' of the animation)? Being able to toggle between the two modes (drop-frame or non-drop-frame) would be really good.

Look on a timeline view.  There's a dropdown labelled "Playback".  If you click that, you'll get a pop-up menu.  In that menu, there's a field labelled "Sync".  Click in that field and select "Frame Dropping".


Create a rounded wireframe? Is it possible to easily create a rounded wireframe mesh in blender?

The Skin modifier works well, but it's too heavy for even medium meshes; it takes several minuets with the default Suzanne.

You can create a wireframe object with CtrlF> wireframe, but each "edge" has only three faces.

I know the trick with subsurf and loopcuts, but manually adding loopcuts will be tedious for anything larger than a cube.

Update:
The Crease option works okay, but it creates these pointed corners:

Is there a way to avoid this so it looks more rounded?

For comparison here are the Loopcut and Skin techniques:

Yes this is possible, the wire-frame tool has a Crease toggle, that gives a nicer result when the subsurf modifier is applied.

With Crease option enabled (right).

Note:
there is a bug in 2.68a, where this option only works if creases were already added to the mesh. Fixed in trunk (available in any builds newer than r60061 and will be in 2.69).
To workaround this you can add a crease to any edge before accessing wire tool.


Removing low poly cylinders edges? I've done some searching and didn't turn up an appropriate answer (I could have missed it) to my problem.

This is for a game, so the ingame mesh must be a low poly model, but I'm trying to make it look like the high poly model via normal maps.

The issue I'm having is that ingame the mesh has all the qualities of the high poly, but you also get the edges and faces of the low poly, which makes it look terrible.

Is there any way to remove or smooth those edges without destroying the shape of the low poly so that I can achieve a high quality ingame mesh without having to have a million edges?

I think you are trying to Say, 'How to remove Flat Edges'.
If you want Low poly But smooth Cylinder then;

Select The Cylinder & In Tool Shelf Click 'Smooth'

(It's A low-poly cylinder with only 24 Faces on curved Surface.)

Go to Modifiers Tab Add Edge Split Modifier To get the Caps Splited Rest of the Cylinder. This wont Split The Faces on Curved Surface. Because They Are Attached with a higher angle although you can split them in some cases by increasing the Angle of Edge Split Modifier. But I think 30 Degree will work.

You Will get Smooth Cylinder with this.


How to procedurally deform shape of an object? How to procedurally deform shape of an object?
I'm looking for something like this in c4d, is it even possible to make something similar in blender?
Object in gif was created in c4d using noise texture displacement
I believe there're a few ways to make it in blender using curve or displace modifier
As a result I want to deform a bell pepper shape to many many variations procedurally

Bell Pepper model:

Add a Displace modifier to the object, set the texture coordinates to "object". Add an empty and set it in the object field. Set the strength to a low value (0.1 for example) and set the direction to "RGB to XYZ".
Add a texture in the modifer, and click on the far right icon of the texture field, alternatively click on the checker icon on the bottom of the properties.

Set The texture type to clouds, and the color from grayscale to color. Up the size a little bit. (depends on the real scale of your object)

If your object doesn't deform correctly, you should make sure to have a dense enough mesh. Add a subdivision modifier before the displace modifier and set the divisions to 1 or 2.

Now move your empty object in the scene and the object should deform.


GPU in blender rendering can i use my amd radeon r7 265 with cycles opencl rendering in blender 2.78 b . and how to enable it ??? help me please

The AMD radeon r7 265 is on the list of supported devices: https://wiki.blender.org/index.php/OpenCL

There are two settings you need to change to enable GPU rendering.  The first is in User Preferences like you show, and the second is in the rendering tab of the properties panel.

Increase tile size for better GPU performance with non-progressive rendering.


How do I model this shape of a lipstick? I've made lipsticks before but not from this angle. I've looked at some tutorials on youtube but none seem to have this shape.

Start from Sphere and Delete X lower part, Extrude E bottom loop

Select tip vertex and enable Proportional Editing O with Root type selected

Use Boolean modifier > Exact to cut desired part under angle by Plane
(possible with version 2.92)

A bit of adjustment ...


Do I need the camera object and the light object? I want to create a 3d game with Unity so I started to learn Blender, but something that very annoy me in the 3d view window is that camera object and the light object. are they essential for modelling assets for my game or they are just for making movies?

so will it be ok to delete them?

thank you in advance.

you can delete them now and readd any number of those later on if you'll need them.

also you can hide them - there is a list of scene objects in the upper right part of the UI, click on the eye icon next to those things to hide them.


Sculpting Shape Keys with Multires Modifier? I’m modeling a character and doing expression tests with shape keys. She has a multires modifier and the sculpt mode changes I make to shape keys doesn’t seem to apply (or rather it messes up my base mesh). I looked up the topic and apparently multires is incompatible with shape keys, but this tutorial I’m following seems to do it just fine? (link should jump to the timecode)

https://youtu.be/f-mx-Jfx9lA?t=567

They also do some combo of multires and shrinkwrap earlier in the video, but their explanation is so fast I can't follow it. I don't know what they mean by "apply sculpt to base mesh instead multires layers". Does this have anything to do with my problem? (again, this link jumps to the timecode)

https://youtu.be/f-mx-Jfx9lA?t=576

Can someone shed some light on this? I’m still a beginner. Is there a way to use shape keys without applying the multires and losing the low poly mesh? Would a subdivision modifier be compatible? The subdivision modifier seems to make the toes and fingers really thin unless I make the geometry in the base mesh overlap.

Here is my model

I believe shapekeys can only modify the base mesh. Changes made to higher multires levels are not affected by shape keys. If in the multires settings Sculpt level is 0, you are sculpting the base mesh. When in the video he says "apply sculpt to base mesh instead of multires layers", he means you should sculpt the base mesh only, not higher multires levels.
Friend3D, by saying multires with shapekeys worked for him, perhaps means that modifying base mesh with shape keys didn't break higher multires levels in his test. It always used to break when that was done before Blender 2.9, though I'm not certain it doesn't sometimes still do that.


Is it possible to run multiple scenes in blender while only keeping one visible? I was wondering if it were at all possible to run a scene in blender game engine while being able to selectively toggle visibility? In other words, have a scene running physics, but only displaying it when a player selects it from a menu?

Sure, you see what the camera sees.

Ensure the camera of the "hidden scene" does not show anything.


Blender 2.8 goes off when I click on material buttons I’m a new user of blender. I downloaded and started using Blender 2.80-windows 64, 4 days ago. I’ve been using some YouTube videos to learn.
My problem:
In the shading workspace, whenever I click on “browse material to be linked button” and select a material to apply, Blender goes off and I have to restart the app. This started happening after I had named a second material and wanted to apply it. There’s a material button at the bottom right side of the UI which also causes the app to go off whenever I click on it.
I’ve no idea what to do. Has anyone been faced this challenge and how was it overcome?
My system: HP Elitebook 8560w running Windows 10 with 12 GB RAM and 2 GB GPU

Same thing Happened to me to, I found switching to Cycles Render is a bit more stable on Intel Hardware drivers and deselecting add-on`s that are not being used.


How can I add a texture with an alpha channel without affecting the base materials opacity? I'm trying to make this handle look dirty by using a texture with an alpha channel. It's actually adding some transparency to the base material which I want to look solid.

I have tried changing the order of where I plug nodes into the sockets which only makes it worse.

Render

Seeing back edges

Nodes

Texture

You are so close!

Delete the transparency node and make suitable adjustments.

Above the nodes overlay color.
The nodes select color by alpha channel.
There is no desired transparency in the final material.
There is no need for any transparent shader.
Selecting color and final material transparency are different.


Change scale of objects in array without affecting distance How do you change the scale of objects without changing their relative positions?

In a related question, objects are scaled relative to an Empty that is used as the Object Offset for an array. This also affects the relative spacing between the objects:

I'd like to accomplish a similar feat (scale an array of objects), but without changing their relative position. For example, in the following image, the objects are lined up in the desired locations, but changing the Empty's scale causes the objects (in the array) to shift:

Without using particles, how would you scale the objects of an array but keep the spacing between each object a constant?

I tried using a lattice and a simple deform, but both deformed the shape, rather than a simple scale. It might be possible to use a lattice with a number of hand-made subdivisions, but I'd really like for the scale to be easily tweaked and proportional.

Note: This is to render a single image, not a movie.

While the array modifier, with its limited scaling options isn't really suited for the task, you can quite easily achieve this using dupliframes.

Move and scale your object into the position you want the first duplicate to be in, and hit I to add a LocScale keyframe to it. Then move forwards on the timeline some amount of frames, for example 100. On this latter frame,  move and scale your object to the transformation you want your last duplicate of the object to be, and insert another LocScale keyframe. Playing the animation should now move the object between the locations of the first and last duplicates you want to have.

Go into duplication panel of the object buttons, and enable the "frames" option, and set "off" frames to
your animation length / (the number of copies you want to have - 1) - 1,
and animation end frame one frame longer than your animation.
This will take the object's position on frame 1 and add a copy there, skip the off amount of frames, and add another copy on the frame after that, and so on, ending on the final position of the object.

Because animation interpolation by default is non-linear, you should go to a graph editor, and set the curve interpolation to linear (T -> Linear)

Example result, with cube animated to go from 0 to 20 on X, with a copy every 5 units

The instance of the cube you animated will not be rendered, only the copies will be visible in the render.


Make transparent effect by nodes I need a material for my leaf. I have an alpha texture but i dont know ho to make like a transparent effect( i dont know how to name it)

how can i do like on a picture?

If your image has a transparent alpha channel (which I assume) use the alpha output of your image node as the mix factor of whatever you want your leaf to be and a transparent shader (shader mix node).
If not, there should be a black and white image in the leaf textures, use its color channels to mix the two.


Is it possible to import tensorflow into blender? I am trying to import tensorflow into blender, but I get an error when I do. It says

 RuntimeError: module compiled against API version a but this version of numpy is 9
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Users/me/project/bin/Script.blend/Text", line 6, in <module>
  File "/Users/me/project/bin/TensorFlow.py", line 7, in <module>
import tensorflow
  File "/Users/me/project/lib/python3.4/site-packages/tensorflow/__init__.py", line 23, in <module>
from tensorflow.python import *
  File "/Users/me/project/lib/python3.4/site-packages/tensorflow/python/__init__.py", line 50, in <module>
from tensorflow.python.framework.framework_lib import *
  File "/Users/me/project/lib/python3.4/site-packages/tensorflow/python/framework/framework_lib.py", line 62, in <module>
from tensorflow.python.framework.ops import Graph
  File "/Users/me/project/lib/python3.4/site-packages/tensorflow/python/framework/ops.py", line 40, in <module>
from tensorflow.python.framework import versions
  File "/Users/me/project/lib/python3.4/site-packages/tensorflow/python/framework/versions.py", line 24, in <module>
from tensorflow.python import pywrap_tensorflow
  File "/Users/me/project/lib/python3.4/site-packages/tensorflow/python/pywrap_tensorflow.py", line 28, in <module>
_pywrap_tensorflow = swig_import_helper()
  File "/Users/me/project/lib/python3.4/site-packages/tensorflow/python/pywrap_tensorflow.py", line 24, in swig_import_helper
_mod = imp.load_module('_pywrap_tensorflow', fp, pathname, description)
  File "/Applications/Blender/blender.app/Contents/Resources/2.73/python/lib/python3.4/imp.py", line 243, in load_module
return load_dynamic(name, filename, file)
SystemError: initialization of _pywrap_tensorflow raised unreported exception

How can I import it without the error? It works well outside of Blender.
I'm using Blender 2.73 and it uses my local python 3.4.2.

The problem: Blender has bundled numpy with a version not compatible with your tensorflow version.

Solution: Use a blender version with a compatible bundled numpy.

I imported it on my machine successfully with Blender 2.72b with my system python  3.4.3

I use Gentoo Linux but it should not be problem. Please try Blender 2.72b


Driven shape key on multiple bone poses? How can I proceed if I want the shape key to behave differently depending on the bone pose?

I created one and linked it to a clavicle bone to affect it when it's rotated on z-world space(it was the only one that worked)

However, It will mess up deformations when i rotate the bone to the opposite direction affected by the shape key.

I've also tried using 2 driven shape keys linked to the same bone to correct 2 different poses, but it seems one always topple the other.

Any help is appreciated :)

EDIT: I found out what's wrong. But now I need to modify the driver so that the shape apply ONLY between 0° to -20 degrees. I'm almost sure I have to tweak the curves, but I simply can't understand how that graph works.

Here is my driver setup(without touching the curves):

How can I change it to work in the 0° ~ -20° rotation range?

In the "generator" section of the dope sheet panel, you want to adjust the x-coefficient of the Expanded Polynomial.

You can see a visual explanation starting around time 11:30 in this video on corrective shape keys.


Shrinkwrap subtractive deform So I'm trying to make an effect similar to the inverse of those metal pin toys where you put your hand in and then it pops out on the other side. So I want to take a model and dynamically have it imprint this array of rectangles. I'm currently using a shrinkwrap modifier on it set to a negative project. But I'm running into some issues that I'm not sure how to solve. For instance, once my cutout model goes beyond half of it's height down, then the shrinkwrapped vertices decide they want to project on the top faces of the mesh, not the bottom. Also I want the faces remain horizontal. So right now if only 1-2 vertices are being projected, the remaining ones will sit where they are.

Shrinkwrap only calculates based on the current frame so you just need to make your collider very very tall to avoid popping out. You can always use  a custom hidden collider object that is parented to the actual object that you want to show.
In order to make the whole pins move, I would put the shrinkwrap modifier on a simple grid, and use vertex instancing to add the pins.
Basically:

Create a grid with one vertex per pin, placed in the center of where the pin should be
Create a single pin model
Instance the pin model on the grid's vertices, and make sure it aligns correctly. Don't use the align on normals option, because shrinkwrapping may change normals, causing twisting etc.
test colliding with the grid using shrinkwrap


Cannot execute boolean operation http://pasteall.org/blend/index.php?id=50320

I am using the testing ring as the difference (what I am removing)

The plane (haven't got to naming it) as the subject (Be removed from)

It won't let me use the modifier. I have tried recalculating the normals I have also tried it without the face in the center of the testing ring extruding the bottom face of the plane and and the testing ring by zero

Would appreciate the help!

https://imgur.com/a/v1CeG6H

Boolean modifier works with volumes, It will not work with 2D shapes, flat forms, one-sided geometry.

So first, you need to add some volume to your object:

So, I guess, you have a trouble with proportional editing is on, turn it off by pressing O and move one face up to make a volume. And select all and press Ctrl+ N just to make sure, that normals are correct.

Then edit a ring. Remove central faces inside the ring and add 2 face on top and the bottom like this:

This makes you boolean works.


How do I make every triangle to quad at once? Is there a way to make every triangle back to quads? It looks like i have press something wrong yesterday and now every quad is a triangle. Is there a quick solution? Or do I have to press f thousands of times now?

Tab to enter edit mode, A to select all, finally press Alt+J to convert tris to quads.
sample video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKDWW10IJoo&feature=emb_logo


how to move vertex groups in animation Ok so I have a single model that's made up of vertex groups (quite a few) my goal is to have an animation with 5 different positions and instant movement of vertex groups at the occurrence of each frame with a new position. (basically a gif like animation)

here is a view of the project:

The body and Head are one group while there's 60ish cubes for the legs and tail that have to move and form different cube shapes.

I made sure that Each cube is completely separated so they won't cause problems when moved.

I've never animated anything in blender before and have no idea how to use shape keys or anything like that (I tried but failed >.<)

Some help animating this master piece would be great!!!

(btw the 2 extra cubes floating there are needed later) I don't know what do do with the extra cubes while animating either :P bonus Q.

There does not seem to be any advantage in having vertex groups for something like this. Vertex groups are helpful for isolating selections and eventually for forms of deformations which you will discover along the way.

For now you might use the vertex groups to select and then create separate objects - the  P  key ...

...that you then can keyframe with the  I  key.


I lost an object i have been working on for hours, how do i get it back? I have been working on a doughnut almost all day, and when I started making a sprinkle, I suddenly lost track of the doughnut, I've been pressing all sorts of buttons so I'm not sure what I did, but it is nowhere to be found.
I can see it up in the top right but when I click on the name nothing happens.  I'm very new to blender.

Please press ⌥ Alt + H to unhide, or check if you accidentally moved it into another layer, or switch between object and edit modes.


Zoom window magnification What is the best method to get a magnification effect within an image.

More specifically, I am interested in getting a portion of the image zoomed in, with a boundary and the zoom lines annotated, such as is done in this image:

The best solution I have found is to use emulate a magnifying glass directly, like here:

However, I don't like that it adds distortion around the edges, and it doesn't zoom enough - which is why I added the images above.  It would be great if the images above the glasses could be in a frame which was indicating the region from which they were being zoomed into, so that you could easily see two scales in the image.

Is there a way to add a frame with zoom lines to a region which is being drawn with another camera like this?

An alternative solution is to use a Refraction shader. Since this does not require changes to the geometry of the original "image" it can be very easily animated.

The key is to be able to control the bending of each ray hitting a surface (the zoom window) into a particular direction, irrespective of the incoming angle of the ray. This allows the camera rays to be directed towards a specific area of the distant image to visually 'lift' a section of the image closer to the camera (similar to Paul Gonet's excellent answer but without actually changing the geometry).

Normally the Refraction shader will bend the incoming ray based on the refractive index and the incoming light ray path. For rays 'entering' a denser material, the rays will typically bend towards the surface normal. For rays 'leaving' a denser material the rays will bend away from the surface normal - with the amount of bending based on the angle of the incoming ray (so rays along the Normal will not be bent but those at steeper angles will be progressively more bent).

A surface with an infinite refractive index would bend all incoming rays so that they exit along the surface normal. Similarly, a surface with a refractive index of zero will bend all 'outgoing' rays along the surface normal. Since we can control the direction of the surface normal we can use this to control the precise direction of any rays passing through the surface. Note that we can't actually enter a refractive index of infinity (the node doesn't allow it), but the same effect is achieved by flipping the normal (so rays hit the surface from the "back" and use an IOR of zero.

To start with, create a plane to act as the 'start' of the pipe (the 'zoom window'). Set its dimensions as desired and duplicate it (Shift-D) to create an exact copy to be the 'end'. Create the following material and assign it to the 'end' plane - this will be used to highlight the area of the image that is currently being zoomed :

Note that the material mixes between a pair of transparent shaders based on the Ray Depth, each with different colours. The plain white transparency is to ensure the material is invisible when viewed through the zoom window (we don't want that tinted), whereas the coloured transparency highlights the section of the original image being shown in the zoom window.

Create the following material and assign it to the 'start' plane :

Note the Refraction shader with IOR set to 0.000. Flip the normal of the plane (or rotate it around the X or Y axis by 180 degrees) so that the camera sees the back face of the plane. To direct the rays in a particular direction we now only need to feed the desired direction vector into the Normal of the Refraction shader. The nodes on the left-hand side of the material achieve this by calculating the difference in location (in world space) between the 'start' plane (the lower Texture Coordinate node) and the 'end' plane (the upper Texture Coordinate node - note the use of the Object field to indicate that the coordinate should be in relation to the 'end' plane).

The 'zoom lines' are added by way of a Cube that is 'hooked' at one end to the 'start' plane and the other end to the 'end' plane - so that it stretches between the two. I removed the top and bottom faces to avoid z-fighting with the start and end of the "light pipe", then selected each set of vertices in Edit mode and selected 'Hook to new object' - this creates a new empty that can be tied to each of the 'start' and 'end' planes using parenting or a Copy Location constraint. The cube is shaded with a material to hightlight the edges and fade out towards the 'end' :

Final result :

From here it's fairly simple to add decoration around the zoom window and/or change the appearance of the 'zoom lines' cube for the desired effect.

Blend file attached

One drawback of this is that the 'target' area (the shaded part of the target image) must be close to the surface of the flat image - otherwise the direction of the light path can affect the area visible in the zoom window. This can be be best illustrated with a diagram :

If the "light pipe" does not end close to the surface then the rays will hit a region to the side of the target - a second refraction surface can be used to 'correct' the path of the rays so that they are directed towards the surface.

The only issue remaining is that the rays emanating from the end of the 'pipe' are parallel. This works fine where the target is a simple plane but will lose any sense of perspective if the target is a more complicated scene. To fix this we can adjust the refraction plane used for the 'end' of the pipe to act like a lens. Adjusting the focal length of the 'lens' will affect the depth of the perspective.

The material for this is as follows :

(Edit : strictly speaking the Vector Transform at the bottom centre of the above image should be set to Normal mode so as to produce a correct Normal!)

Note that the 'lens' is an approximation since it is a plane rather than an actual curved surface (and the calculation is greatly simplified) - objects close to the lens can become distorted. Adjusting the 'Z' coordinate of the Combine XYZ node will adjust the focal length.


Nothing happens when installing my own addon I'm trying to create a multi-file package for my Blender addon. But when I click install addon, the addon doesn't show up in the user preferences.

I have two files:

__init__.py
QuickRenderAddon.py

They are put inside a folder called RenderAddon. When I'm installing the addon, I choose the __init__.py. What am I doing wrong and how can I fix it?

EDIT: I have installed one self-made addon before. This addon shows up as it should. But that was only one script.

__init__.py

bl_info = {
    "name" : "Quick rendering",
    "author" : "Lambi",
    "version" : (1, 0, 0),
    "blender" : (2, 7, 1),
    "location" : "View 3D > Edit Mode > Tool Shelf",
    "description" :
        "Allows for quick rendering",
    "warning" : "",
    "wiki_url" : "",
    "tracker_url" : "",
    "category" : "Add Mesh",
    'support': 'COMMUNITY'
}

if "bpy" in locals():
    import imp
    imp.reload(QuickRenderAddon)
    print("Reloaded multifiles")
else:
    from . import QuickRenderAddon
    print("Imported multifiles")

import bpy
import os

class LayoutDemoPanel(bpy.types.Panel):
    """Creates a Panel for quick rendering options"""
    bl_label = "Quick rendering panel"
    bl_idname = "RENDER_PT_layout"
    bl_space_type = 'PROPERTIES'
    bl_region_type = 'WINDOW'
    bl_context = "render"

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

        # Create an row where the buttons are aligned to each other.
        layout.label(text="Quick Rendering:")

        row = layout.row()
        row.scale_y = 2.0
        row.operator("object.custom_rendering")

class CustomRenderOperator(bpy.types.Operator):
    """Render stuff, yee"""
    bl_idname = "object.custom_rendering"
    bl_label = "Preview render"

    def execute(self, context):
        QuickRenderAddon.set_settings()
        return {'FINISHED'}

def register():
    bpy.utils.register_module(__name__)

def unregister():
    bpy.utils.unregister_module(__name__)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()

QuickRenderAddon.py

#Script to quickly access different render presets,
#by clicking only one button

import bpy
import os

############# ... a bunch of function def's here, but I've
############# removed them as to not overwhelm you with code...

def set_settings():
    set_output_settings()
    set_sampling_settings()
    set_dimension_settings()

####################     Program:     ####################
render_folder = "Render\\QuickRenderAddon"
project_folder = "F:\\06_MotionPath_Dev"
os.chdir(project_folder)

#set_settings()
#bpy.ops.render.render(animation=True)

print("Program complete 2")

Not all keys in bl_info dict are required, you should fill in as many as you can however:
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Dev:2.5/Py/Scripts/Guidelines/Addons

Don't go to User Preferences > Addons > Install from File... and pick __init__.py, it will install that file only. Either

place your entire addon folder in one of Blender's addon directories (e.g. addons folder in bpy.utils.user_resource('SCRIPTS'))
or zip up the folder and Install from File... (which will unzip the folder to addons user dir)


3D Print Toolbox Intersection Check Problems The intersection checking function in 3D Print Toolbox seems to give a lot of false positives at the moment.
An easily replicable example (assuming it's a broad problem with the add-on, and not just my setup):

Open up a new scene.
Add a subdivision surface modifier to the default cube.
Set it to 'Simple' mode and the number of subdivisions to 5.
Apply the modifier.
Run the intersection check in 3D Print Toolbox.

This gives me a result of 112 intersections, despite this being a simple flat cube. The intersections seem to be random faces on the sides of the cube.
Interestingly, the following process gives different results:

Open up a new scene.
Add a subdivision surface modifier to the default cube.
Set it to 'Simple' mode and the number of subdivisions to 1.
Apply the modifier.
Repeat steps 2-4 four more times.
Run the intersection check in 3D Print Toolbox.

For me, this gives a result of 0 intersections, despite the second cube being seemingly identical to the first.
As you might imagine, on more complex models the intersection check seems to be largely useless at the moment. It seems to have a lot more trouble with geometric shapes than organic, sculptural geometry, though. Complex flat N-gons that have been triangulated (a common scenario in 3D printing) seem to be particularly problematic, perhaps because this often produces a lot of long, thin triangles?
So if anyone knows whether this is likely to be a problem with some setting, a problem with the add-on in general at the moment (I feel like it used to give better results in earlier versions), or just something obvious that I'm missing, then I would very much appreciate the assistance!
I'm using Blender 2.90.1
Thanks.

This is a real regression indeed, compared e.g. to version 2.83.4. I see you've also asked here: https://blenderartists.org/t/strange-results-using-3d-print-toolbox-to-check-intersections/1258126 (pasting to ensure others can find an answer if it's posted there).
The only solution for now is to keep the 2.8x version around and use it primarily for running the 3D analysis, then moving up to 2.90.1. I have no other solution for now.
Is the issue reported on the blender bug tracker? Given importance of 3D printing and such, I would think Blender can afford an auto test ensuring such regressions does not slip between stable versions.
Cheers.


Bottle of wine bad bottom reflection i'm trying to create a bottle of wine. I'm totally new to 3d design and family, in fact i'm a web developer but i do like to learn and try new things! Now i struggling (a lot) on this project.

As you can see i have that bad color change (or reflection) and the bottom, which i dont know where coming from, i want to remove it! I tried a lot a different stuff like changing glossy and other proprieties...so i'm here because i need your help :)

Thanks, much appreciated!

Here some shots:

:: Download .blend

As Duane stated the problem was with the wine part that were placed outside the bottle. The problem wasn't visible becouse i had disabled the modfier preview during editing. Not it works just fine! Thanks


Adding mix shaders and glossy shaders I'm new to materials in blender. I've seen in many tutorials making Glossy materials like car paint shader. Most of them uses many mix shaders and glossy shaders combined. I just want to know how it is helping to make shader surface? How does it work? Is it adding additional reflections on the shader? I don't understand actually.

Please see the reference pic for example. Can anyone explain it? It will be really helpful if there are some good references for getting a good understanding of materials in blender.

Yes, the point is to add additional reflection components without combining their reflected energy, which would make the surface appear to glow. Is it helping? Maybe, maybe not. Carpaint shading is usually less complicated than a lot of people make it out to be. People have a habit of getting carried away with a lot of crazy effects with drag down rendering time and only even look good under one specific lighting setup.

I honestly have no idea what the artist was trying to do in that first screenshot, and I'm not sure they did either. Fresnel node with IOR=1 outputs solid black, so a bunch of the nodes on the bottom of the image aren't even doing anything.

The second one is decent enough carpaint, just inefficient in some ways. The two mix diffuse shaders could be subsituted by mixing colors with the mixRGB node and passing it to a single shader. The voronoi texture is there to make the sparkly flakes seen in some car paints. (note: most modern metallic paints have very small and dense flakes that are better approximated with a rough glossy shader than trying to represent them directly with a texture).


How to add more edges in an object So, I'm an absolute beginner. I just started using Blender in order to create 3D objects to import into Unity, and right now I'm trying to create a lightning symbol. I started with the standard cube and I'm trying to reform it into a lightning, but I need to add more vertices to it and I don't know how. I've searched on Google and found a way to add more vertices but it doesn't appear to be working (I'm probably doing something wrong). Any form of help is appreciated.

It's not that hard,  but not particularly obvious either.

Switch to edge select mode using the button at the bottom of the 3D view.
Select the edges you want to add vertices to.
Hit W > Subdivide. (Not Subdivide Smooth! Unless you want your new edge to be rounded, which doesn't sound like the case here.)
(Optional) Switch back to vertex mode.

That's all there is to it!


How to extend an Image from side to side softening the hard edge of image I have an Animation of the Sun Series: see
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLR0QoztQVGtiHcwhVtd9i7qfvNkVm3m6c
as you can see from the Image below

The Corona or Radiating Fire of the Sun has a edge on both sides sometime, sometimes they extend up and down, but not much, and the few times this did happen I fixed them by hand.

This is a NASA public domain images of the Sun in AIA 193 4096x4096 format, with an Environment image texture of the Stars as background.

What I want to do is soften the hard line so it looks more like this:

I just did a fast Smudge by hand in GIMP, and asked this same question on their Forum.

There are over 33,333 images for one Year and I have over 6 years of images that I am working with, that is over 200,000 images, so I can not do this by hand in my lifetime since I am dying of Cancer my time is limited, I am old and have Arthritis as well, so it would be a very painful way to go out, and I might not finish it, so why start, but I wanted to finish this series, and go back and do years before the series started, which is 2010, so people can view the sun over a decade, but the hard edge looks bad, and I know there is a way to fix this, but I am not good enough at blender to figure it out, my guess is that I need to write a script that takes the edges of the images and blurs it side ways in an oval shape, no idea how to do that, anyone have any ideas?

I originally did the video in 1080, now I want to render it in 2160, since the originals are larger then the 3840, it should look good at 4k, but I want to fix this issue since it will take a long time to render all these images.

Update: I also started a thread on Gimp:
gimp-forum.net/Thread-How-to-extend-an-Image-from-side-to-side-softening-the-hard-edge-of-image

This will be just as hard to wrap my brain around, it deals with using a Gimp Plugin GMIC, I have no idea how to do this, so its going to be a huge learning curve, normally this would not be an issue with me, being sick is making it hard to focus on learning new things, not looking for someone to do the work for me, just looking for more information on how to do this, in a way I can figure out how to do it.

Using Gimp and a plugin, its possible to write a CLI command, using bash I can apply it to all the images, it would have to resize the canvas, then know the location to apply the effect, my guess is that this will take time, if its faster and easier to do this in Blender is a good question, both require me learning how to do it then doing it.

And a thread on BlenderArtists
blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?434645-How-to-extend-an-Image-from-side-to-side-softening-the-hard-edge-of-image

Thanks

You can blend the edges outwards by manipulating the texture coordinates to stretch out the image at each edge. To achieve this you can use an RGB Curves node to set the profile of the Red channel (X) to bend out the edges as follows :

To create the curve, disable clipping (click the round dot button and click the 'Use Clipping' button to disable it), create 4 additional control points, and set the 6 control points (by clicking each point in turn and typing the coordinates into the X and Y fields) to the following values :

-0.5, 0.0
0.08, 0.08
0.09, 0.09
0.91, 0.91
0.92, 0.92
1.5, 1.0

This will produce a curve that is straight in the middle section (resulting in no distortion in the middle of the image) and which flatterns at the ends (which will spread the extremeties outwards).

Note : Move points 2,3,4,5 closer to or further from the corners to blend less/more of each edge of the image. eg, moving point 2 to 0.04,0.04 and point 3 to 0.05,0.05 will blend less of the leftmost edge - the closer these points get to zero the less of the image edge will be blended. Similar for points 4 and 5 but the closer they are to 1.0. Moving points 1 and 6 closer in will reduce the extent of the blending.

Note the Mapping node to adjust the coordinates to add an additional 0.25 at the start and end of the Generated coordinate range.

This will spread the edges as shown :

This can be further manipulated using Maths nodes to 'curve' the edges with a Cosine operator and to fade out the edges as shown :

This can produce the following result :

This could potentially be enhanced by including noise in the blended section and/or the cosine to make it less uniform if desired.

Blend file attached


Particles not rendering I'm new to Blender so I have a feeling that the answer is right in front of me but I can't seem to figure it out. I'm doing the Blender Guru donut and have my icing and sprinkles done but when I render the sprinkles don't show up. I've researched online and everything said to make sure in the particle setting the child is set to none and Show Emitter is checked. Mine is so I'm not sure what else to do.
Link: https://gofile.io/d/wIbkpR

You need to enable the render in the Particle panel:


How do I repeat a gradient color ramp? I have a gradient on a cube with a color ramp. In the picture below you can see the color ramp is repeated just once. I would like to find a way how to repeat it 5 or 10 times. I could do this on the color ramp it self of course, but I prefer to it with a node setup.

After repeating the gradient, it should look something like this, a multiple loop of a color ramp.

You can use a Color Ramp node and a Modulo converter node to achieve this result.

Set up your nodes like this:

And this is the result:

What you are doing is you are making the Color Ramp node tell what color, and then you are mapping it using the Mapping node, and repeating it with the Modulo node. This makes it fully editable, you can change the color ramp, and the resulting texture will repeat endlessly.


list slicing seems disabled in python scripting I'm writting a small script for the script Node of animation nodes, which I suppose uses python 3.7 like my version of Blender 2.82 does, but I'm hitting a NotImplementedError when I try to slice a list.

Here's an example code that shows this

import math

#recieve v1 from Blender

for i in range(len(v1) - 1):
    p1 = v1[i]
    p2 = v1[i + 1]

    if (p1 - p2).length > maxDist:
        middleNode = ((p1.x+p2.x)/2,(p1.y+p2.y)/2,(p1.z+p2.z)/2)

        # v1[:i] = v1[0..i] and v1[i:] = v1[i..]
        v1 = v1[:i] + middleNode + v1[i:]
        #v1.insert(i+1,middleNode)

    i = i + 1

v2 = v1

# send back v2 to Blender

I'm currently finding a workaround around this, but I didnt know where to ask about this.
I've only just started using python inside Blender and would be really disapointed if I couldnt use any kind of slicing.

So, Blender use Vector to describe all vector-like value in its own API, it is not only tuple but a well defined class with methods. Check the newest API here: Blender 2.80 API(or latest)

You will need to create Vector by yourself, don't wish Blender will get over-ridden parameter from tuples and other format:

So in your code:

middleNode = ((p1.x+p2.x)/2,(p1.y+p2.y)/2,(p1.z+p2.z)/2) # type: tuple(float,float,float)
v1 = v1[:i] + middleNode + v1[i:] # <---- this one won't work

Your are asking python to stick a list of Vector to a tuple, not even a list, it will break. You can actually list it like v1[:i] + [middleNode,] to make python think its OK. But, the list is not all Vector but a tuple inserted between your list:

Python allow you to put any data inside a list and tuple, even they are not all same type.

So you should make your middleNode = Vector((x,y,x)) and wrap it into a list and concat them like before.


Video/Animation choppy in the VSE I have converted my video to sequence of tga files as I have read the work should be quicker and better as I would like to cut the video. However the framerate I got is somewhere about 10fps instead of 30fps in preview. I have tried to create proxy - 50% but it had no effect on the speed, turning on and of AV sync - nothing. I have set prefetch frames to 500 and RAM limit to 4GB as I have only 8GB. I have older graphics 9600GT, but I think it should be OK, right? CUDA is on. What am I doing wrong?

You should be able to proxy, but you haven't given quite enough information to make offering a viable answer entirely clear.

Let's assume that the TGAs are of very large dimension, say 4k. A 50% proxy would only put the resolution at 2k, which is still likely too taxing for your system if I had to wager.

Best advice is to start at the lowest possible proxy resolution and build up. If proxies are failing you, then generate your own proxies using a lightweight format such as a JPG, and keep the dimensions small.

Also bear in mind that the VSE isn't much of a compositor, and as such, you can seriously tax your realtime playback by stacking several semi-transparent strips. Even if proxied, the layers will all be composed on your CPU and will likely drag your system's performance well down. The tip that gandalf3 linked to is also relevant and worth respecting.


Do unconnected nodes increase render times? The question title pretty much says it, does Cycles and Eevee take the time to process nodes that are not connected to the material output?

Nope
They Don't Increase any render time as the lights in the scene are not scattered according to the unconnected nodes so it will not have any effect on render time but can make your blend file slightly heavier by size


How to Render Rigid Body Physics all,

Me again. I am trying to render an animation with rigid body physics. I have baked the animation to keyframe, and when I render individual images of particular frames the animation looks A-OK. However, when I try to render the animation as a video all of the images are the same. Any ideas how to fix this? You can see the Blender file here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1312U5OxQWMN1OYdCE2HPEHFYxstRbub1

I solved the problem. The problem stemmed from me having ticked the dynamic property in rigid body settings for each object. Unticking dynamic worked.


What should I do to save the final image in a .png format? I couldn't save my rendered image in a .png format. When I press F3 key it only increases my PC screen brightness.

On the Render result screen, Please follow the menu Image -> Save as Image, as shown below:

Seems that you are using a laptop, you will have some combination, you may try
function key + f3 or function key + shift + f3
If you share your laptop model number, I may pin point alternative for you!

Thanks


Why won't any faces show up in the UV Image Editor? When I unwrap the character I designed, I get only a few faces visible in the UV image editor, although all the faces are selected in the 3d viewport in edit mode.

Those faces are probably the one I added to "close" the character's head (for some reason I had a hole that I closed adding faces one by one and then checked to remove doubles). Maybe it's a coincidence.

And there is more: If I use 'circle select' (C + left-click) over "empties" area in the UV image editor (not in island mode), I can see that faces get activated in the 3d viewport (edit mode)! Of course, I have restarted Blender to see if the problem persists and it does.

All this weird behavior happens before I create an image. Once I create a new image or use an existing one as a UV, the meshes in the UV Image editor don't show up at all!

When I do all this process with the monkey figure I have no problem.

Could you have a look to my blend file and tell me what's wrong?

Blender 2.7.4 Mac OS X 10.10.3

My blend file: http://ge.tt/6CiWL8H2/v/0?c

You have 'UV Local View' turned on in the image editor. Go to the image editor and then View> UV Local View to turn it off:

I'm don't fully understand this feature but it seems to be mostly used for Blender Internal and not Cycles. There is a small discussion about it here:

https://developer.blender.org/T43042


What does the term "support loop" specifically mean? I want to enter a 3d modelling contest of a game for the skin of a character and one of the guideline was to "Remember to keep support loops for joints in the same place."
What does that mean exactly? I've been searching & searching and I can't find the answer, it just seems like some sort of unexplained jargon.
Any explanation for the "support loop" term would be greatly appreciated. (Is it just a special type of loop cut?)
An explanation in the context of my contest's guidelines would be even better.

Basically, support loops mainly apply when using a Subdivision Surface modifier. Loosely put, the modifier acts to take an "average" of the angle between two faces, and then creates a curve to smoothly transition between the normal vectors of the two faces. See the images below:

By adding loop cuts or "support loops", you can control the size (area) of the faces that are being averaged (in one direction only if necessary) which in turn affects the degree of the averaging.

By adding more loops, or changing their position, you can change the "roundness" of your object. This is often used as a method to sharpen the corners of objects with a Subdivision Surface modifier applied. If you look at the effect of the two loops near the "corner", you can see that this is similar to how the Bevel Modifier works (by default) to sharpen edges.


How to align automatically bones in edit mode and in pose mode I would like to know how to keep aligned bones in edit and in pose mode automatically. Infact I see that when I move bones in edit mode they are not in sync with the same bones in pose mode and viceversa. Why this ? I attach two pictures to show you. thanks.

Bone Edit Mode and Pose Mode are two different things.

The Edit Mode functions like an automated "freeze transform" (if you are coming from Maya). This means in Edit Mode your mesh will always stay in its initial position.
Everything you transform in Pose mode will not get changed/applied in Edit Mode. But in reverse, if you change position in Edit Mode it will be changed/applied in Pose Mode as well.

Also keep in mind, thatin Pose Mode you have various factors, that can change the final position of your Bones. For example ik or postion constraints. Those constraints are also not active in Edit Mode.

So long story short: there is no way to guarantee 100% synchronization between those 2 modes. But in general this dis synchronization comes from wrong setup in the bone constraints.
Also if you want to reset all your manually set transforms in Pose Mode go to "Pose -> clear transform".
But keep in mind "manually set" means everything you have changed by hand (with the translation and rotation tools). If there is still an active constraint that is manipulation the transform of your bone, you will not get the initial set position from Edit Mode.


Problem with fireflies and denoise on surfaces Lately I have this problem with my renders when after rendering I get weird light effects (fiereflies) especially on walls that are just plain coloured. Like in this render

( It's closed room with 5 area lights from ceiling and one from lamp) I get this effect, especially around and at objects that are "ceramic".
I tried different things that have worked in different projects, but with this one seems like nothing works (render was made and denoised with 2000 samples).

Here is 2000 samples without denoising

Thank you for any advice!

These "splotches" are because of Blender's default denoiser. They can be removed by increasing the denoising radius (something like 14 px or so). However, it has other serious side effects (eg, incorrectly blurring the sharp shadows of things like individual leaves of a plant). Try using Intel's Open Image Denoiser in compositor, or Nvidia Optix denoiser (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGAjsSNtX6E) instead. They're relatively better denoisers.


What's the best way to model organic shapes? For eg: I have this sandal I'm trying to get the edges to curl upward slightly as well as the whole toe (as seen in the insert). Try as I have over and over -- trying to deform the mesh shape using proportional editing is just not cutting it!

Any suggestions?

The current topology cannot benefit that. The basic workflow and recommended topology would be:

Create the base mesh for the sole.
Add a Subdivide Surface modifier, then apply.
Add another Subdivide Surface modifier. Tweak mesh shape with Proportional Editing.
Build the straps with operations such as Extrude, Bridge and Loop Cut.
Build other details, such as thickness.
Finally refine the shape.

Example file:


Blender crashes switching from curve editor to 3D view I've been using Blender for animation with png-based textures for a few years now and am pretty used to it crashing from memory overloads every now and again. However, I'm currently working on a project where after doing some path modifications in the graph editor, it will consistently crash whenever I try to switch back to 3D view.

I'm guessing viewing it in "material" mode is giving it some kind of memory overload when it tries to switch to 3D view but I don't know how to change the view settings outside 3D view, so I can't stop that from happening. Any idea how to change it remotely?

I'm running it on a newish Mac with OS 10.13.2 and the latest iteration of Blender.

EDIT: Fixed - Must've been a bug. After trying nearly everything I tried copying all the objects into a new file. Bulk-copying crashed it so I copied file by file, then groups of files by groups of files, until I found that one particular object was causing the crash when I tried to carry it over to the new file. I deleted it in the old file and it seems to work now.

It was weird because it was just a plane with a texture mapped on and there are literally hundreds of other planes with the exact same texture (lazy group scene - might've been a more efficient way to do it but this was what I came up with first).

Whatever the case, thank you for your answers!

You could try limiting the texture size temporarily until you can get the issue worked out. This may help avoid large amounts of memory being reserved, and causing Blender to crash.

Press ctrl + alt + u to open the "User Preferences".

Switch to the "System" tab and change your Texture Size Limit.

This should limit the size of the textures, speeding up the viewport.

I recommend NOT clicking "Save User Settings" if you don't want this limit on your future Blend files.


Cloth on an armature are deforming with ripped edges when armature pose is changed I have imported an FBX mesh and put it on an armature. The armature moves with the clothes but in a very unnatural way. Few issues:

when the armature is moved, there seems like an underlay or clothes which remains unmoved.
The right sleeve movement seems to rip the clothes mesh and does not fall on the shoulder correctly.

Attaching the project: Blend file (google drive)

The problem is the mesh of the clothes. It's solidified (2 faces, inside and outside), and quite dense. The mesh is also separated (sleeves front & back, shirt front & back, pants legs front, ...). This messes up the weight paint and the armature can't deform the clothes properly.
For animation, you want a rather low-poly mesh with a baked normal map for the wrinkles. Bake it from the high-poly version with the cloth simulation. Already 10-15k vertices can look nice. In Blender, you can add a Solifiy and Subdivision Surfaces modifier after the Armature modifier if more geometry is needed. This will not mess up the weight paint and animation.
If you have the source for the simulated clothes in another blend file you can add it to your scene (menu: File → Append...) and work with this.
If you have only the FBX file to import it.... well, that's bad because you have to fix it manually and this is some work.
There are several issues with the clothes:

the mesh is solidified. That's the worst problem. It causes this "underlay" issue. Because of this, you would need to weight-paint it inside and outside. Fix: not sure, remove the inside manually?
it's a high-poly, dense mesh and has a Subdivision Surface modifier on top of this! This boosts the number of vertices to about 700,000! Such a high poly count slows down the animation a lot and is not needed. Fix: Remove the Subdivision Surface modifier
there are 12,399 duplicated vertices. Fix: Go in Edit mode, select all vertices (A), and do a Merge By Distance (M)
the buttons of the clothes have "threads" that consist of 2,736 loose vertices (no faces, no edges, just a heap of verts). For some reason I don't know you cannot get rid of them by using the menu Mesh → Clean Up → Delete Loose (Blender 2.92.0). Fix: But you can select them all with the menu entry Select → Select All by Trait → Loose Geometry, and delete them (X, Vertices). If you want threads you can model them easily with a few vertices (it's just an "X")

After the easy clean-up, the mesh has about 160,000 vertices. If you want to improve it more you need "un-solidify" it. For the shirt is can be done by adding UV seams at the bottom of the sleeves and the neck (in Edit mode, select the edge loops, then U, Mark Seam), then you can select the inner faces when you hover the mouse pointer over the mesh and press L. Finally, delete it.
But the pants are a pain because at the cloth seams the mesh forms a cylindric shape that is inside of the mesh. The worst is that it is connected to the outside (red on the screenshot) and shares some faces. I don't know how you can rid of this easily. Doing it manually takes a lot of time.
View from inside of the pants, at the vertical cloth seam with inner faces


Expand selection (Ctrl +) to the specified direction in edit mode? It would be very handy to have an option to expand/contract a selection not in all directions only, but also to a specified one. Or to limit the selection in other way.

Is it doable in blender? Or any addons?

Here is an example (manually done) of what i would like to achieve.

If you've selected a pair of elements which bear some logical relation to one another ( e.g. along a loop, along a ring, every other along a ring ) then Select Next Active (CtrlShiftNumpad+) makes a pretty good job of carrying on the sequence you started.


How to create iridescent glossy tile material? I’ve got a tile material that I would love to recreate in Blender,

but my efforts have not been fruitful so far. As you can see in the picture, the tiles look like they're a solid color, except when light reflects off them at an angle. It's kind of like iridescence, although I'm not sure if it's actually iridescence.

Anyway, I've tried a few setups to recreate this. I tried applying a tile image texture and a kind of iridescent looking texture as a glossy texture in a mix shader, I tried this setup

from here which gave this result:

(click on the image to enlarge)

I also tried this setup, that I thought of myself,:

(Click on the image to enlarge)

which gave me this result:

(Click on the image to enlarge)

So, basically, I don't really know how to do this. Anyone have any advice or tips they could share? Thanks!

(https://www.reddit.com/r/blender/comments/4f8tb6/how_would_you_create_this_material_in_blender/) to see my results.

So, basically, I don't really know how to do this. If anyone has any idea, I would really appreciate the help, especially if you could explain it in a way that a blender beginner would understand. Thanks!

edit: basically I think the effect wouldn’t even have to be true iridescence. If somehow you could show an iridescent looking texture where light is reflected, that would solve this particular case. For instance, this could be the regular tile texture and this could be the iridescent texture.

I was able to achieve something heading toward what you were describing anyway. I'm sure that there can be a lot of polish applied to this answer, especially on the cycle material nodes, but I believe that this will suffice to show the initial intent.

Here's the cycles material:

Here's the demo of the setup:

The geometry is two parts:

The first part is the tile itself, set to a basic glass material.
Inside the tile is a highly subdivided plane with two copies of a displacement modifier, to break up the normal directions within the tile.

The cycles material does the rest of the heavy lifting.

Here's the blend for your reference:


How to move multiple objects in a concentric motion? I have a problem with a little animation. I'm a beginner...

I need to move the red objects forward to his center in a radial way.
I made a circular array and now I need to move each part (i come from 3DS and there is a function for moving only one part and sharing the movements with the others, respecting their normals.

The disc is rotating and all the red parts must move in the arrow direction. But the goal is to move 1 red object in order to move all the others (in some animations I have to move a lot of them, maybe more than 50).

It's not important to connect those movements to the disc, I can make it manually if it's hard to reach. The most important is to avoid spending time because I have to repeat this type of animation in different contexts. They are not final animations but just trials to find the correct way.

I'm looking for quick setup without bones or cinematic.

One way is to use vertex based instancing of the moving parts on a dodecagon (12-segment mesh circle). Then animate the scale of the circle.

First set a scale limit constraint on your object:


Vertex count appears incorrect after removing doubles I've only just started studying the Blender Python API. I'm writing a script (see below) to automate something I've done by hand : joining two adjacent cubes and cleaning up the resulting mesh.

After joining and removing doubles, I expect to have 12 vertices instead of 16 in the resulting object. In the Info header, this seems to be the case, but when I print to the windows terminal I still see 16. Also I do see the output from remove_double(), here's a screenshot :

So what's wrong here ? What is the right way to access an object's mesh, and count its vertices ?

Joao

import bpy

# Create two adjacent cubes and join them
bpy.ops.mesh.primitive_cube_add(location=(1,0,0))
ob = bpy.context.object
bpy.ops.mesh.primitive_cube_add(location=(3,0,0))
ob.select = True
bpy.ops.object.join()

# Expect 16 vertices, 24 edges, 12 faces
result = bpy.context.object
print(str(len(result.data.vertices)))

# Go to edit mode, remove double vertices
bpy.ops.object.mode_set(mode = 'EDIT')
bpy.ops.mesh.remove_doubles()

# Expect 12 vertices, 20 edges, 11 faces
result = bpy.context.object
print(str(len(result.data.vertices)))

With the standard API (bpy), the editmesh is flushed to mesh when you change mode. What you access is the mesh, which is still in the old state as it was when you entered editmode. What you want is the editmesh's vertex count, but you can't directly access it with bpy.

You could change mode to flush changes, but there's actually a better way in recent Blender versions:

# Load the objects edit-mode data into the object data
bpy.context.object.update_from_editmode()

If you work with the BMesh Module (bmesh) and a wrapped bmesh, the number of vertices will be immediately updated - but you may still need to flush changes from bmesh to mesh after adding/removing geometry or Blender will crash:

import bpy
import bmesh

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

print(len(bm.verts)) # 8 (in case of cube)

bm.verts.remove(bm.verts[0])

print(len(bm.verts)) # 7

bmesh.update_edit_mesh(me)


is this Workflow for texture atlas ok? I ve issues about texture atlas , I ve made
my texture atlas in blender, I ve unwrap manual , then organize the UV manual and then export to unity.

in the firts pic everything seems allright,
 I use Pack island,I think that  that is a problem, broken the scale or miss something (see the paint section) , I ve apply the scale of every object and then bring em to unity engine... I ve Loaded the meshes on Unity's heritage  and Texture to a folder.

The process in blender and (then paint :D to think the solution ??)

that is the problem

The bullet-proof method of using the Texture Atlas add-on works (at least for me) as follows:

UV-unwrap and texture every object.
Select all the objects you want to create the Texture Atlas for.
Go to "Properties Panel - Render - Texture Atlas" and click the "+"-icon to create a new Texture Atlas.

Select a reasonable image resolution, select "No_Unwrap" and then "ManualUnwrap".

In the UV/Image Editor, go to "Menu - UV - Average Island Scale" (this provides uniform texture spaces for all the objects), then "Menu - UV - Pack Islands".

Move around all UV islands, until satisfied.
Select "FinishManualUnwrap".
Bake the textures from every object individually to the new Texture Atlas.


How to Make Semi-Transparent Edges Opaque? The edges of a mesh show up as semi-transparent when rendered on a transparent background. Using the Set Alpha Node makes the edges opaque but fills them with black. I want the transparent edges filled with the same colors similar to GIMP's Threshold Alpha filter. How can I make those semi-transparent edges fully opaque with the color intact?

I'd use a set alpha, connecting the original image's alpha and color, and then add a color ramp onto the alpha.  Then you can adjust the white to whatever level you want to be absolute opaque.  You can change the interpolation to "Constant" as well.


Seeing through but not inside a cube I want to be able to see through a cube, but not what is inside it. I would use this for text that seems to be being created from nowhere, but it is actually coming out of the bottom of the cube. 1: is this possible? 2:is there a better way to do it?

If you are using Cycles and there is nothing else in the Background you could try a Holdout-Shader. Transparency must be enabled of course. A backround image could then be composited in.


Blender 2.8 Mac OS , modifiers tab missing? Hi I was using previous versions of 2.8 and now version available today, does not show the modifier tab on the right. I might get lost on UI updates?

Just realised that they will appear when I have a mesh in my scene. Thanks


Making Dirt Ground out of an Sphere? I recently got this Procedural Dirt Shader and want to use it as a Ground ( Plane?) but i cant find out how!
I started working with Blender a few Weeks ago so im not used to the Controlls.

Maybe you could help me make a Dirt Ground out of the Dirt Ball!
Thx in advance!

You just have to add a plane (Add > Mesh > Plane), unwrap it (u > unwrap) and apply the material to it in the material tab of the properties window.

(Unwrapping may not be required depending on the material setup, but can't hurt either.)


How do I increase the max number of frames? I'm currently working on a project that has a total of 304,593 frames, but when I fed this number into the timeline end point it reverted back to a solid 300,000. This is a hard limit for those wondering.

I cannot input more than this many frames, is there a way to override this? Including possible python options.

This limit cannot be changed. You cannot alter builtin properties deriving from bpy.types.Property. Every attribute in api docs is marked as readonly.
The scene's frame_end property hard and soft maximum is just set to 500,000*.

If you need to render longer video than that you will have to do that in another software.

Using negative frames or messing with time-remapping does not help.

*As of 2nd March 2016 the maximum is 500,000 (previously 300,000):
https://developer.blender.org/rBf7062b2407c65dcf85904242281a13339d47a20a


How create Action strip for more objects in NLA how can I do one clip for many animated objects? I can add objects to Keying sets and key together, but clips are created separately for every object, but I want create only one clip. Thanks

EDIT
For example: I will create robot with custom rig. Two legs, one body, two hands. I dont want use armature. And if I will make walkcycle I will have many clips for one walkcycle? It has not sense for reusing, because I will have many clips for one walkcycle. I can use Armature, but often it is not character animation. Last project what I done was house which was rotated, open roof and open windows. This action was repeated. So in Softimage I made clip and used it again. Without armatures or any bones. Maybe it is not possible in Blender.

You only need to animate one object, then copy it to the others. To copy, select all object you want to use the same animation data, the one to copy from as the last selected. Then execute Object > Make Links... (shortcut Ctrl-L), and choose Animation Data.

Note that if Location property is keyframed in the action, all objects using the action will jump to the same location. To offset from original location, use Delta Location instead. The same goes with Rotation and Scale properties.

EDIT: If you want to merge animation data of several objects, I don't think that's possible. At most, you can manipulate all of them in the Dope Sheet, where animation data for all animated objects are displayed. I use this a lot when I have to synchronize the animation of several objects (three, in illustration below) at once:


Auto-export to OBJ format on save I have the following workflow in Blender:

Edit object in .blend format
Save .blend
Set axis options in OBJ exporter
Enable normals export in OBJ exporter
Enable "triangulate" in OBJ exporter
Export .obj (and .mtl) using OBJ exporter
Copy .obj from wherever it got saved to $someDir/mesh/
Copy .mtl from whetever it got saved to $someDir/material/

This is getting pretty tedious, so I'd like to write a Blender script so that when I press save, all of the above steps happen automatically. I couldn't figure out how to attach a script action to the "save" button. Is this possible?

(Note: I want to keep the native .blend file too)

Here's my answer with most of the script credit going to zeffii from this page. I just added the Save Blend file line at the top.

You can set the output path parent folder with the folder variable. The script creates the child mesh and material folders. The MTL files are moved to the material folder at the end of each OBJ loop.

import bpy
import os
import shutil

bpy.ops.wm.save_mainfile()

folder = '/path/to/export/folder/'
meshFolder = folder + 'mesh/'
matFolder = folder + 'material/'

if not os.path.exists(folder):
        os.makedirs(folder)
if not os.path.exists(meshFolder):
        os.makedirs(meshFolder)
if not os.path.exists(matFolder):
        os.makedirs(matFolder)

selected = bpy.context.selected_objects.copy()
bpy.ops.object.select_all(action='DESELECT')

for obj in selected:
    name = obj.name.replace('.', '_')
    obj.select = True
    fullpath = os.path.join(meshFolder, name + '.obj')
    bpy.ops.export_scene.obj(
        filepath=fullpath,
        check_existing=True,
        axis_forward='-Z',
        axis_up='Y',
        use_selection=True,
        use_animation=False,
        use_mesh_modifiers=True,
        use_edges=True,
        use_smooth_groups=False,
        use_smooth_groups_bitflags=False,
        use_normals=True,
        use_uvs=True,
        use_materials=True,
        use_triangles=False,
        use_nurbs=False,
        use_vertex_groups=False,
        use_blen_objects=True,
        group_by_object=False,
        group_by_material=False,
        keep_vertex_order=False,
        global_scale=1,
        path_mode='AUTO')
    obj.select = False
    shutil.move(meshFolder + name + '.mtl', matFolder + name + '.mtl')


How to always have the local Z axis pointing upwards in the viewport? I am editing an object, use local transform orientation.

Here it is

Why is not Z, the blue arrow pointing "screen upwards"?

That would make life so my easier!

World Transform and Local Transform exists for reasons.

You can reset/apply your object's transform to make your Local Z axis pointing upward.  But there is no way to lock Z axis to point upward.  What you can try is to move/rotate your object's mesh in Edit mode, in there, your rotation/move operations won't change the local axis's orientation.