Getting "experimental" true displacement to work I have been trying to achieve a true mesh displacement on meshes for quite some time, without ever getting it to work.

If I understand it correctly, this experimental feature would allow me to easily displace the vertices of a mesh - or to create new mesh vertexes where needed - to get a displaced mesh in the result, based off an image, but without using a bump map (simpler, faster?).

This all sounds very exciting in theory, but I am having a really hard time finding examples or tutorials that are both recent and whose links function. So I think there is the need for a question here which will call upon detailed and recent answers to bridge that gap.

I'll start with a simple ico sphere:

Then, following Aldrik's answer here, I will change the Feature Set to the Experimental one:

I then add a pink granite image to the mesh:

Mark Seams, Unwrap, add image in the UV Editor:

and finally, in the Object Data panel, change the Displacement method from Bump to True as explained in Aldrik's answer:

no result yet:

if I click "Use Subdivision" this is what I get (so I won't click it right now):

Looking into the Node Editor, nothing seems to have changed with the Displacement of the mesh:

so I tried to replicate the node setup seen in the first image of this similar question (Linear isn't an option, Clip, Single and Repeat are):

... but the result is a white ICO Sphere, similar to Image 1.

So, can the "Experimental Feature Set" be used to create actual displacement, and modify a mesh?

This is what I'm trying to obtain - but with the image of the texture actually displaying on the mesh (image from here):

.blend file:

A UV Sphere is a better mesh to try this feature on (is made out of quads, and not triangles like the Ico Sphere and should subdivide better).

You need to plug the displacement texture to the displacement socket on the material output.

Render Feature set has to be in Experimental.

Displacement in the mesh section has to be set to True or Both.

To preview, you have to be in Rendered Mode in the 3D viewport. Other Shading modes will not reflect the displacement.  Any changes made on the settings will not refresh in real time, you have to exit Rendered Mode (go to Solid or Wireframe Mode) and re-enter Rendered Mode to update (alternatively you can press the Tab key twice).

The more subdivisions you have on your mesh, the more detailed the displacement, but it will also have an impact on the performance of your computer.

Remember that this is still an "experimental" feature, so expect some unexpected results...

click on the image to enlarge

In my opinion, given that this feature is largely experimental, I'd still use a displace modifier. Is more predictable, responsive and easier to control. The results can be previewed in real time in solid and texture mode as well. Also, setting some subsurf modifiers in the right order can make things a lot nicer looking, and with a lot more control on the number of subdivisions.
You can always apply the modifiers to make the displacement permanent, which you couldn't do using the displacement node.

Here's the same displacement, but with a displace modifier instead:

click on the image to enlarge

UPDATE:
The option was under the Mesh properties at Blender version 2.76 but in more recent versions it has been moved to Material Properties > Settings >
Displacement.


Attribute ImageFormatSettings.file_path doesn't exist I'm trying to make a script and I'm having trouble with this line:

bpy.data.scenes[0].render.file_format = 'PNG'

And it prints this error:

AttributeError: 'RenderSettings' object has no attribute 'fileformat'

Of course it's no big issue to click the mouse and set it, but I want to find out why it doesn't work. When I hover over the File Format menu in the render settings I see this:

bpy.data.scenes["Scene"] ... file_format

I noticed that there are a few other commands which show "..." in the attribute's "path". I checked out the docs, it doesn't say that file_format is deprecated. I'm using the latest version and Blender's default renderer.

Any idea why it doesn't work?

It seems that the path you tried to use only exists in a context for UI elements, from properties_render.py:

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

    rd = context.scene.render
    image_settings = rd.image_settings
    file_format = image_settings.file_format

    layout.prop(rd, "filepath", text="")

In a script you could use something like:

bpy.data.scenes[0].render.image_settings.file_format="PNG";


How can I find out the correct order of vertices to create a quad face with bmesh? Let's say I have 4 vertices and want to create a quad face with bmesh.
Is there way to figure out the right order of the vertices to not get a face like this

But rather a face like this.

From 4 verts you can construct 6 edges: throw away 2 longest that don't share a vert and from there you get the correct vertex order.


Add material to text's bevel? How do I add one material to the whole text (excluding the bevel) and a separate material that only applies to the bevel of the text?

For example, if I wanted to have this tile material on the whole text but gold on the text's bevels, how would I achieve that?

I figured it out: Go into Edit Mode, select some of the bevel's Faces, Click Select → Select Similar → Face Regions (this will select the text's bevel), create a new Vertex Group and assign these selected Faces to it, create a new Material Slot and assign these selected Faces (from the Vertex Group) to it, add a new Material to this new Material Slot and then you're done!


Object displacement over LOD I am creating a scene for the game engine and setting up the ground now. I have different levels of details and thus want to keep my pieces as different objects. I duplicated it several times and added a Displace modifier set to Object Coordinates. The coordinates point to a plane object. I got the seamless result (as expected), but when the ground reaches where LOD switches level, I get this problem:

I guess this comes from the mesh being used by LOD, which is just invoked from its initial position. It also doesn't get the coordinates from the object using it. Do you have a way around ?

The simple answer is that modifiers aren't fully supported by the Game Engine.

While modifiers will typically be rendered by the Game Engine, they won't be updated by the engine. So what's happening is the displace modifier is being altered by the Game Engine at the point where it needs to change LOD, but because modifiers don't update correctly, it's just reverting to the flat version without displacement.

This answer has some additional information: Make modifiers update in the game engine

You're not out of luck, though. There are other ways to implement LOD in the BGE.


How do you avoid dependency cycle between two soft bodies? How do you setup two softbodies with collisions without getting a dependency cycle ?

A depends on B through Softbody Collision

B depends on A through Softbody Collision

Those two objects interact with each other. It’s pretty obvious that one depends on the other through collision. Why does blender consider this as a problem ?

This doesn't cause any issue when there are only two softbodies but when the scene goes more complex some objects get a simulation delay of 1 frame because of the dependancy, which is unacceptable.

Note : I can't merge the softbodies into a single mesh and use self body collision because the objects are meant to be linked to different bones

Just add a collision simulation to both the soft body objects, and then they both collide into each other.


Increase the length of the z-buffer I am using the examples already given here, i.e.
Convert depth/z value to RGBA

The problem I am facing here is to increase the depth. If one sees clearly a blue pattern starts from a close distance of the camera. I need to push it further. Please

I have tried changing the values of the nodes but it is not working.

Your setup is fine. You take depth Values (a number of some value per pixel representable as an grey scale image). And dependent on this number you chose a color from the HSL spectrum.
So you just need to scale your depth value right to controle for which depth wich color should apere.


Blend4Web not detected by Blender 2.8.3 I have a simple question on the installation of Blend4Web on Blender 2.8.3.
I add the path of Blend4Web file to the Blender. But I cannot find a Blend4Web Add-on, nor an engine window that I could choose Blend4Web.
Is it an issue of the Blender version?? Should I install an older version to be able to use it??
Thank you in advance!!

Sadly, per this discussion thread at the Blend4Web website, it would appear that the latest version of Blender that supports Blend4Web would be 2.79, so the answer to your question would be "Not yet supported, unless you install and use Blender 2.79 for that specific purpose."
On the bright side, there's nothing at all preventing you from using older versions of Blender on the same system as a newer version of Blender, and the Blend4Web folks kindly host a download of Blender 2.79 on their downloads page for your convenience, and I do believe that you can still find older versions of Blender on the official Blender website if you look around a bit.


Rigify, Model detaches from rig when animating I used rigify to rig a robot model I downloaded. When I click the play button in the animation window the model shrinks and detaches from rig (see pictures).
I am new to Blender so thank you in advance for your response.

This has happened to me a few times. It is likely because vertex groups in the mesh are misnamed (wrong bones connect to certain areas), particularly left and right being mixed up.
The shrinking thing is strange. Did you make this animation yourself? Is it possible you animated the mesh's scale by accident?
There is a possibility that some physics simulation is also set up on the robot and is conflicting with the armature.
If none of this helps, please share the blend file, then someone will look at it and be able to tell you exactly what's going on.


How to introspectively modify nodes from Python Ok, this is quite a weird case.
TL;DR

Why (and how is it Pythonically possible that) Blender's nodes dont have the __dict__ attribute.

How to programatically add attributes to them without this attribute. (No, I am not going to use exec(), thank you very much. The incoming data is royally untrusted.)

First problem
I am trying to deserialize a bunch of nodes that I previously saved to JSON. I have one somewhat working solution to this, but it involves exec(). The basic idea is that I have an assignment written like this into JSON:
"a":b
Which should as the file is read become:
<reference to newly created node>.a = b
However I don't want to run the actual thing for security reasons, so what I actually want to do is this:

Add the field a to the node
Assign the field to whatever b is. (B is always a litteral value)

So, naively I tried this:
<reference to the node>.__dict__[a] = b
Python didn't like it:
'ShaderNodeMixRGB' object has no attribute '__dict__'
Yet when running dir() on the node, '__dict__' shows up. As the very first result, to be exact.
I find all this very puzzling: I didn't even know an object in Python can exist without a __dict__ attribute. Now I know the nodes are some kind of twisted wrapper around C and in some cases the very C is a wrapper around OSL. But still?
Nevertheless, I continued my search. Trying a static assignment on the node didn't work. (By this I mean <reference to the node>.foo = "bar". It seems to be blocked by __slots__. A simmilar assignment worked in the code with the exec(). And I honestly can't say why.
At this point I started thinking something was terribly wrong with my machine. I switched over to another, which had:

A different processor architechture
A different operating system
A different version of Blender (the first thing was with an unstable one)

but still it had the same problem. Thinking some external factor had changed, I tried the old code. And it worked.
So what is going on?
Second problem
One may set an attribute's attribute's value (<reference to node>.inputs["foobar"] = "baz" being the most common case) in the file. This works like a charm on the exec()-based version. However, I don't see how I could make this work withous exec().

Blender data does not have a __dict__ because it doesn't persistently store a Python object for all data. That would be very memory inefficient.

Set value for built-in and user defined properties of the node type:

setattr(node, property_name, property_value)

Set node input socket value:

node.inputs[socket_name].default_value = socket_value

For properties for one specific node you can use the method mentioned in the other answer:

node[property_name] = property_value


How to achieve this spline and particle effect does someone have any idea of how to achieve the following effect in Blender?

the source of this file is http://www.rawandrendered.com/camp-2016-titles

I tried to apply curves to a deformed surface, but that was a bad idea. the distribution of the curves looks like a magic texture, but working with such didn't work either.

Is this something that can be done with animation nodes? Or with a particle system?

Some advice would be helpful.
thank you in advance!

EDIT - further Question

Hi Omar,
thank you very much for help. I have deep respect for your knowledge in both math and programming. I hope the edit of this post is the right place to ask further questions.

I tried to follow your steps, but until now, i ran into two troubles. Please refer to this image:

As you mentioned, for the sake of using AN 2.0, i replaced the vector noise node with an expression node. But how can i combine the expression node with the group output? The Problem occurs at the point marked with "A" in the image above.
Second, at the point marked with "B", i did not manage to get a loop output. Would you be so kind to explain how this can be achieved?

Thank you very much for your help!

*EDIT Related question: Trace visualisation in 3D - how to wrap curves onto a 3D mesh

Animation Nodes Version

Animation Nodes v2.1 includes a very fast and efficient noise functions and so I will be using this version in my answer. However, I also provided an alternative using older versions of Animation Nodes, though it is not as efficient as I stated above.

The Theory

The image you posted above is a trace visualization for what is known as a divergence free vector field. To demonstrate what that mean, consider particles that move along the lines you see above (The field represents their velocity), if the field is indeed divergence free, those particles will never collide. That's what gives this visualizations their beauty, the lines never intersects.

Mathematically, a vector field $F$ is divergence free if $\nabla \cdot F = 0$. In the the paper "Curl-Noise for Procedural Fluid Flow", Robert Bridson described a method to generate those divergence free vector field from simple Perlin noise. He proposed computing the curl of a vector field composed of Perlin noise to get a divergence free vector field, it is a known identity that the curl of any field is automatically divergence free. In particular, he proposed an equation to compute the "2D curl" of simple perlin scalar fields which is exactly what we want to get the visualization above. The equation he proposed is:

$$
\vec{v}(x, y) = \left( \frac{\partial \Psi}{\partial y}, -\frac{\partial \Psi}{\partial x} \right)
$$

Where Psi is the perlin noise field. Don't worry if you don't understand the equation, I will walk you through it. It can be noted that the computed vector is just the gradient rotated by 90 degrees.

Now that we know how to compute the the vector field, we can generate the splines by tracing the vector field using what is known as Euler's Integration, if you don't understand this method, don't worry, you will get it through our implementation.

Implementation

To compute the partial derivatives in the equation above, we are going to use what is known as the Central finite Difference method. I will leave you to study that for study and practice and I will just do the implementation directly:

We just take the input vector, move it a bit to the right and a bit to the left, evaluate the noise at the new location then take the difference. Same for the $y$ axis. When we make the amplitude the reciprocal of the epsilon (the bit we moved the vector by), we won't have to divide by it.

Next we will make a loop that computes the points of the splines using Euler's method:

We start at some vector, compute the curl using the equation above by using the group we did above. Then we move in the direction of that curl and reassign the initial location to be the new location.

Next we will make a loop that generates the splines for multiple points:

And by viewing the output splines:

We get something similar to what you want to achieve. Now by adding the value of the perlin noise as the z location of the spline points, we get exactly the result you are looking for:

It should be noted that there is much more efficient way to make this, but this is the easiest way, if you want to know the other way, let me know.

This should be it for splines. I think particles are not hard to create and you should create them as a practice. Let me know if you need elaboration or help on any part.

Edit 1

Using Older Versions Of Animation Nodes:

The only node that is not available in older version is the Vector Noise node. The mathutils python module provide an alternative, but it is much slower and doesn't give a lot of control, and that's why I didn't want to use it.

All you have to do is replace the Vector Noise node with an expression node that takes a vector list and returns a float list with an expression:

[mathutils.noise.noise(x) for x in vectors]

Making sure you have imported mathutils and named the vector list vectors:

There are also other types of noise that you can experiment with, you can find the API here.

Deform It Along A Grid

Notice that in the Splines loop, we set the z location to be the value of the noise. Instead, you can just set it to anything else. In your case, if you want to deform it along a grid, you can use a BVH tree:

And yes, this works with lattice deformed grids as you may see in my example above.

Edit 2

What To Put At A

The hidden nodes are Get List Element Nodes with indices, 0,1,2,3 from top to bottom.

How To Add A Generator

In the Loop Input node at the far left, there is a plus button called new Generator Output, search for vectors after pressing it.

File for v2.0 to study

Edit 3

To assign different colors to each spline, you should separate splines to different objects (This is your best option), this can be done using such node tree:

Then assign the material to all the generated splines by adding it to a single one, selecting all and then Ctrl+L >> material. For this material, we will use such a node tree:

Which will assign a random color to each spline.


Interesting Append Behavior. Possible Bug? So, I create an object and save it. I then create a new blend and append it. No problem so far.

I resize the appended object to fit the scene. I then duplicate it only for the duplicate to appear at the original size. I cannot get the duplicate to mimic the altered size.

I have tried saving the scene - reopening it and then duplicating but somehow the appended object refuses to forget its original dimensions.

The possible bug I refer to (in the title) is: If, at some point during my modelling I used Ctrl+Z to undo changes. My (appended) duplicated and resized duplicates all change back to their original dimensions and clump together.

Is there a way to force an appended object to accept altered dimensions as its default?

Thanks guys - have discovered the problem. There seemed to be an 'animation' attached to the object. Once I deleted this everything works fine. Not sure how the 'animation' came about?


Can this be done by physics in Blender? I saw this and I'm trying to figure it out how can I make this by physics features. I tested some different ways, but since I'm not advanced in this feature of the blender, I want to ask you if it's possible or not and if yes, could you kindly give me some advice?

Here is the image:

Thank you in advance.

This is definetiley possible.

I can recommend to check out Curtis Holt's Video on Cloth Simulation in Blender 2.8 The effect you want to have is definetly doable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAswwNpfe0U&t=0s&list=LL_vK2be21gQ3oN11drA3XBA&index=8

You would have to start by modelling your base structure and the plastic in the state of "not stretched out".


How do I prevent losing contrast when compositing semi-transparent images? I have a scene with an object and a mirror object, simulating a mirror floor. If I fully composite the image and save it with a white background from blender, the mirror image looses a lot of contrast and detail. However, if I save it as a transparent image and add a white background in Photoshop, is is much clearer. How can I get this result straight out of Blender?

My .blend: https://www.dropbox.com/s/38xzr2y717cjygk/mirror_trans01.blend?dl=0

You can get a better result by using the Mix node's Multiply blend mode instead of the Alpha Over node.

Here's the node setup (you first need to create a unified mask to use as a factor for the mix node):


Why is the letter 'm' not displaying correctly in the interface in Blender 2.82? Recently something happened in my Blender and I  noticed that m is not displayed properly. Can someone tell me reason for this? Only small m is not displayed properly, Capital M is displayed ok. Even when I rename something small m is displayed like show in below picture. What I did last was, I installed Hardop 0098 Add-On.

You can try configure another font to check if something is broken on font side inside your computer. Here where you can do it:

You can also try:

install a brand new blender (on a different folder)
load the default configuration file

good luck


Can I constrain a vertex to never move beyond specific coordinates? So, when editing I would love to be able to move my vertices around but make sure they never go below a certain plane - for instance, make sure I can't move them below a Z-value of 0. Is there any way to do this, while still having the freedom to move the vertex in all 3 directions?

Unfortunately, you can not limit vertex transformation in Edit mode.


Recalculate image users after user_remap Using python, I remapped some images using image.user_remap(new_image). The images are assigned correctly, but the user count is wrong.

How can I force to check if an Image really has users without restarting the file?

Currently it is somewhat random which Images are image.users==1 and which don't. Some which are actually used return 0 and other which don't return 1.

If I save the file like this and restart, actually being used images will be missing, leaving unassigned UV textures in my mesh. However, activating every Image will set image.users to 1, regardless of wether they really have users or not. This way image.users will be correct after saving and restarting, but I need to rely on this data without restarting Blender.

Please see the attached file. After running the script, user counts will be wrong. Wrong Images will be deleted after restarting.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4jywkbwadnnqgl4/Test2.blend?dl=0

Here is a list that shows which images I wish to keep and remove.

Kept images
(old name                   new name)
CrackedSand2.tga.001        crackedsand2.tga
Desertrocku.tga             Desertrocku.tga
Desertrocku2.tga.001        desertrocku2.tga
G3_Desert_Rock.tga          G3_Desert_Rock.tga
G3_PlainSand_02.tga         g3_plainsand_02.tga
G3_PlainSand_Blut.tga       G3_PlainSand_Blut.tga
G3_PlainSand_Blut2.tga      G3_PlainSand_Blut2.tga
ROCK6.tga                   ROCK6.tga
ROCK6u.tga                  ROCK6u.tga
SandDunesBig.tga            SandDunesBig.tga

Removed images
G3_PlainSand_02.tga.001
G3_PlainSand_02.tga.002

Pattern: Remove ".001" etc. suffixes. Note that the case is supposed to be set to lower case for used images after line #20, but this fails to work correctly because the user count is wrong already.

The subject is more a Python problem than a Blender problem except for some points I'll try to explain below:

Original code:

def cleanup_images(case='none'):
    import os.path
    for image in bpy.data.images:
        filename =  os.path.basename(image.filepath)
        correct_index = bpy.data.images.find(filename)

        if correct_index == -1:
            image.name = filename
        else:
            #May remap an image on itself
            image.user_remap(bpy.data.images[correct_index])

The problem of that is an image can be remapped on itself, and if you do that, the image looses its user = 1 which becomes 0 (this is the point to report to the bug tracker in my opinion or at least documented).

Second attempt, I though that enumerating may be the solution:

def cleanup_images(case='none'):
    #rename all images to their filename
    import os.path
    for i, image in enumerate( bpy.data.images ):
        filename =  os.path.basename(image.filepath)
        correct_index = bpy.data.images.find(filename)

        if correct_index == -1:
            image.name = filename
        elif i != correct_index:
            image.user_remap(bpy.data.images[correct_index])

But this does not work, very possibly because user_remap may change the indexes so that some images continue to remap on themselves.

Correct code:

def cleanup_images(case='none'):
    #rename all images to their filename
    import os.path
    for image in bpy.data.images:
        filename =  os.path.basename(image.filepath)
        correct_index = bpy.data.images.find(filename)

        if correct_index == -1:
            image.name = filename
        else:
            correct_image = bpy.data.images[correct_index]
            if image != correct_image:
                image.user_remap(correct_image)

We no longer use index but direct objects comparison to apply user_remap.

For information, an alternative approach with no use of indexes:

def cleanup_images2( case = 'none' ):
    from collections import defaultdict
    import os.path

    #Organize images by filepath
    toClean = defaultdict( list )
    for i in bpy.data.images:
        toClean[i.filepath].append( i )

    for key, value in toClean.items():
        #image to keep is the first
        toKeep = value[0]
        #the other ones are remapped to the first
        for i in [i for i in value if i != toKeep]:
            i.user_remap( toKeep )
        toKeep.name = os.path.basename( toKeep.filepath )


Merge (fuse) two meshes together I want to merge the pipe and the bottom part together so it looks like the pipe is welded to it. I tried merging using ALT + M but the result is not good. How can I do this?

Reference:

Create Hole. Mesh LoopTools Addon. Extrude and Shape.

Simplified Shapes.  A Box representing your lantern.
Suggestion change your mesh model construction technique as indicated below.
Faces Removed. Counting edges to match a destination shape.  Appropriate vertex density.
Square hole shaped to circular with LoopTools Circle.
Extruded.  Shaped with Proportional Edit. We see a continous well shaped extrusion rather than two meshes islands intersecting.
Now you can align the base with the two (side supports) to create a continuous surface.  You can use Bridge Edge Loops for that.  This is not shown but is certainly shown here at BSE on other questions.
Weld Pattern Options

Torus modified with Proportional Edit / Displacement Textures as an optional separate Mesh.
Higher (localized) vertex density for weld patterns
Texture paint
Not Recommended Particle System unless Spheres


How do i align mirrored objects How can I make a carbon copy of an item from the right hand side of my model, so the dimension's are the same? And after that has been done, how can I have it automatically snap in on the left hand side, so that the position of these items is exactly identical? In other words, I don't want to move anything myself manualy, what I need is to mirror, and after mirroring use some function in blender to place it in exactly the same position on the left hand side of my model, without me touching it. I have heard of the terminology snapping and aligning, is there such functionality in blender?

If it is something symmetrical, you may also be able to get away with using an array, and offsetting it however you see fit as well.


Twisted Cylinder (Hyperboloid of one sheet) I want to create a mesh like this:

with a vertex on every edge-crossing so that every face is kite (nearly rhombus) shaped.

The above image was created just by rotating the top of two cylinders in different directions and placing them on the same position.

But here I wouldn't have these many small faces and the result of the overlapping twisted cylinders looks like this in solid display:

Can you please tell me if there is a way the create these kite-faces. Is there a tool that automatically creates a new vertex and a face for every intersection of edges?

I think this solves the issue with moonbots answer. Use the TinyCAD addon to create vertices at the edge itersections

EDIT steps:

rotate top face 90 degrees (R, Z, 90)
duplicate (Shift-D) and mirror along any axis (e.g. Ctrl-M, X)
press W and select TinyCAD ⯈ XALL
press F to fill faces
press W and select Remove Doubles


Render semi-transparent volume with cycles I want to render an image of a fire in cycles, but as a png with a transparent background.
Without a transparent background, the output image looks like this:

But as soon as I tick the "Transparent" checkbox under Render->Film, all the semi-transparent parts of the image are not rendered and it looks like this

which is clearly not what I want. I've tried to add a holdout shader or a transparent shader to my smoke domain material nodes, but it didn't help. I've only found answered questions for semi-transparent glass, but none for volumes. My node setup looks like this:

but the transparent shader doesn't do anything.

Has anyone an idea how to fix this?

Thanks

Edit: I've just changed the flow type to "Fire and Smoke" instead of "Fire" and now the semi-transparent parts render too, but I don't want the smoke.

PNG images can't represent objects that emit light but not block any light, due to the way they represent transparency. For that reason, you must always have some amount of volume absorption for the emission to be visible when saved as a PNG image.

If your volume has zero density, you could use the flame to drive the volume absorption density, adding just enough to keep the flame visible.

The render and compositing image representations and EXR images can represent such objects, but this information can't be preserved when displaying in the image editor or converting to PNG. This is one of the subtle differences between associated/premultiplied and unassociated/unpremultiplied alpha.


How to export texture after editing nodes/uv i am new to blender but i can do few basic things..i want to create a texture for a football kit with model extracted from a game..

i have base texture produced with image editor (ps)

how can i export texture then i'll fix the rest in image editor
i cant modify model because that is the model the game understands

Thanks

I think it would be easier to adjust UV map, then to change distorted texture, but you can do that, by baking Diffuse color to new texture, then exporting it as an image.Like this:

Below you will see, how it needs to be done in Blender Internal in your particular example.As the shirt is made out of 3 different models, I joined them for baking purpose, after that you won't need the duplicate, so you can delete it, cause If the game expects 3 meshes as a shirt input, then probably exporting 1 mesh will not work.


How to Keep Rig Always In Front in Blender 2.8+? Ever Since Blender 2.8 whenever I proxy an Armature I have to Manually set it In Front in the Viewport Display Options. I was hoping if there was a way to permanently do that in the File before Proxy ?

What do you mean by permanently doing that in the proxy?
I would say select the armature and then in the inspector you go to the bones and go to visibility or something like that and then click always in front.
feel free to comment below


saving image from Blender to a specific path I'm trying to save an image to a path which the user can choose, but I always get the error-message:

line 64, in execute
    image.save_render(path+"output/Image0"+str(counter)+".png", scene)
    RuntimeError: Error: Could not write image '//../../../testOut/output/Image00.png'

here's how the var path is set:

path = bpy.props.StringProperty(default="/", subtype="FILE_PATH")

[...]

path = self.path

scene.render.image_settings.file_format='PNG'
image.save_render(path+"output/Image0"+str(counter)+".png", scene)

image.save_render() cannot use relative paths, which are returned by default by "FILE_PATH" StringProperties. To convert the path to absolute, you can simply do:

path = bpy.path.abspath(self.path)


How to apply a displacement texture consistently across a mesh? I jumped in off the deep end into blender a few days ago, and it's been an interesting ride. Right now I'm trying to apply a displacement to a mesh, but the displacement looks like it is only applying properly to the top and bottom of my object. Here's an image that contains what I've been trying:

In the image above, you can see that the displacement applies correctly to the top of the surface, but on the side of the object it has the appearance of rain drooling down a vertical surface. How can I get it to apply to the object in a uniform manner? I've been watching youtube videos and scouring the 'net, but I haven't been able to stumble on an answer yet.

If you use an image as texture to drive the displacement, but use generated or object coordinates you will get the error you show, where the texture will be applied only on the X and Y axis of the object, but will smear or repeat along the Z axis.

If you UV unwrap your object and use UV coordinates you can then map the displacement accurately onto the surface of the object.


VSE questions (playback, proxies, etc..) When you drag and drop footage in the VSE, is there a way to have audio and video linked in order not to have to select audio and video + G key everytime moving files in the VSE? Preview window struggles to play 2K and 4K footage smoothly despite frame dropping checked and a fast desktop computer. Any way to get smooth playback without proxies? Playback at the 1/4 of the resolution for example? If this isn't possible, is there a way to generate proxies in a batch way?

You can reduce the frame dropping by increasing the following values in the User Preferences.

To move video and audio track as one unit select both and combine them to a meta strip Ctrl-G.


How to simulate sculpt layers in Blender? I'm wondering if there is a way to sculpt some details on top of existing, already sculpted details, and then change the opacity of newly sculpted details? For example skin pores on top of a wrinkles geometry.

It's like working with layers, where you put a layer on top of the layer underneath and then set the opacity individually for each layer. This apporach is used eg. in Mudbox, please take a look at the following tutorial on 8:20 mark:

https://youtu.be/fh0mZcblVJ4?t=503

Does Blender support that approach or is there a clever way to simulate it?

You may be able to use the Sculpt settings in the Multires Motifier in that way. I generally just do all my sculpts on one layer but setting up multiples in this way may do the trick. Hope this helps.


Why aren't my emitter particles appearing in the render? 2.8 I am trying to make rain in my scene and I have created 2 particle systems for this, one that is the rain falling from the sky being emitted out of a circle and the other is the splashes from the ground. The ground is working fine but the particles from the sky aren't appearing in the render. I have the render button on in the outliner and I can't figure out what's going wrong.

some fixes:

goto the raindrop object properties > Instancing > switch to None
go to the emitter, clear the bake cache and recalculate the bake
just to check that drops now are in the render: go to shader and
make the drop more visible (for example make the shader less transparent)

result:


Hide Objects behind Specific Plane I am trying to find ways to hide objects behind specific planes.

That is a "tv" with a cube behind it, I already have it so when you look at it front on, the back disappears.

However the effect is that of "Non-Euclidean geometry" so the blue cube shouldn't be seen outside of the tv, but if I add another transparent cube/plane and apply the same shader to the cube, its not going to work.

It is going to block off both the cube and the back of the tv, and now the cube doesn't show head on.

My question is, is it able to do it based on groups or plane id's? I know the shader is using directly the transparency values. but just not sure how else to do it.
These are the shaders:

(Transparent Plane/Cube)

The tv back, and the blue cube (obviously blue color for cube)
Sincerely, Nota

I went to recycling this answer and after simplifying I end up with the same node tree, that seems to me is working. So I guess I missed something ... so if you can explain missing part closer.


I want to Integrate Animations with my friend Me and my friend want to work with the same rig(skeleton), integrating our own animations that were made in the same rig(skeleton) but in different workspaces. For example, my friend will animate the walk of the rig and I will animate the crouch of the rig.

How do we incorporate those animations together?

Once you have defined your rig, you can both save your animations as actions that can be re-used. You can the share the files back with each other and use the append option in the file menu to combine them into one scene if you need.

Actions are blender's way of storing animation sequences for re-use and combining with others, and if you intend to export this to another program like a game engine, are also very useful for managing this.

You may also find this related question helpful: Reusing Animations for another character?


How to set this strange anim. keys in outliner? I'd like to set animation keys from python script (for automatization). In this particular case can't find command for outliner context. I need command to set keys for 'TOGVIZ' and 'TOGREN'. (Not by picking that pictograms.)

The little camera and eye icons you use to change visibility in the outliner are toggling object properties.

The eye icon links to the hide property, while the camera icon links to the hide_render property and the cursor is the hide_select property.

To insert keyframes using python you set the property and then use keyframe_insert to create a keyframe with that value.

obj = bpy.context.object

obj.hide = True
obj.keyframe_insert('hide', frame=1)
obj.hide = False
obj.keyframe_insert('hide', frame=10)

obj.hide_render = True
obj.keyframe_insert('hide_render', frame=1)
obj.hide_render = False
obj.keyframe_insert('hide_render', frame=10)


How Can I Merge a Separate Edge Loop into a Face? I have an edge loop that is part of the same object as the box shown below. I would like to merge it into the face that it is on top of to make the geometry all one.

Knife Project

If the vertices and box are two separate objects, great! If not, select one vertex of the edge loop, key Ctrl + L to Select Linked, key P to open the Separate menu, and select By Selection.

Move the loop away from the object on the Y-Axis a bit. Key Numpad 5 to enter Orthographic View. Key most likely either Numpad 3 or Ctrl + Numpad 3 (whatever view shows the loop in front of the box).

Select the edge loop, then the box, then key Tab to enter Edit Mode for the box. Select the one face you wanted to add the vertices to, key Ctrl + I to Select Inverse, and key H to hide the other faces. Key Space, type Knife Project, and key Enter. Key Alt + H to reveal the other faces.


How to Stop a fluid domain? I have a fluid sim and it keeps on going for 20 frames and them becomes a cube. How do I stop this sim after 8 frames?(In a beginner!!)

You can go to domain settings under cache -> reduce the end frame


Manipulate BGE logic bricks through python Is it (if at all) possible in Blender 2.6+?

If not, will future versions of Blender support it?

I see some old posts (this and this) saying that it is not possible. However, I found a recent post referring to operators under bpy.ops.logic package that allowed me to add sensors and controllers from python.

bpy.ops.logic.sensor_add(type='ALWAYS', object=my_obj.name)
bpy.ops.logic.controller_add(type='LOGIC_AND', object=my_obj.name)

However I am not able to find any way to link them from python. I tried following (but did not work):

new_controller = my_obj.controllers[-1]
new_sensor = my_obj.sensors[-1]

It throws AttributeError saying that object has no attribute 'controllers' :-/

This is done using the bpy.types.Sensor.link method, e.g.

import bpy

obj = bpy.context.object
sensors = obj.game.sensors
controllers = obj.game.controllers
actuators = obj.game.actuators

bpy.ops.logic.sensor_add(type="ALWAYS", object=obj.name)
bpy.ops.logic.controller_add(type="LOGIC_AND", object=obj.name)
bpy.ops.logic.actuator_add(type="ACTION", object=obj.name)

# Newly added logic blocks will be the last ones:
sensor = sensors[-1]
controller = controllers[-1]
actuator = actuators[-1]

sensor.link(controller)
actuator.link(controller)


Missing import option for 3ds format in the GUI? I would like to import a .3ds model into Blender.

I looked at this video, and this thread, both are very old and don't seem to apply to the version of Blender I am currently using (2.76).

I have tried the FILE > IMPORT command, which gave me this menu:

It seems weird that previous versions of Blender (as I suppose was the case because of the links above) would support 3ds and that the import function went away in later versions.
But I'm still new to this, so I might just be looking in the wrong menu.

First you need to activate the 3DS import addon.
To do that:

Go to the user perferences window via the keyboard shortcut CtrlAltU, or the File Menu --> User Preferences.
Go to the addons tab
Choose the Import-Export addons from the left vertical category list.
Find the "Import-Export: Autodesk 3DS format" row, then press on the checkbox on the right.
If you want this to be available every time you open blender, Click on the "Save User Preferences" below.

Or visually:

After you do this, you'll have the 3DS format available in the File --> Import menu.


Help accessing code from addons without making the user enable the addon themselves I'm trying to access some code in an addon that ships with blender (bool tools and extra objects) and I want to be able to automatically import the code I need without having to make the user enable the addons manually. I know if I can find the name of the package I can import it but I can't seem to find the name of the package.
Thank you!!

Addons are modules
In blender the addons folders are added to the system path.  Addons are imported as modules.
The preferences displays the path, hence for "Bool Tools"

its the name of the py file object_boolean_tools  and for Add Mesh Extra Objects,

the name of the folder containing the __init__.py file. (add_mesh_extra_objects) Standard python module "stuff".
To import the bool tools module:
>>> import object_boolean_tools
>>> object_boolean_tools.
                         AddonPreferences(
                         ApplyAll(
                         ApplyThisBrush(
                         Auto_Boolean(
                         BT_ObjectByName(
                         BToolSetup(
                         BTool_AllBrushToMesh(
                         BTool_BrushToMesh(
                         ...
                         shortcut_list
                         unregister(
                         update_BoolHide(
                         update_panels(

to import a method from it, etc
from object_boolean_tools import update_panels

Enable the addon
To enable an addon without the user having to do it manually, recommend usage of the Addon Utilities module.  Consult the docs. eg there is an option in the enable method to pass an error handler.  A simple example of usage, check if the addon is enabled, if not enable it.  Could flag its enabling in register and if-so disable in unregister.
>>> from addon_utils import enable, check

>>> loaded_default, loaded_status = check("add_mesh_extra_objects")
>>> if not loaded_status:
...     enable("add_mesh_extra_objects")
...
<module 'add_mesh_extra_objects' from '/home/batfinger/blender-git/xxx/bin/2.91/scripts/addons/add_mesh_extra_objects/__init__.py'>

Note on my system the boolean tools addon does not register.


Grease Pencil Render border missing When I started drawing/ animating each frame there was a border that showed where the rendered view would end. Recently it disappeared and I am wondering how to get it back.

I think you are talking about the camera view - Numpad 0  (if you have a camera)


Dark after Shade Smooth SHADE SMOOTH:

SHADE FLAT:

TOPOLOGY:

Honestly, i dont know why i have darkness in my mesh and how to solve my problem

Smooth shading averages the normals on the model. It approximates the smoothness of the surface on any geometry that is actually not smooth so it is indeed possible to have geometry that looks completely wrong with smooth shading because there is just not enough of it to look smooth.

You should expect smooth shading not to look OK on any sharp corners/edges. If you want the model to look smooth, you should not smooth those corners and edges for example using Auto Smooth and it's Angle parameter:

Or you could bevel the edges as well to provide adequate amount of geometry for the smooth shading.

You might also want the Normals to be averaged in a way that would take face areas into account so flat parts of your model look correctly and in 2.80 you can now use the Weighted Normal modifier with Weighting Mode set to Face Area:

In previous versions Blender did not have such a functionality natively and an add-on such as Yet Another Vertex Normal Editor (Y.A.V.N.E.) had to be used for this.

Messy and untidy geometry with overlaping elements or non-manifold geometry will cause issues like that as well, this is why it's called untidy or messy. You should avoid concave polygons, n-gons, overlaping geometry, non-manifold geometry, double vertices and things like that to avoid theese problems with shading as well.


Operators: Updating a CollectionProperty using the exec() method I have defined an Operator class which has a CollectionProperty like this:

class LinkMakeProxy(bpy.types.Operator):
    ...
    my_list = bpy.props.CollectionProperty(type=BoolProperty)
    ...

First, the type of my_list is a tuple:

(<built-in function CollectionProperty>, {'type': <built-in function BoolProperty>})

which I am having trouble wrapping my head around, since I expected some mutable data-structure with data rather than functions.

My question is, how can I access and update this property from the exec method of the operator? Similar to what is done in the example given here.

The type parameter of CollectionProperty is expecting a subclass of bpy.types.PropertyGroup. So you would need something like:

class MyBool(bpy.types.PropertyGroup):
    bool = BoolProperty()

Then in your operator, you use that type in your CollectionProperty:

my_list = CollectionProperty(type=MyBool)

You add to your collection by using add():

mybool = self.my_list.add()

...which gives you an instance of the PropertyGroup and the properties it contains. Here is an example that makes a list of booleans based on the selected vertices in the active object and prints the list:

import bpy
from bpy.props import CollectionProperty, BoolProperty

class MyBool(bpy.types.PropertyGroup):
    bool = BoolProperty()

class SimpleOperator(bpy.types.Operator):
    """Tooltip"""
    bl_idname = "object.simple_operator"
    bl_label = "Simple Object Operator"

    @classmethod
    def poll(cls, context):
        return context.active_object is not None

    my_list = CollectionProperty(type=MyBool)

    def execute(self, context):
        obj = context.active_object
        for vert in obj.data.vertices:
            mybool = self.my_list.add()
            mybool.bool = vert.select
        for b in self.my_list:
            print(b.bool)
        return {'FINISHED'}

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

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

register()


How to duplicate insets/extrusions on objects I've been wondering how it's possible to nicely duplicate extrusions on an object's surface.  For example, if I had the following window:

And I suddenly had the idea to put another window on a different part of the surface, I couldn't just duplicated the vertices of the window, because it doesn't include it's interaction with the rest of the mesh.  It would just do this:

Obviously if I was making a building with windows, I would plan ahead and make extra loop cuts for the windows I'm planning to put there, but sometimes after thoughts occur and knowing how to do this would also be very useful in other circumstances.

In the case you discuss, I'd duplicate the window, plus the surrounding four vertices, that is, the ones you used the inset tool to create the window from, so that you're copying 5 plane surfaces, instead of one. Then, delete the edge (and only the edge) behind the new location of the window—that is, the edge in the green box,

which will have the result of deleting the two faces of which it is a defining component as well. If your copy of the window includes the four faces around the original window itself, then the fact that the illustration contains merely a rectangular outline of the new window suggests that after you made your new copy of the window by duplicating the desired vertices, edges or faces, you separated the duplicated elements into a new object by pressing the P key, and choosing "by selection". Otherwise, even in solid shading, you'd see all five faces in the new object, just as you do in the original window.. If this is the case, you need to select the new window and the old side you duplicated it from in object mode, and join them into the same object by pressing CTRL-J. Then create new faces around the new window as needed.

This technique might result in some awkward geometry right around the new window, as shown,

complicating UV mapping, shading, and other bits, but if these become a major concern, they can be dealt with later, by deleting a larger part of your mesh, and redoing the geometry.


Weight paint mode wont paint on the mesh So i downloaded this fully rigged model from blendswap,

and i made adjustments to the model in edit mode, i using the knife too made some cut to imitate that of a shoe to the model and thought that i would weightpaint on manually if the weights are not applied to the new vertices.

back in pose mode.. i pose the rig and confirm that the new vetrices did not get the corresponding weight of their neighboring verteces automatically, so i enter the weight paint mode to fix it and

the weight paint wont draw anything, none of the brushes work, i cant get to fix it!!
here is how it looks

here is the .blend

To do this you need to select which vertices you need to paint first then paint them. So select the vertices as shown below using shift + right mouse click, then paint them using left mouse click. Updated .blend file can be found here.


Need Help Removing a Green Screen, Movie Clip Node missing I have a small clip with a green screen background that I want to make transparent (or just my other video behind it). I have looked at lots of tutorials that feature the node editor to do this. However, when I try to make an input node, "movie clip" is not an option like in some of the other tutorials. I have blender 2.75, is it moved? Is it missing? I am very confused and don't know of any other way to make this work. Thanks for the help!

First of all make sure you are in the compositor (not the material editor or the texture editor) and have Use Nodes enabled:

To add a Movie Clip node use ShiftA Input->Movie_Clip

Select your image and add a Keying node. Connect your image and select the color you want to use as key.

Then just plug that to an Alpha over node to mix with the 3D scene (or other image source).


How to achieve temporary Slow Motion? I want to achieve a slow motion effect during a non-cut scene, which means that the scene (with animations, rig-animations and maybe physics) will start with normal speed, has slow motion somewhere in it and then gets to normal speed again.

The only way I found to change the speed of the scene without manipulating tons of pre-set keyframes is to use the time remapping feature (e.g. 25:100), but I'm not able to set a keyframe to it, so it is permanently. How do I get a kind of temporary slow motion without cutting footage or rendering with 120+ fps and then composite the slow motion effect?

Thanks beforehand for taking time to read through!

All physics have some kind of setting that lets you control the speed at which they're run. This setting can be keyframed or assigned a driver, so for your case, keyframe it to 1.0 at frame 27, then to 0.25 at frame 28 and 63, then 1.0 again at frame 64.
If you want it to gradually slow down and speed up, set something like for example 1.0 at frame 20, 0.25 at frame 28 and 63 and 1.0 again at frame 70.
With particles it's set as the time between frames instead, but the idea is the same. I'll come to that.

For Rigid Body physics, this is located under Rigid Body World in the scene properties. This affects all rigid bodies in the scene.

For Soft Body physics and Cloth simulation, it's set in the physics properties per object.

For Smoke simulation, it's set in the physics properties for the domain.

Fluid simulation is a bit special, as it runs over the entire range of frames being rendered.
The Start value defines what point in the simulation will happen at frame 1. The part of the sim that comes before this time has to be calculated, but gets discarded.
The End value defines what point in the simulation will happen at the last frame.
As an example, let's say you have a 10 second animation, and you want the whole fluid sim to run at one quarter speed, just set start to 0.0 and end to 2.5. These 2.5 seconds will be stretched to take the 10 seconds of your animation.
The Speed value speeds up or slows down like for the other simulation types.
These are set in the physics properties for the domain.

For Particles, as I mentioned before, the setting controls the time between frames rather than a speed factor. To slow down, decrease the Timestep value, to speed up, increase it. To keep the accuracy, you may want to increase the Subframes value, to do calculations in between actual frames.
It's set in the particle settings per set of particle settings. One set of particle settings can be used by several particle systems.


Is there way to access animation-nodes attribute in object-material with OSL script? In this example, I have assigned a velocity attribute with animation nodes and then trying to access the velocity attribute with OSL script in object-material. But it is not working, why ???

I don't think Blender allows such use of properties, see Add custom object properties as usable attributes. For alternative methods. See the Coloring Objects section of this answer.


Axis Bands of Rotation Gizmo Difficult to See When I have an object selected and switch to the Rotation Tool, the axis bands on the gizmo are so thin I can barely see them. Is there a way to increase the thickness of these lines? THX

I submitted a bug report and received the following reply... This is indeed a known issue on Mac, which uses more strict version of OpenGL. Marking as known issue, but even so this is quite problematic on Macs, especially since they all ship with retina displays, making the 1px lines extremely thin.


wm.context_toggle for Toggle On / Off X-RAY Armature ( Context attribute ) hi im looking for correct context attribute to toggle on / off with shortcut key at input editor
XRAY armature because i find use it often and decided to make it as shortcut

i tried the following context attribute but gives error

active_object.data.show_x_ray
Object.Show_x_ray

thank you for answers

Set your custom keyboard shortcut like this:

Key points

When setting toggle shortcuts use wm.context_toggle
When it pertains to the active object use active_object. followed by the last part of your context attribute name, which in this case is show_x_ray
If you add this to the list under the Object Mode section the shortcut will only trigger X-ray display while you are in Object Mode, which frees up your keyboard shortcut to be used for something else in Edit Mode, etc. If you add it under 3D View (Global) the keyboard shortcut will trigger it in all 3D View modes.


How can I bake alpha in cycle nodes-images to make leave textures for my trees? I am trying to make scenes with natural looking trees in Blender.
In Blender cycles I try to bake texture images for the leaves but I cannot manage to bake the alpha.

Start with a picture of leaves. This one I took is not the best example since I did not put the leaves on a neutral background which makes selecting the background in a 2D editor less precise.  Just put the leaves on a sheet of paper when taking the picture and things should work out.

(if you have difficulty seeing detail of the images I've posted, you can right-click the picture and select View Image.  It will open up to it's full size.)

Now in GIMP or preferably Krita because the selection tool is much better, select the background and flood fill this selection with black.  Invert the selection so the leaves are outlined and fill them with white.  You may also want to blur the mask a bit so the leaves have soft edges.  This will help to hide artifacts left from the selection tool.

Now I baked the leaves using the following nodes, you can set the render samples very low for baking Emission. There should be no noise at all using 8-16 AA samples.
Remember to increase the color value of the Emission shader all the way to full white.  It's default is 0.8.  Set that to 1.0 instead.

This is the result I got from the bake.

And the final node setup up for the scene render,

Update:

To separate leaves like this you can enter Edit mode with the plane selected which has the leaves all together on one sheet.  This will make it easier to UV unwrap the separate leaves.
So now add a bunch of planes and scale them to the size of the leaves on the image plane.
Now select everything, including the plane which has the leaves already and press the 'u' key and select Project From View(bounds).  The original plane will act as a container for the unwrapping algorithm and this will keep the new leaf planes proportional to the image they will be mapped to so no extra adjustments will have to be made at this stage.

Now locate the UV maps area that is shown in the following image and click the + sign to add a new UV set and give it a name that makes sense to you.  Also make sure to activate it and click the camera icon at the right side.  Whatever is selected here will be the image that is baked to.  Now this time for Unwrapping, I used the one at the top labeled 'Unwrap' and I set the margin to '0' since the edges will be transparent and there will be no seams.  There will also not be any mip-mapping issues because of the transparency if you decide to also do something like this for a game.

After they were unwrapped and the original plane was deleted, I selected all the 'leaves' and separated them using Separate p->By Loose Parts.  Now return to Edit mode, select them all and use  Ctrl +  g to make them a group.  You can now use this group in the Particle generator settings to add them all in together but still as separate pieces.

To bake the color, I used the baked texture that I showed how to make from the steps earlier.  Here is what it looks like now.

And I also did the same thing for baking the black and white stencil.  I just replaced the baked texture node with the stencil node from the earlier steps.

Next, I used Texture Paint mode to clean up the edges for both the newly baked textures.

I then sketched out a quick wireframe for a tree then used the Skin Modifier to fill it out.  Applied the modifier and clean the mesh up a bit then added a Sub-surf modifier.  Now I added a particle system set to Type:Hair and adjusted a few settings.  I also used Weight Paint mode to control the leaf Density and Length. Here is the final result.


What are anticipated use cases for Is Diffuse Ray (Light Path Node) in Eevee? The Blender documentation says the following about the Light Path node support in Eevee:

Eevee has no real concept of rays. But in order to ease the workflow
between Cycles and Eevee some of the outputs are supported in
particular cases. This node makes it possible to tweak indirect
lighting in the shader.

It further provides a list in which Is Diffuse Ray is indicated as "Supported" in Eevee.
What does this mean, exactly? What are some use cases in Eevee in which Is Diffuse Ray is valuable?
For context, this question was motivated by my noting that I can use Is Diffuse Ray in Cycles to render an object's mesh as transparent but to retain the effect of light hitting the object's mesh and bouncing onto other objects. For example, I have this simple scene:

If I switch to render preview in Cycles with the material pictured below on the sphere, then the sphere itself doesn't appear in the render, but the light scattered through its surface onto the rectangles does:

If I switch instead to Eevee (note: with Screenspace Refraction, and Blend Mode=Alpha Blend set in Material Properties, and with Screenspace Reflections enabled in Render Properties), then in the render preview, the sphere still "disappears"/is fully transparent, but the green light scattered off/through the object's surface and onto the rectangular objects does not appear:

This example left me wondering: this does not appear to be an intended use case for Is Diffuse Ray in Eevee -- but, if that's so, then what are some examples of its intended uses in Eevee? Or, is this an example of an intended use case, and I am missing a relevant Eevee setting(s)? Mathematical/algorithmic explanations of the difference between Eevee and Cycles behavior in this case would also be appreciated, if available.
Version notes: the above was produced in Blender 2.90.0 alpha, but I have seen similar behavior in 2.83 and 2.90 (non-alpha) as well.

While with regular viewport rendering alone it is hard to find a use case, while using probes it can have a visible effect.
If you use an Irradiance Volume probe and bake baking indirect lighting, you use it to change object color for direct visibility, while indirect light sees it differently.
In the example below the sphere color is is red, but through the Is Diffuse output we tell the rays bouncing off the surface it is blue, as such you can see a faint bluish tint to the color bleed effect on the wall.


Can't get rid of that white-alpha-border! If I press the "include alpha-button" in the Mix-Color-Node, I get white borders. Otherwise i've got a perfect alpha but no blue background.

Use the Alpha Over Node instead of the mix node. Color -> Alpha Over

This will also work if you use an image instead of a RGB node.


Why can't I add keyframes to dimensions I exported an .abc file from Marvelous Designer which doesn't show any keyframes of the animation in blender, but in the 3D view it animates.

However when I click the play button it shows the dimensions changing, indicating an animation is present, and I was wondering if there is a way to add keyframes as I am looking at exporting a USDz file with animation.

Dimensions are just a byproduct from actual geometry size multiplied by a factor determined from objects Scale property.

They are a user-interface convenience to show resulting object dimensions rather than just the actual Scale property of the object, as such they can't be animated directly.

To have size change over time animate the scale of the object instead by keyframing Scale X, Y or Z.

If you still need to obtain accurate dimensions or particular sizes, adjust the intended dimension so you get the length you want on that specific axis, let Blender calculate the corresponding Scale factor automatically, then keyframe the resulting factor from the corresponding axis Scale property instead.


scissor car lift animation rig objects not following path i can not make the piston follow the cylinder correct way
and i can not hook the lift been to the bottom platform
i put a link for a youtube video where i explain
https://youtu.be/Y07GYkT2fMo
hope someone can help me

Markom3D has recently done a small YouTube series on modelling and rigging a SciFi landing gear here. He explains how he modelled the pistons at 6 minutes in part 1 and how the model is rigged in the final part called 'How to rig a SciFi landing gear'.
Hope that is of some help.


Selecting vertices in solid mode selects random vertices? I've been having this issue since I started using Blender, but just kind of went along with it. Now its becoming a genuine issue though. Whenever I select vertices in Blender (Box select, Lasso, C, etc) While viewing the object in Solid mode, Blender also selects other random vertices.
I'm using 2.78. I do not feel a blend file would help as this problem has been reoccuring every time I use blender; it's not isolated to a specific file.

This issue does not occur when selecting vertices in wireframe mode;

This might do the trick:

Go to 'user preferences'
Under 'system' search for Window Draw Method
Change it to 'No Multisample'
(this disables the antialias in the 3D view).


Create a race track on a landcape with banked corners I would like to create a racetrack on a landscape with banked corners.

I am able to start with a landscape, add a Bezier curve, and use the curve and array modifier to create a track which follows the terrain and is level. However, I would like to bank the corners. Is there a way to do this?

For example, is there way to follow a curve and independently specify the angle of rotation in along the curve?

The blend file for this example is located here -

Duplicate the curve, then use the Follow Path constraint with Follow Curve Checked.

With the constraint, the banking is influence by the curves tilt. CtrlT in curve edit mode.


How to keep this child bone in place? I have setup like this:

When I rotate the ROOT bone, Bone2 changes its position, even if I've unchecked "Inherit Rotation":
Gif: http://gfycat.com/PracticalDiligentHyracotherium

I would like to keep "Bone2" in place, no matter what rotation the ROOT bone has. How to achieve it?

.blend file: http://www.pasteall.org/blend/38113


Driver: How to I create a driver for door lock that is opens and closes base on the door handle angle(+/- degrees)? I have been trying to create a driver for the doorTypeOneBarBig that will lock it and unlock it base on the rotation of the doorTypeOneHandle. The doorTypeOneBarBig should be in the lock position(push outward) when the doorTypeOneHandle is at 0 degrees. The doorTypeOneBarBIg should be in the unlock position(push inward) when the doorTypeOneHandle is at either 45 or -45 degrees. I have attached the blend file in the link GithubRepoBlendFile. Will someone please download the blend file and take a look at it. I have already spent 5 hours trying to figure it out myself. Please help. ;(

First you need to remove the Limit Location Constraint from your "Bar" object. This prevents it from moving along the Y axis.
Next select your handle, right click into the X rotation and select Copy As New Driver
Right click into the Y location of the "Bar" object and choose Paste Driver. Right click again and choose Edit Driver. Set the Evaluation to Scripted Expression and change it to (abs(degrees(rot))-45)*0.0002-8.626. (Might need to change it if you want exact values). It should look like this :

No need to tweak the F-curve properties unless you want a special interpolation.
Result :


Difference Materials Link vs Copy Material to selected What is the difference between selecting several objects and using "Copy material to selected" in the Materials Properties pane, versus pressing CTRL+L -> Materials?

They behave differently if the Active object has less Material slots than the Selected object:

Copy deletes all slots and add those existing in of the active object
Link replace only the first slots, and keep the extra slots unchanged.


Finding the distance between active and farthest vertex in vertex selection I am trying to write a script for modeling certain forms and this part is really challenging for me as a beginner.

I'd like python to tell me the distance from the Active Vertex to the Farthest Selected Vertex. Furthermore I'd like the distance to be "flattened" on one Axis, in this example Z. Meaning, I'd like python to find the distance between the Active and the Farthest Vertex within my selection, but then disregard the height.

Vectors

Test script run in edit mode, with selected verts and a vertex as active selection.

Sort the active verts by distance from active vert.
Select the last, ie the furthest vert, from active vert.
Use only the xy components of each to calculate the projected length required.

import bpy
import bmesh

context = bpy.context
ob = context.edit_object
me = ob.data
bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(me)
# assume have active vert
av = bm.select_history.active
verts = [v for v in bm.verts if v.select]
#verts.remove(v)
verts.sort(key=lambda v:(av.co - v.co).length)
# furthest vert
fv = verts[-1]
# distance between verts
print((fv.co - av.co).length)
# distance disregarding local z component
print((fv.co.xy - av.co.xy).length)

Result when run on default cube, all verts selected

3.4641016151377544  # 2 * sqrt(3)
2.8284271247461903  # 2 * sqrt(2)


Portal effect in EEVEE? So I'm trying to make a portal effect for an animation, and unfortunately the only way i know of for doing this effect is by using layers and the compositor in 2.79, which were replaced with the collection system in 2.8:

Is there a way of creating an effect similar to this with EEVEE's render engine?

View and Render Layers are working similar to 2.79 but sadly EEVEE can't use Material/Object Index Pass. So you can't make a portal using this method. Read more here and watch video from the links: Blender 2.8 - Object index pass in Eevee

How to replicate it using different method

I've created two Collections - Portal and Behind_portal and also two View Layers accordingly.

To exclude Collection from View Layer - select it and press E or RMB > View Layer > Set Exclude.
In Compositing I've used Color Key to "remove" color of Holdout shader assigned to portal. I've also scaled a bit result and blurred it, as Color Key is not 100% precise.


How can I choose randomly from five Mix RGB nodes? I have five separate color ramps for leaf colors and I want
the leaves to choose their colors randomly.
My setup looks like this:

But this doesn’t work as I want:

I want it to looks like this:

But with my gradients.
I tried adding a round math node after the object info, but that didn't have any effect.

Thanks to Allen Simpson, it works!

As mentioned, if you can combine your color choices into one ramp, you can plug the Random output directly into that.  To do this with this level of control, you need to do some math to convert the random output into a straight 0 or 1 over a given range.  I've done this with a compare node.

The bottom compare node is everything in the range of .8 to 1.0, which, at the end of this group, is the same as the top color input (in other words, that top input is "everything that's not caught by these other compare nodes").  That's why it's not connected to anything.


Texture paint brush isn't working I have an image linked, and I have the right brush selected, but I still can't paint on the object. I tried on another image on the same object just to test and it worked, so I tried deleting and making a new image but it still doesn't work.

While I'm at it I might as well knock two birds with one stone. With the head I'm working on all the hair particles I have added shows up ridiculously bright and really shiny every time I go to render, which is strange because I was following a tutorial and theirs seemed perfectly fine.

Go into edit mode, select all, and then press Ctrl N to correct your normals. Then try painting and see the paint show up.


How to sweep a profile along two rotation axes? (how to model globoid worm gear) I'm new to blender and I'm looking for some help of modeling a globoid worm gear. Here's a website that explains what globoid worm gear is.
There's this video that demonstrates modeling a globoid worm gear, and it's method is calculating the parametric equation of each tooth profile and generates the worm directly. However, I find this
"adding material" method against the natural sense of worm making process ("removing material"), and that' where my question came along.
What I wish to achieve is modeling the globoid worm by removing material of a hourglass-like cylinder object and here's by ideal steps

generate a hourglass shape
construct a tooth profile
rotate and sweep the tooth profile with respect to two axes and get the tooth body.
use boolean operation to remove the tooth body on cylinder to get the globoid worm.

Here's a simple sketch I draw that I hope to convey my idea precisely.

The part I'm struggling with is the 3. part because I cannot find the suitable function to sweep a profile along two rotating axes at the same time. As you can see in my sketch below, the first axis is around the center line of the hourglass and the second axis is around the gear.

THANKS!

That can be a "screw" and a "simple deform" modifiers:

Make a profile (bottom left below).
Set the external part into a vertex group.
Add a screw modifier (use 'calculate order' to set the orientation of the faces correctly).
Add a simple deform modifier. Stretch mode and centered on an empty placed at the center of the screw. Use Z axis to deform around it and the vertex group to be deformed (so only the external part).
Then tune the modifier factor (or scale the empty) so that it corresponds to the wanted circle.


Fluid simulation problems I want to do animation which starts fluid at frame 150. I get that by setting offset to -150. but till then it gives this domain with material of fluid. What should I do to do it correctly??

As suggested in comments, you could simply hide it at animation start and reveal it at 150 keyframing its visibility.

To do this you can keyframe the domain object "eye" icon when it must change state (press the i key on it) in the graph editor you can edit this as usual but it will add a "restrict view" channel.

This can toggle visibility on/off by getting values of 0/1 (visible/invisible) as below:

which works like this


Texture transparency problem I wanted to cover my model with fur, but I can't make my hair band look transparent

Here's my nodes. I've watched a bunch of videos and tutorials but still can't figure this out. What am I doing wrong?

All is working now, thanks to  Craig D Jones


Blender 2.8 Sculpting splitting at edges I'm a noob I've looked all over and I don't know what to search for, so I've not had much luck, I apologize in advance. I'm using blender 2.8.

So I have an object that I want to sculpt on. Its been imported from a game.

It pulls apart from the seams even after dyntopo and I think it needs vertices added on edges that touch, that don't have vertices on them in that location, if that makes any sense.

Example 2 is just showing that there is no vertice on that edge. Is there a way to auto add vertices on edges that touch an edge that has vertices, that way I can remove doubles and have everything connected? Or am I going about this all wrong?

There are a lot of them that's why I want an easy way.

I just want everything to be connected together so I can sculpt on it and not have it splitting at the edges.

Also a noob here. A solution I found is to go to edit mode, select all the vertices around the edge of the hole, click on the button that says 'Face' in the top left, then select the fill option. Only just found it and haven't tested it too much.


Why do my textures look different in texture paint mode and object mode? As you can see in the attached image below, my textures in object mode (top one) and texture paint mode (bottom one) look different. When in object mode it looks blury, which is not what i want. I will export it to a game engine later, so i dont want it to be blury. Why is it doing this and how can i change it ?

Possibly you can turn up the aliasing and filter settings in the Viewport in Preferences like I did here, maybe that will help some.


How to add edge between two vertices? I am in desperate need of help again.

How do I add edge and one vertex between two vertices in Blender 2.8?
I put a red dot where I'd like to have the new vertex =).

Thank you so much!!

Best regards
Sophie

To make an edge between two vertices press F. If the vertices are on opposite sides of a face you can instead use J (for join).

To add a vertex, select the edge. Use Subdivide from the Edge menu.

To slide the vertex along the edge double press G.


Stretched texture with Principled texture setup So I've been trying to set up a base color image texture for my object but the image only seems to be affecting the bottom area of my object (as in image below ) and for the rest i'm getting a stretched out image. I've also tried using the node wranger setup using Ctrl + Shift +T  but it still gives the same results .
Is this a glitch because I've never encountered this problem before . Does anyone have any solutions ?

The shader uses UV map of the object if it is available.
If you modifiy the object mesh after the UV map has been defined (and base objects have a default UV map), then Blender can't guess where to place the UV part of new geometry or how to move the already existing one of changed parts of the mesh.

And as result,the UV map part of these new faces are flat:

So to solve it, depending on your case, you can either make the UV map again, or change the texture coordinates in the shader.
Here for instance, "generated" texture coordinates and the image texture changed to "box":

The documentation of the texture coordinates node here.
And some practical information about it from Blender Guru here.
In case it is useful, a UV map is a map that defines the correspondence between 3D faces of the model and 2D parts of these faces on a texture.


Why does an update function loop when string property is reset? I have a string property, when it is updated it runs a function which runs an operator, the operator clears the string at the end to reset it. This makes the function (string_update) loop to infinite recursion. As I understand, order of events should be:

update string
run function once
run operator
finish

What am I missing?

import bpy

def string_update(self, context):
    bpy.ops.test.test()
    print("Ran")
    return None

class test_vars(bpy.types.PropertyGroup):
    test_update_string = bpy.props.StringProperty(
        name = "",
        default = "",
        update = string_update
        )

class Test_Op(bpy.types.Operator):
    """"""
    bl_idname = "test.test"
    bl_label = "test"

    def execute(self, context):
        bpy.context.scene.test_vars.test_update_string = ""

        return {'FINISHED'}

def register():
    bpy.utils.register_module(__name__)
    bpy.types.Scene.test_vars = bpy.props.PointerProperty(type = test_vars)

def unregister():
    bpy.utils.unregister_module(__name__)
    bpy.utils.unregister_class(test_vars)
    del bpy.types.Scene.test_vars

In the execute method of the Test_Op class, you should access the property like this to prevent the update method from being called:

bpy.context.scene.test_vars["test_update_string"] = ""


How would I bend a cylinder while keeping it's shape? I have a problem in blender that I've been trying to figure out for the past hour, I have here an arm of a cartoon character (so basically a cylinder):

However, I've already linked two bones to the arm. They work perfectly and I have no problems with the rig. The problem here is when I bend the arm, the lower part of the arm sort of squeezes inwards. This gives it an unnatural look and it does not keep it's "tube" shape:

You can see how it bends like a straw in real life would. I want it to not do that. I want it to keep the round shape. So what would I need to do to bend a cylinder while keeping its shape? (I used vertex groups to assign the bones. I'm wondering if the vertices are what is causing it to do that.)

Thanks! :)

It seems like your mesh has far too few vertices. Try to add some subdivisions, especially at the elbow. Blender needs enough vertices at the position of bending to create organic looking bends. After that, reconnect the mesh with automatic weights. The next you could check is "preserve volume" in the armature modifier of your mesh, and last, position your armature modifier before any subdivision surface modifier.

Additionally, it seems you are using two armature modifiers. It's probably better to create one rig with connected bones, and apply them to your mesh with automatic weights. This way, each bone has a different weight, a different strong influence on a single vertex. There are many tutorials on this theme available, and its to much to explain in short here.


Image texture is visible in Texture mode but not in Render mode? Here, it is visible

But,
in Render mode,

Check to make sure the image is still in the location you pointed Blender to.  Sometimes, if the file has been moved, Blender will still have it in memory, so it still displays it in textured mode.  But when you click the render button, Blender will search for the image in the original file, and in your case, it apparently can't find it.  Double check your image texture node to make sure it is pointing to the right file.  Then, go to the file and make sure the image is still there.


How to add Principled volume as default Every time I add a material to a smoke domain, it always adds a "Principled BSDF" shader and not a "Principled Volume" shader. Is there something I should be doing to add the "Principled Volume" shader as default or should I just keep removing the "Principled BSDF" shader and adding a "Principled Volume" shader?

You could create a default smoke material and save it in your default Blender starting scene if you find yourself doing smoke sims really often. Or you could write a small python script that create a domain with the right material and node setup. At the end of the day it's just a few extra clicks, I wouldn't bother with it. Principled BSDF is just the default setup for all Blender materials (remember that materials are completely independent data from objects).


How to cut a small amount into object? I want to make a poker chip with Blender.

It would look like this at the end https://www.artstation.com/artwork/rGeB2 The little disks without the color.

This what I have:

I want to cut the orange part in a little on both the upside and downside of the object. When I tried doing this by scaling the z-axes down it pulled in the sides of the object as well.

All I want is the orange part to be indented in.

Insert a circle; Extrude + scale it outside; Make inner rim an edge loop and extrude it along Z; Fill the inside and use Poke Faces on it; Extrude the outside rim like 0.01 more than the inner one; Select all and use Mirror modifier on it; Give the model materials.


place quick smoke icosphere over video in video sequence editor I am new to blender and since i am unaware of the terminology i dont know what to search forI have a 'quick smoke' icosphere as a rendered mpeg file.
I have another video in which a man shows his hands as if he is holding the smoke ball.
But in Video Sequence Editor when i add both the clips and add the transform effect to the smoke clip with 'alpha over' and scale it,I get a black box (background) around the smoke.
I have tried to make it transparent as given here
Can Blender render pngs with the background transparent?
How should i display only the smoke without background?
Note:I have also tried changing the opacity of both the transform and smoke strips to no avail

Most video formats do not support alpha channels,at least not the ones built into blender. (there is one option if you are using OSX)

You have two options:

1.- Export your scene as an image sequence with in RBGA (in a format like PNG, Tiff, TGA, Jpeg2000 or OpenEXR) and then import it into the Video sequence editor to combine your shots

2.- Do the compositing directly in blender either by importing the smoke scene as a strip into the video editor or using the compositor located in the Node Editor


How to properly project a pattern from a spotlight cone? I'm trying to project an image onto an object using a spotlight:

The image is a somewhat random colour pattern which you can see on the top surface of the rendered cube:

The problem that I'm facing is that the pattern is not rendered correctly on the two sides of the cube. It looks as if the light rays were projected from above and were just smeared across the sides of the cube ignoring the location of the spotlight.

What am I missing here? Any help would be greatly appreciated..

In the texture panel for the lamp, go to «Mapping», and change the coordinates from «Global», which seems to be the setting in your case, to «View». This should fix your problem. Works for both procedural and image textures.


Altering particle rotations / locations via python So I am trying to manipulate the generation of the particle system to something which is predefined. However, when I set the particles location or rotation it is not reflected in the 3D viewport.

My setup is just a simple plane and trying to manipulate the particle system via this code:

bpy.context.active_object.particle_systems['ParticleSystem'].particles[0].location = [5,5,5]

I have tried bpy.context.scene.update() and bpy.context.active_object.particle_systems[0].particles.update() but neither seem to do anything. The python api is responding out correctly, it just isnt reflecting in the viewport. Is there anything else i need to do?

Got this to work by using the somewhat deprecated and dangerous method for forcing a scene redraw bpy.ops.wm.redraw_timer(type='DRAW_WIN_SWAP', iterations=1).

import bpy
import numpy as np
from mathutils import Vector

p = bpy.context.active_object.particle_systems['ParticleSystem'].particles

locations = 10 * np.random.random((len(p),3)) - 5
locations = [ Vector(co) for co in locations ]

for pp, loc in zip( p, locations ):
    pp.location = loc

bpy.ops.wm.redraw_timer(type='DRAW_WIN_SWAP', iterations=1) # <== This is the magic operator


Why use hair instead of emitter as particles? So I was watching Blender Guru's Donut tutorial and for the sprinkles on top of the donut he uses hair and not emitter as a particle. Why does he do that? What is the difference between hair and emitter?

He is the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNmnPXY9UQA&list=PLjEaoINr3zgEq0u2MzVgAaHEBt--xLB6U&t=0s

If you use the Hair particle then a fixed number of particles will be created and their number and position won't change over time as your animation plays. So this is good for hair, sprinkles, or grass.

If you use the Emitter, the number of partciles will change over time. So if you play your animation, you'll see the object starts emitting particles that move away from your object and then disappear. You would use an emitter more for water, smoke, or sparks.

For demonstration, look at how the emitters of these 2 cubes change while the animation is playing. The one on the left uses Hair, the one on the right uses Emitter.


Can you use use Loop-Cut tool with ngons? I have a loop cut(no face,vertices only) on one ngon cap of a cylinder. I would like to cut the opposing cap with this shape. I cant use mirror here because there are other shapes on the cap I dont want to copy. Is there any way to do this?

Loop cut intentionally only cuts quads.

To cut across ngons you can:

Use the knife tool to cut up the face how you like.
Select 2 vertices and run join (Jkey).

Note, we have support for ths in the code, but after discussion with users, disabled it - see BMW_EDGERING_NGON
See:
http://lists.blender.org/pipermail/bf-blender-cvs/2012-March/043815.html


Why do I have the 2.80 API on blender 2.79 When I compare the latest blender api to the 2.79b API (based on the current link from https://docs.blender.org/api/), I see that the bake_action API changed from accepting start_frame and end_frame to taking a single frames iterable.

When I run blender --version, I get:

Blender 2.79 (sub 6)
        build date: 2018-12-25
        build time: 20:34:04
        build commit date: 2018-12-22
        build commit time: 14:10
        build hash: 2c0c1f494dcf
        build platform: Linux
        build type: Release

However, when invoking bpy_extras.anim_utils.bake_action, I get:

  File "/usr/share/blender/2.79/scripts/addons/io_scene_godot/converters/animation/constraint_baking.py", line 87, in bake_constraint_to_action
    do_visual_keying=True,
TypeError: bake_action() missing 1 required keyword-only argument: 'frames'

This suggests that I have the 2.80 API, even though I seem to be on blender 2.79.
What am I misunderstanding about blender versions?

Blender version 2.79b is the one that you can download when you click Download Blender at the top of the download page at https://www.blender.org/download/ at the time I am writing this (05-01-2019).

If you however choose to scroll down to the bottom of that page and click the red button 'Latest Experimental Builds' in the section with the red background and a clear disclaimer in English:

 you will be downloading experimental builds (not unlike the disclaimer states) and may try latest changes that may include changes to the Python API.


Blenderc 2.79 encoder panel missing The encoding panel is missing. Tried Blender settings reset  then reopened, but still no encoding panel or preview.

In the output settings select FFmpeg Video

The Encoding panel will be enabled then..

Read also this related links:

https://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Dev:Ref/Release_Notes/2.79/More_Features

Blender 2.79 I only get four video output options


Python: Difference between context’s `selectable_objects` and `visible_objects`? What is the difference between selectable_objects and visible_objects context members in python API?

And which one should I use in which cases?

These flags match the 'selectable' and 'visible' states of objects (also shown e.g. in the outliner, in the left columns).

selectable_objects is a subset of visible objects, since no hidden object shall ever be selectable.

Note also that objects on hidden layers are also considered hidden (i.e. are not in visible objects, even if their own visible flag is ON).

As for the last part of your question… it depends on what you want to do! Please be more specific.


Why are bpy.ops.transform.rotate() and resize() missing black arrow visual indicators? When I select an object and press R I get the black double-arrow indicator:

However, when I run bpy.ops.transform.rotate('INVOKE_DEFAULT') from an operator (e.g. the built-in Tools -> Rotate) there are no indicators.

This applies to bpy.ops.transform.resize('INVOKE_DEFAULT') too.

Is there a way to get these indicators to show?

Edit:
It is strange that even though I'm placing the mouse pointer into the WINDOW region with cursor_warp() before calling transform.rotate() I do not get the visual indicator. The mouse pointer does get placed correctly and the operator performs as expected - but without the indicator showing up.

Update:
The problem is that cursor_warp() changes only the mouse pointer position and does not update anything else (i.e. does not update the active region).
The transform operators always do work with the correct region ('WINDOW') but the UI part does not (it works with the region from where the operator was invoked).

The visual indicator that follows the mouse doesn't appear because when you use a button in the Tool Shelf to invoke an operator, the mouse is in a region separate from the actual 3D View, which is where the operator takes place. Here are the region types, taken from https://docs.blender.org/api/blender_python_api_2_78_4/bpy.types.Region.html:

[‘WINDOW’, ‘HEADER’, ‘CHANNELS’, ‘TEMPORARY’, ‘UI’, ‘TOOLS’, ‘TOOL_PROPS’, ‘PREVIEW’]

Rotate and Resize are operators that will not draw their visual indicators if they are not invoked in the proper region. If you call these same operators from the search menu (Spacebar) and the mouse is in the 3D View's region instead of the Tool Shelf's region, the indicators will appear.

Additionally, if you press R to rotate an object with the mouse inside the Tool Shelf (Region Overlap must be enabled in the User Preferences for this to work, unless you use the search menu instead of R), the indicators will still not appear, for the same reason that it doesn't work with buttons.


Blender building error 'fatal: unable to look up git.blender.org (port 9418)....or WSAStartup failed' Win64 im not a programmer, please help me like you would your grandma.
Windows 10 64bit, followed all the previous steps from this page very carefully

ok it turns out that there was an bug with the latest release version of git (v2.19.2.windows1) in which it was unable to open git:// urls
i actually found the solution on devtalk forum, which has a dedicated place for building blender issues, heres the thread


Why isn't the textures with their patterns rendering in the correct places? Okay I am very new at this. The texture isn't rendering in the correct places, and in some places there should be a pattern (like spots on his side by his tail). The colors are all messed up and hard to explain, but his tail should be white with a little bit of green at the base by the body. The top of the neck should be green, but the bottom should be the tan. And his face should have green on the top of the snout and tan, with a little white, on the bottom.

I am not sure if when I resized model if that might have messed up the textures.

Any help that can be provided is appreciated.

I don't play that game nor know the extraction software, Collada DAE is quite fine as an export format, something must be wrong with either the Ohana exporter or the Collada plugins, or both.

Jumping through many applications is a recipe for certain trouble, a million things could go wrong, not the very least, bad implementations, unsupported features, or even a plain bug. It's impossible to tell from the file alone.

Rule of thumb is: import the geometry, remake the materials, export file formats never deal well with materials.

Looking at the Blend file it seems that there is some trouble with the mesh symmetry and the texture.

Scaling the mesh 200% in the UV image Editor seems to partially fix the problem and vaguely align the geometry with the texture features. I would advise deleting half of all meshes, and applying a mirror modifier to them so UV are also mirrored automatically.

Enter edit mode on all objects composing the model, select all faces, go to the UV image editor, press . (Period Key) to transform about the 2D cursor location, make sure the 2D cursor is at the origin, press S to scale, press X to scale about the X axis, press 2 by a factor of 2.

Then optionally in the 3D view erase half the mesh with the wrong texture coordinates, and add a Mirror modifier to the object.

Optionally change the Material Specular Shading from Phong to Blinn to eliminate the shading artifacts.

I have no clue what it is supposed to look like, if that is not the intended appearance, then you might have to either import again with different settings or manually fix the UVs by unwrapping again.


Align text with a curve Simple file with one circle and one text object.
When I try to associate the text with the circle under F button there is no circle on the list.

Is this a bug?

Blender file:
http://www.pasteall.org/blend/31793

Thanks for any ideas.

It has to be a Curve object. BezierCircle e.g. works, while a mesh circle does not. If you add a BezierCircle:

It will show up and work as intended:


Head and hair of object not rendering I just finished an animation of the Hulk. When I try to render the animation, the top of the head and the hair don't show up even though they do in my workspace. I asked another question regarding how the hair mesh on hulk doesn't move properly with my armature, and I have a feeling this has something to do with it. I temporarily fixed that issue by creating a skull and turning on "Bone Envelopes".
Here are some pictures illustrating my issue:
Workspace:

Rendered png:

Blend File

The first issue is that you have set the hair material to be a 'Mask' material. You can disable this by going to the 'Transparency' panel in the material options for the hair material and un-ticking the box next to 'Transparency':

If you want to use transparency for the hair you can set it to 'Z Transparency' or 'Raytrace'.

To get the hair to render as transparent you need to tell the material to use the transparency of the image you are using. On the hair material go to the texture panel and under the 'Influence' panel make sure 'Alpha' is turned on.

You can then turn the 'Alpha' value in the first screenshot to '0' as you are giving full control of the alpha over to the image.

Finally, because you are now using transparent textures, which will cast transparent shadows, you need to set both materials to 'Receive Transparent' in the 'Shadow' panel of the material options: