Banding artifact on open GL Render I'm currently working on an animation openGL project, and i have this "banding" artifacts on gradient induced by spotlights (see picture below)

I'm aware it seems to be because of 8bits precision calculation of the image, but is there any way to avoid this in Open GL ?

I tried for now "Full Sample" option (i know it supposed to be non related, but who knows^^), i'm exporting 16bits png, i tried setting "dithering" parameter in the render panel but nothing works...

Any clue ? thanks a lot !

for those who have this problem, i found the origin of this problem !

It was induced in fact by environment lighting setting (world panel) and sun lights (i think hemi light will do the same, they seem to behave like sun light in open gl render.

So i solved the problem by getting rid of them and replacing it by area, point...

Happy blending !


Deform a quadrant of a cylinder along the z-axis File Trim.blend shows an embellished quadrant of a vertical cylinder which is roughly 22 mm radius and 30 mm tall.  I need to deform it so that the bottom of the cylinder is about 30 mm radius, with the radius of increasing slowly at the top and more rapidly as the bottom nears.   I've tried extrusion and scaling and looked at suggested relevant questions, but haven't seen (or maybe understood) how to carry this out. The relevant objects in Layer 1 are CubeW and Cyl219W.
 1. How about some variation of proportional edit falloff.
 2. TIA for suggestions.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gy6e0cyhe59ghhr/NTrim.blend?dl=0

If you want a very smooth quadrant you will need more vertex density.  You know a smooth human face with many contours requires many more vertices than a simple cube
Edit Mode
Loop cut can do this.Control R
You can set the cursor to the center of a completed cylinder .. as if you had 4 quadrants.  You probably have seen Cylinder and Cones being edited which have complete circles so Blender can figure out center easily.  You need this one extra step since you only have one quarter circle.
Set cursor . Shift S .Set the center of scale for proportional editing to cursor.  This allows you to change shape from any point you choose.  This item is two UI boxes to the left of [edit mode] on the bottom strip of 3D View Window in your images above
Select bottom of quadrant. Many vertices.
Enable Proportional edit. o. Scale to see effect. Use mouse wheel.
Experiment many more times
State whether or not you are making progress
Tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrNVVHdKd3E


Use custom properties (variable values) in the node editor An object's Custom Properties panel looks like a great way to inject variable values in the Compositor:

However, there does not seem to be an Input that defines a reference to the Object Data's Custom Properties.

In the above image, I wanted to reuse the same Material Node setup for two different objects. The difference being one has transparent checkers (to create a dashed line) and the other is solid.

Without using Python, Drivers, Empty objects, or Animation Nodes:

Is it possible to pass variables (such as numbers and colours) into the Compositor?
If not, how would you reuse a Material Node setup across multiple objects, but vary it depending on some value?

I thought about using the Object Index, but that seems like a lot of work just to toggle a multiplication factor.

This is a general-purpose question. I'm not asking specifically how to make a reusable dashed or non-dashed line (i.e., Transparent shader and Checkered Texture). I'm asking how to reference various types of variables within the Compositor so as to program Material Nodes with different capacities.

To do this, you need to use your custom property to drive a value node.

EDIT: Added compositor example in addition to the original cycles material example.

This is possible in either the material or compositor node trees. Below is an example demonstrating the process in the compositor, and at the end I'll also include an example from a cycles material node setup.

Add a value node ( ShiftA --> Input --> Value ) to your node tree.
Right click on the number in the input box and add driver.

Open the graph editor window, change the view mode from F-Curve to Drivers, then open the properties panel (N).
Change the driver Type to Scripted Expression.
Change the variable Type to Single Property.
In the variable's Path box type the name of your custom property delimited by square brackets and double quotes. Example: ["myProp"]
In the Expr (expression) input box, make sure the name of the driver variable (default "var") is present.

That's it. You're value node is now connected to the value of your custom property, and any changes you make to the custom prop will be reflected there.

In the compositor, however, changing the custom property does not immediately trigger a scene update, which means the result will not be shown until you perform some other action that updates the view. In the example below, I simply Ctrl + LMB clicked on the Color node to reconnect the Viewer node, which updated the view.

Cycles material example:


Can I export a PDF from Blender? I would like to have a way of getting the design sheets(aka blueprints) like you can in CAD software.

Is there a plugin or addon or some form of python script that can export a PDF(vector screenshot) of the GUI(primarily the 3D view)?

SVGWriter for Blender/Freestyle

  The SVGWriter package provides a set of Python script files for authoring SVG documents with Blender and Freestyle.

Nowadays, SVGs are more portable than PDF, with support in all major browsers. There are also many free tools that can convert them to PDF if that's required. One such program is PDFAid.


Count of multiple face areas is any way how to display total faces area of selected faces in Blender 2.8? Manually counting isnt possible...I want count 1000 and more faces...

This worked for me in Blender 2.82.  Result is shown in System Console window.

import bpy

bpy.context.object.update_from_editmode()
#applies any pending edits.
#allows script to be run from within edit mode

the_area = 0
for poly in bpy.context.object.data.polygons:
    if poly.select:
        the_area += poly.area

print('final area total')
print(the_area)


blender 2.8 obj or x3d import texture usage I want to import obj or x3d files that have a texture encoded as vertex colors. In blender 2.79 my workflow is following the description of Jan in his answer described here: How to display and use Vertex Color from OBJ model.
(Basically: Selecting the "material" tab in the properties, adding a new material to the object and checking the box "vertex color paint")

This works nicely for blender 2.79. However, I would like to get this to work in blender 2.8. Though I am able to display my object with vertex colors in the viewer (by simply setting the "object interaction mode" to "vertex paint mode") blender 2.8 won't render my vertex colors.

Any help would be appreciated,
Thanks!

This is easily done with a material node setup by adding an attribute input node and setting the Name value to Col and plug that into the shader of your choice.  I've used a diffuse BSDF shader here, but you can pipe the color to any node color input you so desire.

You could also this by baking the vertex colors out to a texture.

Please refer to the following question for a how to guide.

Bake vertex colors to texture from mesh


Rigorous procedure followed by shape keys to merge models Good evening, I would like to know how the Blender shape keys realize the merging of two 3D models after the shrinkwrap modifier has been applied. What is the algorithm exploited? Does it use interpolation? Are there refernces?

Let's take an example. A plane projected onto some steps using shrinkwrap modifier:

We apply as shape keys.
And now, here is how the plane moves for several values for the shape key:

As you can see, this is linear.
If a vertex goes from X when shape key is 0 to Y when 1, then its position is:
X + <shape key value> * (Y - X)

Note that we take here shrinkwrap example, but shape keys go the same whatever the way they are produced from.


How to make vertices child to empties/objects I want to build a plane whose four vertices follow the path of four empties. The plane has an image, and I used the "Image-as-planes" add-on to setup the plane.

To parent each of the vertices to each empty, I use the following procedure:

select the plane
tab into object mode
select the vertice
tab to leave object mode
shift-click to add the empty as parent
ctrl-P

however, I can't link more than one vertix to an empty. As soon as I parent another empty, the previous one is unlinked.

I am aware this is probably something very basic, but I couldn't find how to do that in any other way.

Found it:

select the empty
shift-select the object that contains the vertices
tab to edit mode
select the vertex that you want to link the the empty
on the vertex menu, hook to object
repeat for the other vertices


Making a textured object a particle Okay, I'm kind of new to blender particle systems but my question is,  How do I create a textured model and make it  part of a particle swarm?

Okay, well, I think I found what I was looking for. I'll post the link for others who are curious. Just wasn't looking up the right keywords.

The answer is by using Boids in blender. Boids allow you to create a model and then apply it as a particle to create a "swarm" effect. The link shows how to create a school of fish that move in a manner like particles by using Boids in Blender.

https://cgi.tutsplus.com/tutorials/create-an-animated-fish-swarm-in-blender-using-particles-part-1--cg-13929


What is the optimal topology for a base with square corner meeting a cylinder? I would like to make this part:

This is my approach:

In order for the inner edge loops not go all the way to the cylinder, I cut the quad into two triangles. Like this:

But after adding loop cuts, the model still suffers from some pinching.

How can I fix this shading issue? And what is the optimal topology for this shape?

This is my blend file if necessary: Blend File

This topology seems to work fine, no visible pinching if you move the vertex a bit:


Issue with UV unwrapping I'm having an issue with UV unwrapping in Blender 2.90. I'm a beginner and this my first unwrapping. The vertices on UV Map are goes in infinite out of the UV image area, i don't have double vertex and the scale is applied, I didn't understood where is the problem, that's way I'm asking if some one could help me.

Thanks for the answer! Solved by using UV > Smart UV Project that create an automatic seams, it is perfect method for this object.


Roll view by 90 degree angle How do I rotate my view by a 90 degree angle?
Regardless of how I set up these hotkeys, they roll the view at different angles than what is specified.
These commands should rotate the view by 90 degrees in orthographic view, so the North rolls to the East or West orientation for each respective hotkey.

This setting should do:

So "pi/2" or "-pi/2" for the roll. And "Roll angle" for the roll angle source.


Rotating arm bone twists and distorts mesh I have the following model of a frog, which is rigged and assigned weights. In its neutral pose, the frog is lying down, but I want to animate it sitting. I started animating and noticed rotating the arm bone greatly distorts and twists the area, as shown in Image 3. What am I doing wrong? I'm pretty new to Blender and 3D modelling in general. I've already tried subdividing the arm area and tweaking the weights (which are currently set to include the entire arm and a few faces where the arm connects to the body, which I've already tried removing to no avail.)

As you have to actually deal with a rotation, you have to distribute this rotation smoothly along some different edgeloops. This is an example of how it can be achieved.


Boolean difference does not work I'm relatively new to Blender and I'm trying to apply the Boolean modifier to substract channels from a micro-chip. The problem is the boolean difference does not work for me.
So I read some advices from similar cases on Stackexchange (remove double vertices, recalculate normal vectors), but the boolean still does not work for me.

Here is the file, feel free to test it: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0ByANiJ_L-B8bSEtkMEtFQjNDTFU

Thank you very much for your help!

Axel

As I said above, your faces are flipped. You can install the Flippist Addon.
The rest of the steps are shown in the image below:


In Blender 2.8 can I render an image in SVG format? I need to render an image in SVG format and I don't see the option any where but I know you can do this in 2.79 using freestyle or addons. How do you do this in 2.8?

You can use Freestyle in Blender 2.8 just like in 2.79. The svg export for freestyle has to be activated in the preferences (Edit > Preferences > Add-ons).


Join multiple objects into 1 object without combining the vertices? is there a way to combine multiple objects without actually attaching them to each other?

I tried parenting them to a empty axis but I can't switch modes from the parent.
I would have to go through and select each child object to do it. :<

Try using lattice modifier.

To get the modifier to all objects select them with box selection and after this click in any of them, add the lattice modifier and press ctrl-l>modifiers to give all of them the lattice modifier.

here's an example of this:


Is there a low level alternative for bpy.ops.object.origin_set() When i want to move the Origin of an object by script, then i can do this as follows:

my_location   = [0,0,0]
active        = scene.objects.active
cursor        = scene.cursor_location.copy()

scene.objects.active  = obj
scene.cursor_location = my_location

bpy.ops.object.origin_set(type='ORIGIN_CURSOR')

scene.cursor_location = cursor
scene.objects.active = active

Is there an efficient alternative which works without need to backup/restore the active object and the current cursor location ? If not, is it missing or is there a reason ?

Set the object location to the target location and translate the mesh vertices in the reverse direction (the negated vector of the difference between start location and target location of the origin = start minus target).

Note that Mesh.transform() is not supported in Edit Mode, you need to use a wrapped BMesh instead.

If you use blender 2.79 change bpy.context.scene.cursor.location to bpy.context.scene.cursor_location

import bpy
import bmesh
from mathutils import Matrix

ob = bpy.context.object
cursor_world_loc = bpy.context.scene.cursor.location
cursor_local_loc = ob.matrix_world.inverted() @ cursor_world_loc

mat = Matrix.Translation(-cursor_local_loc)

me = ob.data
if me.is_editmode:
    bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(me)
    bm.transform(mat)
    bmesh.update_edit_mesh(me, False, False)
else:
    me.transform(mat)

me.update()

ob.matrix_world.translation = cursor_world_loc


Unexpected render result, height map too bumpy? I've just started playing with pbr pipelines and I think I have all of these nodes setup correctly, but I'm getting a result that differs from what I'm expected, so maybe I don't?
Here is what I'm expecting:
Here is what I'm getting:

And these are the nodes I'm using:

Does anything stick out as being horribly wrong?

The Distance in the bump node is by default in meters. Since it is approximated without actually displacing the geometry, at that scale even very small details in the bump map get blown out of proportion.
Try decreasing that value, it should smooth out the bumpiness.
You can also play with the normal map node strength although I don't think you should have to.


Blender not rendering water in F12 render? I created some sort a object and can't render the water flowing over it.

Viewport render:

Final render:

It's not render restriction because I've already tried pressing W and removing it.

Hitting Numberpad / Seems to fix the issue, you were in local view.

I have no idea why that would cause an issue, and would definitly upvote an answer detailing why!


"F" Button in Shape Key Editor Not Showing Up - Why Not? I'm trying to export a model with armature and shape key animations. I've been following this tutorial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvjwTnS6vhA

This process works fine for the beak of my character, but not for the eye lids and pupils. The pupils have shape keys to make the character look left and right.

Now I wonder if it's because the beak only has one shape key and the eyes and eyelids have multiple. But so far, the beak is the only one ready to go.

I just need the animations to export into Unity with the shapekeys. Here's my .blend file:

The "F" button is to tell Blender to save a data block even if it has no user, so it appears only when... you have a data block!

In your picture, you have this situation for that eye:

the " + new " button means, there's no data block, and you can add one (an action in that case). Then, the "F" button will appear.

edit

I think that eye has something different than the other...

selecting that green NLA editor stripe, and using TAB it expands, and the " + add " becomes usable, but acts weirdly, at least...

I'm not an expert though, and can't understand how to fix it. But maybe you know what happened to that strip?


Character mesh low poly in object mode and high poly in sculpt mode I used InstantMeshes to clean the high poly character 3D scan object, which had to much vertices to be practical.
Now I want to adjust the muscle structure with sculpt mode, and I noticed that the mesh was low poly in object mode when I import it into blender. And high poly in sculpt mode, so I'm wonder what I did wrong or something else.
What should I do ? How to make the mesh in object mode look like high poly ?

Not sure about this,
But it looks to me like simply right clicking no the object and clicking 'Shade Smooth" while in object mode should do the job


Volumetric light without fog I'm using blender 2.8.

I was wondering is there any way to create volumetric light without fog (or just a little bit) ? There are some tutorials on Youtube but almost all of them are creating volumetric scatter to show the light paths but I don't want this. I just want sharp light paths.

Here are some images that are similar to what i want:

Try this
The result
You can parent the plane to the object that casts the rays, add to it constrain "Track To", choose your camera and play with constrain's settings. Also you can render it from another scene and than mix with original scene using compositor


Can I rotate part of the mesh while reserving topology? So, I have a mesh (a tie fighter, actually) with this plate on the end:

Sadly, the plate is misaligned with the rest of the spaceship.  I need to rotate it.  However, this drags the vertices that lead from the arm to the plate and leads to some very funny results.

I suppose I could detach it, rotate it, and then reattach it, but then it would no longer truly be connected to the rest of the mesh.. .and I'm ramping up to model for a 3D printer, so I'd like to work this out!

Its actually simple :)

First select the edge loop you need to seperate with Alt+RMB as shown in the picture below.

Then select the other remaining edges by right clicking on them....

When you're done selecting just the plate press P
Then choose Separate by Selection

Now rotate it as you like....

Now is the tricky part....

I'm not sure how others do this, but I do it in this way...

suppose the uppermost cube is your plate and the lower one as your main ship...

Now we've separated these two in the previous step...
Now make them a single object by  Shift+RMB selecting each object, and then pressing  Ctrl+J .....

Now go to edit mode and go to vertex select mode...
and press  B  to box select the plate from Orthographic View (Num 5) or a comfortable angle...

For yours it may be right side (Num 3)
then select all the edges to be joined....

In your case it's just two edge loops (Shift+Alt+RMB)....

Then press F to make faces between them...

Now, it mightn't be the best technique but I found it works for me...
Hope it helps :)


Why doesn't blender use my graphics card? Before installing a graphics card, I was working on a very weak intel card. I tried to render a scene but the quality of the image was poor and it took 1 minute to render.

After buying and installing Nvidia GT 710, I tried to render the same scene and I was expecting to get better results but I got the same results.

It seems that blender doesn't use my new graphics card. How do I know which card does blender use? How to switch between them?

Edit:

I like the answer but I only have the CPU option. Version: 2.73a linux 64-bit.

In Blender head to File -> User Preferences -> System.

At the bottom left under "Cycles Computer Device" choose "CUDA" and you should see your GPU underneath. You need to be using the Cycles render engine for this to take effect.


can I use the background as texture? I want to hide a part of a mesh like the red part on the picture below :

I think I can do that with the compositor by rendering a mask, but I would like to know if I can do that directly trough a material.

using a transparent shader is not a solution, see the picture below :

Just assign a fully transparent material to that part of the mesh.


How can I make object visible when it intersects with a view of another obect? I have invisible circle in front of colored square. I need to make it that when circle intersects with a view of a square (not with a square itself) it becomes visible (only that part of circle which already intersected view, the other is still invisible). How can I do so?

Pic 1 is setup I have.

Pic 2 is what I need to achieve.

You can use OSL to fire a ray forwards from the shading point, and return information about the next point hit. You can then use that information to control the response of a material at the shading point. To use OSL, you must set the render device to the CPU, and check 'OSL'.

This little OSL script fires a ray forwards continuing in the direction of the incident ray, and returns the Pass Index of the next object hit.

#include "stdosl.h"

shader NextObj(
  output float nextObjIdx  = 0.0
)
{
    if (trace(P,-I,"mindist",0.0001)){
        getmessage("trace", "object:index", nextObjIdx);
    }
}

It can be used, for example, in combination with these nodes to control the shading dependent on the next object:

With this sort of result.. the plane in the background has been given a Pass Index of 5:

.. and you can change the yellow Diffuse shader for a Transparent shader with color (1,1,1) to make the circle disappear when it's not between the camera and the plane. However, you'll find that then, it won't cast a shadow. That's because for a shadow ray, the incident ray I doesn't point towards the camera and so the forward ray points towards the environment, or a light-source, which doesn't have a Pass Index > 4, so as far as shadows are concerned, the object is always transparent.

That may be what you want .. if not, you can fix that as follows:

#include "stdosl.h"

shader NextObj(
  output float nextObjIdx  = 0.0
)

{

    point cam_pos = transform("camera","world",point(0,0,0));
    vector viewdir  = P - cam_pos;

    if (trace(P,viewdir,"mindist",0.0001)){
        getmessage("trace", "object:index", nextObjIdx);
    }
}

..which ensures the probing forward ray is cast onward in the camera viewing direction for all incoming rays, including shadow rays. That means the part of the circle that is between the eye and the plane casts a shadow. The rest doesn't, if it's transparent. There are quite a few more variations on the behavior you can achieve by tweaking the script and using a Light-Path node.. if these examples aren't right, perhaps you could specify more closely. You could, for example, use the material index rather than the object index; then all objects with that material would make the foreground circle appear.


Position 3D cursor in X without changing to oobjects surface Y Im trying to position the 3D cursor to a specific coordinate inside an object (not the center). when I move the cursor to where I want it in the X plane, it moves the Y coordinate to the surface of the object.
How can I get the 3D cursor to ignore the shape of the object, and let me place it in the coordinates Im setting in one or more planes.

Goto View tab

Expand 3D Cursor section

Change the Location coordinates

To snap object to the 3D cursor, click  RMB or press W.


file browser by python in blender I am having some problem in 'opening a file browser with python' in blender. Can you provide me with a sample code where I can access the file location after running from the script.

.

Please, if you have full code it will help me better. I am very new to python.

I found this code sample (originally from the Blender wiki) to be very helpful in understanding file browser usage. Specifically, look at the "execute" method of the ScanFileOperator class, which passes self.filepath (the chosen file) to another function (scanFile):
#
#   Opens a file select dialog and starts scanning the selected file.
#
class ScanFileOperator(bpy.types.Operator):
    bl_idname = "error.scan_file"
    bl_label = "Scan file for return"
    filepath = bpy.props.StringProperty(subtype="FILE_PATH")

    def execute(self, context):
        scanFile(self.filepath)
        return {'FINISHED'}

    def invoke(self, context, event):
        context.window_manager.fileselect_add(self)
        return {'RUNNING_MODAL'}


Paint an Object (I know this sounds ridiculous) I honestly can't figure out how to paint the default cube in blender.  I can do alot.  I am comforable with adding textures.  But I just want to paint the cube.
I have watched numerous tutorials but none of them are working for me.
I gather that I need to click on the cube and then add material and go from there.
I have succesfully added textures to objects but can not for the life of me figure this out.
Every tutorial I watch has a completely different layout (older version) and it's not working.
Please help!!!!

First, you want to go to the texture paint tab. Press new image and name it something so you could recognize it.
Go to the shading tab and assign an image texture to base color. In the dropdown, select your created paint image.

Now the image is assigned to the object. It should be black by default. Go back to the texture paint tab and you should be able to paint now. Press n to change color, size, and strength. Hope this helps!


you can use for-loop to export every frame positions:
import bpy

sce = bpy.context.scene
f = open("props.txt", "w")
for frame in range(sce.frame_start, sce.frame_end+1):
    sce.frame_set(frame)

    me = bpy.context.object.data
    print("Frame %i" % frame, file=f)
    for v in me.vertices:
     print(v.co.xyz, file=f)

f.close()


Modeling a Brick Tower for Game Engine I have 2 ways to build a brick tower, and that is to make a cylinder and applying textures and bump maps or create the bricks separately and make it as one mesh. Which would be best for a game engine? , I think creating the bricks separately would consume a lot of memory especially if I have these towers in one area(not 100% sure)

You're right. Texturing a single mesh is better.
You could also use bricks and replicate them with the Array modifier, so they are linked copies (until you apply the modifier) of the first.
But texturing remains the lightest solution, I think.


How to disable scrollbars in node editor? In 2.82 scrollbars in node editor is not only useless, but annoying, it's also pop-up, which is very bad. How do I disable them enterely?

I don't think you can disable scrollbars.
But you can make them transparent.

Go to Preferences > Themes > User Interface > Scroll Bars
Set Item alpha value to 0
And Outline to some less intrusive color (it can't be made transparent)


Can perfectly aligned vertices create a ngon? When I got an unnecessary detail on my model that I dont need, (Like in the picture) I dissolve the faces of the unnecessary part and scale it by 0 at the (x/y/z) axis. It makes a perfect square. Does this operation create a huge ngon or not?

The triangulate modifier doesn't process it like a square, it also process the perfectly aligned vertices. However, that just can be how the triangulate modifier works and it can be a perfect quad anyway.

Is this an ngon, or is there another way to see the final triangulated mesh?

When modelers refer to an ngon, they only mean non-quad faces, really.. some include tris, some don't.. The main reason to avoid them is that under Catmull-Clark subdivision they can generate pinch-points, and irregular normals. So yes, the square shape in your first example is an ngon. Very squashed quads, or quads with a concave pair of sides, don't subdivide well, either.

On a perfectly flat surface, with a convex perimeter, that's not going to deform, there's no need to panic about them. As the the subdivided cylinder in the  illustration shows, the first generation of subdivision will generate quads anyway.

However, poles, that is, vertices where more than 4 edges meet, can also generate pinch-points. As before, if they are on a perfectly flat surface they aren't anything to worry about.. but if they threaten to interfere with a smooth curvature, or make holding loops (which sharpen edges between planes) or other edge loops hard to create or maintain, you should try to avoid them. In deforming surfaces, as far as possible, they should be maneuvered into non-deforming areas.

With those things in mind, If I wanted to finish my cylinder with an ngon, I would prefer to do it with a single inset (or bevel).. as shown on the left.


blender crashing when painting texture i'm trying to paint a texture and blender keeps crashing.
Some of the answers to other people with the same ploblem have been:"the scene you are trying to render is too complex for your pc to handle", but my scene is empty, there is only a simple face model with less the  10000 faces and have a good pc, i play games that can render miles of scenery with a bunch of characters and objects on screen, but for some reason i can't make a simple brushstroke of color in the texture of a small model without having to wait a full minute for the brushstroke to load.
Can anyone explain to me if this is normal or if i'm doing something wrong here?
Here is the model:

Here is blender crashing:

here is blender's configuration:

here is the stats of the cpu when it crashes:

Blender is possibly crashing due to errors. To debug potential crashes, check the debug logs. Follow the steps stated in the link to produce and view such logs.
https://github.com/AC-Panda/b3d-debug/blob/main/README.md


How do I get specular and bump maps or normal maps to work with a texture that has a transparent background? I am trying to build a polygon wig for a character. I want it to be realistic not low poly this is not for a game.

I made a hair image and made the background transparent because I wanted to have an edge on the hair bunches that was not completely straight for more realism.

Finally got the transparency to work but now I cannot figure out how to get any specular or bump or anything to work with it.

I admit I am not good with nodes or texturing and am learning bits and pieces from youtube.

If you need to see the simple node set up I am using let me know and I will post a picture if there is a way to do so on this site.

Thank You.

Your next step is to make something called an transmission map. This is a black-and-white image that tells Blender which parts you want to let light through, and how much of it. In your case, your hair will be black and the transparent part will be white.

While I don't know your node setup (it would be helpful to see it to simplify your task), the next few steps should still be applicable. Add a Mix Shader and plug your current setup to the top input. Add a Transparent Shader and add it to the bottom input of the Mix Shader.

Running under the assumption you already have a bump map available, you'll need to add a total of three more nodes before you can use it. While you probably already have a fair idea of many, if not all of the following instructions (given you're already using a texture map), I'll go through them all, anyway, in case something got left out. The first node you want is a Texture Coordinate node. You should find this under the Input of your Add menu. You'll need this so Blender knows where you want the image to go on your hair. The next one is an Image Texture. You can find it under Texture on the Add menu. This is for actually bringing your map into Blender. Change the first dropdown setting from 'Color' to 'Non-Color Data' and connect a line from the UV output from the Texture Coordinate node into the Vector input on the Image Texture node. Now upload your texture by clicking 'open' and browsing for wherever you saved your map. The final node you'll need is a Bump Map. You'll see this under the Vector section of your Add menu. If your map is black-and-white, hook it into the Height input of the Bump Map. If it's colorful, it's actually a normal map, and you need to hook it into normal input. Finally, hook your Bump Map output to the Vector input of whatever node you have your hair hooked up to.

I can't really help much further until I can see your setup, but I hope this helps so far.


How to nest sub panels and submenus on the TOOLS panel (T)? Hi, I´m aiming to create panels with menus and submenus in the TOOLS area type just like in the picture to the LEFT.
Blender pops up a shortcut menu (with shift+a) and I see it´s got arrows pointing to a submenu populated with options.

I saw the py demos on the text editor, but none of those make a main panel nesting sub panels. I want to be able to contract/expand the panel and thus reveal or hide the subPanels. The 2nd level of menu branching will

Declare as many menus as you like and concatenate them by calling each menu within the previous menu by layout.menu(menu_identifier).

You can even automatically draw a button to call your menu without declaring  any extra operator by layout.operator("wm.call_menu").name="menu_identifier".

Code ripped from How to create a custom UI? and combined with Templates > Python > Ui Menu.

bl_info = {
    "name": "Add-on Template",
    "description": "",
    "author": "",
    "version": (0, 0, 1),
    "blender": (2, 70, 0),
    "location": "3D View > Tools",
    "warning": "", # used for warning icon and text in addons panel
    "wiki_url": "",
    "tracker_url": "",
    "category": "Development"
}

import bpy

# ------------------------------------------------------------------------
#    custom menus
# ------------------------------------------------------------------------

class MyCustomMenu(bpy.types.Menu):
    bl_label = "First Menu"
    bl_idname = "OBJECT_MT_custom_menu"

    def draw(self, context):
        layout = self.layout
        layout.label(text="Hello First Menu!", icon='WORLD_DATA')

         # call the second custom menu
        layout.menu("OBJECT_MT_sub_menu", icon="COLLAPSEMENU")

        # use an operator enum property to populate a sub-menu
        layout.operator_menu_enum("object.select_by_type",
                                  property="type",
                                  text="Select All Objects by Type...",
                                  )

class MyCustomSubMenu(bpy.types.Menu):
    bl_label = "Sub Menu"
    bl_idname = "OBJECT_MT_sub_menu"

    def draw(self, context):
        layout = self.layout
        layout.label(text="Hello Second Menu!", icon='WORLD_DATA')

        # call another menu
        layout.operator("wm.call_menu", text="Unwrap").name = "VIEW3D_MT_uv_map"

        # just for fun call the first one again
        layout.menu("OBJECT_MT_sub_sub_menu", icon="COLLAPSEMENU")

class MyCustomSubSubMenu(bpy.types.Menu):
    bl_label = "Sub Sub Menu"
    bl_idname = "OBJECT_MT_sub_sub_menu"

    def draw(self, context):
        layout = self.layout
        layout.label(text="Hello Third Menu!", icon='WORLD_DATA')

# ------------------------------------------------------------------------
#    my tool in objectmode
# ------------------------------------------------------------------------

class OBJECT_PT_my_panel(bpy.types.Panel):
    bl_idname = "OBJECT_PT_my_panel"
    bl_label = "My Panel"
    bl_space_type = "VIEW_3D"
    bl_region_type = "TOOLS"
    bl_category = "Tools"
    bl_context = "objectmode"
    '''
    @classmethod
    def poll(self,context):
        return context.object is not None
    '''
    def draw(self, context):
        layout = self.layout
        scene = context.scene
        mytool = scene.my_tool

        layout.prop(mytool, "my_int")
        layout.prop(mytool, "my_enum", text="")
        layout.operator("wm.call_menu", text="Call My Menu").name = "OBJECT_MT_custom_menu"

# ------------------------------------------------------------------------
#    settings
# ------------------------------------------------------------------------

class MySettings(bpy.types.PropertyGroup):

    my_int = bpy.props.IntProperty(
        name = "Int Value",
        description="A integer property",
        default = 23,
        min = 10,
        max = 100
        )

    my_enum = bpy.props.EnumProperty(
        name="Dropdown:",
        description="Apply Data to attribute.",
        items=[ ('OP1', "Option 1", ""),
                ('OP2', "Option 2", ""),
                ('OP3', "Option 3", ""),
               ]
        )

# ------------------------------------------------------------------------
#    register and unregister the classes
# ------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

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

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()

    # The menu can also be called from scripts
    # bpy.ops.wm.call_menu(name=CustomMenu.bl_idname)


Modelling pillow with cloth simulation model floating So I'm trying to model a pillow with the cloth simulation in blender 2.8. When I try to simulate the model I can see its forming the shape but eventually it starts to float or falls down. I set the Gravity to 0 in the Field weights and enabled object collision but it seems that my model doesn't stay in place. Also is there a way to have a seam to my pillow or do I also have to model it? Any suggestions will be appreciated, Thanks.

Sure, for the newbies like me having the same issues having the model falling or floating when trying to use the clothing modifier/physics don't use a force field. If you have watched the tutorials on Youtube they always say to insert a force field in the middle of the model that has the clothing physics but in 2.8 you don't have to. I don't know if its the same case with 2.79b. Maybe I was doing it wrong but in 2.8 you only have to play around with the clothing physics settings and values. I tried without the forcefield and my model doesn't move anymore LOL. So the only settings I enable and play around are STIFFNESS and SHAPE.

I enable the SEWING option so my model gets sewn in the middle. The magic happens underneath STIFFNESS. I don't really know exactly how it works but changing these values will make the object you are trying to model have different forms. I can't give exact numbers because it always gives a different form when you change the values. The settings I play around the most are TENSION, COMPRESSION and BENDING.You can play around with SHEAR but for me changing the value to a lower or higher number will cause my model to like implode or something. BUT you have to keep TENSION and COMPRESSION to closer values or it will cause the same thing as SHEAR does. Like I said I was playing with these values so I don't know if Im right lol

These values that you input will go hand to hand with the subdivisions applied on the object. So playing around with subdivisions and the settings will give you different forms. IF you think the results of the form of your model looks boring you can always edit some of the faces by dragging the points with PROPORTIONAL SCALING with SMOOTH enabled.

Here are the cushions I modeled:

After applying the clothing modifier I use PROPORTIONAL EDITING with SMOOTHING to get closer to the shape I wanted. Maybe you guys can use the same thing. I'm pretty sure experienced people might know an easier way... Sculpting is a good option but I wanted to  learn how to use the clothing physics.

The only thing I would say is play around and have fun. You never know what you might discover. I hope this is helpful to someone out there and if you recommend another way please let me know!


Is there a way to make the DPI always sync depending on which screen I am using? I run Blender through a laptop and when when I'm at home I connect my laptop to an external display screen.

That means the resolution changes so the DPI I use when working on the laptop is incredibly small on the other screen.

As a result I change my display screen maybe twice a day and would like to know if is there a way to sync it so that I don't have to manually change it every time?

While an addon can create an operator that can change the DPI setting, it cannot access or change the current setting while blender is registering the addon.

Once the addon has been registered the operator can change the DPI for you. An operator can be assigned to a button or a keyboard shortcut for you to use. My thought is adding a button to the top left of the info header will always be visible and will let you quickly toggle between two specific DPI settings.

Save the following to a text file and use Install from File in your preferences. You can then enable the addon and Save User Settings so that is always available. The two dpi settings can be adjusted to taste.

bl_info = {
    "name": "Set DPI",
    "author": "sambler",
    "version": (1, 0),
    "blender": (2, 75, 0),
    "location": "Info header",
    "description": "Toggle between two DPI settings",
    "category": "System",
    }

import bpy

low_res_dpi = 72
hi_res_dpi = 120

class SetDPI(bpy.types.Operator):
    bl_idname = 'wm.set_dpi'
    bl_label = 'Toggle dpi setting'

    def execute(self, context):
        syspref = context.user_preferences.system
        if syspref.dpi <= low_res_dpi:
            syspref.dpi = hi_res_dpi
        else:
            syspref.dpi = low_res_dpi
        return {'FINISHED'}

def SetDPI_menu(self, context):
    if context.user_preferences.system.dpi <= low_res_dpi:
        i = 'FULLSCREEN_ENTER'
    else:
        i = 'FULLSCREEN_EXIT'
    self.layout.operator( SetDPI.bl_idname, text="", icon=i )

def register():
    bpy.utils.register_class(SetDPI)
    bpy.types.INFO_HT_header.prepend(SetDPI_menu)

def unregister():
    bpy.utils.unregister_class(SetDPI)
    bpy.types.INFO_HT_header.remove(SetDPI_menu)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()


Feathering Edges in Node compositor Is there a simple way to feather edges in the Node compositor?

Here is an example of what I'm trying to achieve.

Adding a vignette to a render is fairly common and you can find examples in many tutorials. A vignette is often circular and darkens the corners but the same principal applies.

Basically you create a mask, blur it, then use it to mix together the results you want. In this example I have used a CombineRGBA to input a semi-transparent white background that I added a render result over. There is also an Ellipse Mask if you want the rounded result.


How can I control the intensity of the light when using volumetric scattering? I'm in the middle of creating a composition of city covered with fog and also with sunlight falling on building roofs using Blender.

The problem I am actually facing is how to adjust the volumetric scattering and sunlight just right. As you can see, one image has less sun intensity which creates a kind of Dead City look, but on the other hand if I raise the intensity of the sun just a little bit (without touching the volumetric scattering settings) it goes really sunny with little to no fog.

Images :

I agree with some of the things you want to add.

add the white (or black, or grey) chimney smoke. I think that would make it cooler and a tad bit more realistic.
fix UV
smog is cool, but first find a reference image of what you want the smog to look like from above (very very last bullet below... keep reading)

However:

don't add trees, (unless you can make them almost perfectly indistinguishable from a real life tree)
don't use the first image

Things you need to work on:

Add more detail to the building right in front of the camera. This is an immediate giveaway that your scene looks fake. find whatever building you were trying to model and make sure that your building looks just like it from up close.
A lot of your textures aren't great. The building in the bottom center has a really depressing texture so when you look at it, it looks like the building is falling apart or something (if that was your goal, its not a bad texture). Make sure to bump map all your textures (but don't overdo it), and make all your windows at glossy so that your houses don't look like they are made of paper.
Rather than changing the sun's settings, try moving it around some. If the scene is back lit, you won't have to worry as much about the textures because you can do some post processing to make your buildings silhouettes.
Try using depth of field, (maybe just a little bit) so that the building closest is a little bit out of focus. This will reduce its sharpness so that you don't have to make it as realistic.
And finally, find a reference image so that you know what you want, and can gauge your success.

Besides all of these, I quite like your composition. Keep it up!


Can someone explain how to cut a circle out of this circle? I have this circle:

And i'm trying to cut another circle out of the center of it, roughly in a shape like this:

I've looked all over the internet, but I couldn't find anything. The only tutorial I could find about this was made in 2013, so it was a much earlier version of Blender that I couldn't follow along with. I started using Blender yesterday. Any help is greatly appreciated, thank you!

Select the object that will be the "hole" in the 2nd object,

Shift + select the target object.

Tab to enter edit mode

Numpad 7 to go to top view (the cut will be projected so the view is important).

Enter edit mode with both selected, go to mesh, knife project.

Then just remove the resulting face.


How modeling a complex object into a shape draw by a sharp line? After hours of tutorials, and the first help of Carlo, I'm looking in a way to force an object, like a "bone" (so not exactly a regular cylindre, with a lot of meshs) to shape itself into a sharpe path of 3 or 4 points (path converting in meshs after alt+C, let s call it "a guide").
So the idea is to use this guide like a tool to shape the bone object linked and without deformation (like a solid object) as you can see :

So to begin with... it s difficult : because it s not a bezier item, it s a complexe cylindre. So I can t use "bevel object"  with an object like that...

After this step, I think there are two possibility to see the problem :

1) You can superpose pieces of the bone if they split on an exact point of the guide (so exactly on the point between two lines). I will know how I have to "cut the bone" (so remove littles triangles) to shape it exactly like the guide (with boolean union modifier for exemple!), but like it s an object more like a triangle long bone object, one of its faces is large and have to be always at the bottom part of the modeling...

So 2) No superpositions but a complexe serie of movements (spin, translation,..) of the pieces on after the other to touch themselves in a "solid" mode, to force the large face to be always at the bottom...
Like that the little triangles removed will be much more smaller +++

I know it s very difficult to have the 2) option. S I think the first one with boolean modifier will be more than enought (but if you have an idea of course..).

Thank you so much for your time and help in this difficult modeling!!!!!

I think i found something, not really easy.

Create an armature, enter Edit mode, make it flat and subdivide the bone (W, subdivide and choose the number)

In pose mode (Ctrl+Tab), rotate and scale your bones to fit the shape you need

Select all your bones and store the pose in the pose library, we'll use it later. Now cancel the rotation of your bones and apply the pose as the rest pose.

Now add a cube, in edit mode, move the faces to fit the armature and add an edge loops for each bone joint. back in object mode, parent the mesh to the armature (select mesh 1st then armature, Ctrl+P, choose automatic weights)

Now select your bone object (the thing that you'll cut) duplicate it with Shift+D, move the duplicate to the armature and parent it to the 1st bone (select the mesh then the bone, Ctrl+P, choose bone). Do as much duplicates as you have bones and parent them the same way.

Now select all your bones (armature) and apply the pose your stored earlier and clear the scale (menu or Alt+S)

If the cube mesh needs it, correct the vertex groups. This should be simple with a lowpoly mesh and few bones.

Now apply the armature modifier on the cube and in edit mode separate the elements (select and P). Add faces to close them.

Now you have 3 cubes usable as booleans to cut the 3 bone objects where you need. You can easily move the bone objects along their local coordinates for minor adjustments.


Why is Bone Transformation Constraint Speed too high? link to a video of my problem : https://youtu.be/EI8dHZs6VF0

I have a problem from my rig. Apart from my IK I have made some bone constraint transformation mapped to the relative position of the leading IK hands local position.

Although I have made correct input of the ranges of the transformation map, I get extra quick transformations from my connected bones and not a uniform change along the maps range of values

For example my front shoulders "bone" is set to rotate around local Y for a range of local Y values of the IK hand. Although the range is big the transformation happens instantly.

I though of the projects units BU so I went ahead and changed the scale and units of the project, thinking that the transform map used increments of the projects units for the transformations steps, but i had no luck with that :/ .

Appreciate for any help.

salpix here i just solved it. if anyone finds the question i just made an error in the units i placed in the ranges. double check your units and drag the window to make it bigger and the view clearer


Missing Rigify Buttons Tab! I am attempting to rig for the first time, and I wanted to try out the Rigify Add-on. I have looked up many different tutorials, but I cant seem to solve my problem:

I went  to generate my rig, but for some reason, not even the Rigify Buttons tab will show up! Is there anything I can do to fix this? I am also using the latest (2.76) version of Blender, so maybe there's a different and/or easier way now? Please help!!

Rigify is an add on. Install it.
Change the window type to User Preferences as above.
Search or find the Rigify add on.
Check the box next to the little man.
Change the window back to the previous .. perhaps 3D View.
Begin Using.


How do you use the Curves modifier to make a smile or different shape? I was following along with Blender Guru's video on how to make a Teddy Bear, and I got to the point where he is talking about how he made the mouth. He uses a Bezier Curve and a Screws Modifier. Whenever I try to replicate it, the Screw is never aligned, and does not curve the same way his does. When I move the Screws, it curves and twists around, and I know that is because of the Bezier curve. I have tried to play around with it, but I can't get the same results that is in the video.
Here is the Blend file: http://www.mediafire.com/file/i14byvl9xjo2jkr/Teddy.blend/file
Any help is appreciated. The curves modifier is a bit strange to me, but I want to learn more as to how he was able to manipulate it the way he did for the mouth.

First I would select your piece of jarn and press Alt + R to reset the rotation. I would do the alignment with the curve with translation (with G) and the axis-buttons on the settings of the Curve modifier alone. Then i would only manipulate the curve, not the jarn.
Apart from basic translation an rotation of the vertices of the curve, i would also Subdivide to create extra vertices for more control.
Lastly, and most importantly, it is useful to know you can rotate a curve vertex in Edit Mode around the length of the curve (in other words: adjust the tilt of the vertex) by pressing Ctrl + T.
twisted and untwisted:

Hope that helps.


Erratic apply-scale behavior with vert groups and displacement modifier When trying to scale an extruded and assigned faces vert group back to zero on the Z-axis after applying a displacement modifier, it either seems to work correctly, or the entire mesh goes flat, as if I'd never applied the modifier in the first place. I know individual origins is supposed to be selected, but sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Any help would be deeply appreciated. My workflow:

Add plane –>
apply two array modifiers with one offset along Y-axis –>
UV unwrap –>
E RMB faces to extrude and hold geometry –>
assign these to a vert group for displacing –>
apply displacement modifier and adjust as needed –>
tab into edit mode and select only that faces vert group from individual origins
S Z to 0

Am I missing something here?

The first image shows the error. I've added and applied the displacement mod; selected only the faces vert group; then scaled that group to 0 along Z.

The below image shows what's supposed to happen, but often I can only get this to work after switching back and forth between the indiv. origins and 3D cursor tabs, and toggling between the faces/vertices tabs.

OK, found your culprit.

I just realized that you typed out the correct step in #7, however, it seems that you have mistaken the icon per your screenshot on your erroneous one (it's easy to do, because it looks very similar). Be sure to set your pivot point to individual origins.

Here's the behavior of doing S Z 0 using the different pivot modes:

Active Element:

When using the active Element, Blender is considering the origin of whatever your last active selected item is (in this case, the last face selected). In other cases/selection modes, it could be the last selected vertex/edge, as well as in Object mode - this would be the last selected Object, and would consider its origin as the pivot center.

Median Point:

In the demonstration below, I used two selections for simplification, however when using this mode, Blender will take whatever is selected and calculate an averaged pivot location, and use that.

Individual Origins:

For this mode, Blender considers the "origin/pivot point" whatever the median pivot would be if you were to use median, and pick only one object. The difference is that it does this on everything selected.

3D Cursor:

For this mode, anything selected will pivot from the Viewport's 3D cursor location.

Bounding Box:

This one acts a lot like Median Point, although instead of thinking about calculating a median like origin between object origins, it calculated the extremity boundaries of the items selected, and then brings you to the mid/center point of that (in this example it is hard to tell the difference between Bounding Box & Median Point Pivot Mode.


Gradient between two materials on the same mesh I am trying to colorize a mesh for a 3d illustration, and I have been using Steven's technique so far.

The problem is that, as Stephen notes at the end of his answer, the contrast between the two materials is rather sharp.

Is there a way to blur or gradient the line between the two materials?

I was thinking about colorizing faces with a ramp between the two different colors, but that sounds complicated, and I'm using Cycles, so maybe there's another, simpler way to do this?

Simply using a gradient texture to blend two shaders using a mix shader node is not an option?

Setup goes like this:

The two emission shaders of course would be replaced by your material setups.

I think that is about as simple as it gets.


How to change an FCurve value in Python Someone asked for the functionality to change multiple fcurves at once (f.e. Loc X, Loc Y, Loc Z).

Now I managed to get all selected Fcurves in an array but I can't find any way to change their values.
There is the bpy.types.FCurve.evaluate() method which only reads the given value at a frame.

How could I change it(optionally at a specific frame)?

EDIT: Found a workaround and posted it as solution.

An fcurve is made up of splines connecting key frame points.  FCurve.keyframe_points  a set of points (x, y) analogous to (frame, value).

import bpy
context = bpy.context
# use action on active object

obj = context.object
action = obj.animation_data.action

# location fcurves
fcurves = [fc for fc in action.fcurves if fc.data_path == "location"]

# set value of all fcurves to value at frame
edit_frame = 1
edit_value = (10.0, 0.0, -1.0)

for fc in fcurves:
    axis = fc.array_index
    # remove keyframe points already at edit_frame
    [fc.keyframe_points.remove(p) for p in fc.keyframe_points
           if abs(p.co.x - edit_frame) < 0.0001]
    # insert a keyframe
    fc.keyframe_points.insert(edit_frame, edit_value[axis])

Note this wont work for baked fcurves, which have sampled points.  The value of fcurve.evaluate(frame) will evaluate curve after applying any fcurve modifiers.


This deformations appeared in this 3D round model that I'm trying to create After creating a 3D sphere, and stretching it out. I also created spaces with the boolean method for the wheels using other round shapes. Immediately after creating these spaces, these deformations started to appear. What should I do?
If possible, I would like to receive a simpler explanation, since I'm still a beginner. But if its not possible, it would still be very much appreciated if you help me.

You are probably using the "Subdivision modifier" applied to the car mesh.
You should learn how to control this modifier (it's one of the most complex things in 3d software). Here some basic info: https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/modeling/modifiers/generate/subdivision_surface.html#control

The easiest way to go on with your work is to disable the subdivision modifier and work in a "low poly / flat / shade flat" way.

Once you mastered basic modeling, you can try experimenting also the "subdivision" things (here one of many tutorials you'll find on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmIIIcCUm8E)


How to create a spherical lithophane I'm trying to create a spherical lithophane in Blender 2.80 for 3d printing. I can create a sphere and hollow it out, but the inside of the sphere has the same texture as the outside (For a lithophane one side of the surface has to be smooth). I have created the sphere used displacement to create the surface texture, and then subtracted a smaller sphere from it to hollow it out. Trouble is the hollowed sphere then has the same texture as the outside. I hope this makes sense to somebody and you can let me know where I am going wrong.
Cheers
Dave

Create vertex groups - go into the weight editing mode, select the outer part L and assign a weight to it shiftK (when vertices are selected).
And select this group in displacement modifier


Ambient occlusion, getting dark hard edges on texture When I am baking the Cycles AO from a high poly model to a low poly, I am getting dark areas with sharp edges where they are not suppose to be (as shown in the image below). Anyone geting the same problem or am i doing something wrong?

Update: I got it to work when i remodeled everything in a new scene, some setting that I can't fin must have messed up the old model. (it did not work when appending or copying the old model in a new scene.)

You checked "cage" for baking but from what I see you have not chosen a cage object. Untick the cage object, then change the extrusion to a higher value.


Textures on models randomly disappeared in cycles render I need help. I was working on my first real animation which involved lightsabers. I wasn’t sure if the character models I was using would work in cycles render, so I tested it out and they worked fine while also a great lightsaber effect. I worked on it and am almost done. But when I start blender to continue all of a sudden the textures don’t appear. When I click textured they still look solid. When I go rendered they are pink. I tried to see what they looked like in blender render and they have no textures at all there! The textures straight disappeared. Can someone please help me.

Never mind. I figured out what was wrong. Apparently my textures were still downloading on my computer. They didn’t finish downloading. Now it’s working. Sorry.


How to make light pass through hole? How do I make light go through a half-moon shape hole so it can create a half moon? I wasn't seeing any light come out even though I played around with the strength and put a plane in front of it. No light seemed to emit out of the spotlight. I want it to be like a projector,I've seen other people forum of having the light flickering on and off so I get that.

Update !: I've made the volumetric lighting and plane as suggested, however, I still cannot make the light pass through the plane/half-moon shape without it completely ignoring the plane or shape. It just continues to make a round shape.

Never mind, I had the plane/object too close to the spot light. That's why it didn't work. It needed to be further away from the spot light. Thank you everyone who helped


Particle Hair renders outside lines I've been struggling with hair for some time and I didn't find any solution to my problem, so I decided to try and find a solution here. I'm having a problem when I add a line of hair to scalp that they render in a strange way(out of place).

I'm not sure if this is the supposed to happen but it looks strange to me, even more hard way to make a hair style since when I add more hair to scalp they start to come out of chin, forehead, cheeks, etc.

I would really appreciate any help or insight.

Apply (Ctrl A) rotation and scale of your mesh, then reduce the radius in which the children are spread around the hair parent.


Curve Spiral creates unwanted result with mesh I have been trying to recreate Min-mins left arm from ARMS but to no avail... I created a spiral myself and tried to wrap the mesh along it using the array and curve modifiers. The mesh does not stay consistent along the spiral however, turning inside out and back in throughout a cycle of the spiral creating an inconsistent shape. I tried it with the spiral given from the extra curve add-on which unfortunately yielded the same results. I don't really know how to fix this. Attached should be a reference photo of what it should look like. Note that the scales and spikes are always on the outside. This is what I want to accomplish.

The problem could be solved simply by tilting the curve a bit. The to me previously unknown shortcut ctrl+t allowed me to tilt the curve in such a way that it worked out in the end. For those that don't know: tilting a curve doesn't move any of the points on a curve but changes the direction they are facing.


Is there a way to mirror faces without the normals being flipped? I need to create a mirrored version of my mesh. In edit mode I press M plus the axis. But the normals on the mirrored faces are flipped, so I have to select all faces and recalculate/flip the normals.

I want to eliminate the last step. Is there a way to make the mirror function keep the normal direction of the original faces?

Using the mirror modifier is a good way to mirror an object and it solves your problem.


How to arrange objects around the center of a circle? I would like to know how I could arrange 6 cloned cones around the center of a circle.

As you can see in the screenshot, it's very easy for me to arrange them in a circle using an Array modifier and an empty as the offset object that is in the center of the scene rotated 60°:

Note that the cone that sits in the center is a clone of a cone that's offset to the point where I actually want the circumference.

It would be also helpful if you gave me a hint how to translate the bunch of clones after they are cloned without changing their relative position. I can easily calculate where they should be.

You're most of the way there.

When you use the Array modifier with an object offset, the offset between the first array element and the controlling object will be added to each subsequent element. The offset in translation is the move between the pivot point of the controlling object and the pivot point of first element.

The elements are not rotating around the empty. Each element is rotating around the previous element, (by as much as the first element is rotated with respect to the empty). Each element is to the previous element as the first element is to the empty.

You don't want any translation. You only want rotation. so the pivot point of the cone must be where the Empty is. Hit CtrlA >  to apply the location: put the pivot point of the cone where the empty is, at the world origin.

Now to change the radius of the circle of cones .. don't move the pivot point of the cone - move its mesh, by selecting all its vertices in Edit Mode, and moving them.

To move the circular array of cones without screwing them up, you have to maintain the relationship between the first element and the empty.

The easiest way to do this is: select the cone, then the empty, and hit CtrlP > 'Object' to make the empty the parent of the cone (array). Now when you move the empty, the circle of cones moves too. You can still screw the array my moving the cone, so to be safe, lock all its transforms with the little padlocks in the Transform panel of the N properties region on the right of the 3D view.


How to create a 3D object from a specific equation I realize this has been asked before, so I apologize for the "repeat". I saw this answer, and it mostly solved my issue. However, I can't figure out how to generate my specific equation. This is my equation:

This works from the range -1 <= x <= 1. For the really big equation, the "x" should actually be z, and the "h" should be x (I had to use those to graph it on Desmos). In any case, I tried inputting the first half of the equation with the Blender Add Mesh: Extra Objects > Math Function > Z Math Surface by typing this:

(sqrt(-16*fabs(x)+40*sqrt(fabs(x))*y-16*pow(x,2)-25*pow(y,2)+16)+15*x)/15

The result is an error evaluating the expression. Do I have to set the range somehow? Would it be better to use XYZ Math Surface? (and if so, how?). Or am I just doing something wrong? Thank you in advance.

The problem that prevents your equation from working with the Add Mesh: Extra Objects > Math Function > Z Math , is that you're using a sqrt function which is undefined for negative values.

When the math function operator tries to evaluate different values for X and Y, it raises an exception the first time that evaluation fails due to an attempt to sqrt a negative value.

Another option is to write a script of your own to generate the mesh only where the equation provides valid results. I wrote a quick script to do that below. It's incomplete as it only calculates vertices coordinates (result in the image above), and does not generate edges and faces, but it's a start:

import bpy, bmesh
import numpy     as np
from   math      import sqrt
from   itertools import product

# Define X and Y values lower bound, upper bound and number of points
lb, ub, n = ( -30, 30, 1000 )

# Calculate all the possible X-Y combinations and convert to a numpy array
xy = np.array( list( product( np.linspace( lb, ub, n ), np.linspace( lb, ub, n ) ) ) )

# Split X and Y to different arrays and initialize Z array
xs = xy[:,0]
ys = xy[:,1]
zs = []

# Iterate over every x and y value, and try to calculate the z.
# Append result if successful, and nan if not
for x, y in zip( xs, ys ):
    try:
        zs.append(
            (
                sqrt(
                    -16 * abs(x) + 40 * sqrt( abs(x) ) * y - 16 * pow( x, 2 ) - 25 * pow( y, 2 ) + 16
                ) + 15 * x
            ) / 15
        )
    except:
        zs.append( np.nan )

# Drop nan values from all axes
mask = np.logical_not(np.isnan(zs))
xs = xs[ mask ]
ys = ys[ mask ]
zs = np.array( zs )[ mask ]

# Generate mesh
bm = bmesh.new()

# Add vertices
for x, y, z in zip( xs, ys, zs ):
    bm.verts.new( (x,y,z) )

m = bpy.data.meshes.new( "equation" )

bm.to_mesh( m )

o = bpy.data.objects.new( "equation", m )
bpy.context.scene.objects.link( o )

This script uses external, non built-in libraries (namely numpy). You can achieve the same result without numpy, but it makes some of the calculations quicker and easier.


How to reload all text editor scripts at once I'm creating some simple scripts to automatize my workflow. Things like:

import bpy
# import find_and_close_open_edges

def select_by_pattern(name="SovereignMace",part=None,number=None,partsep="_",numsep="."):

    # Sql NVL
    xstr = lambda s: s or "*"

    # name = "Name_<part>[.partnumber]"
    if name is None:
        pattern = ""
    elif part is None:
        pattern = name
    elif number is None:
        pattern = name + partsep + part
    else:
        pattern = name + partsep + part + numsep + number

    pattern = pattern + "*"

    # pattern = xstr(name) + xstr(partsep) + \
    # xstr(part) + xstr(numsep) + \
    # xstr(number)

    print("Pattern:",pattern)

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

    # select all objects by pattern
    bpy.ops.object.select_pattern(pattern=pattern)

    return {'FINISHED'}

They grow in number, and they become to be dependent on each other. I use an external editor, so I seldom need to reload one or more script at once and the run them in Blender text editor by ALT-P.
Is there a way to reload all scripts used in Blender text editor at once? (Mind I'm not asking how to do F8 reload... that's unrelated)
Thank you

Here's a script who does the job:

import bpy

# https://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php209369-Synchronizing-text-with-changes-from-outside

def execute():
    """ Check modified external scripts in the scene and update if possible
    """
    ctx = bpy.context.copy()
    #Ensure  context area is not None
    ctx['area'] = ctx['screen'].areas[0]
    for t in bpy.data.texts:
        if t.is_modified and not t.is_in_memory:
            print("  * Warning: Updating external script", t.name)
            # Change current context to contain a TEXT_EDITOR
            oldAreaType = ctx['area'].type
            ctx['area'].type = 'TEXT_EDITOR'
            ctx['edit_text'] = t
            bpy.ops.text.resolve_conflict(ctx, resolution='RELOAD')
            #Restore context
            ctx['area'].type = oldAreaType

execute()

you can run the script in the text editor or console, and it will reload all scripts which are into text editor and have been modified.


two textures: painting on one of them while the other is still visible (2.8) I have a model with two UVs and two textures: first set is a projected UV with paintover from Photoshop and second UV is a generated UV to paint on top. They're mixed using the Alpha of the second texture.

UVs:

Textures:

Result in Lookdev mode:

I want to be able to paint on the second texture while seeing the first one and sampling colors from both first and second. Is this possible?

At the moment when I switch to paint mode and make several light brush strokes my first texture looks very dark and brushstrokes look like they're opaque. When I switch back to Object mode everything looks like it should.

Have you tried to turn off overlays in LookDev mode?


Need help/advice on how to fill in a groove/trench on a model's surface I am working on a personal project and am trying to remove a trench (not sure if proper term but describes it accurately) that runs along the model.

Is there any way to easily fill this in to be inline with the rest of the model? If there isn't an easy way, but you have an idea of how to do it, please post it. Thanks.

Solved it to my standards. I selected a loop of vertices around and above the trench, hid it and removed the trench. Then I un-hid the loop and made some edges that ran across the new gap. Filled in the holes with faces made from the new edges and the loop.

Not the best or most elegant solution, but I wanted to get it done ASAP. Please let me know if anyone has a better way of doing it.


Physics simulations take way too long to bake Blender newbie here. I'm building some kind of "obstacle course" with soft bodies and rigid bodies in which a jelly ball falls down a ramp with a few obstacles. Problem is, just a frame of simulating the ball merely touching the ground takes about two minutes, in which the program freezes. I've been told it's due to lack of RAM memory, but, for example, when I simulate a soft body ball falling into a cube in a new project it calculates it almost instantly (I've got 8 GB of RAM, an Intel i5-4430 processor and no, the platform has not a lot of edges). How can this be? I'm sure people who do these kind of simulations with soft bodies don't have to leave their computer open for a week just to bake a simulation.

Any advice will be welcome. Thanks!

(File download HERE. Sorry for bad modelling and all that stuff, I'm still learning :c ).

Edit- some details as suggested by Rich Sedman.

Separate your rendered world from your physical world.

With soft body physics, your vertex count is the biggest thing that's going to impact the time it takes to calculate.  Physics complexity is combinatorial in nature.  Each bit capable of interacting has to check with every other bit capable of interacting.  So doubling your vert count slows down your scene by much more than half.

How do you get around this?  By using simplified proxy physics objects.  You may need a thousand verts to render your beautiful sphere with nice glossy reflections, but do you need a thousand verts to simulate its physics?  No.

Look at your first image.  In that image, you have wireframes of four objects, each of which has more than a hundred vertices.  Yet the actual profile of these objects is pretty flat.  Do you need all those vertices for physics, or do you only need those vertices for rendering?  If you don't need them for physics, make an octagon mesh collider instead.  Simply disable rendering on your new octagon collider, and possibly parent your rendered object to the octagon, rather than involving these thousand vertices in your simulation.

What if you have something soft and squishy, and the render needs to represent that?  One way to handle this is to use a physics object as the target of a mesh deform for your rendered object.  Another is to use an armature with constraints that track vertex groups on your physics object.  These kinds of deformations can be computed much more quickly than physical deformations can.  Use your physics as a guide for your render.  Don't try to render physics directly.


How do I make a round hay roof? I'm trying to learn modeling so I'm pretty new to it. How can I make this hay roof?

Image as reference, proportional editing/sculpting, and tip thickness
As you have a reference image, I think the best way to start the modeling is blocking out of the shape right onto the reference image to ensure the similarity of the proportions.
Keep the topology tidy in this phase as long as possible. In my test file I started by extruding and scaling a circle on the Z-axis while keeping an image-type empty behind. Don't worry about the a-symmetry of the reference object, just focus on the overall proportions.
For the tip I went for a grid fill, followed by some smooth vertex operator iterations.

The shape has now some kind of radial symmetry that we would like to avoid. I took advantage of the proportional editing tool to grab the vertices around and various sculpt tools to smooth the shape (or to bump out some parts).

Add to the roof a hair particle system, set the right amount of particles, comb the hairs toward the bottom (in particle edit mode) and use weight paint to adjust the density and length.

Once satisfied with the distribution, start tweaking the parameters of the individual hairs. I went for a long stick type by setting the Tip section equal to the Root section. You can find more info about how to control the shape of the strand in the Blender Manual page:

Finish by setting the Children particles type to one of the proposed modes (in this case I went for Interpolated) to increase the amount of particles.
Play with other parameters till you reach the right look for your job. Here's a possible result:

Note: this is just a presentation of the workflow and the tools I would use for the job. Each one probably requires some time and further research in order to be mastered.


Blender cycles, apply textures through a python script I am trying to apply textures through a python script. I would like to use blender cycles renderer. I thought following these advices would be sufficient, but sadly Blender does not show the equivalent python commands when applying manually the procedure. How would you do this ? Or, is it possible to force blender to show the python commands ?

Thanks in advance

This script does not do any unwrapping. List of available nodes

import bpy

mat_name = "MyMaterial"
image_path = #...

mat = (bpy.data.materials.get(mat_name) or
       bpy.data.materials.new(mat_name))

mat.use_nodes = True
nt = mat.node_tree
nodes = nt.nodes
links = nt.links

# clear
while(nodes): nodes.remove(nodes[0])

output  = nodes.new("ShaderNodeOutputMaterial")
diffuse = nodes.new("ShaderNodeBsdfDiffuse")
texture = nodes.new("ShaderNodeTexImage")
uvmap   = nodes.new("ShaderNodeUVMap")

texture.image = bpy.data.images.load(image_path)
uvmap.uv_map = "UV"

links.new( output.inputs['Surface'], diffuse.outputs['BSDF'])
links.new(diffuse.inputs['Color'],   texture.outputs['Color'])
links.new(texture.inputs['Vector'],    uvmap.outputs['UV'])

# distribute nodes along the x axis
for index, node in enumerate((uvmap, texture, diffuse, output)):
    node.location.x = 200.0 * index


Able to change dimensions, but not scale I am new to scripting in Blender and I have a set of commands that work to create my object when pasted into the command line, but not when run as a script. The first major issue I've run into is that the dimensions and location change on a selected object, but the scale does not. How can I resolve this?
import bpy
import bmesh
from bpy_extras.object_utils import AddObjectHelper
from bpy import context

bpy.ops.mesh.primitive_cube_add(size=16, enter_editmode=False, align='WORLD', location=(0, 0, 0))

bpy.context.view_layer.objects.active = bpy.data.objects['6']

bpy.context.object.location[0] = 0
bpy.context.object.location[1] = 0
bpy.context.object.location[2] = 8.6
bpy.context.object.scale[0] = 1250
bpy.context.object.scale[1] = 1250
bpy.context.object.dimensions[2] = 2

The dimensions and location change when I run this, but the scale does not. I appreciate all your help and insights. Thanks very much!

You should apply dimensions first and then scale it.
Since set dimension kind of reset the scale to make it work in calculation.
import bpy
import bmesh
from bpy_extras.object_utils import AddObjectHelper
from bpy import context

bpy.ops.mesh.primitive_cube_add(size=16, enter_editmode=False, align='WORLD', location=(0, 0, 0))
# select the last created object
bpy.context.view_layer.objects.active = bpy.data.objects[-1]

bpy.context.object.location.xy = 0.0, 0.0
bpy.context.object.location.z = 8.6

bpy.context.object.dimensions.z = 2.0
bpy.context.object.scale.xy = 1250, 1250


VSE: One video overlays another - bottom one plays as expected, top one does not I'm trying to overlay a screen recording of my phone on another video. Both videos are 1920x1080 and 50fps. It renders as expected, with the screen recording taking up a third of the image on the left and the other video playing on the back. My problem is with seeking in the VSE: jumping to a frame, the bottom video jumps to the correct frame, whereas the top video will always start from its first frame.

Why is this?

UPDATE: The video of my phone's screen was taken with AZ Screen Recorder. I'd set it to 50 FPS, but VLC tells me the framerate is something else. I was able to work smoothly with these videos using DaVinci Resolve, where I had to set the phone video's frame rate to 200.

Top video settings:

Transform settings:

Make sure your footages are conformed to identical frame rates. You will, for example, almost never find any North American device that will record at a flat 24, 50, 60, etc. and the actual value will be 24000/1001, 50000/1001, 60000/1001 etc. Assert that your framerates are identical, if they are not, you will need to conform them to identical rates, with the below caveat.
Conform to a motion picture codec that uses only I frames, which represent a whole frame. The FFMPEG library behind the scenes will be calculating offsets into the overall time stamps, and this will yield wonky results when you are dealing with compressed codecs leaning heavily on groups of pictures, or GOPs. The only way to avoid this, and have your cuts match perfectly 1:1 is to enforce codecs that avoid those I and P frames.

Bluntly, for this sort of an application, Blender is a poor tool, as still image formats are going to be vastly more reliable. In the context of your particular project, still image formats seem outside the scope.

See Audio/Video out of sync in rendered video, but not in VSE for more information.


Rigid bodies not colliding when going fast I have a scene with (what will be) a treasure map and am trying to animate some coins falling onto it. I started based on this tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYL9w6xsZ6g made a coin, animated its rotation for the first frame and then animated turning off animation. Everything works perfectly if the coin drops from 2 blender units or less, but if I move the start position higher then the coin passes straight through the map mesh.

On the map mesh I have rigid body passive, shape: Mesh, Source: final
On the coin mesh I have rigid body active, shape: convex hull, source: deform

I also encounter the problem if I start duplicating the coins at around 2 Blender units high, some will pass through and others will collide.

My coin is 0.237x0.237x0.047 and my map mesh is 0.02 units thick (though I've tried making it thicker and it didn't seem to help much) I'm using the Blender 2.78 release candidate

Try scaling up your entire simulation.

You could also try changing the hitbox type of your coins from mesh to cylinder or cube.

The manual page about soft body collisions may help you.

It explains how the collision system works, and why your objects do not collide with the ground material.


flip uv map without numpad I try to flip a uv map in uv editor mode. I read that S, X, -1 should do the trick but I don't have a numpad and it doesn't work even with the emulate numpad option switched on.

Any idea?

Select the UV island/islands you want to flip, press Shift+S-->Cursor to Selected. Change the Pivot type to Bounding Box Center. Then go to UVs-->Mirror-->X axis.


How can I transfer a collection of float values to a node socket? How can I transfer a collection of float values to a node socket?

This is what I've tried:

Create a list of float values and convert each of them to a string
Pass the string to the socket
In the right place in the script, I will retrieve the float values by accessing the string values from within an eval() function:

list_x = eval(self.inputs['Points'].VectorProperty.x)

list_y = eval(self.inputs['Points'].VectorProperty.y)

list_point = list(zip(list_x, list_y))

I understand that this is not correct. But what is the correct way to do this?

In the case you are describing you can use the NodeSocketVector a socket. It is a built in NodeSocket.

class MyNode(Node):
    def init(self):
        self.outputs.new('NodeSocketVector', name="Vector")

    def get_output_vector_value(self):
        return self.inputs[0].default_value


reverse photogrametry I am new to all 3D graphics and I am not sure If this is the correct place for this question. Kindly refer me to the correct place if I am wrong.

I want to automate a reverse action to photogrametry, that is, take a 3D '.obj'\'.ply' file and produce multiple images of it covering many directions. I need to take ~200 images per ~10 objects so I would much like not to manually capture the images. Is there a solution?

Again sorry if this is not the correct forum.

Create a camera animation orbiting around your object:

How can I animate the camera in a perfect circular rotation around a fixed position?

You can also easily vary the height of the camera when it has TrackTo constraint. This animation should have as many frames as you want images.

Render this animation (CtrlF12) as image frames: Output options, see Workflow > Frame Sequence


Source Filmmarker to Blender import I imported this model from Source Filmmarker to Blender, any reason why the eyebrow texture looks like this? The block shows up in render also.

If anyone could point me in the right direction to fixing this I will research and figure it out, or if  you want to tell me how to fix it that would be great too. Appreciate the help.

Every face in a mesh model can be assigned a different material. By face I am referring to the polygons of the mesh, not the characters face.

The model would appear to have one material for the skin and another for eyebrows and eyelashes. This probably allows choosing different eyebrow textures to get a variety of characters.

I expect both materials are meant to use an image texture to define the colour on the model. Either the images are missing or are not set to be used by the material.


Processing when ModalOperator has already been executed I want to make an add-on using the Timer of ModalOperator.

I want to prevent the same ModalOperator from running if the ModalOperator was already running.

What should I do now?

https://github.com/dfelinto/blender/blob/master/release/scripts/templates_py/operator_modal_timer.py

import bpy

class ModalTimerOperator(bpy.types.Operator):
    """Operator which runs its self from a timer"""
    bl_idname = "wm.modal_timer_operator"
    bl_label = "Modal Timer Operator"

    _timer = None

    def modal(self, context, event):
        if event.type in {'RIGHTMOUSE', 'ESC'}:
            self.cancel(context)
            return {'CANCELLED'}

        if event.type == 'TIMER':
            # change theme color, silly!
            color = context.preferences.themes[0].view_3d.space.gradients.high_gradient
            color.s = 1.0
            color.h += 0.01

        return {'PASS_THROUGH'}

    def execute(self, context):
        wm = context.window_manager
        self._timer = wm.event_timer_add(0.1, window=context.window)
        wm.modal_handler_add(self)
        return {'RUNNING_MODAL'}

    def cancel(self, context):
        wm = context.window_manager
        wm.event_timer_remove(self._timer)

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

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

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()

    # test call
    bpy.ops.wm.modal_timer_operator()

This can be solved by checking whether the timer has been set before. Unfortunately the example has a little confusing mistake. self._timer = wm.event_timer_add(0.1, window=context.window) does not assign a value to the class attribute _timer as declared at the beginning of the class. Instead it creates an instance attribute named _timer. You can see this by adding the following two lines after the assignment:

print(f"self._timer = {self._timer}")
print(f"ModalTimerOperator._timer = {ModalTimerOperator._timer}")

The first print() will show the the content of the instance attribute, the second print() the content of the class attribute. If you try this you will see that the class attribute will always be None, it's never assigned the value. Therefore this needs to be fixed before you add the check to see if a timer has been previously assigned.

One way of solving this, is making all reads and writes happen to the class attribute by replacing self with ModalTimerOperator and thereby actually using the class attribute declared at the beginning. Then you can check in execute whether the timer is None and only then add a new timer when it is. Set timer to None when the modal operator is canceled.

Update: In order to follow the naming convention I've renamed ModalTimerOperator to WM_OT_modal_timer_operator.

import bpy

class WM_OT_modal_timer_operator(bpy.types.Operator):
    """Operator which runs its self from a timer"""
    bl_idname = "wm.modal_timer_operator"
    bl_label = "Modal Timer Operator"

    timer = None

    def modal(self, context, event):
        if event.type in {'RIGHTMOUSE', 'ESC'}:
            self.cancel(context)
            return {'CANCELLED'}

        if event.type == 'TIMER':
            # change theme color, silly!
            color = context.preferences.themes[0].view_3d.space.gradients.high_gradient
            color.s = 1.0
            color.h += 0.01

        return {'PASS_THROUGH'}

    def execute(self, context):
        wm = context.window_manager
        if WM_OT_modal_timer_operator.timer is None:
            WM_OT_modal_timer_operator.timer = wm.event_timer_add(0.1, window=context.window)
            wm.modal_handler_add(self)
            print("Adding new timer")
        return {'RUNNING_MODAL'}

    def cancel(self, context):
        wm = context.window_manager
        wm.event_timer_remove(self.timer)
        WM_OT_modal_timer_operator.timer = None

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

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

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()

    # test call
    bpy.ops.wm.modal_timer_operator()

If you register the operator and then run it multiple times through F3 or Edit > Operator Search, you will see that a new timer is only added when there hasn't been a previous one or it has been canceled.


I cant extrude (noob question) I'm watching a tuttorial and I am trying to extrude the line between two points by selecting the two points, and hit E. but it looks like that and ı cant go on.

You are doing this in Solid View so you are not able to select the dots behind your view.

To solve this issue go to Wireframe Mode by pressing Z and now you can select the dots behind your view, but not with click select the dots with circle tool. The short key is C .


How do you move a vertex a specific amount in one axis in 2.8? How do you move a vertex a specific amount say 0.375 in the x direction. I know you do the G grab function but can you specify the distance you want to move a vertex?
Thanks

You can use the Grab function (G), then press the key of the axis you want to move on (e.g. X for the X axis). Then you can type in the amount you want to move (e.g. 0.75 = move 0.75 BU).


washed out textures in render I have seen some similar questions, but I don't think my problem is that I have overlapping faces. I have also tried adjusting the lighting level but the problem persists. When cycles render preview does 1 or 2 out of the 32 render cycles then the coffee looks more or less correct but the end result is always grey and white and washed out. I might be able to fix this with an overlay of color in the nodes, but is there any way to avoid the problem in the first place?

render preview
blend file https://drive.google.com/file/d/17M1Bm2xdQxLtuhR7DOEmqay4WGezRiSE/view?usp=sharing
UPDATE: I turned the light intensity down and changed to darker base colors for world and sun light sources. I changed the base color of glass and coffee which improved the glass slightly, but the coffee is still ridiculously reflective. I have roughness at .5 and turning it up to 1 does not help.

Final result after applying instructions in checked answer

and after adding a transparent BSDF and decreasing transmission and increasing roughness of glass

I also decreased the light intensity for world and both lights to .4 for world and about 100 watts for each light down from 600
Final version -- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1z5UkbsWIKdtGmvthzcef6k3zenHixaNm/view?usp=sharing

Your environment lighting (world and light) was very bright. So first thing, change your lighting. Also, your coffee material has a Transmission of 1, which makes it reflect the environment like a glass, and a Roughness of 0.55, which makes the reflection scattered all over the surface, it's not what you expect from water, and it creates a rather grey material, you can't see the Volume Absorption effect any more.

If you don't want this scattering effect, which would make more sense, low down the Roughness value:

You can also mix your BSDF with a Transparent node to lown down the glass effect:


Making Textured Surface Emit Light In cycles render, I would like to make a textured surface emit light while the texture is still showing. Tried various methods (some suggested here) but haven't really found a solution. The ideal resolution would be if I could make the surface emit light but not lighting itself (so the texture remains visible). Is something like that possible?

This is what I have:

So what have you tried so far? Have you tried to duplicate your object, give the copy a higher Emission Strength and make it invisible to the camera?

Create a copy of your object and duplicate its material.
Scale the copy or move it above the original object.
Go in the Properties panel > Object > Display and choose Maximum Draw Type > Wire to make it easier to manipulate in Object mode.
Go in the Properties panel > Object > Cycle Settings and deactivate the Camera option to make your object invisible in Render mode.
Give this copy a higher Emission Strength so that it emits more light than the original and can enlight its environment.


Python move object on local axis Read through a lot of questions but I didn't find a simple answer.

How do I move an object on it's local axis using a vector? I don't want to use bpy.ops.transform.translate, because it's slow.

Given an object that is rotated and an example vector (1,2,3). How can I do a translation on the local axis, so the object is moved 1 on it's local x-axis, 2 on the local y-axis, 3 on the local z-axis. Just like in the viewport, when you move an object pressing "g" and then pressing the x-axis key (or y / z) twice.

EDIT:
So from a C++ post I understand the math behind it, still I'm unable to reproduce it in Blender.
For the local translation T you have to do the translation first, then multiply it with the rotation matrix R.
So (pseudocode)

myobject.location = T(1,2,3) * R

Problems:
1.) How do I get R of the object that is already rotated.
2.) Can I just multiply a vector with that matrix?
3.) What about the location that the object had before? Just add it?

In order to make it faster you could also assign the values directly to the location property:

import bpy
import mathutils

# get the object
obj = bpy.data.objects["Object"]

# store the current location
loc = obj.location

# adjustment values
(x,y,z) = (1.0,2.0,3.0)

# adding adjustment values to the property
obj.location = loc + mathutils.Vector((x,y,z))

Assigning and adding the values in one line:

bpy.data.objects["Object"].location = bpy.data.objects['Object'].location + Vector((x,y,z))

Simple and fast is adding the adjustment values to each axis:

bpy.data.objects["Object"].location.x += 1.0
bpy.data.objects["Object"].location.y += 2.0
bpy.data.objects["Object"].location.z += 3.0


How do I delete an object? I want to delete an object. So I press the Delete button and then a menu pops up and I select vertices. But then the object still appears in the outliner. I still see "cube' there.

You have to delete from object from Object Mode, not Edit Mode. You can switch between Object Mode and Edit Mode using the Tab key on your keyboard. You can also switch using he drop down menu on the bottom panel of the 3d View window.Then hit delete again (Function delete on Mac) and you will be able to Delete the object entirely, it will also disappear from the outliner. If you want to delete parts of your mesh use Edit Mode, if you want to delete the entire mesh use Object Mode.

Switch to Object Mode

Now you can delete


Why do still renders look sharper than animations? I'm doing an scene based on the Solar System (in Cycles), with the inconvenient that when i press 'Render' and then i press 'Save the Image As' it looks better, brighter and more defined than when i press Animation.
I saved the two images as PNG (Because i needed as Alpha images for later)but when i imported them to an editing software (on this case, Adobe After Effects) I can clearly see the difference...starting from the definition of the Orbit/Line.
I hope someone can lend me a hand about this one, i'm getting troubled.

Make sure the resolution for the final render is set at 100%.

If you are going to do further compositing/postproduction/color correction in other software, render to an image sequence in a lossless format using a higher bit depht like 16bit per channel.