Bezier Curve as Constraint for Bones? (Rolling garage door) im trying to build a rolling garage door. To connect my six panels i used bones. Now i would like to define how they can move. I want to use this for animations or stills in different positions.
I tried to connect my bones to a bezier curve but it doesn't work. I got it moving along the curve as an object but not bending around the curve. How can i make this work?

edit: i tried the curve modifier trick whick is very simple to use.
i might have to use bones instead because of the complexity of my model.
I want the Panels to use the tail which is hidden in the screenshot.

You can do something similar without using bones:

Subdivide a plane so that it corresponds to the door parts (same size as the door), for instance, this:

Add a curve modifier to this plane. The plane will keep its flat parts following the curve.
Parent the door to the plane.
Add a "surface deform" modifier to the door targeting to the plane (and bind it). The door will stay conformed to the flat parts of the plane.

Animate the plane along its curve axis.


When moving character vertex stretches (After weighting) I am new with Blender and I just finished doing my mesh and weighting it, it is for a project I have to submit by the end of the week and still have one more character left to create and I really don't know what's that and how to fix it. So everything looks normal, but after I created a root bone and moved the object away, two vertices stretch and don't move from their place. I really really hope there's a way to fix that without having to start over :( Please let me know asap if you have any idea. Thank you!

And if you know how to fix it, please give me detailed instructions, cause this is my first project on Blender. Please! Thanks!

Also, does any of you know what exactly should I rotate in order to get this leg in pose mode (and all other modes) in the right position? In Edit mode it looks okay.. but only there..

Try moving your character into that second position, where you can see which vertices are being left behind.  Then:

Select the mesh.  Get into Edit Mode.
Select the vertex (make sure Armature deform is enabled to be seen in Viewport)

Hit N in the Viewport, and scroll down to the Vertex Properties and make sure Deform is selected.

From there, look for the bone (probably the name of a Forearm bone) that should be influencing that vertex, but isn't, and set the weight to 1.  Make sure to hit Normalize when your done.


Why does the File Browser's 'filepath' property include the blend file name once the file has been saved? I am puzzled by a weird behaviour of the Blender File Browser (v2.81) that I use to select the path to a folder containing the data my script processes:

when it is invoked from a Blender project that was never saved, self.filepath returns the path selected e.g. my/selected/path/. This is the behaviour I am expecting.

when it is invoked once the Blender project file as been saved (foo.blend), then self.filepath returns the path selected and appends the name of the project to it my/selected/path/foo.blend

I am getting around this by stripping foo.blend but I am puzzled by this.
Test code (courtesy of this page):
import bpy
import os
from bpy_extras.io_utils import ImportHelper
from bpy.types import Operator

class OT_TestOpenFilebrowser(Operator, ImportHelper):
    bl_idname = "test.open_filebrowser"
    bl_label = "Select"
    def execute(self, context):
        filename, extension = os.path.splitext(self.filepath)
        print('Selected:', self.filepath)
        print('File name:', filename)
        print('File extension:', extension)

        return {'FINISHED'}

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

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

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()
    bpy.ops.test.open_filebrowser('INVOKE_DEFAULT')

Run from a never saved Blender project:

Run again after saving Blender project:

Why is that? Am I missing a setting or parameter?

Thanks to all for the input. I am answering my own question.

I wanted to have in my AddOn a way to choose a folder containing some input files. It turns out that it was very easy using bpy.props StringProperty as panel property:

import_path: StringProperty(
        name = "Path",
        description = "Path to the folder containing the files to import",
        default = "",
        subtype = 'DIR_PATH'
        )

The DIR_PATH (or FILE_PATH, if expecting files) subtype is presenting a file system browser and retrieve the relative path, one just have to convert it to a absolute path in the operator:

bpy.path.abspath(self.import_path)

see here


how can i create these two similar yet somewhat different energy/light based items? i seek to create two items,one is a "chaos emerald" from the sonic the hedgehog series (mainly as a concept and training) and the other is a sword or other bladed weapon with energy/light running along or around the regular metal blade.

i have looked up many tutorials for mechanics similar to what i need for the emerald but none of them come out quite as it should. (i need it to be a light/energy emitting almost perfect colored diamond type item that doesn't have many faces to it {roughly 6 sided diamond shape}).

For the sword/bladed weapon it essentially has a halo energy sword type blade running along the side of the regular metal blade. or energy running through different parts of the blade.

A tutorial would be beyond the scope of this website, but what I can tell you is that it largely depends on what engine you're using.

If you're using the Blender Internal renderer, you'll want to rely heavily on compositing.

If you're using the Cycles engine, you'll probably still do some compositing (for the glow) but in both cases, you'll want to work with the "Light Path" node to select which rays are actually visible in the camera. For example, if you give your crystals an emission material, then they will just look solid bright in the camera. However, if you set up a node system that doesn't show direct emission rays to the camera, then you can have the emission material cast light around the scene, but have the crystal look in the camera.

Take a look at the node setup on the SECOND answer on this question. The "Is Camera Ray" is piped into the Fac of a Mix Shader. This means that if the ray is directly visible by the camera, it will use the bottom shader and the camera will see a transparent material for that object. HOWEVER, if the ray is any OTHER kind of ray, it will use the top shader and the rest of the scene will see an emission material.

Exchange that Transparent BSDF for a really cool crystal-type material, and you'll see a crystal that casts light all over the scene.

The only problem with this setup is when the crystal is actually visible in the reflection of ANOTHER object. The emission shader will be visible in the reflection, not the crystal shader. So just be careful how you use it.

Hope that helps!


How to change the thickness of grass hairs? I'm trying to find a way to change the thickness of my grass hairs, but I can't seem to find them? In materials mode they seem thin and just fine, but when I render them...they come out like this:

Mate i have a better idea for u, A way that I like to create Grass is using Planes, Not cylinders because they use way to many faces. The Goal in 3D art is to create as little faces as possible whilst still achieving a great Render. Try and create a narrow plane and scale it along the z-Axis then extrude it to make it look like a strand of Grass. Then duplicate it about 15 times moving them in different Locations to make it look like a Grass Blob. Add it to a Group. Then go to your Plane section and add a Vertex group. Go to weight paint and paint where you want the grass to appear. Then add Particle System/ Hair and click advanced. Scroll down to where it says group and click the object you added to a group. (The grass) There you can change the size and brownian to make it look like Grass.
And viola, you get an awesome scene that you can change.


How do you add thickness to a circle mesh? I made a mesh circle now I want to add some thickness to it so it looks like a wire or string, not rope.

A mesh>circle has no faces, so it is not renderable.

Also, without any faces it cannot be used with the solidify modifier to give thickness.

You might want to use a curve>cirlce instead, so that you can control the thickness with the bevel setting.


Dot matrix display in Cycles? Is it possible to make a dot matrix look with cycles?

I attempted this with the following node setup:

However, the dots should be round, and each dot should only have one color. As you can see, this is not the case:

This was possible in BI with a technique described on the wiki.

How can I achieve this?

How about something like this?

Or, even more fun:

Or a ball:

Or a tribute to the question author:

(I am having way too much fun with this)
The dot aspect ratio depends on your UV unwrap, so you can customize it as you want. I have gotten them to be square on a non-square image, but having a square image makes it a lot easier.
Workflow:

Identify the nearest hole.
Find the distance to the hole.
If the distance is greater than the radius, use transparent. Otherwise, use the central color of the center of the hole.

EDIT: GitHub user @JayFoxRox has kindly
suggested some helpful simplifications to the below node
setup. Instead of computing distance by taking the square root of the
sum of the squares of components, simply compute squared distance by
taking the dot product of the two inputs via the Vector Math node.
(Then, of course, compare this to the squared radius instead of the raw
radius.) And the “Combine Vector” and “Separate Vector” node groups now
exist as first-class “Combine XYZ” and “Separate XYZ”, anyway. Thanks!
Blendfile: Dropbox, Blend-Exchange.
Usage:

Main node setup (right-click → Open Image in New Tab to see larger):

Separation (top) and combination (bottom): (would be nicer if it were built-in)

Distance: (Pythagorean theorem/Euclidean norm)


Can someone explain the math/rationale behind this behavior? so I have this node network that gives me straight lines from the wave texture, using the X-vector component:

I was thinking if I used the Y vector component for the Scale of the wave texture, I'd get wave lines that get wider or narrower, but instead I get a curve.  Why is this curved instead of actually affecting the scale as I hoped?

If I just output Y as a color, it seems to increase from left to right as I expect:

What am I missing?  Thanks!!

Let see how waves is generated.

It takes your x coordinate (X will be go down like in your view), then multiples by scale value in your case it is 1:

Numbers 1,2,3 ets will be white, 0.5, 1.5, 2.5 ets - dark (real algorithm uses Sin function to convert this number to lightness, but I get this because it simpler to view):

Usually, y coordinate uses too, but you separate coordinates and get only first one, so I set Y coordinate as scale because it simpler to view.

Now let see, that happens if i set Scale to 2:

As you see, waves gets smaller. If i make the scale bigger I will not see waves, just because my grid haven't enough resolution for this. So instead I try to put Y coordinate as scale to see that it will do:

So, you see this effect because scale is not regular and waves gets smaller and smaller while scale gets bigger across y-coordinate.


Hair particles loose shape in object mode I have a normal sphere added hair particles. With some interpolated settings. When i go in particle edit and comb and make in shape to all the hair particles seen to downwards. But i turn my particle to object mode looks as if i have not edit particle or comb the hairs. All the hairs not in shape.
How to make in shape looks good in object mode.

It is because you use Kink option in particle's children settings:

particle's children follows main hair particles, but deforms by different settings in children tab:

So you need to disable Kink, or if you want to use it, try to tune settings for more suitable result


Get the value in a GUI field? (Redo panel) I have a series of frames, which contain user-entered meta data. After a render I have to retrieve the user entered values.

The path shown is:

bpy.types.OBJECT_OT_paperdoll_operator.title_frame_1

Yet I get an error:

>>> print(bpy.types.OBJECT_OT_paperdoll_operator.title_frame_1)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<blender_console>", line 1, in <module>
AttributeError: type object 'PaperDoll' has no attribute 'title_frame_1'

In this case, it should return the string "This is Frame 1 meta"

So obviously I am missing something.

What you access via bpy.types is just the type / class, what you are after are the properties of an instance of that class.

It would be best to store the user data in global properties, but if you really want to access the active operator's properties (that's what is shown in the redo panel), use bpy.context.active_operator:

>>> C.active_operator
<bpy_struct, Operator("TRANSFORM_OT_translate")>

>>> C.active_operator.properties['value']
<bpy id property array [3]>

>>> C.active_operator.properties['value'][:]
(0.17133378982543945, -1.7650548219680786, -1.7467097043991089)

>>> C.active_operator.value
Vector((0.17133378982543945, -1.7650548219680786, -1.7467097043991089))

Note that Macro properties need to be accessed in the following way:

>>> C.active_operator.properties.keys()
['OBJECT_OT_duplicate', 'TRANSFORM_OT_translate']

>>> C.active_operator.OBJECT_OT_duplicate.linked
False


How to Fade Transparency in Animation, and hence record in frames, frame by frame? I have rendered this no loop GIF using Blender Render.

I want to:

1) Make the envelope invisible at the first frame.

2) Make it fade in so that it's transparency is at zero when it reaches the center.

3) Make it fade out when is goes back up.

Lets consider. I have placed a Plane1 in front of all objects, and I want to animate the plane to be...

1) Opaque to translucent. (say 0-20 frames)

2) Translucent to transparent. (say 20-40 frames)

3) Transparent to translucent. (say 100-120 frames)

4) Translucent to opaque. (say 120-140 frames)

What you could do animate a a plane with mix shader with a transparent and diffuse and animate the factor value so that it goes from fully transparent to diffuse and have the background transparent then overlay it in the video editor. There probably another way but this how I would do it.


IK rig breaks when I add a pole target I've been trying to do rigging recently, and when I add a pole target to my IK rig, my character's foot just slides up and down the leg, which remains stiff. I've had this problem for a while and I have no idea how to fix it. I have a link to a video to show exactly what's going on: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qHK51yggU4sGDHTB-A6aoSrFe8iFpfQZ/view?usp=sharing

Okay so I'm answering my own question because I figured out the issue myself and in case anyone else has the same question they can come here for an answer if they find this.

The issue was that the rig didn't know where to bend the limb at since it was straight, which was why the leg was completely stiff. The legs need to be slightly bent so that the rig knows where exactly to bend it at.


How do I set multiple settings with one button? How can I change a viewport shading settings from one button?
I am creating a toolbox I put in the Right panel. Everything's Ok exept for this. I'd like to get my settings in one click.
Anyone?

bpy.data.screens["Scripting"].shading.light = 'MATCAP'
bpy.data.screens["Scripting"].shading.color_type = 'SINGLE'
bpy.data.screens["Scripting"].shading.show_xray = False
bpy.data.screens["Scripting"].shading.show_cavity = True
bpy.data.screens["Scripting"].shading.show_object_outline = False

Make an operator

For the most part a button in blender calls an operator.

Using the simple operator template, here is a quick edit to hardcode in some settings.

I have made the operator poll only in the 3d view area.
Haven't sanitized name.

Since your addon panel also resides in this area, it is simply a matter of adding

self.layout.operator("object.simple_operator")

into your panel's draw method.

import bpy

def main(context):
    space = context.space_data
    space.shading.light = 'MATCAP'
    space.shading.color_type = 'SINGLE'
    space.shading.show_xray = False
    space.shading.show_cavity = True
    space.shading.show_object_outline = False

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

    @classmethod
    def poll(cls, context):
        return context.area.type == 'VIEW_3D'

    def execute(self, context):
        main(context)
        return {'FINISHED'}

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

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

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()

Further to this, for saving multiple settings

there is the preset system for saving an operators, or some tools settings to a text file. How to use presets for operator properties?
A collection of settings can be defined as a property group. Multiple can be saved as a CollectionPropery the "current" as a PointerProperty


Having problems making transparent plastic in Blender cycles I have been trying to make transparent plastic that looks like this:

But this is the closest I could get to it and I been trying for a while

So I would like help with what I should try to do

My method is more based on feeling rather than a rational explanation of physically based values.
Examining various plastic references as your example, it appears much brighter than glas. There also seems to be some diffuse/translucent scattering which you tried to add with the transluceny BSDF.
This is the final node setup.

Here are various example of shaders.

To the right is a plain glass shader. It seems to have more Glossy Reflections and more clear refractions than plastic should have. There are also very dark areas which appear because of the refraction. Plastic has close to no black.
To the left is a shader which resembles plastic more.It mainly consists of a mixed Glossy and Refractions BSDF. If you look at IOR values, plastic ranges around 1.49 (used in the refraction shader).It still doesn't have the add shader depicted in the node setup. That's why it appears to be more see through and more glassy.
Then we add the Add Shader after the Refraction, and mix it with a Transparent BSDF. When combining Transparent BSDFs with the add shader, more light is added. This is obviously not physically correct, but sort of creates a plastic feeling which is probably caused by imperfections in the surface in reality.
Finally, I mixed in a Diffuse BSDF at the end. The factor is a very small noise value. You did something similiar with using the translucency BSDF. I'd advise you against that, because you don't have the proper IOR. If you want the Refraction to be more unclear or blurred you can always use the Roughness value. The outcome is used by the center objects in the image.

Examination

Although the render is bad, the brightness from the added Transparency BSDF makes the material resemble plastic.

BUT, don't forget

You will only achieve the proper result with the fitting lighting.
The material only does a small part. The main work is done by modelling the base and the imperfections in the right scale and proportion. The small details can also come from bump maps. Try using a solidy modifier on your model!
Imperfections: uneven thickness, seams, ridges, dents/bends, roughness on the inside. It is more difficult to make a convincing geometrically perfect model rather than a naturally distorted one.

Modeling

The shader doesn't quite look right, yet. Maybe there should be more of the diffuse component of some slight roughness in the refraction. There is also no thickness to it, in this case the solidify modifier is required.
Nevertheless, the viewer will probably be convinced that this is plastic, becuase of the shape and imperfections. Even if we used a glass shader it would be interpreted as plastic, because only glass would usually not be found in the surface shapes.

Same principle with a normal map. The Transparency shader not that bright in this case, because I had to place an emission shader underneath. Therefore I simply increased the roughness on the Refraction to increase the scattering towards the camera. Already this drawback makes it look more like glass. The sharp edges on the material can also be interpreted as glass compare to the smooth rounded shapes of plastic.


How do I make weight painting not a living torment? So I got a pretty high res mesh that I've managed to get down to around 600k verts. But I still have extreme low performance in weight paint mode in the viewport which makes it so much harder to work. I get like a 3 second delay after each stroke and it doesn't help that this is my first time rigging a character and I have barely any idea if I'm doing it correctly. Any tips or is this just the sad reality?

EDIT: here's a screenshot:

Retopologize your mesh. Once you´re done, then you can assign weights using armature.
Also: Select your mesh, use the modifier: DECIMATE: Choose 50%. Check if your model is ok for you in shape. If it is and you´ve reduced the polycount to half, please reconsider retopologize. Basically you can´t work with an armature on a very dense mesh.

Thank you for your consideration to vote me as the answer by clicking to the left :the icon with a check mark and upvote this answer.

BFCT_Schiller


VSE correcting framerate without shortening strips or changing the speed of strips currently I'm editing a small movie in Blender VSE and I've accidentally choosen the wrong framerate (50 fps instead of 25) as I started and now when I want to correct it, my sound strips end up shorter than the video strips (also with higher pitch).
How can I correct the framerate without changing the sound or how can I adjust the sound so that it is the same length and original speed?

Thank you.

My Question is not a duplicate...
My videos are 25 fps interlaced and when I started my project in blender I've accidentally choosen 50fps. Now when I leave it on 50fps and render it, the sound is in the right speed but the video is faster (but in the video sequence editor the length of the strips are the same) and when I change it to 25fps the sound ends up half the length, are faster and with pitch (and only fill half of the time) but the video is the right speed.

on this picture are the strips where I've choosen 50fps in the properties (rendered sound is ok but video is to fast)

and on this picture are the strips, where I changed it to 25fps (sound to fast but video ok)

Make a new vse template in blender..
Import the videos again one by one .. Blender will automatically set your project FPS to that of the video content you import..
This will also be concurrent with the length and sample rate of the audio associated with the video


In the BGE, how do I make collected objects never appear again even when go back to that level? For example, imagine a game where you collect objects (like coins, gems, keys, etc.), and the ones you pick disappear like they do in any other game where you collect coins. So, you are in level "A", you collected some coins, then you go to level "B", and when you decide to go back to level "A" the coins you collected in that level never appear again because you already have them, but the ones you didn´t collect are still there. How can I do this?

I already know how to use the "edit object" actuator with "end object", as well as "set scene" to change levels, but when I do that, the already collected objects always appear again when I go to the second level and go back to the first, and that´s not what I want.

Python is preferred, but I dont mind using the logic bricks.

I assume with "level" you mean scene.

When you switch scenes, you destroy the current one and load a new one. The new scene will be as it is loaded from file. It will not know anything about the previous scene.

When you keep game status (such as points) in a scene it will die with the scene.

Solutions

Keep scene

Do not switch scene to preserve the game status.

Nether return

When leaving the scene you never come back. Therefore you do not need to know what was collected in previous scenes.

Keep game status separate

By keeping the game status somewhere else (e.g. at a Python module, or an overlay scene) it will survive a scene switch.

Transfer game status

Some game status are better kept in the scene (e.g. status of doors, collected objects, moved objects). Such things are typically needed when loading the scene again at a later stage (it is not the same scene, it is a new scene loaded from same source).

You need a store/restore system.

It basically extracts the game state (or part of it) from the scene and places it in a storage outside of the scene (e.g. a python module).

At a later stage the game state can be reapplied from storage to the same or a different scene. This can happen after a scene change.

You often find such a system in conjunction with a save/load system. I suggest to search for such a system as it would be way to much within this answer.


How to use scripting to remove fcurve for x and y location channels only? I want to remove the x and y locations in fcurve using codes.
I can remove all location channels in fcurve using codes, but I don't know which one x or y is.
If the fcurve contains x,y,z, I remove the first two. This is fine. What if the fcurve contains only x and z?

OK... I somehow find the solution. Blender can figure out xyz channels by array_index of the location. 0->x,1->y,2->z. If I change 0 to 1, then I will get two Y-location channels...


Why does python need you to define a properties's existence? I have the following for my code (working):

import bge
from bge import logic

def property(cont):
    own = cont.owner

    if 'Speed' in own and 'Recoil_Level' in own and 'Proportion_Size' in own:

        speed = own['Speed']
        level = own['Recoil_Level']
        size = own['Proportion_Size']

    else:
        print('No properties found in Weapon_Recoil_Level_Determiner')
        return

    own['Recoil_Level']= speed / size
    print("recoil level: ", own['Recoil_Level'])

cont = logic.getCurrentController()
property(cont)

Also, I have the following:

import bge
from bge import logic

def property(cont):
    own = cont.owner

        speed = own['Speed']
        level = own['Recoil_Level']
        size = own['Proportion_Size']

    else:
        print('No properties found in Weapon_Recoil_Level_Determiner')
        return

    own['Recoil_Level']= speed / size
    print("recoil level: ", own['Recoil_Level'])

cont = logic.getCurrentController()
property(cont)

Why won't the second one work? I am asking this because when I write scripts that include many properties, I do not want to have a really long, ugly paragraph saying "if x in own and if y in own and..." and so on. How can I make the second script work?

Although I think this is more a Python specific question, maybe an answer is still useful for style.

It is possible to use the all keyword

import bge
from bge import logic

def property(cont):
    own = cont.owner

    speed = own.get('Speed')
    level = own.get('Recoil_Level')
    size = own.get('Proportion_Size')

    if not all([speed, level, size]):
        print('No properties found in Weapon_Recoil_Level_Determiner')
        return

    own['Recoil_Level'] = speed / size
    print("recoil level: ", own['Recoil_Level'])

cont = logic.getCurrentController()
property(cont)

.get() is useful because it will return None if the key isn't present.


Blender rigging join two ik-chain in one system I can't solve this problem in any way (marked "trouble" on gif)
"A" and "C" are separate IK-chains that work well. But, I cannot connect them correctly.
"C.2" bone locked rotation, only location transform. In this example was try to use Limit distance constraint from "B.1" bone to "A.IK-target" bone. And "C.IK-target" bone use Locked track constraint to "B.1" bone.
Thanks for any advice on this issue.

update:
shared blend-file
https://blend-exchange.com/b/78jeelJa
This is rig of door. All joints must be connected and must not separate in animation.

Problem solved with 3 ik-chains, finished file attached
https://blend-exchange.com/b/8MybezWq


Vertex Groups assignment from Makehuman mesh I have imported a mesh from Makehuman, and I started creating and assigning vertex groups using the "c" key and choosing the vertices. The problem is that many vertices are missed from the selection and not assigned to a vertex group. I don't know how to assign every single vertex to form n vertex_groups in a fast way without missing any vertices? Because missing vertices cause me a problem and also it took me hours doing this.

What I want to acheive is to have different vertex groups. So I don't know how to do this in an accurate way, as I use the ctrl+b and ctrl+c to select vertices and create the 26 different vertex groups but first I don't know how to do this so that the right side is equal to the left side, for example right hand vertices equals the left hand ones so that they are symmetrical. The second problem is, when I export the vertices, I find that the some vertices are not assigned to any vertex group and others are assigned to more than one. I also want to link the mesh with the armature and give weight to the different vertex groups. So if anyone could please advise.

Selection

You could assign the vertex groups (VGs) starting from a hand make sure that you name the groups with suffixes e.g ForeArm.L, ForeArm.R (this is required to let Blender know which vertex groups correspond).

Invert the selection Ctrl-I

Deselect (MMB while in Select Mode) all vertices which should not belong to the ForeArm VG. Note that you can also use already assigned VGs to help exact deselecting (especially for the head and upper body parts).

Repeat this process for all VG assignments on one side.

Mirroring (using Mirror Modifier)

Finally use Mirror Vertex Group to copy the VG data from one side to the other, Note that empty VGs with matching names are required.

The mirror isn't very intuitive due to its prerequisites, therefore I suggest first to watch the video and first try it with a single VG:

Video Mirror Vertex Groups (Spanish)

From the docs of Mirror Modifier

  Vertex Groups
  When this button is enabled, the Mirror modifier will
  try to mirror existing vertex groups. A very nice feature, but that
  has quite specific prerequisites. First, the vertex groups you want to
  mirror must be named following the usual left/right pattern (i.e.
  suffixed by something like “.R”, “.right”, “.L”, et cetera). Next, you
  must have the “mirrored” groups already existing (i.e. same names
  suffixed by the “other side”) and completely empty (no vertex assigned
  to it), else it won’t work. Usually, the mirrored copies of the
  vertices of a group remain in this group. Once this option is
  activated, all groups following the rules described above will only be
  valid on the original object – the mirrored copy will put these same
  vertices into the “mirror” group. Very handy with armatures, for
  example: you just model half of your object, carefully rig it with
  half of your armature, and just let the Mirror modifier build the
  other half. Just be sure to put your Armature modifier(s) after the
  Mirror one. A final word about multi-axes mirror: in these cases, the
  “direct”, “first level” copies get the mirrored groups, the copies of
  copies (“second level”) get the original groups, et cetera.


How do I save a blender file as a MP4 in 2.80 video editing? I just started using 2.8 for video editing. I've rendered the video but it always saves as a blender file. And it makes it hard to put the videos on YouTube. Is there any way to save it as a MP4 file.

The following configuration produces an .mp4 file with codecs that are recommended by the YouTube guidelines and their recommended upload encoding:

Output format: FFmpeg video
Container: MPEG-4
Video codec: H.264
Audio codec: AAC

Adjust the output path to where you want the video saved. Then press CTRL+F12 or use Render > Render Animation in the UI to save the video.


Color Match Assets for 2D Animation I want to mix some blender assets with preexisting footage but I can't get the colors to match exactly.

For example, create a new eevee scene with only a plane and a camera (no lights). Match the world surface color from an input image. Create a shadeless material for the plane, matching the emission color from the input image. Set color management to sRGB, Standard, None, Linear. Render.

Sample the output. Notice that the plane and background colors of the final render don't match the specified colors.

Note: Blender 2.80.

Since the color management applies at the very end of the chain, the sRGB transform curve modify the RGB values.
You will see a perfect match if you set the color management to linear (display device to none) save it as tiff with the checkbox save as render enabled, this way you can visualize a linear render without transformation.

But remember for real light condition you need to set the display device to sRGB (if you have a sRGB monitor) otherwise you'll not see the light like in real life, due to all the transformation operating during the chain.
So depending of what you are doing exactly (you don't provide a lot of infos about your workflow) you need to choose the correct way of doing things depending if you want to display or work with your image and how you would mix different footages.

Here it's becoming a bit complex, remember real light intensity is linear, but the eyes apply a contrast curve (a bit like sRGB transform curve), so to see an image like we see the world with our eyes, we need to display a linear image with the monitor.

The chain is like this:

The render is linear
We save it with a sRGB transform curve (not linear anymore)
The monitor transform it the opposit way, so the image is linear again
The eyes apply a contrast curve and we see it like really world

Light intensity is linear but we don't see it linear. It's a really interesting and hard topic to dive in.
Hope I have spread some light in.


Curve a Straight Line? Is there a way to "curve" a straight line?  In AutoCAD it was a very simple process.  I cannot though find a way to just take a straight line in Blender 2.8 and make it curved between the two vertices?

You might be able to use the spin tool to create a curved connection


How to blur my hdri? There're some videos doing this however its older versions and some nodes don't even exist anymore. Blur is gone and so subtract.

I have no idea how to blur my hdri.

Even tried photoshop but when i put it to blender theres a black line between the 0 and 360 angle

Not an answer to your question directly but will solve your problem. In Photoshop duplicate your unblurred HDRI to another layer so that it is on bottom. use Filter/Offset to offset image 50%. Blur both layers. Offset the offsetted layer back where it was, and erase the sharp borders from the original top layer. Voilà.


How to write my add-on so that when installed it also installs dependencies (let's say: scipy or numpy-quaternion)? How to write my add-on so that when installed it also installs dependencies (let's say: scipy or numpy-quaternion)?

Does blender understand setuptools (setup.py)?

Thanks,

Note: I'm using blender 2.8

Ran into the same issue and received helpful responses on devtalk. There's also another post that was helpful when installing  pip for 2.81.
2.81
import subprocess
import bpy

py_exec = bpy.app.binary_path_python
# ensure pip is installed & update
subprocess.call([str(py_exec), "-m", "ensurepip", "--user"])
subprocess.call([str(py_exec), "-m", "pip", "install", "--upgrade", "pip"])
# install dependencies using pip
# dependencies such as 'numpy' could be added to the end of this command's list
subprocess.call([str(py_exec),"-m", "pip", "install", "--user", "scipy"])

Warnings:

On Windows, Blender must be run in Administrator mode. Blender may need to restart before using the installed dependency.
Installing dependencies requires an active internet connection


Boolean Difference on Hollow Object I'm building a submarine that I want to 3d print. I built the hull and now I want to cut a hole in the top so that I can put in the electronics/motors inside and then close it with a lid.

I took a bunch of circles and bridged them from one to another to create an outer skin since I knew the dimensions of the circles.
I selected some faces on the top of the sub that would be the "lid". I shift-d copied the lid out.
I solidified the sub in order to give the hull some width.
I solidified the lid to give it some width
I do a boolean difference so that I can cut out the lid from the hull.

It doesn't work as expected.
Below are some screenshots where I did the boolean difference on the hull and a long rectangular shape with the expectation that a hole would be punched in the hull. The 1st pic is the outside and you can see the entrance hole at the top. The second image is where it gets strange. Blender wrapped the hollow area that was cut out with a rectangular section.
Some things I checked include whether or not the shape is non-manifold (it is), are the normals pointing off to anywhere weird (they don't seem to be).
What is blender doing here?

I think I figured it out.
I had the normals set facing from the shape upwards. I flipped them on both shapes to face inwards. After that, I did the boolean difference and it worked.


Graph in blender a function of two variables, I would like to know if there is any way to be able to graph in blender a function of two variables, for example Sin (x y2) for the domain of x from -3 to 3, the domain of y from -2 to 2, to get something like the following image:

Clear this without axes, nor box,to later add some material and other things. I searched on YouTube for something similar but without success

I hope someone can help me

There is an addon shipped by default with Blender called Add Mesh: Extra Objects capable of doing this. It is disabled by default and can be activated from the User Preferences dialog.

Start by opening File > User Preferences > Addons then search for Extra and activate the Add Mesh: Extra Objects addon.

Then in the 3D View press Shift+A > Add > Mesh > Math Function > Z Math Function or XYZ Math Function depending on what you want.

Introduce the function equation in the corresponding fields and adjust precision as necessary.

See related question for more details.


Blender UV Mesh problems guys, I'm really new to blender - so I'm hoping this is a rookie mistake. When I try to UV unwrap the face I've sculpted (using Dyntopo) there is a hole where there are no vertices or faces (see photo)
As a result, when I paint, it does not show up on the face. How do I fix this?

You cannot paint over a hole, so either insert eyeballs as separate objects so you can roll 'm, or fill the gap with topology.


Block camera roll while following path I'm trying to make the camera do a kind of tracking shot in 3D space. So I created a bezier curve, added a Follow path constraint to the camera, and selected the curve.

Then, since I want the orientation of the camera to change, I checked Follow Curve, and this is fine.

Except, I'd like only the pan and the tilt of the camera to be affected by the path, not the roll. Since the curve is not horizontal, the roll is affected too.

is it possible to block the camera roll? What's the least difficult way to do it in Bender?

I already tried to use an additional Limit Rotation constraint, and even make an empty follow the path and parent camera to empty, but it didn't seem to work. Maybe it's a matter of global vs local axis?

Thanks

As a first shot, if you have used a 'Follow Path' constraint,  -Z tracking, Y up, then ensuring the Tilt of all the curve's control points is set to 0, and setting the'Twist Method' to 'Z up' in the curve's Data tab > Shape panel should be enough.


Cast shadow on hidden object in eevee Is it possible for me to have an invisible plane but the shadow of a different object still visible on the plane? It is possible in cycles but i dont like the render results because i need screen space reflection in eevee, which isn't in cycles. help Thank you!

I've started with a simple scene, and this node setup (a standard diffuse is currently connected so we can see the default lighting effects)

If you connect the other node setup, you might see something like this, depending on the placement and power of your lights (Note: make sure alpha blend is enabled for the shadow catcher material);

Say you've adjusted this multiple value, but the shadow is too light;

Move this slider up...;

And turn up this value;


"No layers in render result" - please help :( I'm at my wits' end. I did an animation which was quite a lot of work, then rendered it, disliked it repaired the mesh cause it was all out of shape. Next time I tried to render the animation, I got the "no layers in render result" message and Blender hasn't been able to render even a single frame ever since. First they were all black, now they're all empty. I checked other files which render without problem. I went back to factory settings but still no render so I guess the file bugged out. How can I rescue my mesh, rig and animation? Can I export them somehow?

I have v 2.76 and it never had a problem like this. When I rendered the animation, I followed this tip: How to save animation as a video format

Help please. :(

Ok, I uploaded the file. For some reason, the date doesn't get saved properly. I edited it yesterday and today but the date is still March 6.

Yes export your file as obj, you have options available to include the animations and other datas


Node texturing in blender 2.8 Hello fellow internet people,

I am currently trying to recreate the minecraft assets in blender, but I am encountering a problem as some of the textures files come as grayscale and have a colormap with the color data. Since I don't know how to setup the nodes, I am hoping someone could help me figure it out.

I have included the two png images in this post. Since the first one is 16x16, the interpolation has to be set to closest.

(sry for the terrible image formating)

to add the color to you texture, you need to combine the saturation and hue of the color texture, with the value of the grayscale. To do that you need a separate HSV and a combine HSV node as below.

For the color the simpler is to just take one color from the texture with the color picker. However if you need the color variation, you can use a mapping node with a small scale factor and change the x and y position. Technically the result will not be perfect tho.


Why do my faces look as if normals are inconsistent when they are consistent? In my viewport, some faces look like they are either disconnected from the rest of my mesh by means of duplicate vertices or edges, or they look like their normals are opposite to the rest of the mesh.

But the tools for fixing these problems fail to find such problems. According to these tools, there's no duplicates to merge, and the normals ARE consistent.

What other strange geometry problems could make my faces look inconsistent in my viewport?

Added a share of my file as requested:

Some of your faces are shaded "smooth" and others "flat", select your mesh and hit either flat or smooth under the Tool-Menu -> Shading


How to pin a distinct bone in a rig while animating Here is my scenario: A character sitting on a chair is resting his elbow on a table while moving his hand which is controlled by inverse kinematics.

How can I stick or pin the elbow to the table while I animate the hand and the chest?

It all depends on how your rig is made. Here is one tip.

Add an empty to your scene.
Give it a name like ElbowRest-Empty.
Select your Elbow Bone in Pose Mode. Add a constraint "Track To"
Select "ElbowRest-Empty" as target.

Now in object mode, where ever you move your empty, your elbow bone will follow.
You may need to lower the influence of IK to keep the elbow bone pinned where ever you want too.


Can i use scenes in VSE to group video tracks? I am doing my first steps in Blender's VSE and i am trying to familiarise myself with the workflow.

I am trying to edit several video clips to produce a single output video and i would like to somehow group some of these clips together to apply common color correction, time manipulation etc and to unclutter the main timeline. For this i created a new scene (let's say scene2) by either Copy Settings or Full Copy, moved some of the clips from my main scene (let's say scene1) to it and then on the main scene i did Add > Scene... > Scene2. When i try to playback on the main timeline though, on the part of the Scene2 i either get a blank screen or a square 3D object.

What am i doing wrong? Is there a better way to achieve the same result?

If you add scene2, blender does not import the Video sequence but the 3D animation, hence the cube. You could export scene 2 in a movieclip and then import it in scene 1

You could group the clips (in scene1) by selecting the strips and then CTRL+G. ( ALT+G to ungroup)


Is there a list or something available which shows the code of the Symbols of Blender I'm modifying an Blender addon for my own purpose. Enhancing the usability of my SpacemousePro (If someone would like to have it, no problem).

So I build pie menus for the key of my device. To make it even better I would like to use the inbuild symbols of Blender, but from some like those for the 3D manupulator I don't know how to get the name of the symbols to embed them in my (and some one elses) code.

The Icon Viewer does exactly what you need. It displays all internal icons in the tool shelf of the text editor. Click on an icon to copy the name.


Can I make drivers read values from textures? Is it possible to read RGB values from a pixel of a texture using UV coordinates and use that in drivers? Python code?

I'd like to create a driver to influence object's locations, rotation and visibility, but the only input I have is through a texture.

I'm using a special project template with certain points on the texture feeding color or B/W values for materials. I'd like to use the same texture to convey some values to drivers - changing the geometry of the scene, not only materials.

Each image datablock in Blender has a pixels property. This is an array of pixels starting from the bottom row left to right.

The RGBA values of a pixels are listed after one another. The RGBA values for the bottom-left pixels will be indiced with 0, 1, 2 and 3. The RGBA values of the second pixels can be called with the indices 4, 5, 6, 7 from the pixel list.

Starting with this post, this blog has lots of informations about pixels in bpy.data.images.

I have created a sample script which manipulates the object location based on frames of an images. (Compare the attached file.)

import bpy

def updateFromImage(scene):
    frame = scene.frame_current
    obj = scene.objects['Cube']

    pixels = bpy.data.images['InputImage'].pixels

    # read the green pixels
    greenPixelAtFrameNo = pixels[frame*4 + 1]
    obj.location.z = greenPixelAtFrameNo * 5
    obj.location.x = frame

bpy.app.handlers.frame_change_pre.append(updateFromImage)


Can't get area lighting to show on viewport or render I can't seem to get the area light to be shining onto the deer head object.
As you can see it is there on the viewport and editable but no light is being emitted from the light.
Is there some setting that toggles the view of lighting in the viewport and render?.
As it doesn't appear in the render either. As you can see from these examples

Give specularity to your area and it will work fine, even though its power is a bit weak:


How can I hide the name of the variable related to a list box How can I hide the name of the variable related to a list box
i want the text in the red box not to be seen

import bpy
from bpy.props import *

class MainPanel(bpy.types.Panel):
    bl_idname = "armature.retarget"
    bl_label = "Armature retarget"
    bl_space_type = "VIEW_3D"
    bl_region_type = "UI"
    bl_category = 'View'

    def draw(self, context):
        scene = context.scene
        layout = self.layout
        layout.label(text="Select Armatures")
        layout.prop(context.scene, 'src_arm')
        layout.prop(context.scene, 'tgt_arm')

    def armatures_items(self, context):
        obs = []
        for ob in context.scene.objects:
            if ob.type == 'ARMATURE':
                obs.append((ob.name, ob.name, ""))
        return obs

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

    bpy.types.Scene.src_arm = bpy.props.EnumProperty(items=MainPanel.armatures_items)
    bpy.types.Scene.tgt_arm = bpy.props.EnumProperty(items=MainPanel.armatures_items)

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

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()
```

Some options
Setting the text in the layout overrides the default
layout.prop(scene, 'tgt_arm', text="")

which by default displays the name of the property
bpy.types.Scene.tgt_arm = bpy.props.EnumProperty(
        name="Target",
        items=MainPanel.armatures_items)

which when not set defaults to the property name, in this case "tgt_arm"
Polled object pointer.

Would suggest instead of an enum use a pointer to the armature object itself.
As explained in https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/101301/15543 can poll them.
Example code:
import bpy
from bpy.props import *

def armature_poll(self, object):
    return object.type == 'ARMATURE'

class MainPanel(bpy.types.Panel):
    bl_idname = "armature.retarget"
    bl_label = "Armature retarget"
    bl_space_type = "VIEW_3D"
    bl_region_type = "UI"
    bl_category = 'View'

    def draw(self, context):
        scene = context.scene
        layout = self.layout
        layout.prop(scene, 'tgt_arm', text="")

    def armatures_items(self, context):
        obs = []
        for ob in context.scene.objects:
            if ob.type == 'ARMATURE':
                obs.append((ob.name, ob.name, ""))
        return obs

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

    bpy.types.Scene.tgt_arm = PointerProperty(
            poll=armature_poll,
            type=bpy.types.Object)

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

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()


how to avoid building blocks onto cell fracture? I'm breaking a sphere and using the cell_fracture add-on to break into pieces but when fracturing:

buiding blocks don't dissapear...

How to avoid these blocks to remain after the simulation?

EDIT:

Applying scale and rotation CTRLA don't solve the problem..

Normals influence the breaking side.

Flipping normals to the inside SHIFTCTRLN solves the problem!

(in edit-mode before launching the cell-fracture add-on)


Dust on image, using alpha node on a mask I would like to add some dust on my character, with the "add" option selected, the dust becomes white instead of black.

I tried to use "subtract" for a second attempt but I can't find out how to make the dust less visible, I would like a smooth effect like an old picture, here the black dots are too much. The alpha node does not seem to work with "subtract".

Thanks

Alpha over and Math nodes

When you want to overlay an image with transparency to another, the Alpha over node is perhaps a better coiche than any other node.

From the manual's page:

  Use this node to layer images on top of one another.

Example of usage:

Note that you don't even need to set the overlayed image's alpha, it is already taken into account.

One of the possible way to control the strenght of the mix could be lowering the incoming overlaying factor with a Math node:

While before the range of the factor was from 0 to 1, now are linearly remapped from 0 to 0.4, resulting in a softer effect.


A script to render each frame as image (not render animation) in 2.8 This request is to be used as a workaround for a problem in the current 2.8 build.
Everything works perfectly until using the render animation function, some frames are wrong with objects randomly out of place. I have tried many hours of tweaking, and noticed that if I just use the render image button for each frame there is no problem (except having to press render and save as 6000 times).

If one of you Blender legends could whip up a script for this I would be very grateful.

Cycles would take months to render this, however Eevee does it overnight, which was the reason for trying the 2.8.

The solution is to use a script to render each frame, and the script needs to include a short time pause.
This is the script that solved the problem I have had for days.

import bpy
import time

scene = bpy.context.scene
for frame in range(scene.frame_start, scene.frame_end + 1):
    scene.render.filepath = 'C:/blndtmp/' + str(frame).zfill(4)
    scene.frame_set(frame)
    bpy.ops.render.render(write_still=True)
    time.sleep(3)

Thankyou for all your help Blender Community :)


How to view the system console message after Blender crashes? I am testing a script in Blender game engine. I can view the helpful message on the external system console when the script throws exception. Sometimes the bugs of the script cause the Blender to crash and close the console immediately.

Is there any way to view the message after the Blender crashes? How to write the message to a text file for later viewing? Any suggestion?

On windows just run blender from Command Prompt:

Win Key+R

In field type cmd and hit OK. Inside the console navigate to your blender.exe with command

cd c:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender\ (or whatever your path is)
instead you can also navigate to the folder in the Explorer and SHIFT+Rightclick on the Folder and select Open Comand Promt here

and then type blender.exe

You can also use command line arguments.

Now even if Blender crashes, you will still see the program output in the console.
On OSX use Terminal app and run it like

cd /Applications/Blender
./blender.app/Contents/MacOS/blender

On Linux open terminal and run

cd <blender installation directory>
./blender

You can start blender (or blender.exe) with the option --factory-startup attached to check if a addon or a setting caused the crash


I hit a hotkey and something happened to my sculpt and i dont know what it is I hit a hotkey and I'm not sure what it is and how to undo it, please help.

This is a shot in the dark but it looks like your Normals got inverted?
If that's the case go-to edit mode select all of the vertices then navigate over to
Mesh>Normals>Recalculate outside


How to make objects appear when I want to see without clicking 'Disable/ object in render' For example, I want to make object appear from keyframe number 100 to keyframe number 200. And I don't want to see that object on 3D viewport and in render too. I already know the way clicking 'disable object in render' in Outliner menu. But that doesn't work on 3D viewport, so I want to know other way.

Keyframes can be added for the visibility settings. Select the object and open the Object tab. In the Visibility panel you can adjust the settings and insert a keyframe either through the context menu or by pressing I.

For your specific problem, you could insert a keyframe at frame 0 with Show in Viewports and Show in Render disabled, then a keyframe at frame 100 with Show in Viewports and Show in Render enabled, followed by a keyframe at 201 with both disabled again.


Multiple Objects don't move correctly in same armature I made a own model for my game, everything worked well despite some difficulties, but now I have a problem. My mesh is built up by seperate objects, such as teeth, eyes and the body. I already made an armature and now the upper teeth and the eyes don't move correctly.

I tried putting all objects into a group and also just made a single object (Although it's not an option for my model since I need different materials for these objects in the game itself), but still this problem occurs. Already checked the vertex groups, the weight and everything but couldn't find anything suspicious.

This is a nasty stop for my project, hopefully you guys can help me somehow?

EDIT:
.blend file:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/gksxei1emlgp0ta/watcher_mesh_rigging1.blend

Cheers to all,
Johann

Thanks for your support, I did it.

I think it were in fact, the vertex weight, since there still was weigth from nearby bones on the skull and the jaw bone. I resetted the whole groups and edited the weight of every bone for the skull and the jaw, so it's mainly on 100% for the resperctive bones and 0 for the others.

Upper teeth and eyes weight was set 100% only to the skull bone and lower teeth was set 100% only to the jaw bone.

Thanks again for your help!
Johann


Armature Animation is not rendering? (Blender 2.82a) I have been going at this for hours searching every possible combination of keywords through Google, and nothing.

I made a model, rigged/weighted it, and put someone's dance animation on it... which works fine in the Viewport, exactly how I want it, and even Image Rendering works fine at whichever frame I'm currently on.

But now, I want to render a short clip of the animation (just between frame 2424-2500 as a test) into a video file. The output seems fine, it renders and looks fine except that there is no armature animation for the body, BUT the face's shape key animations (blinking, talking, etc) works just fine, which are also on keyframe animation... And even the hair and ears jiggle as they should, and the camera is fine (even tried an animated camera and the camera will animate fine!). But only the actual body will not animate like it does in the Viewport, because once I render the animation, it will just show the character standing still with only face and hair jiggle animation, no actual bone movement. So what gives?

I don't think the engine makes a difference, but I am using Eevee because my shaders require it. I have a feeling it could be something in the Animation window or even the armature rig itself (I originally made it in an older Blender 2.76 or 2.79)? But I cannot figure it out. I've been at it all day, since this morning, and it's already 9pm and I have not figured it out.

This is what the "Render Animation" gives me, after it has gone through every frame on the timeline that I set, it still gives just this, where you can see the hair and face animated fine, but no bone movement because he should be moving around:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/AL3WMfiYBq1B6xK77

This is what it looks like playing on the Viewport, which is how it SHOULD look like (but smoother lines, which is why I want it to render): https://gyazo.com/b3a1e74a798ecee49edfd0ab5088af00

And this is my .Blend file, if anyone wants to try and see what could be wrong if there's anything with my file messing it up:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1RlRiYvQR-7S-7_4m7CnGErS-m5xrsgk3

It worked for me straight away in Blender 2.82a

My suggestion is to use that version.
Anyway I might have had a similar issue in the past. If I remember correctly I moved the frames to the start (e.g. 0-76) and that fixed the problem. Hope it helps


can a mesh be smooth without creating "holes" Right now I try to smooth a quite big mesh to the piont you cant realy make out the eges in the final rendering. But every methode I found was just giving no result at all or downsize the singel "mesh tiles" and by that create holes in the mesh. From my understanding i need to enlarge the mesh "resolution" witch i tried with multires BUT the simple setting does nothing at all in my case and the Catmull-Clark setting creates the mentioned holes.

Original object

Catmull multires

As @RobertGützkow pointed out, this is caused by disconnected vertices.

Select all vertices (Select > All), A
Go Mesh > Clean Up > Merge By distance, Alt+M
Done.


Save window layout instead of startup file? How can I save a customized window layout so that every time when I open a .blend file, this window layout is displayed?

Currently, I only know how to save as startup file, but apparently this isn't the same as saving window layout.

The window layout(s) of the blender scenes are saved as part of the file. Any file you open will ordinarily open with the window layout with which it was saved, unless when you select a file to open in the file browser window, you make certain that the box beside "load UI" in the options pane (customarily to the left of the screen) is unchecked. If you are starting from your default custom startup window arrangement, and unchecked the "load UI" box, the file you load will be in your customized window arrangement. And once you save the file from this arrangement,  when you re-open the file, it will be in your desired window layout.


Create and save preset nodes in the 2.81 blender, for example for material and texture I would like to ask you how you can save settings related for example to texture materials and various procedures carried out with nodes in the shading editor in order to always find them ready for the occasion, in case you want to use a certain effect created in the past

So you mean, you need a technique which can help you make a library of your node setups so you just have to click to import.

There are some free/paid addons out here to do this action.

https://blendermarket.com/products/node-kit (paid)
https://blendermarket.com/products/nodecustombuilder  (FREE available but can also be purchased to donate to the developer)

If you want to achieve this natively in blender without any addons,
Just save your favorite node setups in your dedicated node group blend file.

Whenever you need that node setup or material,
You can go to file > append > your dedicated blend file and apeend node group or material you like


How to have operator settings not stored for re-use? I have an add-on that adds an object to the scene and lets you adjust some settings. Is there a way to reset the add-on for each use, so it doesn't use the previous setting on the next object created?

Enable the SKIP_SAVE option when defining the property.

eg:

some_property = BoolProperty(options={'SKIP_SAVE'})


How can I batch render lots of objects individually? I have over 100 objects I need to render out as catalogue style images. What would be the most efficient way to render these all these with the same environment, lighting, material and camera angle?

I've written a very basic AddOn, that does basically what you need.

How to use the AddOn:
The AddOn let's you select your files, puts them one after another in your current scene, and renders them to an outpu-directory.
The AddOn adds a button to the Output-Properties-panel.
By clicking it, you open a file-browser-window.

Select all your files you intend to render and press "Select Files to Render".

Blender then renders all of your selected objects into an "output"-folder, that is created in the same location, that your current .blend-file is located in. The rendered images will be given the objects filename (without the extension). For example "suzanne.obj" may be rendered and saved to "suzanne.png".
All other rendersettings are taken from Blender directly.
Besides the .stl-format, .obj, .fbx and .blend files are supported.
Disclaimer: Since I don't have that much experience in writing AddOns, I can't guarantee you, that it works flawlessly. As far as I've seen, it works for me.
Code-quality is probably a mess and the AddOn lacks some pleasant UX features as,  for example, render-progress. (Blender is not responsive during the rendering!)

How it works / Code-snippets used
This is a more detailed description of what I did, in case you want to create your own script out of it.
An ImportHelper is used to fetch the different files.
I then iterate over each file,
for file in files:
    filename, extension = os.path.splitext(file.name)
    filepath = os.path.join(directory, file.name)

create a temporary collection for each object,
collection = bpy.data.collections.new("tmp-collection")
scene = context.scene
scene.collection.children.link(collection)

and import the object into this collection.
bpy.ops.import_mesh.stl(filepath)

for obj in bpy.context.selected_objects:
    collection.objects.link(obj)
    bpy.context.scene.collection.objects.unlink(obj)

I then render the scene to the output-folder
scene.render.filepath = "//output/"+filename
bpy.ops.render.render(write_still=True)

and delete the temporary-collection with its containing objects.
for c in scene.collection.children:
    if c.name == "tmp-collection":
        scene.collection.children.unlink(c)

for c in bpy.data.collections:
    if not c.users:
        bpy.data.collections.remove(c)


Export textured image as .stl file I made a pipe model in blender and now when i add little bit rusted texture inside and try to export as .stl file in order to use in Gazebo, it doesn't appear. Anybody any idea with this?

Ahh, I solved it. Exporting as .obj file to Gazebo solves the issue


Extruding straight down I'm new to blender and I don't even seem to be able to extrude my faces straight down. I'm creating the base mesh for a shirt, but I keep extruding faces at different angles. Some help would be appreciated!

Immediately after typing E (extrude), type Z twice: first to override the default direction (along the faces' normal), then to constrain the extrusion along the Z axis.

    (E, Z, Z, move, Enter. Note "along global Z" on the bottom bar)

To add on this: you can constrain to an axis - X, Y or Z - also the other familiar operations G (move), R (rotate) and S (scale).

Similarly, Shift+Z constrains the transformation to all axes except Z.

Finally, selecting an axis twice means that the axis local to the object's internal coordinates is used, rather than the global one.


How do I "un-roll" the viewport? Lets say that I've rolled the view port with ⎈ Ctrl⇧ Shift Scrollwheel, and now want to get it back to its original orientation. How do I do that?

Hit Numpad 7,3 or 1. When you navigate out of the view, it will be reset.


Growing a shape with changing color I'm thinking of using blender to create a 3D animation where one piece starts off small, grows over time and as it grows the new parts are of a progressively different shade.  See images enclosed.

I'm new and can't see how to do this after watching lots of YouTube intro videos.

Thanks for any help.

Well, you didn't tell which render engine you need, but I have a "tricky" solution which I here explain using Bender Render, but it's obviously doable even with Cycles Render. But, I used a trick, and I don't know if you can use it, too.

here's the result (colors have banding just for the gif format...):

how I did it?

First I created a plane, scaled it and then subdivided it a lot,
and assigned it a shadeless material made by a blend texture with a color ramp, note the settings below:

then,I created a half circle bezier with its origin in the same place as the previous plane

then I've set a curve modifier for the plane, to the bezier (note the X scale, later on this)

then, X scaled it until it covered the bezier, and set frame 1

then, duplicated it to plane.001, scaled it a bit on its Y (to widen its curve, so to cover the underlying rainbow curve), and then I keyframed the same X scale at frame 1

then, I set a dark shadeless material which is the same as the world background, and set a key frame for X scale = 0 on last frame (50 in my example), so that during the animation it "uncovers" the below rainbow arc...

here is last frame

so, when you start the animation you see this progressing

and the result of the animation is what you see in the first animated gif...

here is my test file

Of course your need could be slightly different, but you could use this as a starting point...

edit: some time ago I answered another (somewhat related) question,and there I did both a Blender Render and Cycles Render colorramp... see How to make / generate the trailing effect?


Bezier Curve: Bevel Object is creating a flat surface I'm using a bezier curve and want to create a specific bevel edge shape to it in 3D.

The shape I want the bezier circle to be along its length is attached below. I created it by converting the edge of a mesh into a curve and turning it into a Bezier Curve (called Cube). I then created a Bezier curve circle and added the Cube curve from above to the Bevel Object.

The result was a perfectly flat circle when I want it to be the 3D shape of the Cube Curve I created from the mesh.
How do I get the Bezier Circle to bevel in the shape of the Cube Curve in 3D not flat?

Note: When I added another smaller bezier circle to the original bezier circle path with the Bevel Object function it created a cylinder, so I assume it has something to do with the mesh conversion but I don't know what.

I have selected all points and tried Alt-T with now luck, and scaling the curves.

This was the result:

Please rotate the shape named [Cube]  in

[Edit Mode]

90 degrees on some axis. The results should be interactive.


How i can get so smooth sculpt im watching YanSculpts on youtube and i can't see poligons in his Sculpt and i want my sculpt to look like his. Is it different matcap or sth else?

In object mode set the shading to smooth in order to avoid seeing the individual polygons of the mesh when sculpting.

Blender 2.80:
To do this open the "Object" menu in the 3D viewport header and choose "Shade Smooth"

Blender 2.79:
In the 3D viewport press  T  to show the toolbar. In the "Tools" tab select "Smooth" under the Shading section.

Alternatively you can search for the operation "Shade Smooth" or just "Smooth" by pressing  Space  in 2.79 or  F3  in 2.8

Note Dynamic Topology has its own Smooth shading option for Sculpt mode which overrides this setting from other modes and should be set separately.


Where does blender store its config files? I want to be able to change and store all the settings blender has in a configuration file. Eventually I would like to be able to make self-contained blender plugins that also affect the configuration of blender.
I'm sure there must also exist some settings that are not available in the GUI. For example, I would like to able to configure vim-like keychords for changing the focus of split views, creating them, etc. and in general being able to configure my keys very flexibly.

If you’re on Windows, check your AppData folder -> Roaming. If on Linux, I might check /use/share but I’d be able to give better blender information in a few days time for that system.
I don’t think there are any configuration settings not covered in the GUI except maybe like GPU drivers or something: Blender is the most configurable interface program I’d ever seen.


Blender model won't produce valid stl for printing I have a relatively simple model to which I've added a lot of modifiers in blender. When I export to an STL the result has several solid layers that aren't visible in blender. I It also thinks that some areas are filler when they should be empty. The blender file is also showing as solid a feature (Axle drive) that I intended to cut of the edges of the enclosure.
My blend file https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XEmOR5hM-he4SAkGam6e8ZCfvHgDv1s-/view?usp=sharing
The resulting STL file https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S5uGJHNUtQJroOG6Ug1dv5IFhWZa3VEE/view?usp=sharing
I have checked for non-manifold edges, merged by distance, recalculated the normals, etc. Any idea how to get an STL that matches my model?
UPDATE: To simplify troubleshooting, I am focusing on just one mesh. I started with a plane and built it up to function as the main enclosure. It is made up of only 81 verticies and 57 faces. The 3d-Print toolbox says that 46 of those faces are zero faces. I have been trying to figure out what that means and how to fix it, but I can't figure it out.

I'm not sure if this is impacting the STL slicing, but that's one problem I'm trying to figure out right now.

2 problems I can see straight away with your model.
First off, the part "base enclosure" has backwards normals. This plays havoc with booleans when they get applied during export and with slicing programs. Pretty sure some of your boolean parts have bad normals also because when you apply all the booleans there are still many bad contiguous edges found by 3D Printing Toolbox. Selecting all in edit mode and SHIFT-N fixes that. Also, select all vertices and merge by distance has over 400 verts that are duplicates, also bad for 3D printing.
Second, your scene is set up to export 1000 times smaller than what you draw at. It's a common mistake when setting up for 3D printing. You need to change your Unit Scale to 0.001, then scale up your model by 1000.

After fixing these issues I could slice it with no problems in PruserSlicer.


Waving artifacts on texture/light Cycles In the image below there is a pattern on the material that was not intended. How do I fix this?

I attached image and .blend file. If You need any details, please, ask. I don't know what should I give more.

Could someone be as good and maybe generally correct this blend file? ;-) (nodes, lighting)

Blend file

I looked at your blend file and it seems like its the geometry of your object. Your getting these "wavy artifacts" because your shading is set to flat which is showing geometry thus creating this. So to get rid of them I would change the topology of your object.


Is it possible to denoise a baked texture? Simple question, I bake a map, and I would like to use denoising on that texture. Is it possible in Blender?
I'm proceeding with various tests, using the Compositor, and the denoise node, I'm not very sure how you can (and if you can) do some sort of denoise of a bpy.data.images
I am quite confused, in this case I was thinking of using a situation like this:

You can, using the node setup you show in your screen shot. The only thing you need is to open the image editor, set it to show the composite output or viewer node result. Then you will be able to save your picture using the menus or via alts.


Bone shrinks mysteriously under the influence of an IK Constraint I tried setting up inverse kinematics on a very simple test character rig and the bone went all crazy. It shrinks the leg to a stump when the IK Constraint's influence is at 1. I've set it to 0.5 so you can see what's happening, and still select it. It also can't be grabbed.

My experience with rigging is limited, but still it's surprising to see this bizarre result. Please explain to me what's causing this.

In the bone IK constraint, try to disable weight influence for position, leave it only for rotation. You can restore influence to 1.0 as is probably needed for rotation.


Create path on DXF object Its possible to create a path on a polyline from an DXF imported?
I can do this in a Circle create inside the Blender, but i dont get how to do this in a object imported.
Pls see the img attached.
Thanks

There is no such a thing as DXF object in Blender. Lines from DXF format are usually imported as curve objects. You can manipulate them exactly in the same way you would manipulate any other curves in Blender. If you needed to change the spline types inside the curve objects you would need to enter edit mode Tab, select any vertex of the spline(separate segment in a curve) you wish to change the type of and do it in the T panel:

You might also wish to change the type of the handles that can be done in the T as well or with a shortcut v when you have vertices of a spline selected.


Blender 2.8 vertices of object doesn't update after location change in python I import a .fbx object and move the location. Then I try to print the local coordinates of the object. Regardless of where I move it, it prints the same local coordinates leading to me believe that the mesh vertices are not being updated. The snippet is attached below.

bpy.ops.import_scene.fbx( filepath = "sample.fbx" )
myObj  = bpy.data.objects['testObj']
print (myObj.data.vertices[0].co)
myObj.location = mathutils.Vector((1,3,5))
print (myObj.data.vertices[0].co)

This prints the same values both times. How do I update it? I would appreciate an answer for Blender 2.8

For the scene global coordinate system, multiply by the object's world matrix:

myObj  = bpy.data.objects['testObj']
print (myObj.data.vertices[0].co)
myObj.location = mathutils.Vector((1,3,5))
print (myObj.matrix_world @ myObj.data.vertices[0].co) # <----


Normal map not working correctly I followed along with a tutorial which shows you step by step how to create a normal map. Parts of the normal maps shows on the default cube mesh when I render, but it shows the outlines of the default cube. Help will be much appreciated! Thanks

your normal map looks quite good no obvious artifacts or anything wrong with it, same goes for your Image Texture node and the rest in the node editor.
imho I would suggest you to do a quick retopo in order to keep (roughly) the basic shape of your sculpted cube (hi-poly). Normal maps are not able to follow curvatures and they cant fake the edges so it is not that strange you get this result. You need a minimum of actual geometry to use them sufficiently !


How to import Zbrush brushes(files .ZBP) to Blender I wonder if there is an add-on to use Zbrush brushes in Blender sculpt mode.

In fact there is a pack of ZBrush sculpting brushes for FREE on the BlendSwap site which could be of your interest...

https://www.blendswap.com/blends/view/86419

Hope it helps buddy, Jan


Real world to blender modeling I'm new to blender and I am trying to create basic shapes/models of few basic objects like - water pot, bottle, tea-cup etc. Now I'm trying to create an iPhone model.

So, when I started modelling, I came to know about precise sizing & other specific dimensions of iPhone. But I see options in XYZ as 0 & 1.
My Question is - How can I create an object with specifications like - 4 inch wide, 1 inch tall etc?

this can be done by changing the unit type from none to imperial

Then, add your cube and change the measurements to whatever you want


Rigify Error Message Just tried to Generate a new Rig and got the following error message:

RIGIFY ERROR: Bone 'palm.01.L': The palm rig must have a parent and at
least one sibling
Incorrect armature for type 'super_palm'

Here is the screenshot of the actual palm armature:

I highlighted the particular section of the Scene Collection where it seems maybe the Thumb components are incorrectly under the Palm 01.L group and instead should be in its own individual group?
If that is the case, how do I move the thumb components to reflect their own separate group standing in that scene list? I tried a drag/drop motion but that didn't work.  Otherwise, any ideas on how to troubleshoot this Rigify error, please.

It looks like your bone hierarchy is messed up. It's ok that the thumb is a sibling of the index finger and they are parented to palm.01. But palm.01.L should be parented to hand.L, and the hand should be parented to forearm.L and so on.
It's basically spine > shoulder > arm > hand > palm > fingers.
For the chin and jaw bones, it's like: spine > face > jaw > chin
For testing, I've created a human meta rig and cleared the parent of palm.01.L. It's now a sibling of the spine.
This is wrong and Rigify complains about it with the same error message you posted.
To fix it you need to select the bones (in Edit mode), child first, parent last, and parent them (Ctrl+P) with Keep Offset. Select the whole bone, not only the head or tail. With Alt+P you can separate them if needed.


How to select all strips in a channel via python? How to select all strips in a channel via python, and deselect everything else?

Set strip.select to True if strip.channel is "active channel".

Test Script with  active_channel = 1. Note I've simply set the active strip to None if it is not in the desired "active channel".  Change this to suit.

import bpy

context = bpy.context
scene = context.scene

active_channel = 1

sed = scene.sequence_editor
# if active strip isn't in active_channel set to None.
if getattr(sed.active_strip, "channel", -1) != active_channel:
    sed.active_strip = None

sequences = sed.sequences_all
# select all strips in active channel
for strip in sequences:
    strip.select = strip.channel == active_channel


How to merge all identical materials into one? I have made some trees to make a forest and each tree has its own file. Now I have appended them into one file and now I have like 40 unnecessary materials which are completely the same and each is assigned to a few objects, so that I would have to switch materials for about 200 objects to get rid of them. Is there some other way to merge the identical materials into a single material?

Select all the objects that share the same material. Using Select->Select Pattern may be a quick way to do that.
⎈ CtrlL -> Material will set the same material for each object.


Lamps don't seem to give off light in object mode I played with the lamps earlier in the sculpt and they worked as expected. Tilt the light and the shadows followed accordingly. Then I wanted to get rid of it and I assume I clicked something I shouldn't have as now the light only shows in rendering. The issue follows me to new files and after uninstalling and reinstalling the program which seems odd. Is there a setting or option that I inadvertently clicked or did I just break it somehow?

A friend found out what happened- apparently the viewport shading switched on me!
 I switched it to material and it was as what I was looking for.


How to keep projects of previous blender versions when installing new versions? I have a Blender version 2.78 build for windows and would like to use the new 2.79 test build. I am unsure as to whether deleting the 2.78 version to install the 2.79 version will erase the projects on it.

Is there a way to do this without getting rid of the projects?

First off, reinstalling Blender won't delete any blend file.
Second, there is a portable version for each release, which means you don't necessarily have to uninstall anything and can have multiple versions at the same time. Moreover, the 2.79 RC1 only has a portable version, no installer yet. So in fact you can't even replace your 2.78 installation.

To use the portable version, unzip it and open Blender.exe, very simply.


How to create a buisness card with an embossed effect? After I have found this website http://www.desainew.com/2018/01/business-card-mockup-tutorial-in-blender.html it was quite easy for me to generate something similar with my own business card design.

However, it is quite flat. And it would be really cool to have something more like this:

Is it possible to give the a plane with a texture such a "pressed effect"?

There are many ways to do this.

The low poly approach:

Using an image as texture to control the displacement you can connect the texture to the Hieght socket of a Vector>Bump node, and plug that to the Normal socket of the shader you are using for the card.

This will create a bump map, faking some relief and shading the object using the existing lights in the scene.
Alternatively, you can use the texture and plug it to the displacement socket of the Material output. Fine tuning amount of displacement can be done with a Converter>Math node.

Note that with both of these node setups you will be creating the illusion of displacement without adding any geometry. But if you look at the card from a side it will look like the flat plane it is.

High poly approach

To get real 3D displacement, set the displacement for the material to True or Both.

For version 2.79 enable the experimental Feature Set.

Then subdivide the original mesh so that you have denser geometry.

Another alternative is to use a displace modifier that uses the texture to displace the geometry of the card.

Note that the last two techniques require more geometry, to get a smooth result requires the object to have more vertices.


How to animate rotation of an object in circular array, without the rotation affecting direction of the array itself? The array modifier uses empty, which is parented to another empty in the centre of the circle. Is it possible to animate all the object rotating inwards/outwards the circle without it affecting the array modifier?

Thanks

You can simply parent your objects (the empty used for the array modifier and the mesh object) to another empty and rotate this last one.

Doing so will keep the relative location and rotation of the arrayed mesh and the empty used in this array.
That can also be:

In this case, hook the mesh to an empty and rotate it. Concerning the array, make sure that it is set on "constant offset" (not relative offset).


Snap Tool isn't working at all in Blender 2.9 I've tried every single option in the Snap Tool panel, I've read the answers to the people asking the same question but nothing fixed it. It just doesn't react to anything. The only thing that would sometimes work is Snap to Increments while holding down CTRL, but again only sometimes. Yes, the button to activate the Snap Tool is on and yes i am not using Proportional editing mode.
Does anyone have any idea what might be the problem ??
EDIT: Nvm, i think i figured it out. Your mouse needs to be in the precise spot where you want your object to snap. Like, for example if you need to snap to vertex the mouse needs to be on the corner of the object where the vertex is. Also it only works if you use the hotkeys ( G + Y, for example) and not the gizmo, at least for me.

The cursor has to be near the vertex/edge of the object being moved, in order to snap to the nearest vertex/edge. This drove me nuts for the last hour.


Blender (2.79b) closes minutes after startup So a very strange problem. Just installed 2.79b onto my new laptop. When I start up blender the command line comes up as usual, but says "AL lib: (EE) UpdateDeviceParams: Failed to set 44100hz, got 48000hz instead". Blender then seems to run fine, functions normally, but after a minute or two it then suddenly freezes briefly then just closes. Doesn't appear to flash the command line or provide an error message. Not sure what this could be, I just installed the latest gpu drivers for my nvidia gtx1050, and the only drivers I haven't installed for my laptop are the HIDfilter, Hotkey, MEI, SGX, and IRST drivers, which don't sound like they'd interact with blender. It could be antivirus blocking it maybe (bullguard not mcaffee if that makes a difference), but doesn't seem likely as it runs in the first place. Any help would be really appreciated, thank you.

Okay so I installed McAfee antivirus, was previously using windows defender as it turns out (thought I had bullguard free trial, must've had to install that myself) and blender seems to be working fine now, so it's most likely defender was blocking it or something, so if anyone has the same issue, look into your antivirus settings


BGE double tap to run i'm beginner in python. I have follow Goran Milovanovic's tutorial about "key combo", in his tutorial he is using a text object which is just changing the text. I want to make a combo like double tap to make the object move. it's a been a while I'm playing on it, but still the code ain't working.
here's the code:

from bge import logic, events
import mathutils
import time

class Combo:

def __init__(self, delta, lst_keys):
    self.delta = delta
    self.keys = lst_keys

    self.cidx = 0
    self.time_last = 0

    self.complate = False

def main(self, hit_key):

    self.complate = False

    time_now = time.time()
    delta = time_now - self.time_last
    self.time_last = time_now
    print(time_now)

    if hit_key == self.keys[self.cidx] and delta < self.delta:
        self.cidx += 1
        if self.cidx == len(self.keys):
            self.complate = True
            self.cidx = 0
    elif hit_key == self.keys[0]:
        self.cidx == 1
    else:
        self.cidx == 0

def main():

cont = logic.getCurrentController()
own = cont.owner

keyboard = logic.keyboard.events
hold = logic.KX_INPUT_ACTIVE
click = logic.KX_INPUT_JUST_ACTIVATED
w = events.WKEY

moveW = own.worldOrientation.to_quaternion() * mathutils.Vector((0,1,0)) * 0.2

up = Combo(1, keyboard[w]*2)
moveUp = own.localPosition = own.localPosition + moveW
combo_label = [(up, moveUp)]

for c, l in combo_label:
    c.main(hold)
    if c.complate:
            own = moveUp

Think about the design of such a system.

Requirements

key pressed once -> start timer AND wait for second key press
key pressed a second time AND wait for second key press -> do operation AND stop timer
timer exceeds -> stop timer

(I guess this is what you want to achieve. If you want something else let me know).

Design

This can be easily achieved via logic bricks. There is no point where you need Python.

Lets break down the requirements.

Sensing a key press

is simple: keyboard sensor

Running a timer

there are several options such as

delay sensor
timer property with property sensor
property with property actuator and property sensor

The timer property gives the time in seconds while the other options use number of frames.

Wait for second key press

There are several options too.

as long as the timer is running, you are waiting ... otherwise not. This could be sensed with a property change sensor
remember the wait state (either use build in state system or use a property to remember the state)

Do operation

This is up to you

Timer exceeds

either the delay sensor pops up or you measure this with a property sensor (greater than mode).

Example

I choose a delay sensor and the build-in state machine.

State "idle" (waiting for first key press)

State "waiting" (waiting for second key press)

Be aware when you have other "breaking" events beside timeout you need to add them too (e.g. pressing another key might break the combo).

Remarks

Yes, you can implement the same architecture with Python. There are no additional benefits.


Separate object from origin deformation I have started using blender for rendering figures and I really love it.
The problem is that I reached a point I do not know how to resolve my issue. I wanted to bend a cylinder, so what I did was to use the "simply deform" modifier into a cylinder and use a circle for reference (Origin).
Now, I like the state of my new object, so I what to play with this mesh. The problem is that now, everytime I modify the object, is still based on that circle. Is there anyway I could have this object without modifiers but keeping the same shape ?
This way I could play with the transformation I got.
For example, I want to rotate the item but it's referencing the circle so the shape looks weird.
Thanks in advance

Yes. In the upper left hand corner of the modifier pane, click the "apply" button, and this will make the modifications to the cylinder mesh permanent parts of the object.


Parts of object drag when rotating I'm new to blender and have been fooling around with weight paint and armatures.
Now when i rotate my character, the arms drag while rotating. Not sure how these specific pieces got stuck nor can I edit in pose mode to grab the corner which is stuck.
I'm having a difficult time researching a solution because I'm not sure what is really happening here or what's caused this.

This vertex must be part of an unwanted vertex group. Select it and in the Properties panel > Object Data > Vertex Groups, on the dropdown menu, click on the Remove From All Groups function so that it's not part of any group. Now you can assign it to the group you want.


Ony the objects that are close appear in the rendered image I would like my render result to encompass all of the objects that I have created... I cant seem to get it to render anything at all! Also, I have UV unwrapped my shirt, and the texture shows up in texture mode, but not in render. Also, the physics for the cloth material do not work.

I am new to blender and am very excited, but cant seem to get this working. Here is my blend file, any help is appreciated.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=17b401ZM6nmej-8338dt_0ztc9xH58xaJ

You have a scene where things are huge. The room is more than 200 meters long, the TV is larger than a theater screeen, the chair will only be good for giants like the one in your scene...

Then, your camera is set to have a clipping point of 10cm to 100m. Any object that is closer or further away than than the clipping distance will be ignored.

Increase the clipping distance so that it can display objects in the distance.

But as a piece of unwanted advice: in Blender it is better to work in a scale that matches the real world. Physics, and other simulations, depth of field and lighting will behave differently depending on the scale.


How can I specify the position of vertices to create an object using Python? I have generated a large matrix with the (x,y) positions of all 4 vertices of a rectangle, using a Python script. It's called Matrix1, and has the dimensions (265,2,4)- 265 rectangles, 4 vertices with their x coordinate in the first row, and the y co-ordinate in the second row respectively.

As I am new to Blender, I am unsure as to what commands I would use to actually create rectangles with those vertices.

Any help or assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!

Edit for more information: (UPDATED)

For example:

[[0,1,1,0]
[0,0,1,1]]

are the four vertices for the first rectangle, representing (0,0) (1,0), (1,1), (0,1); in general, if the order of vertices is [a,b,c,d] they should be joined to form edges ab, bc, cd, da.

Could anyone please help?

This Code will create the mesh object with your faces.
As for the Colors you will have to decide how you want to store them.
With a different material per face?
With vertex colors?
In an image (UVMapping)?
It depends on what you want to do with your Object as to which answer is best for you.

import bpy
import bmesh

vertlist = [[(0, 0), (0, 1), (1, 1), (1, 0)],
            [(2, 2), (2, 3), (3, 3), (3, 2)]]

def create_mesh_object(context, vertlist):
    bm = bmesh.new()

    for faceverts in vertlist:
        bm_verts = []
        for vert in faceverts:
            bm_verts.append(bm.verts.new((vert[0], vert[1], 0)))
        bm.faces.new(bm_verts)

    me = bpy.data.meshes.new(name='MyMesh')
    ob = bpy.data.objects.new(name='MyObject', object_data=me)
    bm.to_mesh(ob.data)
    context.scene.objects.link(ob)

create_mesh_object(bpy.context, vertlist)


Blender VSE Audio out-of-sync when animation (video) is rendered Ok, so I found out that Blender has this really cool video-editing interface and I was beginning to love it. Until, I created this awesome project composition and when I exported the animation as a video file, the audio was out of sync :(.

Actual Problem

Audio is in-sync with video when the animation is played in Blender but is out-of-sync in the rendered video.
I know that this question has been asked umpteen number of times already, but no solution seems to work.

Solutions I tried out and failed

I used the 'Audio-Sync' option in the sequencer but that made no difference.
Then I thought that my scene audio frequency might have been an issue since it was initially 48kHz and my videos were at 24kHz, so I changed the scene audio frequency to 24kHz, this still failed to solve the issue.
Initially, I was combining videos with different frame rates and thought that might have been an issue (although animation played as expected in Blender), so I recreated the source videos to ensure all videos I was using in my project had the same frame rate, but this also did not work.
Someone online suggested exporting the video and audio separately and then combining them using a command-line tool like FFMPEG, this also failed.

What's really frustrating

This lag (audio is a few frames ahead of the video) is noticeable only in longer videos (>12 mins, my video is 1 hr long) suggesting a very small rendered rate difference between the video and the audio.
Also, note that the animation plays absolutely fine in Blender, so all I could figure out was that this was a rendering issue.

So if anyone figured this out please let me know. I am a noob in video/audio codecs so please forgive me if I used some incorrect nomenclature above.

So after a lot of online searching, I did find an answer to fix this problem, but not in Blender. If you are like me and would like to use Blender for video editing and still get around the issue, then I found a workaround, but you need Shotcut for this. Shotcut is another great free and open-source video editor

Export the entire long video from Blender (the rendered video has desync issues as expected).
Open the video in Shotcut and detach the audio from it.
Use the audio properties to make very fine adjustments to the audio playback speed to suit your requirements (make fine adjustments until video and audio are in sync).

Follow the GIF attached.
(I am using a shorter video in the GIF but you get the idea)

Explanation

Blender has issues while rendering long videos and I noticed that the video is exported at 1.0x speed but the audio is sometimes faster (1.00400x or something like that) and hence the rendered video has audio not in sync with the video.
Another bad thing is that Blender does not really allow very fine playback speed adjustment just to the audio.
One trick is to adjust the pitch of the audio in Blender which in turn changes the playback speed but this is only allowed up to 2 decimal places (not what we want for long videos) and it makes the audio sound funny (since it actually changes the pitch).
Shotcut is a great tool that allows fine playback adjustment, and it also has a pitch compensation feature so that your pitch is kind of unaffected (since we don't want the characters to be sounding funny in our edited video).
Shotcut allows playback speed adjustment up to 6 decimal places.

I have also created a short video about this, which can be found here.


Copy location constraint while maintaining the original distance I have two empties Emp_Anim and Emp_toFollow, where one is animated and the other is not as shown in my .blend file found here. How can I make the Emp_toFollow apply the same transform location and rotation of the Emp_Anim? For example, at frame 1 they are apart from each other with a certain initial distance (x,y,z), I want Emp_toFollow follow the location and rotation of Emp_Anim while maintaining the same initial separation distance that existed at frame 1. Like I want to apply the two constraints copy_location and track_to but  also have the initial separation xyz distance existing.

There are a lot of ways to achieve this, but the easiest and most straight forward would be to check Offset option in Copy Location constraint and move the Emp_toFollow back to it's original position. Like this: