where is the blender rock generator addon? Here's the tut:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJRDj-fwkG4&t=508s

The reason why I'm asking is, that there seem to be many different rock generators, all the links I've found on the web point to other rock generators (such as here) and were wrong.

You can download the add-on from here: use the "Download > Direct Download" button that will create a .zip file.

You will be able to install the add-on from File > User Preferences > Add-ons, using "Install from File" and selecting the zip file. You don't have to unzip it!

I haven't extensively tested it, but the basic features seem to work on Blender 2.79b on Ubuntu (even if the file is much older).

More in this answer by Thom Blair III. I don't know who maintains the Dropbox link above.


How do I rotate a Multilayer EXR file in Blender's compositor? It would seem that rotating an image is a trivial task, however I face this problem when working with Multilayer EXR format files in Blender.
But why?
I find it convenient to set my archvis scenes up as animations so I can change objects in different stills and render all camera angles at once as animation. I sometimes need landscape and portrait orientation images of the same interior and use a small script to quickly switch X and Y resolution dimensions and then rotate the camera when I am done framing so some frames render out rotated. It's then very convenient for me to do compositing on a sequence of images.
Recently I rendered a scene in a few batches and ended up with 1 8K panoramic image, 5 4K living room images in landscape orientation with one of them rotated and 5 images of stairs that are all portrait orientation all in a sequence and to my surprise when compositing I can do that with all the images at once as one sequence despite the difference in orientation and resolution and output them to files with File Output nodes to their correct resolution and orientation from that one sequence. So now I know, I can have different orientation in the same sequence which is amasing.
It would be even more amazing if I could always look at all the images rotated correctly while compositing instead of rotating only the output as I have done until now.
It would require me to rotate all the rendered Multilayer EXR files that need rotation in my sequence of files.
What I have tried
I have no problems connecting every output of a Multilayer EXR to File Output node with Python and also inserting any Compositor nodes to edit them automatically so any solution that works for one layer is convenient for me, however I cannot rotate the image in compositor as far because the image is cropped to original dimensions when rotated:

The question
Is it possible to rotate every layer of a Multilayer EXR and output it to an image with rotated dimensions as well with Blender's Compositor nodes, if it is - how?
My solution detailed in and answer below has issues with Cryptomatte. I am starting a bounty in hope to find a solution without those issues. I am starting to think of a solution with Python, but have no idea how it would be simple and easy to use from Blender...

About cryptomattes
The issue is not due to the rotation but to the alpha over node:

which results in plain color image.
If you change the node group by this:

That allows to keep the image size from the mask, without considering it (multiplied by 0) but adds the rotated cryptomatte values.
A simple test case file:


Blender 2.8: Meshes disappear when hitting number keys above the letters While adjusting my shapes in object mode, I accidentally hit one of the number keys (the one above the letters / not the numpad).
I'm just to using those shortcuts when being in edit mode.

I've attached my file for reference: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-9tS0X-jeesMfjx16EeVbZIbj09WqXE4/view?usp=sharing

While hitting the numbers, you'll notice the meshes will change.

Thank you in advance,

Welcome

You have 3 Collections (of objects) in the Outliner (see screen shot above).

When you hit the 1 key you are showing only the objects in first Collection.
When you hit the 2 key you see only objects in the second collection etc .

If you look in the Outliner when hitting those keys you will notice how the little Eye icons are being enabled or disabled.

To see all the objects in the 3 Collections at the same time in Object mode again,
you need to go to the Outliner and manually enable the relevant little Eye icons.


Animation Nodes Flow Controll? In comparrison with Unreal Blueprints i felt the need of Flow Controll in Animation Nodes, like gate. Is there another way then routing - for example - the transformation to an empty like in my example?

To compare Blueprints and AN is a bit off but i need the functionality to work with huge numbers of categorised objects. expl.: all chairs to height 1, all shelfes to height 2.

Given the list of objects, their classes (0, 1, 2), and sizes of each class. We can evaluate the sizes list at the classes list and use the output as the scale as follows:


How to control particle's direction by animation node? As title, i do not have any idea to control particle's direction by AN.

There is no way to alter the velocity or acceleration of particles of particle systems, the Blender python API doesn't allow it. However, if you want to control the general direction of particles, you can instance force fields and control their orientation and strength as suggested by  Jaroslav Jerryno. As an example, lets create a spiral spline in Animation Node and enable Curve Guide Force Field and Path Animation for it:

Or perhaps by animating a wind force field:


VSE snap a marker to the playhead? Is any easy way to snap a marker to the playhead (green cursor)? (aside from zooming in really far and trying to position it as close as possible)

You can set the Frame of your selected Marker to the current Frame via Python:

import bpy

s = bpy.data.scenes['Scene']

for m in s.timeline_markers:
    if m.select == True:
        m.frame = s.frame_current


Does changing your Compute Device, change all computes of Blender? So, I have recently moved from using Blender, on my family's Nettop PC, to my personal, gaming PC. And with this move, came to option to use CUDA instead of CPU.

Which leaves the question, if I move to CUDA, does that change all computing, for like physics baking, or only for rendering?

Just a nooby question that I wanted to know, and yes, I know you can specify GPU rendering separately.

Only rendering process can use GPU acceleration, specifically rendering with Cycles Render Engine alone; even switching to Blender internal ignores all benefits of GPU acceleration.

CUDA acceleration is not supported anywhere else in Blender. The only remaining parts, other than the OpenGL Viewport and UI Drawing, that use GPU acceleration (like Open Subdivide evaluation and Compositor OpenCL compute), are unaffected by the CUDA computing device settings, and use their own different settings in specific places.


'Mesh' object has no attribute 'faces' I'm trying to do an export plugin for Blender 2.69 to metasequoia file (.mqo).

Vertex is exported but i have some trouble with faces.

I used this has a reference but it's for blender 2.5 so i think it's outdated.

source code

Faces are now accessible in Mesh.polygons. But seeing that your reference is so outdated, there may be other deprecated API usage in your script. So far, this link is always redirected to the latest Blender Python API manual, you may want to refer to it instead.


how to remove deleted faces's line? I deleted vertices, edges and faces on the red faces. But the lines remain on the object.
I can not even select the lines.(including vertex, edge, face)

how can I remove the lines?

It most propably became another object, try exiting from the edit mode and selecting those lines


Solidify faces as separate objects that touch I have a mesh objects with faces. I would like to create separate objects for each face but solidify them at the same time while they still touch eachother. For a cube I could do this in the following way:

Create cube mesh
In edit mode, use Edge split (search 'Edge split')
Extrude E, but cancel immediately
Scale S (larger or smaller doesn't really matter)
Select all faces A and separate P > As loose parts

The result is something like this where each face is now a thick version of itself with bevelled edges that touch (one side removed to highlight the internals, but these are 6 separate objects).

However, due to the way in which scaling works, this does not work well for convex shapes. The scaling scales to the center of the object instead of along the normals.

I also tried extrude along normals, but this loses the shape due to the edge split. Somehow is does not exactly the same as scale and extrudes the exact shape of the face outwards (instead of keeping the edges together).

Which method could I use to achieve the desired effect for freeforms?

You can press ALT + s  to begin scaling along normals.


Can someone tell me where I've gone wrong? this is my first ever time working on blender. I'm following a tutorial and I made a dog house for the sims 4, I'm at the stage where I need to start baking but I have loads of layers, I tried to join them all together but some of walls disappeared.

Can someone help please :) ?
Thanks.

You can download my blender file here >>  http://simfileshare.net/download/5UT56PXIYey45CwzcPdPJetv6Wh1eLqjHK71SCVqgpMJaAski5ohs665AMNMDEh3/

Some walls are "disappearing" during joining meshes because you have set Backface Culling in 3D view shading options. This makes faces, which normals are not directed towards viewer, not visible. What you need to do is, after joining meshes, Tab into edit mode, choose Face select, select "invisible" faces (you will be able to see black dots in the middle of each, even "invisible" face), Click on Flip Direction in left Shading panel or go to Mesh>Faces>Flip normals or press CTRL+F and choose Flip normals.


How to spawn and kill objects during animation to save memory? I've been struggling with this project of mine for few a days now:
I have this scene with a car being modified and tuned as it drives down a tunnel. I have a small segment of a tunnel that needs to be few km long. Using array is not an option: the scene becomes too heavy for my PC (GTX1050 with 2 GB VRAM).
Is there a way spawn and kill moving segments of the tunnel so it's not heavy — that way it might be bearable for my machine.
Also, I might need to add some sort of effect to my camera that only lets it see about 20 meters in front of it before everything disappears into dark.
You can download the file here from OneDrive.

Here are some ideas:

One of the main problems is probably that the fan has way too many faces (you even have completely useless bolts, you certainly won't make any close-up shots on this), so you should simplify it a lot: Make it an independent object, delete a lot of edge loops,  give it a Subdivision Surface modifier with a level of 1, and an Array modifier so that it follows the tunnel. Tricks to simplify: Use CtrlE > Un-Subdivide, or use select edge ring, Select > Checker Deselect, Select > Select Loops > Edge Loops, and CtrlX to dissolve. You could also make a very simplified version if it's far away from the camera. Here is just a beginning of clean-up:

Slide the image texture along the mesh (wall and road) with the Mapping node (not sure it will save a lot of memory though, lol):

Render an image of a long tunnel perspective and use this image in your 3D scene to fake depth (or use a mirror?)
Make only very short sequences


Fluid animation timings I want to make a short animation, of which one part is a drop falling and hitting a surface. Now I want the animation to begin at 300th frame and since I am using the default 24 fps, the start is at 300/24=12.5 seconds. However on changing the Start parameter under the domain settings to 12.5 and end to 15, on baking the simulation simply doesn't seem to happen. But on using the default the animation works perfectly. It's taking the same amount of time and cache memory to bake both the times, so I am guessing the simulation IS happening but somewhere wrong place on the timeline.
Can anyone please help?
Thanks.

If you'd like the animation to start at the 300th frame, you'll need to set Frame Start to 300, not 12.5.  It seems that what you're doing right now is running an animation for only two and a half frames, so it's so fast that you can't even see it.


My viewport movement is inverted and strange I'm not sure what I did but when I rotate my view in the viewport, it's like it's inverted or rotating around another object offset from the one I've selected. Any ideas as to what I did to cause this?

You may have enabled the option called "Lock to 3D cursor", which can be found by pressing 'n' to get the side bar and clicking on the "view" tab.


Why does my model deform so badly when I'm trying to animate it? So I have this Zbrush model that I made. It has separate parts for clothes, hair, eyes etc.
When I'm animating it, it deforms really weirdly and when I'm using it in a cloth simulation it gets some more weird deformations that I cant even explain.

I know some of the deformations can be solved through weight painting, but some parts apart from the body seems like "splitting or doubling" itself when I'm trying to move them in pose mode. No idea if the problem is in the model, some settings or just the weight paint, which I don't think in this case it is.

The default setup

Cloth deforming when cloth simulation on.

The cloth seems to split or double itself when I rise the leg.

More deformation errors

For a leg :

You have the leg itself, and a cloth, and the thickness of the cloth. Your problem lies in the inside part of the cloth that is not well vertex-weighted, and then not following the bone's movement.

cloth thickness

Cloth partially deformed

vertex weight of the cloth (1 bone selected)

What I suggest : Delete non-visible vertices (leg hidden by cloth, inside of cloth). As they won't be needed for render anyway, they're useless.

What you can do if you need to keep everything like that : Paint vertex weights (in weight paint mode) or at least assign the parts that need to move to the good vertex group

Weight paint mode

manually assign vertices to a vertex group


How can I resize a texture in Blender? It has been a while I am trying to solve the problem. The thing is my Mapping node seems not to have any effect at all on the object. I wish to resize my texture (to diminish it and repeat it), but I have followed many ways to do it by searching on Google and none has got any reaction on my software. I guess something isn't switched in as it should:

To resize a texture you need to increase/decrease its scale in the mapping node. Repeat works when scale is greater than 1.0


What should I connect with the Emission notch in the Principle PSDF (Blender 2.8) I'm trying to use an Emission map in the Shader Editor.

I added a texture and connected it to the Emission node and then with the principle BSDF, but the red line appeared showing that there's something wrong with it.

My object also appear purple. What am I missing here?

All the connections are color coded, the "Emission" slot on the "Principled BSDF" shader for example is yellow and stands for "Color", while grey connections are usually for sources that deliver values between 0 and 1. (usually because they do not complain, more about that later)

The blueish connections are for vectors, means a triplet of values from 0.0 to 1.0, here you can also connect color values as they are delivered as triplets RGB as well.

And then you have the green connections, which are either the output of a shader node or the input for the "Material Output" node.

You can connect colors to grey nodes, but it is usually better to convert the values to the correct range, be it by "Color Ramp" node or "RGB to BW" node. "Image Texture" nodes with their Color Space set to "Non-Color" or "Raw" also deliver values from 0 to 1, and should therefor change their output to grey if you ask me, but that's something you for now just have to keep in mind. Because "Image Texture" nodes set to for example "sRGB" default would represent a grey-scale image different then if you set the node to "Raw", since it would convert the data into another Color Space, which is not wanted. You can test it by using a height map image and changing the Color Space from "Raw" as it should be, to "sRGB".

As mentioned already, you can use colors as input for a vector connection, but here it's up to you to know what you are doing. One example would be that you can use the "Mix Color" node with the "Factor" set to 1.0 in the same way the "Vector Math" node would work. Both give the same result but i'd suggest to try and stick with the color coded connections to be on the safe side.

Since the Emission connection is yellow, a color, you can connect "Image Texture" nodes as well as "RGB" nodes, but here a little tip:

If you want to have a really shiny "Eevee" "Bloom" effect, connect a "Combine XYZ" node (vector) BUT here comes the thing.. you can enter a value like 500 for X,Y or Z and it will literally bloom your mind ;)
As you can use the XYZ as RGB you can compared to a "RGB" node go over the 1.0 value and thus create cool neon effects.


What is the sense of utilising Local Camera I have some misunderstanding about usage Local camera. Referring to the Blender manual it overrides Global (or said differently Scene) camera for the View (I suspect View means View Layer). Okey this option do override Active camera from a Scene camera to any other camera I want to set but I can't set up different Local cameras for different View Layers. If I am changing Local camera for either one View layer this camera at once will be set for all other View Layers, accordingly wait is scene of Local Camera if I can set different cameras for different View layers?

Local camera is set per viewport, not view layer.
Camera view (Num 0) uses the Scene camera by default.
Using Local camera, you can work with more cameras at once.


Is there such a thing as free standard standalone character armatures? I would like to start building an animation library using the widest, most generic, most flexible armature possible. I know nothing about character rigging best practices at all. I just want to take a rig that conforms to some sort of recognized standard, and then just start making animations for the library.

Is there such a thing? Or is there no standardization at all between character armatures? I've tried googling for information, but literally all I can find is 3D models that some other person created and that have a rig attached, with no information that I feel I can usefully trust.

Thank you for your time?

The Rigify addon includes a basic armature that sounds like what you might be looking for.


To move back the centre origin point to were the object is Hi Please can you tell me how to move the 3D cursor and centre origin point back to were the object selected is please?
I am selecting the landing feet and the X,Y and Z axis arrow is all the way to the right hand side please can you tell me how to fix it so it is situated relatively close to the object in this case the landing feet.

Thanks

Simon

Select the object in question.

Tab to enter edit mode.

A to select all (You may have to hit it twice)

Shift + S >> U To set the 3D Cursor to the average locational center of your selection.

Tab To exit edit mode.

Ctrl + Shift + Alt + C >> T To set the Origin to the new location of the 3D cursor.


Black pixels in renders So I'm a newbie in Blender, and when I rendered the model, there were some annoying black pixels. Can you help me?

It looks like you have those faces duplicated...look into z-fighting if you want to read more. You may need to delete duplicate objects (some may only be visible in render), or you may need to remove doubles (w key menu in edit mode).


Modal Operator -- "invoke" not being called while invoked through script A simple Node:
import bpy

class TestNode(bpy.types.Node):
    '''ww Test Node'''
    bl_idname = 'ww_TestNode'
    bl_label = 'TestNode'
    bl_icon = 'ARROW_LEFTRIGHT'
    bl_width_min = 400
    bl_width_max = 5000

    @classmethod
    def poll(cls, ntree):
        return ntree.bl_idname == 'ww_NTTest'

    def update_func(self,context):
        pass

    def init(self, context):
        bpy.ops.ww.test_modal_operator()
        pass

    def copy(self, node):
        print("copied node", node)

    def free(self):
        print("Node removed", self)

    def draw_buttons(self, context, layout):
        row = layout.row()
        row.operator('ww.test_modal_operator',text='Test Button')

    def draw_buttons_ext(self, context, layout):
        pass

A simple modal Operator
class TestModalOperator(bpy.types.Operator):
""" This operator Tests it's invoke method"""
bl_idname = "ww.test_modal_operator"
bl_label = "Test Modal Operator"

def modal(self, context, event):
    if event.type =="ESC":
        return self.cancel(context)

    if event.type == 'TIMER':
        pass

    return {'PASS_THROUGH'}

def execute(self, context):
    print('execute')
    self._timer = context.window_manager.event_timer_add(0.001, window=context.window)
    context.window_manager.modal_handler_add(self)
    return {'RUNNING_MODAL'}

def invoke(self, context, event):
    print('invoke')
    return {'RUNNING_MODAL'}

def cancel(self, context):
    print('cancel')
    context.window_manager.event_timer_remove(self._timer)
    return {'CANCELLED'}

By inserting the node into the tree it starts a modal operator. Using it's init method.
A button to start an other instance of the operator is provided as well.
The instantiation by the init method does not call the invoke method of the operator
but the call goes to the execute method, the button goes to the invoke method.
Is this intentionally?  If so why?
WKR
Martin

It is intentional!
This behavior is controlled with
bpy.ops.some_operator('INVOKE_DEFAULT')
or
bpy.ops.some_operator('EXECUTE_DEFAULT')
and it's assumed that a script calls execute by default
and a button calls invoke.
it is in the doc's but somewhat obfuscated.


How to unwrap a model with every polygon facing the view? How to unwrap a model with every polygon facing the view in the "UV Image editor" window? An alternative to this is to align every polygon one by one to the view in orthographic view and one by one to unwrap it with "U|Project from view bounds". But instead of doing it one by one, is there a faster way?

You might get a similar effect by making all edges of the mesh 'Seams' and doing a normal unwrap.

Enter Edit mode on selected mesh
Select all edges
Ctrl+E Mark Seam
U > Unwrap

Selected faces show that face shapes are preserved in UVs.


Subdivision Surface Modifier Problem Blender 2.8 I am having an issue with the subdivision surface modifier in blender 2.8. I am getting this weird spike in my mesh when I smooth it with the modifier as if the vertex is unaffected by the modifier for some reason. There is no random geometry inside the mesh and there are no double vertices.

Solution: This was an issue with my normals and I found the solution after more experimenting. Blender 2.8 made it less obvious to see the directions of the normals. Also, CTRL-n no longer recalculates normals. The new hotkey is SHIFT-n for "recalculate outside" and SHIFT-CTRL-n for "recalculate inside". I hope this information will help a fellow blender user.


Why is the shadow colored and not black? I'm doing an animation of clock hands. The shadow of the object(Hand) looks like it has purple noise colour, which is also the colour of the hand. I understand that it's reflective due to the material. But the shadow should have been black rather than purple.
Thank you.

Select the object and deselect the "diffuse" setting under Visibility

here with diffusion on:


How to convert grease pencil thick controur into 2d-mesh? I have a thick grease pencil object that looks in object mode the following way:

What I want is to convert those orange lines from their contour into 2D-mesh (vertexes connected by edges). But if I am trying to use "Convert to path/curve", I am getting only the "main" line instead:

What is the best and easiest way to achieve 2D-mesh that looks like thick grease pencil on the first picture?

My solution has been to create a path with Krita then drag the png into Blender and "trace image to grease pencil". Then when you convert to polygon curve you get the result you are after.
It is possible to do it entirely within Blender by having Blender create the png from a grease pencil though it seems a little complicated.  Draw your shape with the grease pencil. Then give it a texture which defaults to black. Then change the world colour to white with no alpha in the shader editor.  Then add an opacity modifier to your grease pencil stroke and  in the modifer options set uniform opacity and select your material in the material dropdown.  You might need to add your layer in the layer dropdown as well.  Then, render your grease pencil as an image and save it as a jpeg.  You don't need your grease pencil stroke anymore.  Now, create an image empty and load your jpeg from the tab for empties in the properties section (You should be able to just drag the image into the viewport instead but I found this didn't always work).  This will give you your shape with a nice white background.  Now "trace image to grease pencil". Turn off visibility for your empty and then convert the grease pencil to polygon curve.  Remember to turn visibility off for your grease pencil at this point.


How to remove all shadows, lights and gloss from render? 2.8 I do not have any camera nor lights yet whenever I switch from LookDev mode with textured models to Render preview it all suddenly gets darker and glossy. I've noticed that adding light to the scene actually reduces darkness according to position. Also in render workspace there are two spheres in right bottom corner where one is completely metallic, other is white but with shadows. How come the scene has these modifiers and how to completely remove them?

attached pic is what I'm talking about

Since you don't add any light to your scene, the render will be dark which only light up by environment light. (It will be weird when you can see object in a place with no light at all)

If you are not going to render it, use DevLook will be a better and easier way to look the scene with the power of EEVEE. You can also use viewport render if you want to get a screenshot.

And the little sphere is preview light setting overlay:

left one: reflection map
right one: diffuse map

If you want a shadowless and reflection less render:

Try to light up your scene by environment light

And also set the shader node if you want no specular at all:


Glossy with 0 roughness gives dark reflections I'm confused as to how to obtain mirror-like reflections in Cycles.
I made my planes 100% glossy (color value:1, 0% roughness) but the reflections are very (very) dark.

The planes are simple extruded squares with no double vertices and normal pointing in the right direction. I applied a bevel and an edge split modifier.

I must be missing something and suspected it would be in the render settings tab, hence my screenshot below.

I thank you for reading that long and thank you again in advance for the help you may give me.

Have a nice day!
NIcolas

You have set too low values for clamping and amount of light bounces.

In Properties editor > Render tab > Sampling rollout set Clamp Indirect to 0 (you can set it to something around 2 or 3, but test those values while changing). This will turn off clamping the values and return back to default. With that much clamping there won't be almost any reflection and light of higher values than clamping maximum.

See more related:

Why does this mirror, made using a glossy material, not fully reflect all the incomming light?
Cycles: Emission Shader does not bring enough light
Why are lamps and mesh lights not illuminating anything?

In Properties editor > Render tab > Light Paths rollout set Diffuse Bounces back to 4 (default) or even higher. It will allow light bouncing from diffuse surface to be bounced more times and make diffuse surface a bit brighter.

With current settings the reflection and diffuse surface look quite dark:

With default settings for Clamp Indirect and Diffuse light paths:


Animate Excavator digging I want to animate an excavator and the path he makes in the ground while digging in an abstract way. Animating the excavator seems to be no problem but I have trouble with animating the ground cause the shovel is entering it in a radial way.
I used the AnimAll add on to Animate the vertices of the ground to create the digging process but it is a very unsatisfying way.

I hope you have a better idea!
Some pictures regarding my problem

Thank you in advance

Fabian

The Boolean Modifier will come in handy here. It's not a physically accurate solution, but you can certainly fake it for illustration purposes.

Boolean can carve out geometry based on a reference object. So in this case, you can create a transparent object to point the modifier to, which will do the carving. Parent it to your solid object so they move in sync.

I've made a demo file with a basic animation. You can download it here.


Scaling hair with the mesh I have a character I need to scale for different scenes. I can't get the edited particle hair length/direction to scale with the mesh. It is at least emitting from the same location.  I've tried disconnecting the hair and applying scale on the mesh then re-attaching the hair but it doesn't make a difference.

Using the disconnect method seemed to work for edited hair on a cube with 'quick fur' attached but doesn't for my finished/rigged character.

The easiest way would be to use Drivers.

Select your character, and, in the Properties panel, switch to the Particle System tab; At the top, there's a Hair Length field - press RMB (Right Click) and select Add Driver.

Now, switch to the Graph Editor (you could switch a Window to this, but it's easier, from the Default Screen Layout, to double press Ctrl + Left Arrow or to go to the Header and click besides "Default" and choose Animation), set type to Drivers, press N and select your driver from the left side. Select your objects name on the Obj field, then set the type to either X, Y or Z scale. set the Expression to be scale * var, where scale is the Hair Length and var is the variable you just setup.

Now, when you scale your object up, the hair will scale properly.


Why is material with 'Displacement and Bump' set only showing 'bump' displacement in Cycles? Problem
I am trying to apply a static displacement map to a plane. Even though I am using the Cycles renderer, and I have configured the Principled BSDF shader to use "Displacement and Bump," I am still not seeing any variation in the plane's geometry.

Windows 10 version 2004
Blender 2.83.0
Cycles Renderer

Cycles Feature Set: Experiemental

Actual Result
It appears that the plane has a bump map effect, but the displacement aspect isn't working.
Expected Result
The plane should have both a bump map and displacement map effect, where the geometry of the plane is being modified by the black and white displacement vector that's being fed into the material output node.
Additional Details
Here's the wood texture I'm using

Here's a preview of the plane. It's flat, despite having the bump texture on it. The displacement isn't actually modifying the plane's geometry, like I'd expect it to.

Here's what my node editor looks like:

Here are my material settings:

Does your plane have enough subdivisions? A flat plane with only one face obviously can't be displaced so you need to add some geometry in edit mode or by using a subdivision modifier before the displace modifier


Blender for Beginners My nephew seems interested in doing 3d and all the great things Blender can do. I've done enough in Blender to love it.  But I can't afford a $4000  computer specified, especially not knowing if his interest is genuine.
 Is there an earlier version of blender that would run on Windows 7, just to see if he likes it?  The computer I'd like to give him is a Dell Optiplex 360, 4GB DDR2 Ram, 2.6 Ghz Dual Core Pentium. 250 GB hard drive. On board graphics card.  (I tried a slightly better graphics card, but couldn't get it to work.)

You don't need a \$4000 computer to run Blender, at home I have an HP pavillion laptop, core i7, intel graphic card with NVidia driver, so GPU render works, 8 GB ram, and it costs around \$550. I don't use it for final renders, I tried once 200% Full HD with 1024 samples, not surprisingly, Blender crashed, but for almost everything else, it is petfect, for a biginner he'll probably spend more time modeling and texturing, trying simple tasks, even when Blender crashes, it has one of the best recovery systems I've ever seen, and I worked for a long time with 3D "industry standard" software, and their recovery systems are not even close, I never lost significant amount of work using Blender "next to nothing".I advise you to download Blender on your Dell, give it a try to test it's limits, if it can handle a render of 512 samples Full HD with 3 mesh lights and half a million mesh object, I think you're fine, if not, invest in a mid range desktop, after all, you don't want him to start using a broken instrument, this will be a very bad start, and I don't advise using an older version of Blender, I believe a version that will make a difference in hardware consumption will be too old, if he likes it, this will make the learning curve looks like wasting time and effort, learning to do workarounds that he doesn't need for a newer version.


Leg bones twisting backwards when moving leg up The leg looks fine up to this part:

However when I go further up it just twists and flips backward like so:

I've scoured the internet and can't find a solution.
The pole target offset is at 90 degrees.

Thanks. Blender file attached if you want to look at it.

Blender file

When you move the foot up above a certain threshold then your pole target is below the line connecting the foot and hip joints. The knee joint will then orient down to the pole target as best as it can.

To fix this you have to move the pole target forwards and/or upwards so that it's above the line again.

About the pole target

The main part of the inverse kinematics constraint is to calculate the angles of upper and lower leg so that the leg points to the foot without there being any disconnected parts. Without a pole target there would be an infinite number of orientations that would achieve this. In this example this would leave the knee rotating around the axis from hip to foot – the red line drawn above.

The pole target works in a way that can be thought of as spanning a rubber band or spring between the pole target. The knee now rotates around the hip-foot-axis so that the distance between knee and pole target is minimized. In the screenshot above the pole target is very close to the axis, so a real rubber band probably wouldn't be very efficient. But nonetheless the distance between knee and pole target is lower here when the knee points backwards than it would be if the knee would be pointing forwards. If you pull the pole target around the axis – or, speaking for the side view, above the line and more far away – the knee will be pulled over to the other side of the axis as well.


Snap a Vertex Group to a Surface I need to create a consistent model for a Physics Simulation Program.(Comsol) Is there any Way to snap these selected Vertices straight onto the Surface? Creating a water-tight closed System? I tried Shrinkwrap and Automerge but both didnt give me good results. Thanks in advance.

For the purpose I recommend you to use Shrinkwrap modifier which contains a lot of options to snap one object vertex ti another:


Creating animations for Unity models using Blender? I am relatively new to Unity.

Currently, I am trying to make some animations using the free model Unity-Chan available from the asset store. Could someone post some helpful tips or perhaps a link with a brief walkthrough on how to perform this?

This is very simple:

First export your model from unity: http://wiki.unity3d.com/index.php?title=ObjExporter
Next, Import it into blender:

Add animations using the rigging tools
Export FBX to unity using these settings:

Done!


Alt-click for edge loop Hi I am a complete newcomer to blender and am following this tutorial, where he says to alt+click to select an entire row or "edge loop". I have followed all instructions exactly up to this point (3 times to make sure!). Alt-click does nothing. Thank you for your help. p.s. If possible, please keep answers in simple layman's language. I see some similar posts about alt click and loop select but had trouble following since the explanations were too advanced. Thank you!
Video starts where he demonstrates alt+click: https://youtu.be/qqeNA_4O0Qg?t=369

In version 2.8x Alt+Click is gone.

The way to select a loop is by double clicking.


strech animation faster / slower in parts I have an empty object at the moment representing a planet following the path of an ellipse using the follow path animation constraint. I want the empty to be faster at one end, slower at the other end. Effectively faking the velocity of a satellite orbiting a planet in an ellipse.

How do I go about doing this from the point of just a follow path animation. I tried baking the animation 1 frame at a time, and then stretching the points in the dope editor, and stretching the f-curves, neither worked, they either skip oddly, in case of dope, or the orbits become malformed from the f-curve.

If you select your path and go to the path object data tab form the properties pane, scroll down to path animation, there's the property frames which you can animate (hover and press i) to increase or decrease the amount of frames required to traverse the path at any given time.
So for example, if the value is at 100 at first, but starting from frame 50 you want the movement to be slower until frame 100, then at frame 50 you would create a keyframe (still at value 100), at frame 100 you would create another keyframe with value 150 for example.


Display all paint slots simultaneously? Is there any way to show all layers (paint slots) at the same time in texture paint and solid mode like in most painting apps?

Currently the default behavior in 2.72 seems to be that only the selected layer is shown even though there are transparent parts on the layers.

I eventually found a way. It doesn't really feel like a proper solution but it works. In Cycles, you have to switch to material mode and you will then be able to see all layers. But the problem is that your object will interact with the lights so you have to also temporarily make your material shadeless.


How do I evenly wrap a mesh around a sphere Ive tried using shrink wrap and it starts to do what I want but I cant get it to wrap around the whole thing. Only half of it.

Ive also tried using curves but I cant get it to evenly wrap into a sphere so that each point of the star is touching. Any help is appreciated!

You don't tell a lot about why, for example, you begin with a flat shape, is it necessary? Anyway, I guess there are several ways to get the final shape. Here I tried Cast and Array modifiers.

If you need to start with a flat shape, you could do it with the CAST modifier:

Create your star mesh.

In Object mode, create a circle a bit above the star, made of some concentric edges loops, keep only the edges. Choose top orthographic view, select the circle, then the star, go in Edit mode and in the bottom menu bar choose Mesh > Knife Project, it's going to print the circle edges on the star geometry.

Now your star has enough geometry for a nice deformation (here it's not optimal but you can rearrange it).

Create an empty at the same point as the star origin. Give your star a Cast modifier with the empty as Control Object.

Rise the empty a bit, play with the Cast Factor, the star is going to deform and shape as a sphere!!!!!!

Keep a copy of your star + empty objects, apply the Cast modifier, to make your shape even more spherical you can shrinkwrap it.

You could do it with the ARRAY modifier:

Create a UV Sphere. Keep only a segment.

Create an empty at the sphere's origin point. Give your object an Array modifier / Object Offset mode, with the empty as Object.

Choose the right array count, rotate the empty on the Z axis so that it recreate a complete sphere. Go in Edit mode to edit your segment.

Edit your mesh until you get the result you want.


Basing modeling of a holder I'm trying to model this simple thing. Anyone have any idea how to do model this. Without the top black. I tried to do this but the half of the mesh looks different.

One approach:

Make sure the cursor is centered SHIFT + “C”
Add a Plane
TAB into Edit Mode
Subdivide the Plane press “W” > Subdivide

Delete one half

Add a Mirror Modifier and check the box next to “Clipping”

Select all of the vertices and press “S” + “Y” (in top view) to scale on the y axis only.

Select the edge and extrude up by pressing “E” + “Z” and Left Mouse Click to accept

Press “G” + “X” and grab the edge inward (I exaggerated this)

Place the cursor near the edge and press ALT + “R” to create a radius. You can adjust the radius in the operator panel “Before” you do anything else.

Press “E” + “X” and extrude to the center

Add a Solidify Modifier and adjust the thickness to taste


Texture on inside of mesh Ive added an image texture to this object and the texture shows all over, which is fine however I wanted to create another texture image (of rust) on the INSIDE this time... how would I go about doing that in the nodes as the outside faces are the same as the inside ones so I cant select them and just create a new material

Thanks for any help

You can use the solidify modifier to essentially add a second copy of the object on the inside. Select the inside geometry and assign it to one material, and the outside geometry to another material. Then they can be textured differently!


How to get a Pixar look on render and tutorials on setting up a scene? I'm trying to get my head around what makes an animated movie look like a cartoon, and not like a real movie. Take the Disney/Pixar Cars image below as an example.

It's not photo realistic, yet it feels very sharp and detailed. Is it something with the lighting? Are there less reflections than a real live photo?

I'm trying to find Blender tutorials on how to get a cartoon look, but I just find a lot of cel shading tutorials, which is not this at all.

Any pointers or good tutorials out there would really be helpful. Also what is a proper word to search for? "Cartoon 3d tutorial" doesn't work. What is cars? Isn't that a cartoon?

I will be using Cycles as my renderer.

As per the comments, there is an army of people behind any particular animation of the size and scope of a Pixar animation.

While you suggest that you aren't going for photorealism, it is extremely important to understand and embrace that every concept, from the rendering shaders on up to the output transforms you see on your screen are in fact rooted in photorealistic theory and physics.

So where to start for something like "I want to learn about Pixar?" Seems like a question that no one might have an answer to, or if they do, it might be long reams of answers that don't help someone down the path of education.

Shockingly, there is in fact a wonderful resource on the entire pipeline, from math to colour to composition, all the way up, specifically about Pixar.

While going through the following course won't make you a machine that can crank out Pixar animations overnight, it is a terrific introductory set of studies and knowledge that just about everyone can learn something from.

Enjoy Pixar in a Box.


how to get rid of these weird artifacts in my fluid sim? Theyre most prominent in the top left of the image. Ive tried increasing the resolution but that didnt seem to help.

increase the roughness of the reflektion to sth over minmum.

i have no model to test. Play with the value a bit.


select all visible objects? I have a model of a vehicle that contains a ton of objects. seats, seat belts, etc down to individual screws and such.  All I want is the "skin" really but not sure how to do it.  Is there a way to quick select all visible objects ignoring what i cannot see?

Thank you for your time/help!

Select everything visible with the lasso tool ( ctrl ), then inverse the selection with ctrl i, then X to delete.


Why can't I see any transparency on my material with Eevee? This feels like such a basic question, but I can't work it out.  I need to render a semi transparent Lego block and see the back faces of the block.

I'm using Eevee in Blender 2.8 and have created a Principled BDSF texture with a mix shader and a Transparent BDSF.  I'm passing an RGB node with black colour (I tried white too) into the Transparency BDSF. I am seeing transparency, but I can't see the back faces and cant find an option for 2 sided material or mesh in this version of blender.

How do I do this please?

First of all with Principled BSDF you don't have to mix it with Transparent because it already has its own transparency mixer, Alpha slider. The second - in material tab in settings make sure your Blend mode is 'Alpha Blend' and 'Show Backface' is enabled.

UPD. 'Show Backface' option indeed shows the back sides of the polygons but simultaneously stops to show the front sides. I guess in some cases it can be used as a kind of fake semi-transparency, but in fact it is not.


Blender python to hook vertex and empty I am looking at how to use python and make a code that automatically detects an empty on a vertex point and hooks them together. How can I do this and add it to the code I already have?
import bpy
from bpy import context
i = 0
c = 8

obj = context.active_object
while not i == c:
    v = obj.data.vertices[i]
    co_final = obj.matrix_world @ v.co
    obj_empty = bpy.data.objects.new("Point", None)
    context.collection.objects.link(obj_empty)
    obj_empty.location = v.co
    obj_empty.parent = obj
    i += 1

Set parent type to vertex.
Going by code in question it appears you wish to set each vertex as a parent of an empty.
In this case moving the vertex moves the empty.
Snaffled code from this answer
Notice that there is no requirement to set the empty location to the vertex, rather let the parenting take care of this. Having zero local translation from the location of the parent.  Using the UI confuses the issue somewhat as it sets the parent inverse
import bpy
from bpy import context

ob = context.object
coll = context.collection

for v in ob.data.vertices:
    mt = bpy.data.objects.new(
        f"Vert{v.index}",
        None,
        )
    mt.empty_display_type = 'CIRCLE'
    mt.empty_display_size = 0.2
    mt.parent = ob
    mt.parent_type = 'VERTEX'
    mt.parent_vertices = [v.index] * 3
    coll.objects.link(mt)

Re "hook" generally infers hooking a vertex to the empty such that moving the empty moves the vert.
How to iterate through mesh vertices and add hooks using script


Multiple widths with bevel modifier I want to avoid to cut all necessary supporting loops into the mesh instead I'm searching a non-destructive solution for multiple widths using the bevel modifier.

I tested the various options (edge crease, angle, vertex groups) but none of them seem to work in this case.

How can I have a bigger beveled edge at the red areas but kepping the smaller ones?

Here is the file (Blend-Exchange won't upload me anything.)
https://www.sendspace.com/file/ne0eiw

This is what I want to achieve:

You can set different bevel widths using edge bevel weight.

Set default edges at 0.5 bevel weight using CTRL+E - Edge bevel weight and "red"  edges at 1.0. When in modifier settings increase  width twice and set limit method as weight

You can also get an artifacts because of using subsurf after bevel. But, its easy to fix:


Move selected mesh items to cursor in defined axis I want to make a pie menu to snap selected parts of my mesh to the cursor constrained to specified directions. Example of snapping to cursor along x:

I would like to do this for x,y,z,xy,zx,yx. I don't know much scripting but I assumed that just subtracting locations would do the trick:

import bpy
import bmesh
import math
import mathutils

obj = bpy.context.edit_object
me = obj.data

bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(me)
cursor_location = bpy.context.scene.cursor.location

for v in bm.verts:
    v.co = cursor_location - v.co
    print(v.co)

bmesh.update_edit_mesh(me, True)

I'm probably doing something very wrong here, so I'd like some help if possible.

I seem to have figured it out by cobbling together a bunch of solutions.

import bpy
from mathutils import Vector

ob = bpy.context.object
ob.update_from_editmode()
me = ob.data
verts_sel = [v.co for v in me.vertices if v.select]
pivot = sum(verts_sel, Vector()) / len(verts_sel)
c_location = bpy.context.scene.cursor.location
m_location = ob.matrix_world @ pivot

#get get the offset
l = c_location - m_location

#split the tuple
xdir = l[0]
ydir = l[1]
zdir = l[2]

#move the mesh in x to cursor
bpy.ops.transform.translate(value=(xdir, 0, 0), constraint_axis=(False, False, True), orient_matrix_type='GLOBAL')


How do I create a riggable muscle and skin structure for a model I plan to animate? So I'm kinda new to Blender. I know the basics, and am currently working on a model, but I'm unsure about how to go about the muscle rigging. I know there's other softwares that have settings for muscle and skin, but everything I've seen has been really expensive.

Right now I'm only creating the mesh for the model, but I'm wondering if I should wait to do that, or if I should finish that, and then create the muscle structure, or if I should create the shapes of the model's body and then put in the muscles and skin settings and stuff.

If it helps any, I want my model to be as realistic as possible in all aspects (which's been my goal in learning Blender from the start), and I will be animating it.

Side note: if Blender doesn't have good methods of creating and rigging muscle/skin structure, then what (preferably free, but if not, cheap) alternative softwares can I use to accomplish this?

Something like this:

but on a full body scale?
You're in for a world of pain....
I'd say you're mad, but that's exactly what I'm working on!
Still, you really should get a mesh to work 100% WITHOUT any muscles first - not just to get the hang of it but because if it doesn't work on its own, no amount of extras will fix it.
You'll have to first sculpt and then do another mesh over the original (retopology) manually, giving it excellent flow. Anything less than perfect will give you render artifacts, joints that don't flex properly, and the skin will never flow nicely around the muscles. My biceps animation above is an example of TERRIBLE topology, full of wacky vertexes on the armpit and where the blood vessel deforms the skin. (it was meant to be just a prototype, so I used the native remesher - never again)
After that you'll have to model each and every single muscle, attach it to the rig so it contracts and stretches when the respective bones move (I recommend a mix of bones with Stretch To constraints, and Shape Keys for fine tuning), then make the main mesh act like a skin that stretches over the muscles using the Shrinkwrap modifier.
If you're feeling extra crazy you may even want to delve into Soft Body physics and give your muscles a "squishy" feel when they are thrown around.

That's really ambitious for someone who just started learning but if that's your goal, this is the way to go.


How to copy child object in array I have parent object and some array modifiers on it. Also my parent object has some childs, but they are not copied by array modifier, despite they have a parent-child relationship. I need child objects to be copied like parent objects, maintaining their position relative to the parent.  How can I do this?
(Window frame as a child object and walls as a parent)

Boolean Union Modifier
Modifiers alter the vertices of the modified mesh.

Hide the child frame object and "join" it to the wall mesh using a boolean union operator before the array modifier(s).
Example image small cube "Cube.001" child of arrayed big cube "Cube".
Re materials
Join objects (boolean) with different materials
Note: this is not inheritance, (the object need not be a child) the modifier alters the mesh of the original.


Freestyle lines not showing up in final render I'm trying to render a cartoon image with Freestyle lines. The lines render perfectly in the preview window, but they do not show up on actual render output. Could someone please help me with this?

View my render settings:

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/rd.temp/RenderTab.PNG

View my scene settings:

It seems that I solved the problem. I had "culling" turned on in the Freestyle settings to hide the renderings of lines that aren't visible to the camera. For some reason the camera doesn't see the model for mapping during the freestyle rendering.


How to UV unwrap this object and how to have the same textures resolution for the two objects I'm a beginner in UV Unwrapping, I don't find the good way to UV unwrap this part of my object, it's called 'Detail' in the Blend file.

I tried different technics but I didn't get the best results to maintain the same resolution for the two objects, because I want them to share the same UV layout after.
Please, could you help me to find the solution? Thank you in advance :)

Ok so I'm guessing you mean relative UV scale between the two separate mesh objects when you say same resolution.
But first we need to clarify what you mean by "share the same UV layout after".
Do you
A. mean that you want the UVs to overlap or sit on top of each other in the UV space like this.

Or B.
Have their own separate islands but on the same UV map like this

I got this result by using blender 2.8 new feature that allows going into edit mode of multiple meshes at once and a combination. of uv mapping operation.
So in edit mode of both mesh objects, first using project from view, from the back with just the faces along the center point of mesh since its a mirrored mesh. Then using constrain to proportions, move to one side, then move to center using snapping to align that center line of mesh with center of x axis like in screenshots. Making sure when you scale them to scale them together.
Next I take all those uvs in the uv editor and hit p to pin them in place (the red verts in UV editor), then select all faces, and run unwrap. This will keep the pinned UV verts in place and fill in the rest linked faces with usual unwrapping.
Then we can use the mirror modifier setting for flip U to automatically mirror the UV to the other side like this.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1a5dIbtKAD47t3x--GEjsx9qR0oqUPT-V/view?usp=sharing


Darker and less contrasted 3D viewport and 2D canvas - Latest build of 2.8 I just downloaded the latest build of 2.8 to try out the new grease pencil curve feature, but I've noticed something off.

The 2D canvas is significantly darker (an off grey), whereas the last build was a solid white.  I tried changing the canvas colour but nothing seems to change.

I opened a sculpt I made in this new version, and in a previous version of 2.8, and I've noticed that the brightness has gone down there too, and the contrast has also been lowered.

I went to my preferences and tried adjusting some things, but nothing seemed to help.

I understand this is an early build still.  Should I report this as a bug or is there something I can do to fix it myself?

EDIT: I should probably have mentioned that I've got the viewport colour in the shading toolbar cranked all the way to white in the 2D canvas, and it's still significantly darker than the last build.

Not really sure why this happens but I fixed the issue by going to the render settings and under color management I changed the view transform from filmic to default.


Blender is not rendering an HDRI properly I recently upgraded from blender 2.81 to 2.82a, and I've immediately noticed a problem. Blender is not rendering HDRI images like it used to. You used to be able to plug an HDRI image into the background node, and into the world output. However when I do this now, in Eevee or Cycles, it renders what can be described as "as solid color" version of the HDRI instead of the actual HDRI image.

Here are some images to show as examples, each has a difernt HDRI, one is in Eevee, one is in Cycles. Is this a new "feature" of 2.82 or is this a bug? Thanks.

Your node setup uses an Image Texture instead of an Environment Texture node.

The correct node setup is shown below. It includes the Mapping node for adjustments to the rotation.


making angle label - spin vertices with python script I would like to make an simple angle label such as this:

using the python script to construct it.

The problem is trying to spin a MeshVertex, as the code looks for a Mesh object instead when using the bpy.ops.mesh.spin function.

The best method I have found to do this is to subdivide a small cylinder (vector) to get vertices, then select a vertice along the cylinder, then to spin it around the origin with some theta.

Here is the code I have so far, which does not work:

import bpy
import math
import os
import unicodedata

import bmesh
from bmesh.ops import spin

pi = math.pi

def lathe_geometry(bm, cent, axis, dvec, angle, steps, remove_doubles=True, dist=0.0001):
    geom = bm.verts[:] + bm.edges[:]

    # super verbose explanation.
    spin(
        bm,
        geom=geom,         # geometry to use for the spin
        cent=cent,         # center point of the spin world
        axis=axis,         # axis, a (x, y, z) spin axis
        dvec=dvec,         # offset for the center point
        angle=angle,       # how much of the unit circle to rotate around
        steps=steps,       # spin subdivision level
        use_duplicate=0)   # include existing geometry in returned content

    if remove_doubles:
        bmesh.ops.remove_doubles(bm, verts=bm.verts[:], dist=dist)

theta = pi/4

bpy.ops.mesh.primitive_cylinder_add( \
    radius=0.01, \
    depth = 5,
    view_align=False, \
    location = (0,5,0), \
    rotation = (pi/2, pi/2, pi/2+theta))

c1 = bpy.context.scene.objects.active = bpy.data.objects['Cylinder']
c1.select = True

bpy.ops.object.mode_set(mode='EDIT', toggle=False)
bpy.ops.mesh.subdivide(number_cuts=10)

bpy.ops.object.mode_set(mode='OBJECT', toggle=False)
c1.select = False

for el in c1.data.vertices:
       el.select = False

vert = c1.data.vertices[3]
vert.select = True

bm = bmesh.new()
bm.from_mesh(c1.data)

axis = (1,0,0)
dvec = (0,0,0)
angle = 2*math.pi
steps = 20
cent = c1.location

lathe_geometry(bm, cent, axis, dvec, angle, steps, remove_doubles=True, dist=0.0001)

bm.to_mesh(c1.data)
bm.free()

The api doc specifies the argument geom as

  geom (list of (bmesh.types.BMVert, bmesh.types.BMEdge, bmesh.types.BMFace))

so

import bpy
import bmesh
from math import radians
from mathutils import Vector, Quaternion

mesh = bpy.data.meshes .new("Pie")
obj  = bpy.data.objects.new("Pie", mesh)

scene = bpy.context.scene
scene.objects.link(obj)

bm = bmesh.new()

A = bm.verts.new(Vector((0.0, 0.0, 0.0)))
B = bm.verts.new(Vector((1.0, 0.0, 0.0)))
base_line = bm.edges.new((A, B))

result = bmesh.ops.spin(
    bm,
    geom  = [B],
    cent  = A.co,
    axis  = Vector((0.0, 0.0, 1.0)),
    dvec  = Vector((0.0, 0.0, 0.0)),
    angle = radians(60.0),
    steps = 12,
    use_duplicate = 0
    )

C = result['geom_last'][0]
bm.edges.new((C, A))

bm.to_mesh(mesh)
bm.free()

works for me. You could also implement this yourself:

def create_arc(bm, start, center, axis, angle, steps):
    angle = angle / steps
    q = Quaternion(axis, angle)

    prev = start
    vec  = start.co - center

    for i in range(steps):
        vec.rotate(q)
        current = bm.verts.new(center + vec)
        bm.edges.new((prev, current))
        prev = current

    return current


Can inset faces be used on a triangular face? I have a triangular object created by merging two edges of a cube.  The object is a thick triangle of constant thickness.

I would like to do an even inset one of the triangular faces.

When I try the inset lines cross an

To inset... Use the inset tool.

Select the faces and Press I and drag to get the desired width.

Be careful to avoid making the inset much wider than the distance to the center of the face, or you'll get errors like these:


Python: convert collections to empty-parents with hierarchy (problem with location of instanced collection) I need some help with a script to convert big CAD-files with 80+ collections.
The collections need to be changed to a empties with sub-empties and objects. And they need to maintain the hierarchy. I'm not good in programming and I have no expierience in Blender-coding.
I spend 2 days for searching and stitching example codes together and I already can convert the collections with my script.
I'd like to:

make an instance from a collection
make the instance real
delete the collection

(all this from the last collection up to the fist, to maintain hierarchy)
The problem is that the instances are placed in the main-collection and not in the corresponding collection, and so the hierarchy is broken.
Can someone tell me how to tell blender to place the instance in the corresponding collection?
import bpy

print()
print()
print("---------START------------")

def traverse_tree(t):
    yield t
    for child in t.children:
        yield from traverse_tree(child)

# Recursivly transverse layer_collection for a particular name
def recurLayerCollection(layerColl, collName):
    found = None
    if (layerColl.name == collName):
        return layerColl

    for layer in layerColl.children:
        found = recurLayerCollection(layer, collName)
        if found:
           return found

coll = bpy.context.scene.collection # start @ top-collection

list =[]

for c in traverse_tree(coll):
    list.append(c.name)

# remove unwanted collections
list.remove('Collection') # Camera & Light
list.remove('Master Collection') # Master Collection
list.pop(0) # root collection from imported scene

# start from bottom to top
list.reverse()

for entity in list:
    print("Verarbeite: " + entity)

    source_collection = bpy.data.collections[entity]
    instance_obj = bpy.data.objects.new(name=entity, object_data=None)
    instance_obj.instance_collection = source_collection
    instance_obj.instance_type = 'COLLECTION'

    layer_collection = bpy.context.view_layer.layer_collection # start on top
    parent_collection = recurLayerCollection(layer_collection, entity)
    parent_collection = bpy.context.view_layer.layer_collection
    parent_collection.collection.objects.link(instance_obj)

    bpy.data.objects[entity].select_set(True) # select instance
    bpy.ops.object.duplicates_make_real(use_base_parent=True, use_hierarchy=True) # convert to object(meshes & emptys)

    bpy.data.collections.remove(source_collection) # delete original collection

    print()

 before the script
 what my script does
 what I like to have
The extensions on the names (.001) are not important, I filter them later.

I could get it to work like I need it.
I had to select the above parent-collection and found some example code to implement and now it works.
I use the STEP-importer Plugin STEPper from ambi to import CAD-data and I need the correct hierarchy in the exported GLB-File and collections are exported without hierarchy.
I try to animate and show assembly groups with babylon.js.
Here is the working code:
import bpy

print()
print()
print("---------START------------")
bpy.ops.object.select_all(action='DESELECT')

def traverse_tree(t):
    yield t
    for child in t.children:
        yield from traverse_tree(child)

def parent_lookup(coll):
    parent_lookup = {}
    for coll in traverse_tree(coll):
        for c in coll.children.keys():
            parent_lookup.setdefault(c, coll.name)
    return parent_lookup

#Recursivly transverse layer_collection for a particular name
def recurLayerCollection(layerColl, collName):
    found = None
    if (layerColl.name == collName):
        return layerColl

    for layer in layerColl.children:
        found = recurLayerCollection(layer, collName)
        if found:
           return found

C = bpy.context
coll_all = bpy.context.scene.collection
liste =[]
counter = 0

for c in traverse_tree(coll_all):
    liste.append(c.name)

liste.remove('Collection')
liste.remove('Master Collection')
#liste.pop(0)
#iste.pop(0)
liste.reverse()

for entity in liste:
    counter = counter +1
    print("Verarbeite: " + entity)

    source_collection = bpy.data.collections[entity]
    instance_obj = bpy.data.objects.new(name=entity, object_data=None)
    instance_obj.instance_collection = source_collection
    instance_obj.instance_type = 'COLLECTION'
#   print(instance_obj)

    # Get all collections of the scene and their parents in a dict
    coll_scene = C.scene.collection
    coll_parents = parent_lookup(coll_scene)

    # Get active collection reference
    active_coll = source_collection
#    print (coll_parents.get(active_coll.name))

    # Set parent collection as active
    layer_collection = bpy.context.view_layer.layer_collection
    layerColl = recurLayerCollection(layer_collection, coll_parents.get(active_coll.name))
    bpy.context.view_layer.active_layer_collection = layerColl
#    print(layerColl)

    # create / link instances
    parent_collection = bpy.context.view_layer.active_layer_collection
    parent_collection.collection.objects.link(instance_obj)

    # convert instances to real objects (with hierarchy)
    bpy.data.objects[entity].select_set(True)
    bpy.ops.object.duplicates_make_real(use_base_parent=True, use_hierarchy=True)

    # delete original collection
    bpy.data.collections.remove(source_collection) #delete collection

print(counter,  " Collections verarbeitet")
print("------ ENDE--------")


What is the difference between 'Unlink' and 'Delete' in the Outliner? I tried to use Unlink in Outliner, because I didn't know what it is exactly.
It seems to do the same thing as Delete.

But there must be differences between them. What is it?

Unlink removes objects from collections, Delete erases them permanently.

Removing Data

Unlinking doesn't remove the object or its geometry from the opened file, it just removes them from the collection clicked on. If an object is in more than one collection simultaneously it will still remain in others, otherwise it may become Orphaned Data.

Orphan data is "garbage collected" and may be removed on saving file.

Put Outliner in Orphan Data Mode to check before saving to avoid losing any important data.

Deleting fully erases the object and its geometry immediately, while also removing it from all the collections it was in, from the scene and from the file, reducing file size and memory consumption.


Rotate view around a vertex in object mode I was used to rotate my view around certain vertex in edit mode (after hitting numpad ".") When I switched to object mode, this rotation was still applied.

After some time I was recommended to use "rotate around selection" option in preferences, which is great as in edit mode you don't need to press numpad "." anymore. But when I switch to object mode it starts to rotate around the whole object (which makes sense as now the whole object is selected) and not the vertex I have selected in edit mode.

Is there a way for Blender to keep rotating around that vertex automatically in object mode?

Nope, not when using "Rotate Around Selection." You can kind of get close with Auto Depth, but you have to watch the mouse location whenever you start to rotate the view.

I would recommend you try Auto Depth on, and Rotate Around Selection off for a bit. I personally don't like Auto Depth, but it can make it quicker to navigate when there are many objects. Just move the mouse over a object and it will rotate around that spot. Auto Depth does not have the same problem of using the object origin like Rotate Around Selection does.

With both Auto Depth and Rotate Around Selection off, the 3D view works in object mode like you desire, but you are back to manually centering the view.

There is even a warning on the linked manual page about the Rotate Around Selection setting in object mode (exactly what you are experiencing).

  This may seem ideal behavior. However, it can become problematic with larger objects such as a terrain-mesh, where the center is not necessarily your point of interest.

The way I navigate in the 3D view is to go in to edit mode select a vertex, or a piece of a model; then press NumPad . to center the view around that part and head back to object mode.
You can rotate and zoom the view as much as you like and it will stay centered around the selection from edit mode.


what's causing the gradient to rotate? I want the make the materials for my blossoms. On the right hand side, you can see the material how it should look like ( with these purple tips on the tip of the leaf), but as you can see on the blossom on the left hand side, the gradient is rotated. I cant figure out what's causing the problem.

Make sure your orientation of petals is the same for the successful and unsuccessful petals.  In [Edit] mode examine the [XYZ] axis.


How to make a rusty texture? I'd love to make a rusty texture for specific part of my model (look at the picture), through texture paint, but I don't know how. It seems pretty lenghty and hard for me, in case of making it manually. So my question is - is there any easier way to make rusty texture only for part of my model?

You can make use of the Brush Mask textures with either a cloud, stucci or musgrave procedural texture set to View Plane, and Rake and Random in the texture mask brush settings in the tool bar. Using this, select your color under your brush with S and then set your brush blend mode to 'multiply' and lower the strength a bit. You can knock in some textured spots, and then switch your blend mode to 'screen' or 'add' to break this new textured area up with some illusion of depth. If it gets too strong, switch back to 'mix' blend mode and tone it down.

Using photo textures as a reference is actually best here, looking at the kinds of patterns that occur with the oxidation. Sometimes you just get pits showing up from under the paint, sometimes you have a whole area of voronoi-like shading aroudn deep wells. As the painter, you are the one in charge here.


How can Blender automatically update a 3d model from a changing network file How can Blender automatically update a 3d model from a changing network file?

I have a networked drive that has a 3d model, let's say an ".obj" file, that is being worked on by either multiple people, computers, or programs. When a change in the filesystem is detected (someone made a change and saved it), IF there are no changes to the model since the last import for that model, I'd like blender to automatically reimport it. (A prompt would be nice too). Is this possible via a script or existing features now, and if so, how?

Old question I know, but I've written an addon for 2.9 which, in combination with a networked filesystem and assuming the model is in .blend format, should be able to achieve this:
https://github.com/gandalf3/auto-reload-linked-libraries/releases
The basic usage would be something like:

Put the shared file on the networked filesystem
Install and enable the addon
Link the desired datablocks from the shared file
Make changes to the shared file; changes should appear in blender more or less instantly.

That said it's not perfect (I just threw it together to work well enough for my purposes, but if you run into issues I wouldn't mind trying to improve it), and there's no prompt before reloading.


My liquid looks like tiny balls not like a liquid I made a liquid animation. It looks good, but it looks like tiny balls instead of liquid.
How can I fix this?

While I can't say which version you use, I can be sure that you use a version of Blender that uses Mantaflow.
There are still some unknowns, so I try shine some light on the possibilities.

You use the Replay default setting of the "Domain-Cache"->Type:

With this you will not be able to scrub through the timeline as each frame needs to be simulated, BUT it's still possible to activate the Mesh option:

Beware that for this to show properly the domain-object must not be set to be displayed as "Bounds", else you would not see any form of geometry. With this setting you can run the simulation and should (slower then without the Mesh active) see the fluid shown as geometry. This is nice to get an idea and fine tune the simulation.
Should you have set the "Domain-Cache"->Type to any other of the available options like Modular, then you need to bake the simulation and by default the Mesh won't be baked along with it. That is to say, once the liquid is baked to the point you showed, all you need to do is activate the Mesh subpanel and in this panel will be a Bake Mesh button:

This button won't be there if in "Domain-Cache"-Type Replay mode. And the button will be greyed out if the simulation is not baked beforehand. Thus first bake the liquid, then you can bake the mesh. And different then in the 1st mentioned solution, you can not see the mesh simulated along with the blue particles in one go.
There is a final "Domain-Cache"-Type option All, which essentially on pressing the Bake All button:

This will simulate/bake all activated options in one fell swoop. While it may safe the separate baking and clicking, it may be most helpful for all set up(after trial and error and finetuning) simulation settings as a QoL option.

Happy Blending.

The pictures are taken from the 2.93 alpha version, BUT the differences to the latest stable version are not big enough and should not cause any confusion.


still frame camera solve I've found a number of how-tos for solving video but I'm just looking to put an element in a photo and can't seem to find a how-to for that.  Is it possible in blender to do a camera solve with a still image?  Thanks.

There is an addon called BLAM: Camera Calibration Toolkit it can be used to match geometry to still images.

It uses the grease pencil to determine the perspective and focal length, and has tools for geometry reconstruction.

see http://stuffmatic.com/blam-blender-camera-calibration-toolkit/
It can be downloaded here: http://stuffmatic.github.io/

UPDATE: Blam is no longer mantained and has been replaced by fspy:

https://fspy.io/

For a detailed post on how to use blam and Fspy read: How can I recreate geometry using a photograph?


How to bake multiple materials on a single texture I can not bake my character's materials to a single texture for export into Unity.
When I have the "selected to active" I get an error message "no valid objects". See bottom right.

When I remove "Selected to Active", I can bake the image however the texture ends up looking like this.

So thinking this is a UV unwrap error, and using the tutorials from others. I created a new UV unwrap image. Did a smart unwrap and I get a perfect unwrap, but no baked textured image :-(....

So I short 3 tutorials later, I can't bake multiple textures from a single object onto a single textured image. I realise I must be doing something wrong ...

Cube has attached three separate Shaders (materials) - Pink, Green, White ...

To bake them into one texture ... add Texture node with new (empty) image and keep node selected. Do the same for other materials (like here for Pink and White). Just copy&paste node and keep selected.

In case you want bake only color pass, select Diffuse and uncheck Direct and Indirect Light.


Why is my center of mass not calculating correctly? I know I can manually set my origin point but I would like to know why  Blender keeps setting the origin of my mesh to the front of my model instead of in the body where it should be when I set Origin to Center of Mass. Why does this happen?

What Blender's "origin to center of mass" does is compute the center of mass of the faces, i.e. it treats the object as a hollow shell with infinitely thin faces.

This is not the same as the center of mass of a solid object with constant density, as this example illustrates:

Blender's CM is the yellow dot, closest to the broad faces of the base
"solid" CM is at cursor's location, closest to the massive cube on top.

Unfortunately, I don't think there is a simple builtin way to compute the "solid" center of mass.

I have written a Python script that does the actual computation, but it will only give a correct result on meshes that define enclosed volumes (possibly with holes, but the outer boundaries must be continuous). It works by summing signed volumes of tetrahedrons defined by all the mesh triangles.

import bpy
import mathutils
from mathutils import Vector

def triangles (verts):
    """enumerate triangles in a face"""
    for i in range (1, len(verts)-1):
        yield (verts[0], verts[i], verts[i+1])

def cg_mesh (obj):
    """center of mass (and volume) of a mesh"""

    center = Vector()
    volume = 0
    mesh = obj.to_mesh (bpy.context.scene, True, 'PREVIEW')
    for face in mesh.polygons:
        f = face.vertices
        for t in triangles (f):
            a,b,c = (mesh.vertices[v].co for v in t)
            v = a.cross(b).dot(c) / 6
            center += v * (a+b+c) / 4
            volume += v
    bpy.data.meshes.remove(mesh)

    if volume == 0: print ("ZERO VOLUME", obj.name)
    else          : center /= volume

    return obj.matrix_world * center

# puts the cursor at the active object's center of mass
bpy.context.scene.cursor_location = cg_mesh (bpy.context.scene.objects.active)

This example will put the 3D cursor at the "solid" CM location, but you can adapt the script to do whatever you want.

The script applies all modifiers to the object, converting it to a mesh. If you want the CM of your primitive object, disable the modifiers first.

On the other hand, you can use it on a flat object by adding a "solidify" modifier first.

Again, no checks are made to insure the mesh defines a valid volume. If not, the result will be wrong.


Multiple character instances with BlenRig workflow? I'm working on a project that requires using many instances of the same character and rig in a scene, which I've created using BlenRig 5 (working great).

How do I go about instancing the character and rig multiple times so that I can apply different animations to all the instanced characters? Any advice or tips on the best workflow for this would be much appreciated!

Since Blender 2.81, a new feature has been added in order to overcome the limitation of one same rig per scene: library overrides.
It's only the first implementation and officially considered as experimental, it is still limited and it's planned to be enhanced in the future.

You can learn more on the manual


Issue Importing Obj Into Blender With Textures I'm trying to import a map alongside with models from Jedi Academy (Quake3 based game - idTech3 engine) and I use a program called Noesis to open map in .bsp format. It works and shows textures correctly:

This program has ability to export map into obj/fbx/dae and many more formats. So I've chosen obj format, loaded into Blender and there are no textures shown, only meshes. The strange thing is that I heard that materials are held in .mtl file, but there is no such file in game data nor Noesis didn't generate anything like that.
But here's the weird thing, this program treat's materials as they were textures, this is part of the output obj file:
https://pastebin.com/EHR1JXJn
So you can clearly see there:
usemtl textures/desert/stucco_grime
And this textures/desert/stucco_grime is actually a jpg file!

Indeed blender thinks it's material and not texture:

So I can create manually a material, and load a texture from this jpg file to it and it will work, but there are hundreds of models and I'm looking for some automatic way of doing this

A couple side questions:

Any good tutorial what are UV's that everyone are talking about,
these are essentially coordinates where to apply texture on given
mesh?
There is no such thing as "material" generally? A "material" is
internal thing of game engine that decides how to renders model,
like adding bump-mapping and changing color intensity? If so, why
there are "mtl" files available in .obj format

In case someone wondered I just resolved my problem by writing some code:

import bpy

for obj in bpy.data.objects:
    if obj.active_material is not None:
        if obj.active_material.name.startswith('textures'):
            print(obj.active_material.name)
            mat = obj.active_material
            tex = 0
            if mat.texture_slots[0] is not None:
                continue
            try:
                tex = bpy.data.textures[mat.name]
            except KeyError:
                tex = bpy.data.textures.new(mat.name, 'IMAGE')
                try:
                    tex.image = bpy.data.images.load('path/to/assets/' + mat.name + '.jpg')
                except RuntimeError:
                    print(mat.name + ' not found')
                    continue
            slot = mat.texture_slots.add()
            slot.texture = tex


Texture shows in render preview but not in Render I have an issue with rendering my wood texture.

It shows up fine in render preview but not in the final render: the texture shows up black.

I'm not sure if it's my render settings or the way I set up my texture in the node network and I did UV unwrap of the plane.

It'll be helpful if someone could help me through the steps

I am reasonably sure, that the wooden "table" is set to not visible in the final render. In the Object outliner scroll down and  check if the camera symbol for "restrict rendering" (rightmost symbol in the outliner) is checked/unchecked on the object with the wooden texture.

check in the wiki page under "Toggling object-level restrictions"

https://en.blender.org/index.php/Doc:2.6/Manual/Data_System/The_Outliner

Also check

Why does my object not show up?

Render result is completely blank?


How do I “group” objects so they all move together? (Version 2.8) In other drawing programs, I can draw separate things and then “Group” them so they behave as one.  In particular, moving, rotating, and scaling automatically applies to everything rigidly.

The “Collections” in Blender 2.8 doesn’t do this.

Assigning parts to other parts as “Parent” causes it to re-interpret the position and scale relative to the new parent, rather than just making it follow the parent from now on.

Parent

You can select many objects first, choose the candidate parent last and then parent.

Please note Blender always has many options to achieve similar goals.  There is the concept of Join and Blender Armature.  This proposed answer will focus on Parent.

Parent menu has many options Control-P. Use the keystroke because Blender will give you more options this way

To remove the Parent with options press Alt-P

Those options may keep your original transformation.  I believe the parent feature is able to do what you want.  Object Keep Transform.

Parent and Group are two distinct concepts in Blender.  So you may want to use Blender terminology.

Here is a video tutorial for creating a group and parenting. It may or may not be the same version of Blender you are using. You may choose a different tutorial on the topic of [Parent] which you like better. I just did a quick search.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2Q6KcSho48

or the manual

Parent Concept

https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/editors/3dview/object/properties/relations/parents.html

Group Concept

https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/editors/3dview/object/properties/relations/groups.html


problems with generating rigs what do I do when I have two models on the same blend file although in different layers and when I add two different metrigs to them I get the error can't add new bone root outside of edit mode incorrect armature for type utils

I was getting the same error, and was able to resolve it by renaming the armature of the 1st character from "rig" to "rig_a".


What tool do I use to make a part smooth I have what is on image 1 (the black colors), and i want it to be like the image 2 (orange color legs)

I know that there a tool that can do it but i can't find it.

It's the subsurf mod! https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/modeling/modifiers/generate/subdivision_surface.html
Extra characters to fill answer quota.


Blending Displacement Textures with Geometry Node - why doesnt it work? I am blending two noise displacement effects (Voronoi sand dunes + Wave Texture for little sand ripples), with everything plugged into Displacement node.

Now I want to drive the blending by using FAC socket, with Geometry Normal plugged in. I have set up my Geometry Normal effect like this, to split where the dunes break. When I plugged this into the FAC socket of the Mix RGB Node, I expected the white spots to have ripples from the Wave texture, and the black spots to have no ripples.

Instead, the Factor blending has no effect at all, it seems, it completely deactivates the Ripple effect.

Please, do you know what I am doing wrong?
Thank you!
Martin

The issue with your file seems to be Experimental Feature Set, where you use Adaptive Subdivision Surface modifier. Switching to Supported Feature Set works with Normal node (also easier to adjust direction).

I know it is not a solution if you want to keep Adaptive Subdivision, sorry.
It gives me an impression it's a loop that should not work, because Displacement node is waiting for Normal that is generated from displacement ... I would expect result of Normal calculated from flat plane, but it is calculated from output of Displacement that is at the end of node tree. It is like a question what was first - egg or chicken. But it works :)
It is out of my understanding how shader data are used by regular Subdiv vs Adaptive.
BTW - for Micro-displacement (Adaptive Subsurf) you don't need such high dense mesh, four vertices are enough.

Here is a test from scratch to avoid hidden things.

Feature Set - Supported
Few times Subdivided W Plane with classic Subdivision Surface modifier set to 4
Material Propeties > Surface > Displacement+Bump (even there is not bump set result is much detailed, hm)

Or you can use Separate XYZ node as factor for mix.. Mix node with colors plugged into Diffuse shader is just to better visualise effect.


How to use Texture Paint on two and more different objects at the same time I have two separated objects, the have to be separated. How can I paint on them at the same time? Their textures must perfectly match each other. I tried look for solution in internet but only what i found is that somebody wrote script to make it possible but he didn't share it. On picture two objects, on the right I started to paint and I want to tool continue paint on another object on the left.

This is actually a fairly simple process:

Create your two separate objects
Join them together as a single object using CTRLJ
UV unwrap them so that their UVs don't overlap
Paint your textures
Select the mesh for one object while in edit mode and press P to separate it back into another object.

You can keep a copy of the join mesh around as well if you want to go back and tweak your textures.


How can I get HDRI shadows in an Eevee scene? I'm currently testing Eevee.  Seems so promising !

Here, i'm trying to make my Eevee render the closest I can to my previous render Cycles of the same scene.
This scene do not have any lights but an HDRI background.

Thing is, the renders looks very, very different.  How can I improve this ?

Cycles:

Eevee:

And here's the blend file.

Thanks a lot.

First, the reason for the lighting difference is that in the scene you provided, everything is lit by a World HDRI only. Eevee by default can only produce shadows from Light objects, so even if you turn the respectable options on, there won't be any indirect shadows visible. This is a technical limitation. Duarte in the linked answer elaborates on this, so there's no need to re-iterate everything here.

However, there is a quick solution to at least get a lot closer to the Cycles render: Adding an Irradiance Volume Light Probe allows you to bake the lighting solution into the scene dynamically.

To do that, in the 3D Viewport use Shift + A -> Light Probe -> Irradiance Volume.

Scale it up to encompass the areas of your scene which are visible through the camera. After that, in the Render Settings, use Indirect Lighting -> Bake Indirect Lighting. The scene will jitter a bit while the solution is baked. Afterwards, it should look something like this:


Wave modifier Propagate Vertically I might just be trying the wrong tools for the job.
But im trying to get a wave modifier to propagate it's waves vertically without having to model at a 90 degree angle.(i like the assigned rotation as is)

I can get the desired motion by parenting it to an empty and moving that around.
However not along the desired axis.

Any ideas?

Undesired motion.

Desired motion after applying a 90 degree X rotation and rotating back. (having -90 degrees transformed.)

I just figured this out myself.  In object mode you have to press ctrl + a and apply your rotation so the global rotation turns to zero.  Or just rotate your mesh in edit mode, and it will keep the same global co-ordinates.


Steel material nodes in blender I would like to apply a steel material to plate &fork which i have modelled. Doea anyone know nodes for thos kind of material?

This Blender Artists thread has some great ideas. One of the best (created by IkariShinji) produces Img 1's result using Img 2's node setup. A decent scratches map can be found by Googling "scratches map."

Img 1:

Img 2:


Is it possible to get a random number in the node editor? Is it possible to generate a random number for use in the node editor?

I am aware of the Object Info node, but I want a random number which I have more control over.
Ideally I could change it with some sort of "seed" vale and be able to define limits for maximum and minimum values.

How is this possible?

That would be through drivers. You can add an Input->Value node to feed into other nodes or add a driver to an editable value on any other node.

A simple way to get random values is edit the value and enter #noise.random() This will give random values between 0 and 1, you can expand the entry to multiply the value if you want it larger or add a minimum value.

To get more control over the generated value you can create a script and use bpy.app.driver_namespace["name"] = funcname to provide access to any function you define. The script name must end in .py so that you can register it and auto run python scripts also needs to be enabled.


"Object("Cube").pose" is "None". Why? Ok, this is my first post here. So hi Blender Stack Exchange Community! I have a problem: I want to program an addon and need to get the informations of the bones. I found a post wich says me they would stay at Object("Cube").pose.bones. Now, if I try I get an error message wich says me that bones dosen't exist in None. After testing I saw that Object("Cube").pose was None. Here is my operator code:
import bpy

class Test_OT_Operator(bpy.types.Operator):
    bl_idname = "view3d.cursor_center"
    bl_label = "Simple operator"
    bl_description = "Center 3d cursor"

    def execute(self, context):

        ob = bpy.context.object

        #print(ob.pose.bones[0].matrix) # Would rise an error, I commented this line
        print(ob) # this here works
        print(ob.pose) # this here is None
        bpy.ops.view3d.snap_cursor_to_center()

        return {'FINISHED'}

Now, after I saw yesterday that it worked without any errors. I correctly assigned the bones to my Cube, and I can bend the Cube with the bones. So, I really don't understand why, why it dosen't work now. I really hope you, more experimented Community, could help me to understand. I am really new with python and started coding Lua 2 years ago and Typescript 3 months, so I knew how to program (by the way, sorry if I have a bad english, I am trying to improve it, too)

Ok, this is strange… I just changed print(ob.pose) to print(ob.parent.pose) and it seems to works. Idk why or how, but it seems to work and I am just happy about. But still, thanks if someone actually tried to help me.


Sketchup to Blender: aligning multiple objects to a grid After I import a Sketchup model to Blender, the object is not connected to the grid and is distant from the origin. How do I connect my model to the grid so they both work together?

I don't use sketch up.  So don't bother reading this if you allready know how to center an object. But if you are brand new to Blender. I know that it can be impossible to learn the basic functions so here I wrote the instructions and give a link to a really good tutorial that will help with the basics on object manipulation; url is at the bottom.

Here are two different ways to go about moving your object to center:

Use the cntrl alt shift c, function. pressing these four buttons will bring up a menu titled "Set Origin". First select the option "origin to 3d cursor".  Next place your 3d cursor on your grid where you like ( the little red and white target symbol that goes wherever you click ). Press cntrl alt shift c again. This time select " geometry to origin". This way is useful for resetting your object geometry for use with modifiers such as mirror modifier, and may be just the thing for the problem at hand. Again I don't use sketch up so I hope I am not wasting your time here

Tips and Pointer for cntrl alt shift c:

*make sure you are in object mode

*make sure you have active object chosen in your outliner panel.

on your transform panel go to the bottom and manually center your 3d cursor by typing 0.00, 0.00, 0.00 into the three boxes for 3d cursor location x, y, and Z.

The more simple way might work ...

The other way is to use your transform toggle hot;key N. With your transform panel open there will be location data for your active object at the top. On the x, y and z axis. If you simply type 0.00, 0.00, 0.00 into each of these boxes x,y, and z. That should bring your object to center more easily.

tips and pointers:

You might try applying transform

https://wiki.blender.org/index.php/User:Fade/Doc:2.6/Manual/3D_interaction/Transform_Control/Reset_Object_Transformations

have you seen this stack exchange entry? a user named GM writes about converting files. You may have probably converted your skp to a blend file? in which case, my answer is probably enough allready.
Import SketchUp ".skp" files

here is the turorial I like for manipulating objects:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmQKZydrYY8&feature=youtu.be


How can i render the reflections i see in the Look Dev viewport in Blender 2.8 i'm finding blender 2.8 confusing and i'm relatively new to blender in general anyway. While looking at my model in the Look Dev view port i can see reflections.

However, when i render my scene in eevee (and cycles), the reflections aren't rendered

Is there something i'm doing wrong or an option i haven't enabled?

You would need to apply the same HDRI to your world as background. The scene lights in Look Dev are only meant to give you a good preview and not an actual representation of the lighting in your scene. If you want to use the exact same file, you can find it in your Blender installation under 2.80\datafiles\studiolights\world\forest.exr. Otherwise I'd recommend HDRIs from hdrihaven and/or setup a three-point lighting using Blender's lights (Add > Light).

The image below shows how to setup a background texture for your world.


Can't make material Transparent? I'm doing an outline effect in blender cycles using a displacement modifier, duplicate mesh, and the backface option on a geometry node.

Here is a picture of my set up:

The displaced duplicate mesh is placed directly on top of the original mesh. The original mesh has a red transparent shader, but isn't transparent at all.

How do I get it so that internal mesh becomes transparent? Any advice would be appreciated, thank you.

Your transparent material is actually transparent and only has the red tint as per usual with colored transparent shaders. The problem is, that we can see the backfacing white object behind it.

To hide the backfacing object behind the inner geometry, use the ray depth information as mentioned by gandalf3 in the comments.


Blender 2.8. Trying to join bezier curve with bezier curve made from spiral: "Cannot make segment" error I created a spiral curve with the spiral curve tool. Then, I added a curve modifier to the spiral curve to make it follow a path. I applied the modifier and deleted the object curve so that the spiral curve remained following the modified path as seen in the image attached.

I am attempting to join the spiral curve to another curve. The first curve is a bezier curve. In Edit mode, I selected the end point of each curve and hit "F" to connect the curves. I got the "Cannot make segement" error.

In edit mode, just to be sure, I went into Curve> Set Spline Type for the spiral curve to bezier. I got the same error.

In the attached image showing the properties window for the objects, you can see that spiral curve is named Spiral.194 under the "num" column in the property chart. It's data type is listed as "Spiral.005". The other curve is named "DNA_Twist.001" and it's data type is listed as "BezierCurve.000.

I'm wondering if, even though I converted the spline type of the spiral curve to bezier, if it won't join the curves because the data types are different? I'm very new to Blender, so any help would be very much appreciated.

There is no way to join 2 curves in Blender. You could convert them both to mesh, join them, and convert back to curves.


How to convert Mesh thickness into Colour node? do you have any clue how to create Mesh thickness colour node?
 I just want to create material based on  mesh thcikness

Haha. Found it! Apparantly Ambient Occlusion from inside measures the thickness colour of the mesh!