how I could extrude an object so that it is not a 2D object? Beginner in blender. Wanted to know how I could extrude this object so that it is not a 2D object. In other words I want to make this object able to be printed in a 3D printer.

Before anything, make sure that the object is properly orientated. If the object displayed is like that because it's rotated in object mode, you should be able to get it out pretty easily. If not, I suggest you read this. You want the top flat surface to be perpendicular to the Z axis.

As for how I would go about this, with my 2D object (seen below):

Select the bottom edges that you want to extrude.

Press E to extrude them and press Z to lock that extrusion to the Z axis. Feel free to extrude them however much you wish, just make sure that everything is extruded down so that all the highest of the selected vertices (the ones you are moving down) is below the lowest of all the other vertices. Otherwise, you'd have those coming out the bottom of your object.

Press S to scale the selected edges, Z to limit scaling to the Z axis, and 0 to scale to 0.

From this point, it's just a matter of going around, selecting the open edges of your mesh and filling them in.

I hope this helps and if you have trouble, let me know in the comments.


Separate pattern by Z coordinates I ended up with a kinda cool looking pattern for donut icing.
I've been trying to use it as a mask between two materials (icing and pastry)
The problem I'm facing is that I can't figure out how to get the bottom of the sphere to be black so I can properly use this pattern as a mask. I tried with object and textures coordinates but no luck so far.
Is it even possible or is there a better way to achieve what I'm trying to do ?
Thank you in advance for your help !

The arctan2 into division step is turning this into a radial gradient.  Instead of a light and a dark half you have light and dark quarters of the mesh, basically, and the way you've ramped the color is kind of hiding the problem from you.

So I think what you are asking for is not going to happen without some changes to the math leading up to it.  If you take the output of your noise texture into a math node set to Less Than you may find something you like, or try the following:


How to make this animated texture seamless from a 2D perspective Basically i made this to use this as a material for a game but i don't really understand how i can make it seamless when i will inevitably have to stretch it out to cover a whole ocean. Any help will be appreciated.
Here's the blend file

Tiling 4D Noise in 2D
Since Blender has given us 4D procedural noise textures, it's been possible to tile them without distortion in 2D.
We can map the given 2D X and Y onto two orthogonal circles in 4-space. As we loop around them, we return to where we started. (It's possible to map the plane onto a 3D torus in the texture's 3 space, but distortions result: the major and minor radii of the torus are either different, giving uneven scaling, or the same, resulting in poles, like mapping onto a sphere. This way, though, leaves the circles entirely independent - it's mapping onto the surface of a Clifford torus, although .. er  .. I'm not sure it helps to know that.)
Tiling in Space
X and Y map to XYZW as shown below.. (the XYZW order doesn't actually matter, any old circles will do). The little division into 2*pi is just to get the tiling period to be logical in Blender units

Looping in Time
You can get the noise to loop in time by getting the centers of the circles we created before to go around another circle themselves, taking care not just to do it in X and Y, otherwise the texture would just go round and round in the tile:

Time Period is the repeat interval, Time Amplitude is the amount of shift per frame, and Time is the input that would be driven by some function of the frame number. The result is added to the previously generated XYZW.
With another node to scale the texture in the tiles, this is the tree:

An example of the result, tiled in space and time:

A node group with the described interface is included in the .blend:


How does "Max Angle" work when using Tris to Quads? According to Wiki:

  This value (between 0 and 180) controls the threshold for
  this tool to work on adjacent triangles. With a threshold of 0.0, it
  will only join adjacent triangles that form a perfect rectangle (i.e.
  right-angled triangles sharing their hypotenuses). Larger values are
  required for triangles with a shared edge that is small, relative to
  the size of the other edges of the triangles.

However, I don't quite follow that part (even trying my best to), and still puzzling on how it works exactly.

Can anyone explain more about it, for easier understanding?

P.S.: I know what it is for, just can hardly understand how it works from Wiki.

An overly simple answer is that a higher value means it will be more likely to form quads. A lesser value will be less likely to make triangles into quads. If you sculpt something with dynamic topology and then try the tool it will explain itself pretty quickly.


How do I include photos in blender? Suppose I want to make a photoframe and I want to show a photo in that, How should I do this to avoid any stretching or cropping of photo?
I have tried using a plane ( UV unwrap it ) and add image texture over it but sometimes it produces stretched photos or cropped photos, How do I fix it?

Go to File, User Preferences, then under Addons search for Planes and enable Import Images as planes, then simply do File, Import, and choose images as planes. Select the Image you want to import and viola, it will be imported perfectly scaled and UV mapped automatically.


Blender 0 weight bones Example of the problem: I have 5 objects and 1 armature. Every mesh is skinned to 1 bone and got 1 vertex group, but when I open this ".FBX" in unity and hit 'show all bones', it tells me that every mesh is skinned to every bone what could be the reason for this? I know the problem is in Blender. Opened the ".FBX" in Maya as well and its the same. Tried all kind of exports and cleans and still nothing.

There is an option to export only deform bones in the FBX exporter.

For this to work you must uncheck the Deform option in the bone properties.


Where do I find the maximum node? A lot of people recommend to use the maximum node for glass setup, but I can't find that node. Nothing comes up when I search for it.

Where do I find it?

There is no discrete "Maximum" node, Maximum is the name of one of the many operations in the Math node. The displayed title is adjusted according to the chosen operations
According to the manual the Math node contains the following operations:

Functions

Add | The sum of the two values.
Subtract | The difference between the two values.
Multiply | The product of the two values.
Divide | The division of the first value by the second value.
Multiply Add | The sum of the product of the two values with Addend.
Power | The Base raised to the power of Exponent.
Logarithm | The log of the value with a Base as its base.
Square Root | The square root of the value.
Inverse Square Root | One divided by the square root of the value.
Absolute | The input value is read with without regard to its sign. This turns negative values into positive values.
Exponent | Raises Euler’s number to the power of the value.

Comparison

Minimum | Outputs the smallest of the input values.
Maximum | Outputs the largest of two input values.
Less Than | Outputs 1.0 if the first value is smaller than the second value. Otherwise the output is 0.0.
Greater Than | Outputs 1.0 if the first value is larger than the second value. Otherwise the output is 0.0.
Sign | Extracts the sign of the input value. All positive numbers will output 1.0. All negative numbers will output -1.0. And 0.0 will output 0.0.
Compare | Outputs 1.0 if the difference between the two input values is less than or equal to Epsilon.
Smooth Minimum | Smooth Minimum.
Smooth Maximum | Smooth Maximum.

Rounding

Round | Round the input value to the nearest integer.
Floor | Rounds the input value down to the nearest integer.
Ceil | Rounds the input value up to the nearest integer.
Truncate | Outputs the integer part of the value.
Fraction | Fraction.
Modulo | Outputs the remainder once the first value is divided by the second value.
Wrap | Outputs a value between Min and Max based on the absolute difference between the input value and the nearest integer multiple of Max less than the value.
Snap | Round the input value to down to the nearest integer multiple of Increment.
Ping-pong | The output value is moved between 0.0 and the Scale based on the input value.

Trigonometric

Sine | The Sine of the input value.
Cosine | The Cosine of the input value.
Tangent | The Tangent of the input value.
Arcsine | The Arcsine of the input value.
Arccosine | The Arccosine of the input value.
Arctangent | The Arctangent of the input value.
Arctan2 | Outputs the Inverse Tangent of the first value divided by the second value measured in radians.
Hyperbolic Sine | The Hyperbolic Sine of the input value.
Hyperbolic Cosine | The Hyperbolic Cosine of the input value.
Hyperbolic Tangent | The Hyperbolic Tangent of the input value.

Conversion

To Radians | Converts the input from degrees to radians.
To Degrees | Converts the input from radians to degrees.

Add a new Converter > Math node then set its operation to Maximum.


transform texture coords within OSL? Is it possible to transform/affect the texture coords from within the OSL shader?

I would like to be able to have my shader slip the input texture around on the surface of my object which already has uv coordinates.

From the osl language specification under Global Variables -

  point P - Position of the point you are shading. In a displacement shader,
  changing this variable displaces the surface.

  float u, v - The 2D parametric coordinates of P (on the particular geometric
  primitive you are shading).

While you don't technically alter these values, you start with them and calculate an offset position that is then used to choose the output.


Is it possible to simulate bump maps using lighting? Like, when there is a dent in some object, the dented part will be less illuminated by light. When there is a bump in an object,  the lower rims of the bump will cast small shadows and the upper part will be more affected by light. Is there a way to do this ?

Well here's the funny thing,
Bump mapping already creates the illusion of detail using lighting tricks. No actual detail is created.
For example:

In this quick little render, I only used a bump map.
As you can see, no real detail is created but blender is using lighting tricks to give an illusion of depth by casting shadows and bouncing extra light. So I think bump mapping already does what you asked for.
BLEND FILE: https://pasteall.org/blend/e18270574ea0464cb27904593c648695


How can I export a mesh to UE4 with empty transforms? I'm using Blender to import static meshes into UE4. What I would like to be able to do is to 'annotate' my model with various locations - like here is where a character can sit, here is a button to press - that kind of thing. I can parent an 'empty' to my main mesh in Blender (which is just a transform without mesh data) but that doesn't come through the FBX import. What I want to know is how other people solve this kind of issue? Is there a file format that will import this kind of data?
Thanks!

Apparently Unreal recognise the prefix "Socket_" as a socket location. The prefix gets striped on import. Also note that the position will be in blender translation.


How to make Filmic view transform to not affect the background image? When rendering 3d scenes, I use the default view transform Filmic, because it is said this gives the most photorealistic results.
But when I composit 3d elements over a background video, the Filmic view transform also affects the video footage. I don't want this, because it makes the colors in the video look less saturated.
What would be the easiest way to keep the original colors of the background video, while applying the Filmic view transform on the 3d elements?
Do I need to save the rendered 3d scene to a file before doing the compositing, or is there a way to do rendering and compositing in one go?

Preamble
Just to understand why we are mixing apples and oranges and what the problem is.
In blender, images are rendered in scene referred values, meaning the data is linear and the values unbound (in an infinite scale). Such information needs to be processed through color transforms (set in the color management section) to be viewable in a display (a monitor, projector or print). Displays use a very limited scale of values (black is at 0 and white is 1) and require a transfer function (sometimes called "gamma curve"). In other words the color transforms, filmic is one of them, convert scene referred data to display referred.
The math for Compositing images works best with linear information, in an unbound scale, in other words: scene referred images are better suited for compositing.
Video images are usually recorded in a display referred format. In a limited scale and with a baked in transfer function.
It is hard to mix scene referred images with display referred images. It is a lot easier to mix them if they are in a common scale.
Unfortunately, Blender's compositor is quite limited, in the sense that has no tools to deal with images trough different paths for color processing.
A couple of options
There are couple of ways to approach the problem.

Best case scenario: Video in Raw or Log.
If the video is shot with a real camera, one that can record the raw info or using log encoding. The advantage of such formats is that they can record a lot more information and dynamic range in a way that is the images can be converted to scene referred linear values quite easy. Then all you need store them as EXR (this can be done in DaVinci resolve or other software).
Then use the EXRs in blender (or any other compositing app like Nuke, Fusion, Natron) and composite CG renders and Video images happily ever after.
Alternatively you might choose to keep the images in a log encoded format and de-log (linearize) in blender or whatever other compositing software you use.

Video not in Log or Raw.
Most video shot with consumer cameras (DSLRs or phone cameras) is recorded in a display referred format.
It is very hard to accurately convert such images to scene referred values. The difficulty lies in the way the cameras convert the values from the sensor in a non-linear way. There is no easy way to undo or reverse such conversion and restore the values of the light that was registered by the sensor. The curves used to fit the light values into the display referred container are not reversible.
The only possible way to mix those images with the cg in the realm of display referred imagery... So render in blender with filmic with no background and composite later. If you do this in blender remember to set the color management back to sRGB (also called "standard" or "default") so that both images are decoded and encoded using similar values.


How to enable tabs on the left panel? I am new to Blender and was watching some video tutorials. However, the one in the video (v2.78) has the tabs on the left panel,

and mine (v2.69) doesn't.

How do I enable them and what is their correct name? Or were they added in some later version?

Upgrade your Blender. This feature was introduced in 2.70. By now 2.79 is the current version. You can just download a tarball, extract it, and run it.


How can I duplicate the vertices of an edge to move it without affecting surrounding edges? I need to push an edge in but by doing so the connected edges will also get dragged in. To do this with faces I can just extrude inwards but with an edge it just creates a new edge disconnected from the surrounding faces.

Here is the edge:

How can I duplicate the vertices on the top and bottom of the edge so I can push it in without moving the edges above or below it?

I don't know if there is a one step solution, but aside from just manually doing everything I think the new extend edge tool (⎇ AltV) is about the closest to a one-step as anything I can think of:

Note that the selection is extended towards the initial position of the mouse when ⎇ AltV is pressed, which can be confusing before you get used to it.

That said, I think in your particular situation I would do something more like this:


Cuda 8.0, Fedora 25, gcc stddef.h nullptr, GTX1060 I have a MSI GTX 1060, running Fedora 25, Blender 2.78a, Nvidia drivers 375.26, and Cuda 8.0.44.

I got the Cuda toolkit from Nvidia's website, installed the repo, and installed the cuda packages but it insists that I need to install xorg-x11-drv-nvidia from RPMFusion*. Which I have done and it all seems to work fine. Once those drivers are installed, if I run glxspheres it indicates I'm using the nvidia kernel module.

When I first try to render something using Cycles Render, I get an error about an unsupported version of GCC. After looking up the fix, I edit the appropriate .h file to remove the offending line. After that, the next time I try to render, I get a long output starting with undefined "nullptr" then multiple lines about expecting semi-colons.

The full error can be found here: http://pastebin.com/zpw6xFYU

Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong? I've tried to search for an answer for nothing comes up.

*I recognize this is not the preferred method to install proprietary drivers, but I was unable to get around this dependency. If the solution involves removing these drivers and cuda, installing the binary manually from Nvidia (which I can do), then installing Cuda in another manner, I'm open to that.

I found the root problem, it was an incompatibility with C++ 11. So passing in a different standard along with compiling the CUDA kernel manually did the trick. Here is the command I ran (I got it from an output linked above):

/usr/local/cuda/bin/nvcc \
-arch=sm_61 -Xcompiler -std=c++98 --cubin \
"/usr/share/blender/2.78/scripts/addons/cycles/kernel/kernels/cuda/kernel.cu" \
-o "/home/user/.config/blender/2.78/cache/cycles_kernel_sm61_D8F831DA74C0363DC018432CF25F3AD8.cubin" \
-m64 --ptxas-options="-v" --use_fast_math -DNVCC -D__KERNEL_CUDA_VERSION__=80 \
-I"/usr/share/blender/2.78/scripts/addons/cycles/kernel"

Which did give me this warning:

cc1: warning: command line option ‘-std=c++98’ is valid for C++/ObjC++ but not for C

However, this doesn't seem to affect Blender's ability to use my video card. I saw a near 50% improvement in render times on the file I have been working on.

For reference, I found these pages that helped me finally hunt down a solution:

Nvidia forum post, CUDA using wrong GCC

Arch Linux bug report

Cplusplus.com forum post


Holding an object with 2 hands in animation I'm trying to do an animation with a character which I rigged with Rigify. The character needs to hold a ball in a certain way and the ball needs to move like this: https://www.instagram.com/p/CBCUGgSHkgY/?igshid=1u1zdupnkeb89 . I've spent quite some time and managed to find Child Of Constraint and I managed to hold it onto one of the hands but I failed to do so with the other hand. I could animate the fingers and the hand frame by frame but I don't think that it's the efficient way. Do you have any ideas on how I can do it?

I've solved my problem. Instead of using "Child Of" constraint, I've used IK and Copy Rotation constraints. Firstly, I've added an armature to my ball mesh. 1 bone for the general ball movement and the other 2 child bones for the hand/arm targets. Then I've added IK constraints to the forearms with child bones selected as targets. (Do not forget to change the chain length to 2-3. Since I was using the Rigify rig model, I've used 3 as chain length.) And finally, I've added Copy Rotation constraint to the hands and I attached the child bones to them.
For more information: https://youtu.be/Jv1InLG58GI


How do I reduce edge loops without weird geometry? I'm trying to understand/learn modeling and I'm having problems reducing the number of edge loops I have without super weird geometry or awful triangles.

Here's a picture of what I'm trying to achieve (but without the weird geometry).

What's the best way to approach this problem?

First off there is no way to reduce 3 inner edges to 0 without adding a loop cut somewhere, or using triangles or Ngons.

You can reduce three inner edges down to one inner edge using only quads.

However you can reduce four inner edges down to zero.


Tracking very long shot with no points in common between first and last frame Is it possible to track an handheld shot (there is already an answer on here about tripod shots: Tracking long panning shots) that doesn't have any visible points in common between the first and the last frame? As an example, imagine a shot of someone driving in a car for thirty minutes. Obviously everything from the first couple of seconds won't be there anymore at minute 15.

Yes, it is possible to track and reconstruct shots where the beginning and end of the movement have no common elements to track.

The important concept here is that there has to be a section of the shot that contains enough (and accurate) tracking points (at least 8 of them), and good parallax information to be able to solve that section. Blender can then reconstruct beyond that point, even on places where there are no "bundled" tracks. Note that you should track a whole bunch of elements as they move through the shot, from the moment they enter frame until they exit.

The trick to pull this off is choosing the section of the shot to be used. That is what the Keyframe A and Keframe B are for. In most cases you'll get good results if you set blender to determine the most usable section of the shot by enabling keyframe

If a tracked element leaves the frame but comes back later in to the shot, it is very important that you track both sections and then join the trackers so that blender understands that is dealing with the same element and not something new.

For more tips on Motion Tracking please read through the following link:

How can I get better results when doing camera motion tracking?


Can't motion track backwards So I'm trying to track a panning footage(start in center, pan left, pan right without stopping in the middle, and back to center.), and I want to place the tracker in the end where there is no motion blur and track backwards to get a more accurate result, but every time I try to track it won't even do one frame without losing the target while it is clear to see. What should I do?

TL;DR
Cannot track backwards without losing the target while it is clear.

Read:

How can I get better results when doing camera motion tracking?

and

Some Data Failed to Reconstruct, Motion Tracking

If there is motion blur or your footage is blurry, it is very unlikely that you will get accurate tracking regardless if you are tracking backwards or forward.

Things you can try:

Make the search area for the tracker larger

(if the search boundbox is not visible enable it on the marker display section)

Use a different tracking preset:

Prefetch the clip (to prevent errors when decompressing the video frames)
Set the Motion model to Affine or Perspective
Use Match: Previous Frame instead of keyframe.
Enable Prepass and Normalize.

Note that there is a chance that  you might encounter errors tracking backwards if your video is encoded using Long Group of Pictures (GOP) encoding and not intra-frame encoding (look that up on your favorite search engine). Blender has issues reading backwards or dealing with video encoded with variable frame rates. In that case you would need to re-encode the video before tracking, or convert it to an image sequence before loading it to blender.

Read:

https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/8635/1853

and

Why is tracking getting less accurate after going past cached frames?


Partice Hair Stands Straight up I have styled the hair on a character.  After closing the file then opening it again, the hair stands straight up in object mode.  When I go into particle edit mode, however, it retains the style I gave it.  I am using version 2.81.  What would be the cause of this?

I just tried applying the object's location and it fixed the problem.


Make linked or appended objects part of another blend file no strings attached. (Blender 2.82) I have linked a separate blend file of a Claw for my character but can't join and edit it, I just need it to be unlinked and be part of the character blend file.

I finally found the answer somewhere on the internet, just press CTRL + A -> Make Instances Real and boom! I can finally sleep.


Why isn't hair particles density updating with the vertex group? I can assign a vertex group for the particle density just fine. The problem is when I edit the weights of the vertex group (after I've combed the hair), the hair particles don't update to match. To get it to update, I have to click Free Edit (which, of course, undoes everything i did to that point). Only then does it update in real time with the vertex group. But you can see at around 8:10 on the following tutorial by CG Cookie the hair actually updating AFTER combing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxwox9C280Y

What could possibly be wrong? I even tried adding a particle system to a simple plane (completely new file, no other modifiers or anything). It just doesn't work.

Thanks!

Good question! This seems to be a bug in Blender, because if I add interpolated children (like in the video), then the weight painting has immediate effect, but without interpolated children (probably you tried without children or with simple children) it doesn't.

If nobody has a better answer than me, I suggest that you report a bug in the Blender bug tracker.


Cubemap projection onto a sphere I need to be able to generate texture coordinates on a sphere for cubemaps textures. But somehow I seem to fail in Blender to accomplish this.
See the image below as example cubemap.

I am able to map the texture correctly in Unity by using an cubemap asset, but I am unable to reproduce this behavior in Blender.

If on a spherical mesh, you can start with a cube (rotate its UV to fit your map), then add:

Subdivision modifier with "simple" algorithm (we don't want to smooth but just to give more geometry for the cast below)
Cast to sphere modifier


yellow dotted wireframe appears when I mistakenly press Shift-t instead of Ctrl-t When I attempt to triangulate a mesh I end up with that dotted yellow bounding box when I mistakenly press Shift+t instead of Ctrl+t.  I cannot get rid of it by using Undo.

From what I can tell, it has something to do with Texture Space but I cannot find anything in the Object Data panel that will remove it once it's there.

So does anyone know how to get rid of this and set things back to how they were before I hit that wrong shortcut?

Shift+T does indeed turn on the 'Texture Space' display mode.

To disable it go to Object> Display> Texture Space and untick the checkbox:


What do glossy distribution models do? In Cycles, the glossy (and anisotropic) shaders have a Distribution option.  Since I don't really know the difference, I have always left it at it's default (GGX).

So what is a distribution model, what's the difference between them, and how do I choose which one to use?

Here is a simple test I've conducted:

125 samples, all shaders are pure white glossy, roughness = 0.1.

GGX has much less fireflies, especially in the shadow, and it seems a little foggier.  I can't see any difference between Ashikhmin-Shirley and Beckmann.  And sharp looks like a glossy shader with 0 roughness (even though it is set to 0.1 like the other 3).

Here's another test, this time with anisotropic shaders:

Also 125 samples, roughness = 0.6, anisotropy = 0.8, radial-z tangent.

tl;dr: Always use GGX, set your roughness map to Non-color Data and square it with a math node before plugging it into the Glossy BSDF.

Different microfacet distributions will have differently shaped specular highlights. Beckmann and Ashikhmin-Shirley are both similar to a Blinn-Phong specular highlight that you might find in a game engine or Blender Internal, although they're normalized so that tighter highlights are brighter and duller highlights are less bright.

If you are just rendering for yourself I'd recommend sticking with GGX unless you've got a really, really good reason not to. The longer tail on the highlight makes the microfacet distribution more believable. Generally people remap the roughness map to make it more perceptually linear, so that if something is 30% glossy (for example) a specular highlight will have a radius of 30% of the radius of the hemisphere. Renderman, Unreal Engine 4, and Substance Designer and Painter all square the roughness for GGX, while Cryengine uses the formula roughness=(1-smoothness*0.7)^6 (Schulz 2014) because Cryengine loves to be weird and do things differently. Finally, Marmoset Toolbag 2 and Unity both use a normalized Blinn-Phong BRDF which is most accurately reproduced in Cycles by plugging the roughness through an RGB curves node and plugging that into a Glossy BSDF set to Ashikhmin-Shirley. Here's a chart with all of the different microfacet models and remappings. Note that all of these assume you read your roughness map either from an alpha channel or from a texture that's marked as Non-Color Data! Otherwise, the remapping is going to be different from what you probably intended.

From left to right, the roughness or glossiness parameter is increasing from 0 to 1 in increments of 0.1. From top to bottom, they are vanilla Beckmann, vanilla Ashikhmin-Shirley, vanilla GGX, GGX with roughness squared (like UE4 and Renderman), GGX with the roughness squared and inverted for easier comparison to Cryengine's remapping, the Cryengine GGX remapping itself, and the Unity/Toolbag remapping of Ashikhmin-Shirley. Here they all are again with more reflection bounces and an environment:

Beckmann acts particularly oddly at higher roughnesses (>.6) so if you're going to use it I would stay away from making your materials rougher than that. Ashikhmin-Shirley looks better, but GGX looks the best in my opinion. As far as remappings go I think Crytek's is the most linear-looking but I prefer to use the UE4 mapping as Substance Painter and 3D-Coat both support it and it blends well enough between material layers with different roughnesses.

The RGB curves node that remaps Unity/Toolbag 2 smoothness to Ashikhmin roughness looks like this if you're interested. I just eyeballed it but it's pretty close:

The points are as follows: (0,0), (.13182, .05625), (.45455, .18750), (.81364, .36785), (1, .61250). This inverts the roughness map (just like Toolbag and Unity) and compresses it to a region where most of the plausible surfaces are, as well as making the highlight's size roughly linear as smoothness varies, making texture authoring more predictable.

Here's the node setup for the Crytek roughness remapping that converts smoothness to GGX roughness.

The UE4/Renderman/everything else roughness remapping is easy to set up:

Note that in all of these cases a 100% rough glossy BSDF still doesn't look the same as a Diffuse BSDF. Because the BRDFs that Cycles implement always reflect the light depending on the half angle, rough glossy BSDFs will look really rough but will still look like rough metal instead of a rough dielectric.


Why bool tool cuts without creating a face? I use bool brush to cut the cylinder but the cut leaves empty space instead of leaving a face. Why is that?

The problem is: non-manifold geometry.
I found how to fix this:

Install add-on 3D-print toolbox
Select your object and press N, select 3D-Print tab
In Result section you'll see Non Manifold Edge. This informs you about your problems.
Go to Clean up. Press Make manifold


Animate a UV unwrapped plane bending I want to take a flat plane and animate one end of it rolling up to a roughly 90 degree angle.
The plane is UV unwrapped with a repeating texture and needs the distortion to be minimal.
This image roughly shows the before and after of what I'm wanting to accomplish.

blend file:
Initially, I tried using the curve modifier with a shape key on the curve but I was having issue with the plane sliding around.
Please let me know if there's any other info I can provide to clarify.

Extend your curve a bit in Edit mode so that its 2 ends go a bit further and instead of creating shapekeys, just move your curve on the Y axis:


What's Wrong with Quaternion Rotation in the Game Engine? Steps:

I created two identical objects, and animated them to rotate 360 degrees.
I used euler for the first object and quaternion for the second.
In the Viewport they rotate the same, but in the Game engine
the second object is rotated differently.

What's wrong with quaternion rotation in the Game engine?

blendfile

From Hawkenfox:

"This issue seems to be an unsupported feature at the moment. Can someone mark this question as answered?"

(Okay - I am posting this answer, pasted from your comment, for the purpose of marking this as an answer and closing the question. Please mark as answered.)

Brita wrote: "@gandalf3 I took a quick look, BGE indeed only supports the default euler rotations. The animation curves in BGE are Moguri's area, he is already assigned to that last bug.. so" – brita_ Oct 2 '14 at 8:00 – hawkenfox Dec 26 '15 at 3:10

BTW, was this resolved?


How to make Feathers for a Gladiator Helmet with Particle Hair? I have here my wip of a Gladiator helmet and I would like to know how to set up a hair particle system to a point that I would like to achieve. And of course I would like to know how to make a good looking cycles material for it.

Here are some reference images and a screenshot of my mesh.

I would use a separate mesh for the emission of the hair particles. This allows for more flexibility and ease of customizing the hair later.

Add something like this on top of the helmet to act as the hair emitter:

You might want to separate part of the helmet mesh to ensure that there are no gaps between the emitter mesh and the actual helmet object. You might even want to put the emitter a little bit inside the helmet, just to be extra safe.
Add a particle system and change the type to hair (1). Also disable emitter so that the emitter object doesn't appear in the render (2), and enable child particles (3).  I used interpolated child particles, but this depends a bit on what you want to do.
Note that Simple child particles can result in floating hairs if you are not careful, especially on curved surfaces.

Note that I also tweaked the child particle settings to add a bit of randomness, so that the hairs are not all perfectly straight.
Add a material to the emitter. I used a simple translucent material:

Back in the particle settings of the emitter object, tweak the thickness and scale of the hairs as desired. You'll have to play with these settings a bit to get a feel for how they affect the render, but it should be pretty intuitive for the most part (e.g. thicker hairs will make it so less light can get through, making the hair appear more dense/dark in the render)

I went with a more uniform hair thickness, only tapering the thickness a little bit towards the ends of the hairs:

Example .blend


Which node use in Cycle to know if 2 colors are equal? Can someone can tell me how to check if two colors are strictly equal, using nodes in Cycle ?

Thank you

One way is to split the color in components and compare them:

This sets the material output to green if the input colors match exactly otherwise red.

Easier but works also:

Note that the larger than node has a value > 0 (I assume this is required due to rounding errors 0.001 should also work)


How do I mark a seam at an edge shared by 3 faces as a seam for only two of those faces? I've got a house that needs a seam where the four outer walls meet the roof. If I place a seam where I need it, it separates the roof directly above the house from the overhang, which is unwanted.
Here's a picture. The highlighted edge is one of the problematic seams

So, how do I fix this?

The problem is that the roof has no thickness - so anything you do with one side of it (add creases, set material, etc) affects the other. You need to give the roof a thickness so that it has a proper 'inside' and 'outside' - this is referred to as being 'manifold'. There are various ways of achieving this but the simplest is to go into Edit mode (Tab), select all the faces making up the roof, and hit E to Extrude, and then move the newly generated faces up to form the solid roof (hit Z to constrain movement to the Z-axis then move the mouse up).


2.8's Grease Pencil: Is it possible to scale several frames at the same time? I was wondering if it was possible, in Draw mode, to select several (or all) shapes of the same Grease Pencil object and scale/move/rotate them together. For example here select both the star and the spiral, here displayed all at once because the "Onion skinning" option, and scale them up, which would mean have an simultaneous influence on different keyframes.

Thanks in advance!

Multiframe editing

Make sure to have both the Dope Sheet and the Viewport visible, then

in the Viewport, Tab into Edit mode
in the Dope Sheet, box select (B) the keyframes you want to be affected (they will turn yellow):

in the Viewport, make sure that the button next to "Multiframe" () is selected in the top bar
Make your edits

As of today, you won't be able to preview the effect on the other keyframes (except the current frame) while editing. But going back into object mode will reveal that the edit has taken place for all of them.


i'm having a trouble bridging my object i am having a trouble bridging the edges, the one i know was to selecting the edge i want to merge and then press W as the hotkeys for "bridge edge loops" but somehow the hotkeys doesn't work on me it changing something else instead. ps: i'm using 2.82a version of blender.

In Blender 2.8 the W key to open the Context menu has been replaced by the Right Mouse Button. As it is a Context menu you have to be in Edge select mode to have the Bridge Edge Loops option available.

Edge select mode.
Select the two edges.
RMB to open the Context menu.
Choose the Bridge Edge Loop.

Another way which works in both vertex or edge select mode is to open the Edge menu and select the Bridge Edge Loop option from there.


Is it possible to automatically move other strips while dragging another strip? Imagine you click a drag a strip on the sequencer. When the strip comes in contact with another strip I think it would be useful if the stationary strip would adjust around the influence of the strip I'm dragging. Perhaps swapping places, for instance.

Another automatic adjustment I wonder about is when adjusting after making a knife cut and grabbing one of cross sections. Then when I drag that handle, if I move it as if to overlap the intersection, then the other strip would adjust it's length to compensate as you move it.

It seems at some point I saw an option for it, but I can't remember the name for it. The word "scrobble" comes to mind, but I've found nothing about it. I have a strange memory. Thanks!

Well, it's possible. You can use the "Expand to fit" option which is enabled by hitting G for grab and then you can hit G again to toggle "Expand to fit" permanently or hold down ALT to use toggle it temporarily.

When you have three strips with the new one selected but not yet in your final row:

Just hit G to grab and then G again and place it "over" the existing strips:

Confirm with left mouse button (LMB) or Enter and there you have the strip inserted in between the two existing ones:

And to answer your second question: Just snap the handle next to the other strips one with dragging it and holding down Ctrl. Then just Shift-select the other handle and slide both of them with G.

Moving a single handle works with expand to fit as well (even though, the next strip is then moved and not trimmed in length).

Finally you can use Alt+Left Arrow/Right Arrow to swap two adjacent strips.


How do I merge multiple objects so I can sculpt it? As the title implies, how do I do this? Is there maybe an add-on to make it easier? I did ctrl-J to join all the bodies together, but they really weren't connected as one.

Search in the add-ons window "bool tool".
Select the two mesh that your want to join.
Go to the object menu in the view-port,bool tool operation, and select "union".
And wuala! you have a unified object.

You can do this without the add-on using only modifiers but its a little bit wonky
Hope it helps!


Blender python screenshot wait I am new to python and blender.. But an old c/c++ dev years ago with working knowledge of c#.
So concepts are OK.. But knowledge poor lol.
I have a script that creates some text then rakes a screenshot and stores in file.
All works but the screen shot doesn't have the object in it.. Lol..
If I run again without deleting the first it's in there (obviously I now have 2 objects)
Do I am guessing the blender did api accepts the request and returns immediately without finishing? Or at least finishing and not updating the viewport until the script ends!?
Tried time sleep but that's prob on same thread so doesn't work..
Any ideas how to wait?
Thanks

OK so in my case putting
bpy.ops.wm.redraw( type="DRAW_WUN_SWAP", iterations=1) worked... Before I took the screen shot in code.
Got the info from here Update viewport while running script


Make a bendable/posable 2d person I currently have a vector image of a simple sprite similar to the people in the image except with eyes and I was wondering if anyone knew how to add a texture to the imported vector image and then give it a bone structure that allows me to move the arms, legs and neck around similar to in the image. Ideally, the texture would be animated (so they can blink) , but I'm asking a lot now and I'm not sure if that's possible.

I'm new to Blender, by the way.

You could do it several ways I guess. Here is one (but sorry I won't go too much in details). There are 2 aspects, the rigging and the face animations:

Create your mesh, give it enough geometry so that you will be able to bend it, if you're using a Subdivision Surface modifier of course it would need additional edge loops.

You could directly parent your object to an armature, it really depends on the deformation you'll need. If it doesn't work smoothly you may prefer to use a Mesh Deform modifier: Create a sort of cage that will encompass your character. Give it a bit of subdivisions. Make it invisible in Render mode. Give your character a Mesh Deform modifier and Bind it to the cage.

Parent this cage to an armature, maybe choose Bendy Bones so that the bones bend smoothly (not sure it's useful for a simple mesh though).

For the face animation you could use the UV Warp modifier as explained for example here by BornCG. This is the cleanest way to do it. A simpler way would be first to create an image with all your different facial expressions then create one UV map by expression:

Then to switch from an expression to another, use a Mix Shader that will switch from a UV map to another:


How can I remove shading on a plane but still allow shadows from other objects to be cast on to the pane? I have objects on top of an 'Images as Plane' plane and I'd like it to not have any shading/gradients in lighting, so it looks like it would if I opened the image in an image viewer with maximum brightness.
However, I'd still like to allow objects above to cast shadows on to the object. How can I achieve this?
Below, the cube is shaded and casts a shadow on the plane (all good), but the plane should not have any shading on it, since it's brighter in the left compared to top-middle.

Below, the plane is bright and this is what I want, but now the cube does not cast any shadow on the plane.

The simplest solution I can think of is to use the default Principled BSDF setup (using base color, not emission) and change the type of the light source to Sun. This way, neither cube position, nor Plane position, will change the colors on the plane (other than the colors of areas that go in or exit the shadow).

The reason your examples don't work is that in one case the image is the light, so it can't be shadowed, and in the other you're using a light type with a falloff - simulating the fact that the closer a pixel is to the light source, the more photons from the light source hit that pixel - for the same reason the Sun heats ground the most at noon on Summer. You can lit a surface equally, if it's a fragment of a sphere, with the light source in the center of the sphere - same logic as with curved PC monitors. As you increase the sphere, given the fragment's surface remains constant, it will be closer and closer to a flat surface as it gets further and further from the sphere's center:

If you want a perfectly flat surface, you need an infinitely far light source, and that's what the Sun light type represents.


Smoke sim extremely pixely/blocky I'm trying to make this simple smoke sim, but I just can't figure out what is going on. It feels like I have tried to change every setting from Domain resolution, high resolution, applying scale etc and nothing works. I'm rendering in Eevee (I tried cycles and get the same problem though). Also in Blender 2.81.

The Domain Resolution is the key here since it defines how large the cells of the fluid simulation are - and it is those cells that you are seeing as the ‘blockiness’.
Is is important to Apply Scale to ensure the dimensions of the cells are regular (otherwise the simulation will be skewed) but then the size of the cells it determined simply by dividing the longest dimension (width, height, depth) of the domain by the Resolution - so, for example, doubling the Resolution will result in twice as many cells in each dimension.
If your previous simulation was Baked the you’ll need to Free Bake to allow the simulation to be re-baked with the new settings.
Note that doubling the resolution will result in 2x2x2 = 8 times the number of cells in the simulation (so 8x the cpu effort to simulate and 8 times the memory overhead) but a more accurate and detailed simulation.


Invoke the File Browser inside an Add-On but wait with the rest of the script until it's closed I'm writing an Add-on in which I create a new Collection and then invoke the ImportHelper to load an FBX file. After that I would like to process the loaded data.
My Problem is, that my script doesn't wait until the ImportHelper is finished.
I defined the Import Helper like this:
class ImportFBXData(bpy.types.Operator, ImportHelper):
bl_idname = "import_fbx.read_data"
bl_label = "Import FBX"

# ImportHelper mixin class uses this
filename_ext = ".fbx"

filter_glob: StringProperty(
    default="*.fbx",
    options={'HIDDEN'},
    maxlen=255,
)

use_setting: BoolProperty(
)

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

def execute(self, context):
    bpy.ops.import_scene.fbx(filepath = self.filepath)
    return {'FINISHED'}

I start this inside my Operator:
bpy.ops.import_fbx.read_data('INVOKE_DEFAULT')

Everything in front of this call gets executed properly.
The File Browser comes up and I can select a file which is loaded properly.
Because the File Browser runs modal, everything after it's call runs immediately but there is no data yet. How can I make the rest of the script to wait until I select a file, the FBX conversion is done and the data is loaded in to Blender?
I don't mind if the UI is locked up until the conversion is finished but I definitely need the file browser to select the FBX file.

The solution was very simple at the end. Everything what needs to be done with the data which was loaded by the ImportHelper should be part of the execute method of this class.
The invoke method (in my above script) was not needed at the end:
class ImportFBXData(Operator, ImportHelper):
    bl_idname = "import_fbx.read_data"
    bl_label = "Import FBX"

    filter_glob: StringProperty(
        default='*.fbx',
        options={'HIDDEN'})

    def execute(self, context):
        # Everything what needs to be done before opening the file browser
        new_fbx_collection = bpy.data.collections.new("New COllection")
        bpy.context.scene.collection.children.link(new_fbx_collection)

        # Open the File Browser and Import the FBX File
        filename, extension = os.path.splitext(self.filepath)
        bpy.ops.import_scene.fbx(filepath = self.filepath)

        # Everything what needs to be done after the file browser
        ...
        obs = [o for o in bpy.data.collections[context.collection.name].all_objects if not o.parent and len(o.children)]
        for o in obs:
            ...
    return {'FINISHED'}

This way my Add-On works perfectly.


Can I connect a Diffuse BSFD to the Principled BSDF's roughness input? I have a principled bsdf.
Under roughness, I have maps that I would like to connect to it. As I'm adding a normal map to my roughness map, I'm thinking of putting the map through a diffuse bsdf. Is it possible to connect the diffuse bsdf to the principled bsdf under roughness? I can't figure out how as the node lines turn red which I guess means it's invalid.

No you can't connect a shader's output to a the input of another shader. Different kind inputs should not be mixed. Green goes with green, purple with purple, Yellow and Grey can be mixed if you know what you are doing.

Refer to these links to understand what each color socket is for:

What is the meaning of the color of the node sockets in the node editor?

and

Cycles - (Shader) Nodes - inputs outputs - What are the exact data types?

Normal maps and roughness maps are different kind of information and each of them can be connected to their corresponding input.

Normal map would go to the normal input socket.

Roughness to roughness input on the same principled BDSF node.


Two Particles systems attracted to same force field So I have a NurbsPath that I turned into a Force field for a particle system, but I am trying to add an additional particle system to the scene but it is always attracted to the Force Field. Is there a way to make that particle emit by itself, without getting attracted to that field?

Of course you can do that,
Just go to field weights tab in particle settings of that particle system and reduce the effect of the force field that you don't wan't to zero


How can I use a mask modifier with a musgrave texture? I'm trying to make a simple version of the masking technique used here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFYFh8w4758
in (0:00 --> 0:06)
is there a way to achieve this effect using a mask modifier or anything else?
Thanks!

The short answer is: sort of

This setup will make the parts of your mesh transparent where the musgrave texture is black. If you want to see the backside, or other objects through it, replace the holdout by transparent.
However the edges of the mask won't look 3D, the ones in the clip seem to have some depth, this method won't allow that, but maybe it's enough to get started. With animation nodes you can assemble your own meshes, it won't be easy, but in my opinion that would be the proper way to go.


Creating a torus with more than 256 segments with nearly 1km radius? Is there a reasonably simple way to create a torus with minimal vertices and faces (that is no artifacts from merging extrusions) with more than 256 segments (in my case 1800 major segments and 360 minor segments) with a major radius of about 900m and a minor radius of about 50m?

Start by adding a circle, with 360 vertices, a radius of 50, and the Fill Type set to Nothing.

In edit mode rotate the circle along the Y axis by 90°. Then move the circle 900 along the Y axis.

Last add a Screw modifier, with Steps and  Render Steps set to 1800. Leave all other modifier settings to default.

You now have a torus with 648,000 vertices and faces; 1800 major segments and 360 minor segments.


Blender not showing tool bar I'm using Kali Linux and i had a great time with blender last few months. But suddenly now it is not showing many important stuff like tool bar and menu bars. Is there anything to do with this. I am suspecting my last update but not sure.
Current View

If you can't see the menu try resetting blender to its default layout by pressing  Space  then typing "Load Factory Settings". Select the displayed option and the interface should go back to default.


Using collisions to control movements of objects in an animation In the modeling of a mechanical assembly it is usually necessary to examine movements of mesh objects in relation to one another. In the simple example the green object would be animated to move along the X-axis and collision with the violet object would make it slide along its edge until it hits an obstacle. Can such control of movement be achieved in an animation using rigid body physics or object constraints?

Yes - this is precisely what Rigid Body Physics is for.
Your objects will need to be 3-dimensional (your example image looks to only be 2D) and set up with Rigid Body on each. The green one you have have set as 'Passive' and 'Animated' in its settings (so that you can animate its position) and the violet one as 'Active'. You would need to setup a ground plane (also as 'Passive') for them to rest upon (or they will just fall under the influence of gravity) or add a Rigid Body Constraint to restrict its movement.
Running the simulation and moving the green object should result in the violet one responding and being pushed out of the way.


How to make ends of a beveled curve sharp? I want to make the ends of these curves sharp, and i want it to remain closed even if i move the bevel start and end point of the curves, the curves are generated by ivygen, i want to make it look like they're growing, but i want the ends sharp

Note: This wont work when you change the bevel begin and end as required. I will let it be posted as an answer if someone else finds it useful.

Depends on your need... this is one way.

Set the Radius to zero on your tip curve vertex.


Why does creating a new face int layer break Unwrap Reset? EDIT: This apparently is a bug (https://developer.blender.org/T52723)

However, I'm still creating bmeshes in the draw method of my panels which is bad practice, but not the cause of this problem.

I've been developing an add-on for Re-Volt file types for a while.

I'm not sure if I discovered a bug or if I'm doing something wrong:
As soon as I call bm.faces.layers.int.new("LayerName"), the UV Unwrap Reset operator starts behaving weirdly.

Usually, when you reset the UV on a cube, you get the faces mapped as squares.
After creating a new int layer on the bmesh, it starts mapping faces to lines or other weird shapes that sometimes go beyond the UV bounds.

I create those int layers to store flags for each face. The layers are created upon import and in Edit mode. I made a tool panel for setting those flags. It all works fine, it just breaks the bpy.ops.uv.reset() operator.

Launching Blender with --debug-all also didn't reveal any interesting details. Everything in the logs looks like it's supposed to.

I also tried opening the Blender files with that problem in older and newer versions than 2.78 and the problem persists there, it seems to be in the mesh.

Here's a .blend with the problem: http://pasteall.org/blend/index.php?id=47471

Here's the wider context of creating a new int layer (panel in the 3D view):

class RevoltFacePropertiesPanel(bpy.types.Panel):
    bl_label = "Face Properties"
    bl_space_type = "VIEW_3D"
    bl_region_type = "TOOLS"
    bl_context = "mesh_edit"
    bl_category = "Re-Volt"

    selection = None
    selected_face_count = None

    @classmethod
    def poll(self, context):
        return (context.object is not None)

    def draw(self, context):
        pass
        obj = context.object
        mesh = obj.data
        bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(mesh)
        flags = bm.faces.layers.int.get("RVFlags") or bm.faces.layers.int.new("RVFlags")
        texture = bm.faces.layers.int.get("RVTexture") or bm.faces.layers.int.new("RVTexture")

Here's the section on GitHub if that helps: https://github.com/Dummiesman/HabitatB/blob/dev/io_scene_habitatb/panels.py#L104

Please tell me if I could provide more information. I'd be really thankful if someone has an idea.

This is a Blender bug. It has been fixed: developer.blender.org


How do I get a Falloff offset matrix to look like it's coming from a single point? In my example file the LEGO car looks like it's being assembled from a central point and it's okay when it's relatively close in size to the icosphere I am using as a prop.

Relatively close in size

You can see here the objects are in the models final structure

It does not look so good when the model being assembled is much larger than the icosphere prop. The pieces come from a much wider range.

Relatively large

I've tried to adjust initial transforms but then I loose my desired built model.

My question is how can I maintain the same effect of the model being assembled and the pieces are coming from a single point?

Subtracting the initial position of the objects from the offset vector should do what you want, it is also non-destructive, so it might be better than your original solution:


Create and move bones using BoneList (BoneCollection) python I try create script for my self to rigging. I create adn snap bones using this code for all bones(copy and paste)
RIG.data.edit_bones.new("RemRoll_bone1.L")
RIG.data.edit_bones['RemRoll_bone1.L'].head = RIG.data.edit_bones['bone1.L'].head
RIG.data.edit_bones['RemRoll_bone1.L'].tail = RIG.data.edit_bones['bone1.L'].tail
RIG.data.edit_bones['RemRoll_bone1.L'].roll = RIG.data.edit_bones['bone1.L'].roll

RIG.data.edit_bones.new("RemRoll_bone2.L")
RIG.data.edit_bones['RemRoll_bone2.L'].head = RIG.data.edit_bones['bone2.L'].head
RIG.data.edit_bones['RemRoll_bone2.L'].tail = RIG.data.edit_bones['bone2.L'].tail
RIG.data.edit_bones['RemRoll_bone2.L'].roll = RIG.data.edit_bones['bone1.L'].roll

I want do someting like this now, but im to new at the Scripting(
remroll_list = [

("bone1.L"),
("bone2.L")

]

for n1 in remroll_list:

    RIG.data.edit_bones.new.['RemRoll_'] + (n1)
    RIG.data.edit_bones['RemRoll_'] + (n1).head = RIG.data.edit_bones(n1).head
    RIG.data.edit_bones['RemRoll_'] + (n1).tail = RIG.data.edit_bones(n1).tail
    RIG.data.edit_bones['RemRoll_'] + (n1).roll = RIG.data.edit_bones(n1).roll

And I don't even know if it is possible to create and move with bones through the list.
hlp pls

Ok. This was easy!
import bpy

namelist = [

("Bone"),
("Bone.001"),
("Bone.002"),
("Bone.003")

]

for name123 in namelist:

    RIG = bpy.data.objects['Armature']

    RIG.data.edit_bones.new(('RemRoll_') + name123)
    RIG.data.edit_bones[('RemRoll_') + name123].head = RIG.data.edit_bones.get(name123).head
    RIG.data.edit_bones[('RemRoll_') + name123].tail = RIG.data.edit_bones.get(name123).tail
    RIG.data.edit_bones[('RemRoll_') + name123].roll = RIG.data.edit_bones.get(name123).roll


Modeling a terrain accurately from a contour map I'm modeling a specific hill. I have a topographical map of the hill and wish to plot the 1 meter height contour lines accurately. What's the best way to do this?

I cannot find a tutorial like this on Blender, but found one for 3ds Max: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVuY3dBYQfk (from 1:55).

The image below shows a model I made in sketchup; I created a plane, drew in the squiggly lines with its freehand line tool, then extrude.

Assuming your landscape is a mesh, you may try the following:

add a plane a little bigger than your landscape, and at the base (or lower than) of landscape
with plane selected, and under "modifier tab", you add an "array" modifier. You set to constant offset, X and Y to 0, Z to a distance that suits your needs, and you should increase the count to get as much planes as you need to cover the top (or pass a bit) of your landscape). If your landscape is in "real" scale, you can set the Z to 10m, to get the 10m isocontours.
with plane selected, under "boolean" you set to "intersect" with the landscape
apply your modifiers to the plane (you will have horizontal planes by choosen iso Z value)
press "space", write "convert to" and select "curve from mesh/text" (you will convert the planes to lines, to get their perimeter - if you need, you can then increase thickness of lines, etc)
optional step if you want to control the material (colours, etc) of your contours: you  again "convert to" "mesh from curve/text"

Following the exact steps mentioned above you get the following result:


IK with pole over subdivided bone chain don't bend Adding IK constraint with target and pole over subdivided bone chain don't bend

Steps:

Add single bone
Subdivide(W) in two
Extrude from final tail the target and clear parent
Add new pole bone in front of first joint
Add IK constraint with target. With this configuration the ik works well
When pole bone is added in IK constraint the joint don't bend

The bones transformations arent blocked in bone panel. The same configuration with extruded bones work well. Where is the blocking configuration option?

Blend file

Yep. This is a bug with the Armature system and may be worth reporting. I think the issue is that it doesn't know which side of the bone is supposed to face the pole target.

However, if you rotate the IK bone after moving the target bone, the IK bone will snap to position, and work.

Rotate

Snap


How to hook 2 points of a Bézier on 2 different object? I have a bezier already drawn and positioned, the ends coincide with 2 distinct objects.
Suppose it is cube1 and cube2, the objects are already in the scene, so I would like to link the points of the bezier (2 vertices only) first cube1 and then cube2

import bpy

cube1= bpy.data.objects['Cube1']
cube2= bpy.data.objects['Cube2']
bezier = bpy.data.objects['BezierCurve']

The example is to point out that the objects are already drawn in the correct position of the scene, I don't have to change anything, I just have to connect the bezier to these 2 objects

That can be something like this:

import bpy

cube1= bpy.data.objects['Cube1']
cube2= bpy.data.objects['Cube2']
bezier = bpy.data.objects['BezierCurve']

hook = bezier.modifiers.new( name = "Hook-" + cube1.name, type = 'HOOK' )
hook.object = cube1
hook.vertex_indices_set( [0, 1, 2] )

hook = bezier.modifiers.new( name = "Hook-" + cube2.name, type = 'HOOK' )
hook.object = cube2
hook.vertex_indices_set( [3, 4, 5] )

The tricky part is you have to indicate each element of the control points you want to hook. So the hook vertex indices are triplets.

I don't think you can hook control point handles individually, but that may depend of the curve type or the control points mode and have not tested all possibilities.


How can you set Blender's Theme Preset with python How can you set Blender's Theme Preset with python?
I'm don't mean customize a few colors, I'm talking about loading one of the existing presets.
Is there a simple command I can run?

I found a way but I don't know it is right or wrong to do this way
The way I did is -
In the dropdown menu of themes just right click on the theme you want to change to and then another menu will appear > click on copy python command > and then paste that command in the console > and if you want to change the theme from the console you need to remember the theme name > you can change the name in the command where the file name is written (maya.xml, or modo.xml, etc).
Step 1-

Step 2-

Step 3-

Step 4-

Step 5-

Step 6 -

And in this way, you can change the theme from the console


why does the fog in 3d view look better than in rendered result Hi i'm trying to render a short scene with volume scatter and eevee. in 3d view the fog looks very smooth but in the final result you can see lines in the fog. I hope somebody can help because i really couldn't find anything that helped.

The "lines" you see are the dynamic range and the bit depth of the color.
Are you using JPEG  ? or PNG 8 bit ?
Try to render again using PNG 16 bit, or even the industry standard OpenEXR
and using filmic instead of standard helped a lot too,
standard only has 8 bits of dynamic range, while filmic have 24 I believe
output properties > output

This might help to improve your volumetric heavy scene.
try playing with the settings here,  Render - > Volumetrics (eevee)
especially the Volumetric Tile Size , if you set it to 2px, the volume will be very crisp, sharp and looks amazing, but will lag your blender & viewport. Increasing the samples might help too


Is there a good tutorial for creating an animation where different meshes replace each other? This seems like a basic question so please feel free to point me to where it has been answered, but I must not now how to google it because I can't find a good answer.

I have a scene with two types of objects in it pictured below,
1- A clear container object that will not change in any way
2- 40 nearly identical meshes that I'd like to replace each other in an animation.  I.e. Show the first one, hide it, show the second, hide it, etc...

I got this data from a different program.  Is there a good guide out there on how to do that?  Any tips?

Figured out you can keyframe the visibility of the object in the render.  So I can turn off the visibilty of everything but the first one, then in the second frame turn off the visibility of everything but the second, etc...Like this link: https://imgur.com/gallery/kKajgqw


I need to add a perspective grid in orthographic view for grease pencil layer I need to add a grid mesh on top of my grease pencil layer so it would be easier for me to draw things into perspective. What is a good way of doing this? Right now I am going to download a grid image so I can import into Blender as a background. Any other quicker way?

Steps to make a dynamic non-destructive 2d grid in blender:-

  Add a Plane
  Add a SubSurf modifier
  Change the subdivision algorithm to simple
  Add a Wireframe modifier
  Tweak the subdivision levels and the wireframe thickness to adjust grid size and density

Here's the blend file:-

  I have added a Shadeless material to the grid for easier viewing which may suit your purpose.


Alpha in Render Layer Without Combined Pass? I have a render layer. I need to be able to access the alpha of this render layer in the compositor. I know I can access the alpha by enabling the Combined pass, but I don't need to have a combined render, I just need shadows and alpha. Is there any way to do this? Or some workaround that lets me get the areas where nothing is in the compositor?

In case the reason behind this is saving time, I was researching the same thing and found "accidentally" a semi-solution. Combined pass still renders, but I assigned a material in the Render Layers, this overrides the objects assigned materials, assigning a simple diffuse shader this way, will make the Combined pass render much faster, specially when you have lots of reflections, refraction and light emitting objects in the scene, and it's a non destructive process, since you simply need to click the X icon next to the assigned material in the Render Layers tab to go back to your original scene materials. I know this is not the perfect solution, but at least it will save render time in most cases.


Trying to add image to my model. I added in UV editor but it is not showing in render I'm new to blender and am having a difficult time trying to understand textures.  I don't want to add a repeating texture but just an image.

I have added in UV editor as such...

It reflects temporarily in my 3DView window as such...

But it doesn't appear when I render..

What steps am I missing that makes my UV map editor changes permanent?  How can I make it render correctly?

Just because you assigned the position of the UV in the UV editor doesnt mean the software actually have identified your material.

Think of the UV editor as a guide to place textures and play around how you want it to look.

What you have to do is,

Select texture tab from the properties after selecting the material
Press + button to add a texture node
Scroll down till you see "open" button for texture
(optional) since you had already imported to the texture to the program click the button on the left of the open button. it should list in the items.
Open the texture.
Render again and see the results


Weird node setup when importing .obj file blender noob here.
I used to pose in XPS, export as .obj, import to blender, apply textures, no problem at all.

After the 2.79 update, whenever I import a .obj file, I get this weird node setup on all meshes

I usually just deleted all the nodes from all the meshes, but lately I've been working on larger files with more objects, so it's becoming annoying.

I feel like there's something silly at work here, but I googled and found no clue, so any help would be appreciated!

That's just how the importer interprets materials that come with obj format. If there was some description of a material in the .mtl file it would construct this shader according to it.

You can replace them easily if you delete the material and make a new one. If for some reason that was not acceptable you could use Python to replace the nodes. Let's say it would be convenient for you to have standard Material Output node and a Diffuse BSDF and Glossy BSDF mix by Fresnel connected to it and you wanted to replace the nodes only for the materials that are applied to the currently selected objects. Python script would go like that:

import bpy

done_materials=[]

for every_object in bpy.context.selected_objects:
    try:
        for every_slot in every_object.material_slots:
            if every_slot.material not in done_materials:
                #print(every_slot.material.name)
                nodes = every_slot.material.node_tree.nodes
                links = every_slot.material.node_tree.links
                for every_node in nodes:
                    nodes.remove(every_node)
                diff = nodes.new('ShaderNodeBsdfDiffuse')
                diff.location = (-190,100)
                gloss = nodes.new('ShaderNodeBsdfGlossy')
                gloss.location = (-190,-20)
                mix = nodes.new('ShaderNodeMixShader')
                mix.location = (10,95)
                Fres = nodes.new('ShaderNodeFresnel')
                Fres.location = (-190,200)
                Fres.inputs[0].default_value=1.3
                out = nodes.new('ShaderNodeOutputMaterial')
                out.location = (200,95)
                links.new(mix.outputs[0], out.inputs[0])
                links.new(Fres.outputs[0], mix.inputs[0])
                links.new(diff.outputs[0], mix.inputs[1])
                links.new(gloss.outputs[0], mix.inputs[2])
                done_materials.append(every_slot.material)
    except:
        pass

And of course you would just need to have that pasted into a new text block in the Text Editor, select all the objects that you want processed and hit Run Script.


how to fix a rig when weightpaints still dont work hello I am working on this dragon and I used a plug-in for blender..well using this set of bones does work but it pulls in places that it shouldn't even after weight painting I was directed here even though the group I asked the same question in.. some how could not help me..here is a snapshot of it..i don't think it should pull in those places when I move that leg

I have learned some of blender on my own the past two years so I really have had no help except watching video's on youtube so if you guys have any idea's id appreciate it

May be you have hidden bones or bones in hidden layers?
If not, try to unmarks "Deform" for bones which you don't want to be deformers.


Black areas on textured model, that are not on the texture image? I have a model of a character, I have been texturing the clothing objects and all was fine. However, when I came to creating  texture image for the skin of the model there were weird black shadows on the arms in the texture view.

I baked the model to create the image and there isn't a black area on the texture image [See Below]
[[1. Image of the problem]

The bake was done using no light source only the light of the world colour and I have already checked things like normals on the model and they are fine.

[][2.Normals]

Here are the normals, I think they are fine.

Can anyone have a solution for this? the texture seems fine so I'm confused with this.

thanks in advance.

Thanks to Alphisto, the problem was in vertex paint, to fix it you need to add to the black area of the model in vertex paint.


Curves projected on object i am trying to do a xenomorph egg like in the pic below but i am stuck at creating the 'petals' edges to look realistic, any idea if a curve projected on the egg main is the way to go ?All i currently can do is some straight lines which i then project on the egg but no way it looks realistic.

I'm not sure you need a curve at all. Here's how I would go about a model like this.
First I would make a "sphere" by adding a subdivision surface to a cube with three subdivision levels (CTRL+3). I would then add a cast modifier and cast it as a sphere, to make the mesh a true sphere shape.

Then I would apply the modifiers, and make the egg shape using proportional editing set to smooth.

Then I would inset THESE faces, and scale them inwards slightly.

I would also scale the "seam" edges closer together on their respective axes:

Then I would turn proportional editing back on, but set to random this time, making sure to check "connected only". I would then select some random vertices along the edges of the "petal seams" and scale them towards each other on whatever axis they lie. (I know the "gaps" are wider in the first image - I took this screenshot early, before I scaled the edges).

Do this for all the "seams", then select the centre areas again, and inset by a small amount.

Do the same for the outer areas - this helps define the edges of the "petals"

You should then be able to select the whole surround edge as one loop - you can then extrude this (extrude faces along normals) to form the lip.

Lastly,  add another subdivision surface modifier, and shade smooth to smooth it out.

Hope this helps.


Cycles not rendering certain objects As you cansee the little guns coming out of the wings do not show up in the render. The guns are the object named cylinder which has the render icon checked in the outliner. Why is this not showing up in the render (right picture)?

turns out the cylinder was not on the same layer. Having the object tab selected (two left of the modifier tab) I clicked on the top left layer and bam it was there :)


Randomly coloring with script doesn't work correctly Consider:

I'm having trouble with making each of these circles to have a random color
and the problem is that the color is random, but that color applies to all of them.
import bpy
import random as r
import math as m
n=25

for i in range(1,n+1):

    material_i= bpy.data.materials.new(f'm{i}')
    material_i.diffuse_color=(r.uniform(0,1),r.uniform(0,1),r.uniform(0,1),1)
    bpy.context.object.data.materials.append(material_i)
    angle = ((i-1)*4*(m.pi))/n
    bpy.ops.object.duplicate_move(OBJECT_OT_duplicate={"linked":False, "mode":'TRANSLATION'}, TRANSFORM_OT_translate={"value":(0, 0, 0), "orient_type":'GLOBAL', "orient_matrix":((0, 0, 0), (0, 0, 0), (0, 0, 0)), "orient_matrix_type":'GLOBAL', "constraint_axis":(False, False, False), "mirror":False, "use_proportional_edit":False, "proportional_edit_falloff":'SMOOTH', "proportional_size":1, "use_proportional_connected":False, "use_proportional_projected":False, "snap":False, "snap_target":'CLOSEST', "snap_point":(0, 0, 0), "snap_align":False, "snap_normal":(0, 0, 0), "gpencil_strokes":False, "cursor_transform":False, "texture_space":False, "remove_on_cancel":False, "release_confirm":False, "use_accurate":False, "use_automerge_and_split":False})
    bpy.context.object.rotation_euler[2] = angle

Part of the issue is that when you append the new material to the duplicated object you never change the index of the active material slot which remains at 0 from the initial object. If you inspect the material slots of each object in turn you continue to add another material but never assign it. I would think that instead of constantly adding additional materials you would rather just have 1 material per object in this case.
import bpy
import random as r
import math as m
n=25

for i in range(1,n+1):
    ob = bpy.context.object
    material_i= bpy.data.materials.new(f'm{i}')
    material_i.diffuse_color=(r.uniform(0,1),r.uniform(0,1),r.uniform(0,1),1)
    if not ob.material_slots:
        bpy.ops.object.material_slot_add()
        new_mat = material_i
        ob.material_slots[0].material = new_mat
    else:
        new_mat = material_i
        ob.material_slots[0].material = new_mat
    angle = ((i-1)*4*(m.pi))/n
    bpy.ops.object.duplicate_move(OBJECT_OT_duplicate={"linked":False, "mode":'TRANSLATION'})
    bpy.context.object.rotation_euler[2] = angle


how to create a 3d mosaic out of a 2d image i have a  mosaic image and i want to turn it into a plan object that is going to have a 3D bumps.the result is going to be printed with a 3d printer .the idea is to extract the parts of the image so i can feel them with my hands
i still didn't try any method and i don't know where to start.

The only automation you can have is to translate the brightness value of every pixel into a height map, setting it as texture in a displace modifier on a highly subdivided plane. The result is quite random because of the problems Martin Z said. In my example we have 1.500.000 vertices.


Static particles freak out after certain amount of time? Ok, I have been trying to maintain "static" particles, meaning they stay the same count and just vibrate in place (like atoms) - like this https://dribbble.com/shots/4936693-VR-Birds

I have achieved this by just having start and end frame be same -

My problem is clearly Im doing something wrong because maybe 5 seconds after the start/end frame, the particles freak out and move really fast away from the desired volume:

(where before they were in that box by the cursor)
How can I stop them from exploding? Is it something with the lifetime?

EDIT:

2:

Additionally (re-editing my last answer)
I am attaching a blend file in which I noticed that I had to use Brownian Force and Damp instead of Turbulence or any other kind of field.

This should do the work.

Blender File

In order to keep the particles still you must turn off the Normal property in the Emiter Geometry under the tab Velocity of your Particles System.

The second thing that you have to do, so your particles will not go towards the "ground plane" is to turn off the Gravity affection in the "Field Weights" Tab.
From this panel you will also set the desired affection from other fields (such as Turbulence, Wind, Vortex etc) that you may use to give to your particles the kind of movement you are looking for.


Double each video frame within Blender VSE I want to take an input of a video file (or image sequence) and then duplicate each frame. So if I had 3 frames, normally they'd go 1,2,3. After duplicating, I'd have 1,1,2,2,3,3 for a total of 6 frames. Is this possible with the compositor or one of the video editors in Blender, or do I have to go outside Blender?

This can be done in the VSE with the speed control effect:

Select the video strip you want to slow down
Add a speed effect strip (⇧ ShiftA> Effect Strip > Speed Control)
Extend the original strip to twice its length


Why does this cloth go down past the top surface of the cube? I was following a tutorial on YouTube, and the presenter said that he did not change the default options other than enabling self-collision and increasing the collision object's friction from 5 to 10. His looks like the first image below, but when I tried that, the cloth goes down past the top surface and stops at the bottom surface (second and third images below). Why is it so?

I had a previous problem with cloth, and it was due to the objects' small size. This time, I made sure that both the cloth and the cube are large enough. (Cloth=7.68*8.22*1.99m, cube = 7.68*7.68*0.897m)

The project file can be downloaded from here.

Seeing objects fall into another even with collisions on, always makes one word pop up in my mind, Normals.

They are the problem here and at the same time the solution.

The object below the cloth object is acting like it's a box, nicely taking the cloth object fall inside it. If you go in the "Viewport Overlays" and activate the "Face Orientation" checkbox, you'll see that the lower objects normals are showing red, which indicates that they are facing inside.

This is essentially making the supposed to be mattress a box, as the collision with the top will be ignored since there is no collision with the backside of the topside, but once the cloth object is inside the mattress, it's captured.

Select the mattress object and go in "Edit Mode" with Tab
Select all vertices with A
Open the "Normals menu" with Alt+N in the Viewport, and click on "Flip" (in this case all normals are facing the wrong way, so this is easy, other times you may need to use "Recalculate Outside").
You can deactivate the show "Face Orientation" again.

Here a little visual aid/explanatory video:

[Regarding the issue with the size of your objects before]

You mentioned the size of the objects, while it usually is not as much of a problem, there are cases when the size of the object is too small and results in the simulation failing. That is because the simulation is based on steps, where each step there is a check on collision, which then leads to a more complex resolving of the situation. That said, too small objects can be stepped over, as in one step the collision would not yet happen, and the next step the simulation is already past the object, thus resulting in no collision at all.

For completeness sake i mention rigid bodies here too, since both have their settings at different places.

The rigid body related "Steps Per Second" value can be found here:

The cloth related "Quality Steps" value and "Quality" related to collisions can be found here:

Happy blending.


Is there a straightforward way to map all my vertices from a cubic space to a cylindrical space? I have an existing model I've built up which currently has cubic geometry and fits neatly inside a cube. This was built up in Blender manually by duplication, not by scripting, in case you're curious about that.

I'd now like to map the vertices to fit the thing inside a cylinder.
In 2D, this turns out to be called a Schwarz-Christoffel mapping.

Is there a straightforward way to deform my existing model in this fashion without going back to the start and writing a script to generate the object? I think I could probably knock out a script to generate an OBJ file if I had a day to do it, but I feel like Blender might have an even faster option that lets me reuse my existing geometry.
I've been looking through all the "Deform" modifiers but nothing seems to jump out as immediately appropriate except for Cast, but I can't seem to get that one to do what I want either.
Edit:
For the next person hunting this out, the transformation I'm actually going with:
https://gist.github.com/trejkaz/222f687ef394f7430517868b254dc1b6

Squircle and shapekey

Subdivided cube run thru script to give squircle generated cylinder shapekey.
In How can I morph a flat plane to be a flat cirlce?  I have shown one of a number of square to circle mappings.
The mapping maps XY coords to a radius 1 circle, result shown above using default cube.  For radius not equal to one would have to scale and rescale accordingly, or make radius an argument of mapping.
Note: This is the squircle mapping, as demonstrated I did go thru and provide an example of all the mappings, if I find the file will add the conformal mapping. As explained in link in linked answer.
import bpy
import bmesh
from math import sqrt
from bpy import context
collection = context.collection
ob = context.object
me = ob.data
def squircle(x, y):
    u = x * sqrt(1 - y * y / 2)
    v = y * sqrt(1 - x * x / 2)
    return u, v

sk = ob.shape_key_add(name="Basis")
ci = ob.shape_key_add(name="Cylinder")
for v in me.vertices:
    ci.data[v.index].co.xy = squircle(*v.co.xy)

Note: Changing space would be more akin to changing Cartesian x, y, z to cylindrical r, theta, h where r is the radius, theta the angle around the axis and h the height of the cylinder.  This wouldn't change the look.
Casting to Cylinder via modifier
Could instead add a cast modifier

Result on subdivided default cube, radius set to sqrt(2)
Not sure the top is the result desired, to which would possibly require using a weighted vertex group for interior verts with cylinder axis aligned normals.


No transparency in rendered background, is this a bug? Suddenly I only get a gray background in my cycles renders, even though film-->transparent has been checked and the format is a PNG with RGBA enabled. The image still contains the alpha information (verified in another software) but why is Blender displaying this gray background?

Here is 20 sec video demonstrating the problem:
https://youtu.be/1FqZaiTiCFU

I filed a bug report and did some testing. Seems like the cause of this problem might have to do with my graphics drivers.


How to move only a vertex at a time of an empty object with an image sequence attached I added a background image sequence by adding an “empty” to the scene in blender 2.8. Now,I want to match the empty where I have attached the images to the same position of the camera,but I see that I can't move the single vertex of the square. When I move one vertex,all the vertices move together. Is there a way to move only one vertex at a time ? in this way I will be easier to match perfectly the empty's square with the camera's square. thanks.

If you want your reference image to align with the camera, setup the camera to use a background image.

In 2.80 Background Image options have been added to the camera, this allows you to keep the image aligned with the camera view even if you move the camera.

To ensure the image fills the camera view you need to set the render resultion to match the aspect ratio of the reference image.


Unnecessary spaces generated during Subsurf so my problem is that I've created a model that has a parametric form, so when I use subsurf to smoothen out the edges, these sort of faces are generated that interfere with even my freestyle outlining. How do I solve this problem?

This is most likely due to having n-gons or a mesh problem can we see a photo of your mesh or can we take a look at your blend file?

EDIT: It might be better to just smooth the model then add edge split. First u will need to remove doubles, select your mesh then press w and select remove doubles
Then exit edit mode and select smooth

Then add edge split


Cyclic orbit animation I'm trying to make one object orbit another. But I want it to repeat, rather than stop at 100 frames. It seems there is no option for this. Is there a way to make this happen?

There are several ways to do what you want here's one:

Create an object, then and a Curve->Circle to act as the path for your orbit.

NOTE Make sure that the origin of the curve is in the same place as the object's origin.

Select the object and add a Follow Path constraint and select the curve as the path to follow. Make sure you click on Animate path.

Now your object will follow that path forever and ever and ever...

To control the speed of the orbit select the curve and change the Path Animation value to a smaller number of frames to go faster or a bigger number to go slower.


Weights aren't mirroring I seem to be having an issue with mirroring weights (again). I have X Mirror enabled, painted one side, gone to Data > Vertex Groups > and selected Copy Vertex Group and even Mirror Vertex Group, and even if I rename the copy so it's something.L and something.R, it keeps putting the mirrored version over the top of the one that's already there. What am I doing wrong? How can I fix this?

I don't know if it helps to remind that X-mirror works along the x-axis. Your character would need to face negative Y to take advantage of that. And Object>Apply>Rotation also.


Export armature DAE -> glTF rotates mesh 90 degrees To reproduce:

Download DAE
Open in Blender
Export to glTF (default settings)
Open exported glTF in Blender
Click on mesh
Go into edit mode
See that it is rotated 90 degrees around the X axis

The solution was to upgrade Blender from 2.82. 2.83 had big improvements in skinning for the glTF importer.
By the way, if you ever have issues with how a skinned mesh looks in edit mode, you can also try toggling the "Guess Original Bind Pose" option on the glTF import screen.


How to export MTree to UE4? I'm using a plugin called MTree which basically allows you to create your own tree with the use of a tree node editor. The only problem is, though, even when I try joining the leaves and the wood itself as one mesh it still imports into UE4 as multiple meshes. There's over 400 leaf twigs in my tree plus the wood, so I can't really put all of them back together once I import them to UE4. Idk if this is more of a Blender Stack Exchange question or a Game Developement Stack Exchange, though.

The default leaves generated in the Mtree node system are a Python scripted
particle system. Unreal reads each particle as a separate object. Therefore, we need to combine the particles and the tree trunk/roots/branches etc. into a single mesh for Unreal.
There a few steps and the (processing) time required varies depending on the complexity of your generated tree(s).
I also strongly suggest texturing your tree and leaves before beginning this process

Select just the leaves and navigate to the modifier properties:

Select convert, this will make each leaf particle a separate object, and hit apply on the modifier settings:

Shift +  LMB the trunk of the tree and parent the leaves to it with Ctrl + P and select Object (Keep Transforms). Again, however long the parenting process takes is dependent on the complexity of your tree trunk (roots, branches, twigs etc.):

When that is finally done,  RMB on the parented tree+leaves and select Convert to Mesh, this will be much quicker than parenting:

Now (with everything still selected) we right click again and select Join.
If your tree object still have a separate leaf object, then select both your tree object and leaf object, right click on the leaves specifically and select Join again.
Voila! All the leaves and the tree are now a single mesh, ready to be imported to Unreal:

In my experience, the materials don't always import correctly therefore playing around with the import settings and material editor is still required, but our base tree is now in Unreal. This method could also work with Epic's Blender-Unreal import plugin that you can search for on their github.


Clothing creating sock I watched some tutorials how to create shirts and such, my problem is I want to create a sock, so I made a duplicate of a part of the foot, separated it and made it larger, I want to solidify it later. However how do I easily join those toes so I can sculpt it?

I even tried too look for tutorials but I find only finger less gloves, shirts, jeans, but never socks.
When I go sculpt mode I I can't fill those gaps, between each toe, if I do and use smooth they get their old form back. Any hint would be appreciated! Thanks in advance.

You should duplicate a single edge loop around the ankle, and then extrude, move, scale and rotate it until you have the entire foot covered. Because of the geometry of feet, it's more efficient to take the time and model the sock, rather than try and base it off the geometry of the foot.


Use python to make Box A smaller than Box B by fixed number? I'm trying to write a python script that will make Box A smaller than Box B in dimensions by a fixed number. I started off by making Box A the same size as box B with the script below.

My issue is that I can't seem to make the dimensions of Box A equal to the size of Box B minus e. g 1. If I use x-1,y-1 for my new size for o.dimensions, both boxes are affected and both seem to become some median size of the two.

import bpy

context = bpy.context

for o in context.selected_objects:

    x = context.object.dimensions.x

    y = context.object.dimensions.y

    z = context.object.dimensions.z

    o.dimensions = [x,y,z]

    o.location = context.object.location

context.object is also part of the context.selected_objects collection.

So here's what you can do:

import bpy
context = bpy.context

objs = [o for o in context.selected_objects if o != context.object]
for o in objs:

    x = context.object.dimensions.x

    y = context.object.dimensions.y

    z = context.object.dimensions.z

    o.dimensions = [x,y,z]

    o.location = context.object.location


How to get lamp object? How to get lamp object?

def test():
    Lights = bpy.data.lamps
    for light in Lights:
        light.use_nodes = True;
        light.type="POINT";
        AdddLightIes(light)

#how to get light.object? and set position?

Blender object basics.

The lamp objects in bpy.data.lamps is the data part of a lamp object o. A lamp object has o.type == "LAMP" and o.data is a lamp object from bpy.data.lamps.

To get all lamp objects in file

lamp_objects = [o for o in bpy.data.objects
                if o.type == 'LAMP']

all in file that use a lamp named "Lamp"

lamp = bpy.data.lamps.get("Lamp")
lamp_objects = [o for o in bpy.data.objects
                if o.type == 'LAMP' # need this since
                and o.data is lamp] # o.data is None for empties

for all in context scene

scene = bpy.context.scene
lamp_objects = [o for o in scene.objects
                if o.type == 'LAMP']

for all in context selected objects

lamp_objects = [o for o in bpy.context.selected_objects
                if o.type == 'LAMP']

To move all lamps to local position (0, 0, 0)

for o in lamp_objects:
    o.location = (0, 0, 0)

To move all lamps to global origin

for o in lamp_objects:
    o.matrix_world.translation = (0, 0, 0)


Can Pixar USDZ files imported into Blender? Can Pixar USD files (USDZ) be imported into Blender?

Yes. Donwload the latest version from here: https://github.com/robmcrosby/BlenderUSDZ
In Blender: Edit > Preferences > Addons > Install > Select the zip and make sure the add-on is enabled.
Related: How to download and install an add-on hosted on github properly?


How can I speed up Freestyle rendering? I'm rendering shapes in Freestyle.  Nothing fancy (think flowerpots).  I want a white object and white background, and of course black Freestyle outlines.  No textures.

It's working fine, but I wonder if there's a faster way to do the renders.  Since my planned output is so basic, is there a way for me to - I don't know - turn raytracing off, or use less of it, or turn off other options or features so the rendering routine has fewer things to do and takes less time?

Right now, I have no lamps in my scene; im the World tab, I'm using a white horizon color and environment lighting with energy level 10.

Disable everything else

As you thought, ther are lots of things you can avoid to render if you are looking for just the freestyle edges.

You just have to disable all the elements you can find in the Include section of the Layer panel you can find in the Render Layers tab (except Freestyle obiuvsly, if you are using Blender Render)