Navigation mesh not found in properties I have been following a Blender book which asks me to build a navigation mesh (Properties > Scene > Build navigation mesh) but I am unable to find it in my installation. The version the author of the book is using is 2.6.3 and I am using 2.74 that is probably why. Is there any alternative to building a navigation mesh, or has the option been shifted elsewhere?

You must enable the blender game engine, there you will find the navigation mesh


How to make a mosaic plane I'd like to create a plane mesh which is divided to arbitrary-form polygon regions, like gimp/Photoshop mosaic filter makes, or like Voronoi diagram (although the latter is not really arbitrary). So I want each piece of that mosaic plane to be a single face, and it also would be great to assign a (random) height to each face, making a stair-step terrain from the plane. What I've tried so far:

1) To generate a Voronoi diagram, paint each region in a grayscale value, and try to use it as a heightmap (import image as plane, then Displace with image texture). That was useless in terms of mosaic-faced plane fragmentation, of course, but I hoped that each diagram region will get its own height based on the color, so I'll get my stair-step terrain. That failed, it seems Displace doesn't work that way - it made a soft and smooth terrain, instead of sharp step-like breaks.

2) To take a mosaic picture as a texture, and use the Knife tool to draw the actual mosaic polygons over it. It works that way, but requires a lot of work by hand.

3) To open a Python console and try to make a Voronoi diagram right in Blender. Then I realized that what my code does is painting each pixel into corresponding region's color, so it doesn't create any edges or faces at all. Maybe there's some other algorithm (I don't actually need Voronoi diagram; anything that looks like about the same is ok) which will allow me to end up with a set of faces?

Modifiers:

This is possible with the displace modifier, and you can use a procedural texture for the voronoi diagram. This way you don't even need to paint in each part of the voronoi texture, because they will generated each slightly darker/lighter.

Add a subsurf modifier to increase the mesh density.
Add the displace modifier and add a new displace texture (click New on the texture input of the displace modifier).
Set the Type of the texture to Voronoi and the Coloring to Position:

Add a Decimate modifier set to Planar to remove the unneeded geometry.

Result: (click for full size)

And here is an example blendfile.

You can sort of smooth out the edges with a Smooth modifier:

Cell fracture:

Expanding on Mike Pan's answer, here is a workflow using the Cell fracture addon. This addon is bundled with blender, but you still need to enable it in CtrlAltU> User Preferences > Addons:

Once it is enabled,

Add a plane and subdivide it (Edit mode (Tab) > Select all (A) > W > Subdivide). The mesh density will affect the size of the resulting shards.

Select all and extrude down so it is now a manifold mesh:

With the cube selected in object mode, press Cell Fracture in 3D view > Tool shelf > Object tools > Cell fracture and set the Margin to 0. Changed settings are highlighted. Press OK when ready:

Delete the original cube, then select all the shards (making sure that one of them is active) and press CtrlJ to join them into one object:

Enter edit mode and remove double vertices by pressing A> Select all > W> Remove doubles. If needed increase the Merge Distance in the Tool Shelf > Redo menu:

Still with everything selected, run Delete> Limited Dissolve in order to further simplify the mesh (note that limited dissolve functions the same way as the Decimate modifier in planar mode):

Delete the excess geometry. The easest way to select it is by going into front orthographic view (Numpad 1, Numpad 5), the using Box select to only select the very top vertices:

You could also try going into top (Numpad 7) ortho view with solid shading enabled, then box selecting everything visible. This works, however you may need to deselect some vertices on the sides after doing this.

The easiest way to do this is to enter front (Numpad 1) wire (Z) ortho view and deselect using box select. (B > MMB)
Invert the selection (CtrlI) and delete the selected vertices (Delete> Vertices). This should result in a nice clean plane of ngons, like this:

Select all (A) and press AltE> Individual Faces:

Without changing the selection, set the Pivot Point to Individual Origins (Ctrl. (period), or set it in 3D view > Header) and scale (S) to taper the extrusions slightly:

Invert the selection (CtrlI) and hide those vertices (H), so you are left with this:

Switch to face select mode (CtrlTab> Face) and select random (* 3D view > Header > Select*):

Move the randomly selected faces on the Z axis (GA) arbitrarily, randomly select again, move again, etc.

This process can be made slightly faster by running Select random from the Operator History (F3)
Unhide the hidden geometry (AltH). This should result in something like this:


Animation Nodes - calculate factorial of frame numbers First of all, this is of course not my project. I am working on a  project that has a similar idea and i want that for the sake of clarification.
to briefly explain what i want, i need implementing the following simple pseudo program with animation node syntax

frame_number=0,frame_factorial=1
while(1)
{
 frame_number++;
 frame_factorial*= frame_number;
}

So perhaps the simplest way to do it, is to create a math node with multiply mode, connection time info(frame number) to one input, then connecting the result back to the other input(feedback), which certainly doesn't work with animation node's syntax. so the question is how to retain a certain value calculated in a certain frame, in order to be used in the next frame? or when you have a cumulative calculation, like the one above?

for instance i thought the only way for that is to put 2 python script nodes at the beginning and at the end of a frame iteration, then use the script node at the end to save data to, for instance, csv file, then in the next frame read data from that csv file. however this is an impractical and unreasonable solution, i think their are of course other more practical methods, built in with animation nodes, isn't it?

I think you'd just be better off with an Expression node (Shift + A > Subprograms > Expression) with a Float input and the code factorial(x). It looks like this:


Why does cycles render shows faceting in shadows? I'm new to Blender, and I'm doing a very simple render using Cycles.  As you can see in the image, I'm getting horrible faceting in the shadows on the sphere.  Does anyone know how to fix this?
Thanks!

you need to increase the polycount of the ball, try subdividing it, either by right click in edit mode and subdivide, or using the subdivision surface modifier


render albedo (color passe without shadow) blender 2.8 I have tried to follow these instructions but I am not able to recreate the steps in blender 2.8. I have asked this question before and one of the steps was to set the "diffuse" setting to "color":

But I cannot find this on Blender 2.8:

So how can I render an albedo using blender 2.8?

The diffuse color render pass is not available in Eevee. Switch to Cycles and you should see the following options.


How to get a straight Nurbs I have added a nurbs curve. Im extruding it in the L direction and i do not need that curve shape. On the red axis its going straight but when i turn to green axis it makes a curve. With the orange line highlighted i want that my nurb also be in that shape and not in the curve. In the curve tab @ resolution preview i have deceased to 1 yet to i cant find that shape. After have that L shape nurb curve i have bevel object with the plane. Any solution


Soft Body object going through object with Collision? I have these balls with Soft Body on, when the cylinders are still, they interact with them without issue and bounce off of them. But I animated the cylinders to move side to side (sort of like an obstacle course) and after baking it, it properly interacts with the collision objects like 80%, but somewhat intersect with the cylinders (the cylinders are moving at a fairly fast speed). Is there a setting I need to change to make sure the balls bounce around properly although the bars are going back and forth quickly? I have provided a link to the blend file.

Thank you!

This isn't perfect but does improve the behaviour somewhat. I believe there are some limitations to the Soft Body simulation that make it very difficult to get consistent behaviour in your situation (where soft bodies are being 'hit' at relatively high speed by solid collision meshes). There also appear to be issues with baking the simulation - if the 'bake' is attempted while the timeline is at Frame 1 then performance seems to be fine. However, if the timeline is part way through the animation then the bake takes orders of magnitude longer to complete.... I suspect this is a bug but will need to do more work to pin this down. Anyway, regardless of that...

There are a few things you can do to improve your simulation.

For starters, you should always run your simulation with objects which have had their scale applied (so their scale is 1.0,1.0,1.0). The reason for this is that the simulation will assume they are at their natural scale and any physical properties will be base on that scale. In your scene the 'pins' have been scaled - but there are also keyframes on the scale to set it back again. Therefore, select each 'pin' in turn and remove the keyframes on the Scale properties. Once done, select them all and Ctrl+A and Apply Scale.

Once you have applied the scale you can adjust your collision properties to set each of the 'pins' Soft Body 'Inner' zone to 0.35 (from the default of 0.2). This value is chosen to be around half the minimum size of the pin - so that the collision zones are as large as they can be without opposing faces' zones overlapping. This should result in more chance of the soft body vertices being repelled in the correct direction.

Since the collision objects are moving quite fast into the soft body meshes, the 'choke' Soft Body Solver setting could be resulting in the soft body being prevented from being repelled away from the collision mesh as fast as it otherwise would - it usually prevents intersecting objects from being flung away too fast but in this case we want to maximize the repulsion force, so reduce them to zero on each of the soft body meshes.

Freeing all baked dynamics and then re-baking them all (after first rewinding the timeline to the start) should now produce better results - although it's still not perfect.

The next stage would normally be to increase the Step sizes so that smaller steps are used when calculating the simulation and reduce the Error Limit. This does seem to help to a point but beyond certain values the collision appears to get worse again - as far as I can tell there is a bug in the soft body calculation with very large number of steps, to the point where using a very large number (eg, 30000) results in very odd results where the soft bodies appear to be sometimes repelled and at others completely ignore the pins moving through them. I'll attempt to pin this down further and, perhaps, report this as a bug if I can.

Anyway, I hope this gives you some pointers. My best simularion was using about 100 soft body steps (100 for Min and for Max) and reducing the Error Limit to 0.01. This produced the following result :

One further point I noticed is that your scene is at a rather non-realistic scale - the balls are around 2BU in diameter which equates to 2 metres in the 'real' world. I don't know if this is intentional. This means that the 'pins' are about 0.75 metres thick and are travelling at around 12 metres per second! It's hard to imagine how a 75cm thick bar hitting a 2m soft ball at nearly 30mph would behave but it probably wouldn't be pretty!

To get more of an idea of a more realistic scale I scaled the scene down so that the balls are a more reasonable scale and produced the following :


How can the rendering of metadata be suppressed? I have a problem with the rendering of animations: reviewing the saved file appears to inculde metadata (filename & framestart &frame end).
I would prefer not to include the metadata in each frame.

You can disable the metadata stamp in the render settings. Probably you just checked it by accident.


dissapearing geometry with scrolling How do I remove or at least lesson the cutoff geometry problems arrizing with my camera and the geometry I'm currently working at scale of centimeters for exporting into unreal to keep proportions as my assets though are at 10' right now

It looks like you need to adjust your camera clipping distance.

Select your camera and change the clipping end until you can see the full geometry.

If that doesn't work it's likely that you changed your viewport clipping.
In the viewport press 'N' to open up the side bar. Under 'View' edit the clipping distance as shown above.

You can change the clipping based on centimeters by changing the unit preset to centimeter. This can be done under the 'Scene tab':


position is messed up when I save quit my project My question is simple, I am modeling a tank and every thing was perfect since I hit arrow on my keyboard which messed positioning on my elements. I tried to put everything in the right place but whenever I save, quit and reopen my project everything is messed up again. what am I doing wrong ?

thanks for your help :-)

It sounds as though you have accidentally added some keyframes to your object's location (done by pressing I).  If this is correct the Timeline view should look something like this, with little yellow bars at the keyframes:

Because the object's location is keyframed, its position is defined by the animation curve between the keyframes.  If you move the object (without setting a new keyframe for that location) and then change frames or play the animation, Blender will automatically snap the object back to its proper position in the animation.

Pressing the < or > arrow keys will advance the animation by one frame left or right, the ^ or v keys will advance to the next or previous keyframes.

There are two ways to remove keyframes.  You can go to each individual frame with a keyframe and press Alt+I > Delete Keyframe.  Or you can go to the Graph Editor or Dope Sheet, select all the keyframes with A, and press Del or X > Delete Keyframes.


Why are the longer edges being beveled more? I'll preface this by saying I'm very new to Blender - I'm trying to put a bevel on an edge, looks something like this:

As you can see, the vertical side is much longer than the horizontal side.  When I apply to bevel to the edge there, the bevel stretches proportionally - so there's 'more' bevel on the longer side.  I want to bevel without any 'ratio' like that - just a 45-degree bevel, if that makes any sense.  Do I have to put in a loop cut to make the side lengths equal?  I tried using a sub-surf modifier, but it applies on a bunch of nearby edges, when I just want to round this one corner.

Object transforms are sort of like a non-destructive "offset", which is applied on top of the raw mesh data.

When you scale (or translate, rotate, etc.) an object in object mode, the actual mesh data is not affected. You can press AltS to clear the object scale at any time and go back to the basic mesh (similarly, AltG and AltR clear location and rotation).

So when you edit an object in edit mode, the object will appear with the object transforms, but you are editing the mesh data directly (without any transforms).

To visualize this, I'll use extruding, since it's effect is a bit more obvious than beveling.

What happens in the gif:

I extrude the faces of the normal cube. As you can see, the extrusions are all the same size.
I then scale the originally unscaled cube along the X axis. The extrusions along that axis are larger, since the mesh data is being "stretched" along the X by the object scale.
I extrude the faces of the already scaled cube. Naturally, the two cubes are now roughly the same. It's sort of like I'm editing the normal unscaled cube which is then scaled up on the X each time it's displayed.
I undo the extrusion on the scaled cube and apply the scale.
By applying the object transforms to the mesh data (CtrlA), the underlying mesh data is modified according the object transforms (which are then reset).
Now extruding the no-longer-scaled cube results in even extrusions.

Note that object scale only has this effect when it's not uniform across the axes. For example, a scale of 3, 3, 3 will not stretch the cube and make bevels or extrusions skewed, as all the axes are being stretched the same amount.

This goes for modifiers too. Modifiers operate on the base mesh data before it's adjusted by the object transforms.


How to add movie to timeline and start in middle of movie I am a complete newb with Blender, so please bear with me. I am trying to do some basic color correction/grading on drone footage, but in some cases I want to be able to insert a movie and start at, for example, 60 frames in. How do I do that? When I change the start frame for the movie, it just moves it forward in the timeline. Any ideas?

Below the Edit Strip tab, where you had set the Start Frame, there is the Strip Input tab.

If you want the strip to actually display a later frame on your frame 1, change the Start property below Trim Duration (hard) to your desired start frame of the clip.

Another more manual way of doing this.

Scrub forward to or pause on your desired start frame.
Press Shift + K to cut the clip into two.
Select the first (now redundant) clip and delete it by pressing X.
Select the clip which now starts on your desired frame and move it backwards to the start of the scene by pressing G and then dragging the mouse. Once in grab mode, you can also enter an offset (like "-60") with the keyboard.

Reference: Blender Manual Entry


Copy Custom Property and set it as a suffix of an object's name How to copy selected object's property and set it as a suffix of an object's name?
I have 3 objects in the scene, named a,b,c. Each one of them have a custom property named id with a corresponding value 10, 20, 30. What I want to achieve is to have that custom property pasted into their names as a suffix. Basically something like this:
a?id=10
b?id=20
c?id=30

Could you please suggest the simplest way? I was thinking about having some sort of a python script, that would allow me to do this for all of the selected objects in the scene.

Try this
import bpy
for ob in [*bpy.data.objects]:
    if not ob.select_get(): continue
    if "id" not in ob: continue
    suf = "?id=%s" % ob["id"]
    ob.name += suf


Adding festoon lights Hi! I’m making a scene in which I’d like to have festoon lights, preferably based of paths so I can change the forms on them. What is the best way to make these? I’d also like the lamps to be rotated independently. So, an array modifier won’t do the job properly. And you can’t put hair/particles on a path, right?

You can put planes on a path, and have them emit the bulbs.

Create your wire-curve
Create a plane, assign it Array and Curve modifiers to duplicate it down the curve
Create a bulb, or Collection of bulbs.

Set up a particle system on the array of planes. It's easier to illustrate some example settings than to list them all:

The rendering here is of a Collection of bulb-objects, and 'Count' is used here to strictly alternate them (but you can select randomly, if you prefer). In the render, the emitter is hidden:

With this sort of result:

Note you can sway the bulbs by CtrlT adjusting the Tilt of the curve at various points along it, and/or you can randomize their rotation a little in the Particle system.


Texture appears stretched in vertical faces of an object I am trying to apply a brick image texture on the walls (without UV unwrapping) and it appears stretched, but curiously on the ceiling, it appears correctly

EDIT: Just changed the projection in the "Image texture" node from "flat" to "Box" and it solved the problem after rendering the image, BUT in the Material viewport shading (which I want to use) still looks stretched.

Question, did you Ctrl-A apply rotation and scale? If your mesh has not been rest to 1, then it could be causing distortion. Also, is the texture distorted ONLY in Material draw, or also in Render draw too?


How to disable the automatic UV stretching after an image size is changed? I wanted to ask, if there is a way to disable the automatic UV stretching after an image size got changed?

Normally, it is not likely to happen. You need to learn more about how the UV coordinate space works. However, you can correct it by manually scale it down to the old proportion if you really want to keep the aspect ratio of that UV:

For example, let's say the old image resolution is 1000px * 1000px, and the new resolution is 500px * 1600px:

First, calculate two ratios: Rw={image_width_old}/{image_width_new} and Rh={image_height_old}/{image_height_new}. In this case, Rw=1000/500=2, and Rh=1000/1600=0.625.
Press A to select all UV elements, and SX2Enter, then SY0.625Enter. Done.

Furthermore, if you just simply unwrap it directly by some of the unwrap methods listed in the U menu (e.g. Project From View), then you can also consider do that again after switching to a different image, instead.

I'm sure this can also be done by scripting to make it semi-automatic, at least. So, welcome anyone who know the scripting version of this method and edit my answer.


How to create normal texture with node setup? My question is pretty simple. How do I create a normal texture by combining certain nodes with the diffuse texture? This would be really helpful and would save me LOADS of time! Thanks!

Your model
Add a material to it
Open a view and select node editor
You'll see your material initial setup
Add an image
Add an texture / image texture node and assign your image to it. Make sure to keep this node selected for the bake below
Go to the render panel
Select normal and click on "bake"

You can also bake bump maps, here is a example using a noise texture :


Light path - Transparent depth issue I made an earth object and gave it a material including the usage of the new input of the "Light path" node "Transparent depth" which makes the back faces invisible. However, when an object has transparency on it, the input ignores the object with the "Transparent depth" input behind it and makes it invisible.

The object itself -

Using a transparent object behind it -

Here's the file - http://www.pasteall.org/blend/31655

One thing you can do is make the material invisible only after it goes through two layers of transparency, rather than just one, by adding a greater than node:

The transparent depth output is incremented each time the ray goes through a transparent surface.

With your current setup, it is used to mix between a partially transparent shader and a completely transparent shader based on the number of transparent surfaces the ray has passed through. The partially transparent shader is used if no transparent faces have been encountered, and the completely transparent shader is used if more than 0 transparent surfaces.
For example, the logic looks something like this:

if transparent_depth >= 1:
    use_transparency()
else:
    use_shader()

Since you put another transparent surface in front of the sphere, you need to allow for that by only making the shader completely transparent after at least two transparent surfaces have been encountered.

By using a greater than node like in the setup above, the logic should look more like this:

if transparent_depth >= 2:
    use_transparency()
else:
    use_shader()


Right click won't bring up the Object Context Menu I just started using blender and am doing the new version of the famous donut tutorial. One problem, when I right click the donut in object mode, the object context menu doesn't appear, anyone know what's up?

I had the same issue. I had to go on my mac settings for the mouse under preferences and activate: Secondary click -> click on the right side.


How to make a good glow effect around a sun? I am trying to figure out how to make the space around the sun glow and than fade away into darkness.

The sun was made in blender using cycles render and several noise textures. The glow I have around my sun was made using Blenders Gurus tutorial for earth, atmosphere effect, to create a red glow. The sun will be animated so using composition is not going to work for me (sadly);

I realized one of the reasons why the method is not working is I am using surface rather than a volume shader, but As I tried to do it using volume shaders, I could not figure out what direction to take.

You could use a blend between a volume shader and an Emission shader to achieve this effect.

The trickier part would be to make it loose density as it moves away from the star center, fading into black.

For that you can use Cycles Gradient texture, set to some form of spherical falloff, so density decays as distance from the center increases.

Make sure you use Object texture coordinates and adjust the scale with a Vector Mapping node.

Use a color ramp to adjust density progression and color variance.


where can I find this in the python script? I would like to make the transparent box selected all time, but I am having trouble locating the python script to rewrite it.

Does anyone one know how to do this??
Thank you so :)
enter image description here

To find the source that displays a property,  RMB on it and choose edit source. If blender has a visible text editor it will show the script with the cursor on the relevant line, if no text editor is visible you will get a notice at the top of the window to see the script in the text editor.

Note that the UI scripts you will get only display existing values, if you alter the UI script to always turn the value on you will never be able to turn it off.

I would suggest making an addon that creates new objects and new materials with settings the way you want. This answer shows an example of injecting a button into an existing panel.


Lighting appears black/non-existent Hey I've been trying to render a basic scene in Blender, when viewing the scene in the render display mode the lighting appears pretty normal but when I actually render my scene it appears almost fully black, might be missing something obvious but at this point I don't know how to solve this.

This is how it appears in Render Display mode.

This is how it looks in the actual Render.

The object called "skybox"  hidden in preview, but renderable - can it block light from sun?

Look attentively in outliner. Object not marked with aye icon are invisible in preview, but they can be visible in render, if icon with camera is enabled (Like  "skybox" object).


problem with texture rendering I know that this is probably something simple, but when i render my project, I do not have any texture. The object remains completely black. I spend hours trying to understand, but still the same problem. I think it have something to do with the node stuffs, I do not understand much of it.

Here's the texture:

Here's the .blend:

Your object has three materials.

Go into edit mode, then select the materials one after each other and press the select and deselect buttons to find out, which material is assigned to the object. Right now, only the first material mug.002 is assigned to the object.

This material is set up wrong. It you can not plug a color output in the Surface - input of the Material Output node. The Surface input needs a BSDF output, like from the Diffuse BSDF node.

Fortunately, you already have a properly set up material for the object: Material. In edit mode, select all vertices A, then select the material Material and press Assign.

The material will show correctly.


Problem Exporting Rig/Character to UE4 When exporting my Rig/Character to fbx. I'll import it to UE4 and everything works but the feet. For some reason, each foot is disconnected and are created as their own Rig/Character in UE4. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong in blender and forgot something or if this is a UE4 problem.

Project File: http://www.filedropper.com/ue4charactertest3_2
Forgot to add that there is a error that comes along with the import to UE4.
"Could not find the bind pose. It will use time 0 as bind pose."

Make sure you export the mesh with rig rather that exporting them separately. Also in general make sure you've applies your rotation and scale etc and make sure mesh to rig parenting has been set up properly.


'Add scene ' in Video Editing doesn't insert the whole scene I've got a problem with the video editing mode. My scene is ready (it's just one scene and it is about 1800 frames long) and I would like to insert it via Add - Scene - Scene. That worked well the last time I did this, now I added one more animation and it doesn't work anymore. It now just insert a small strip with about 200 frames cut out in the middle of my scene. Changing startframe and length in the n-menu doesn't work at all.

Does anybody has an idea what the problem could be? Is my scene to long?

PS: I use cycles render if it matters.

Thank you sooo much for your help!!

Sabine

You need to set the "End Frame" for the scenes, both the one containing the animation and the scene for the VSE.
The end frame setting can be found in the Render tab under the Dimensions section of the Properties window.
Or in the header of the timeline, here it is simply named "End".

If you have the animation scene's length set right the whole clip will show up in the VSE, but it will only render 200 frames.
However if you only set the VSE scene's length, and leave the other at 200, you will only see 200 frames in the VSE, and it will only render what is in the VSE.


Missing 'Generate' button in Rigify Buttons tab I cannot find the Generate button to generate my rig, in the Blender Cookie Rigging Tutorial it should be found in the bottom right corner as another tab under the "Rigify Buttons" tab.

However I cannot see the Generate button under the Rigify Buttons tab. I can only see an add sample button.

You can see the Generate button in the bottom right corner of the screen clipping from the Youtube tutorial, but not on my screen.

The Generate Button is only available in Object Mode. The screenshot you posted shows that you're in Edit Mode Press Tab then the button should appear.


Switching Center to Objects Here's an interesting situation I'm facing right now. During modelling, I know that you make it easier to focus on an object by PRESSING PERIOD on your numpad. That way, the rotation will be oriented within that object.

My problem now is that my fullsize keyboard has gone caput and I'm now using a replacement keyboard with no NUMPAD at all.

So, during my modelling, I am having difficulty manimuplating the 3D space because I cannot control or place the CENTER to a specific object.

Is there a solution within the KEYS themselves?

Thanks

In the header of a 3D view, right-click on the View > Frame Selected menu item, and add it to your Quick Favorites and/or create a new keyboard shortcut for it.


How can I edit greyed out Keyframes again? I'm having some issues that some keyframes in the Action Editor are greyed out and I can't edit them anymore. I'm not sure if I accidentally pressed some button, but this has never happened to me before and I've been using blender for some years now.
MAIN PROBLEM:
I can't delet the keyframes, set new ones or do anything, not even more them on the timeline. Anyone having an idea what is wrong?

You have Locked your keyframes. Press the padlock icon next to the object name to unlock them again:


applying build modifier in bge Hello everyone I am a frequent user of this forum however I only made an account recently.

In this basic game I am making as a hobby I have made a HUD with a circle that has have gaps, so that it look digital, I used a build modifier to crate the animation of it going around the center, now the problem I am having is when I apply the modifier it doesn't keep the animation. How would I keep the animation and apply the modifier?

Thanks for any help

How would I keep the animation and apply the modifier?

You can't.

Explanation

Applying a modifier means it converts your setup to a static mesh.

In relation to the BGE there are three ways to it deals with modifiers:

Supported Modifier

The BGE can run that modifiers. E.g. the armature modifier.

Automatically Applied Modifier

The BGE applies the modifier when loading the scene into a static mesh. This is like the user presses the apply button.

Unsupported Modifier

These modifiers are simply ignored and have no effect (but might disturb the processing of other modifiers).

Conclusion

In difference to Blender the BGE is not build around Modifiers. To get the effect you want I suggest to look at Logic Bricks (Playing actions, hiding/showing objects, moving object, adding/removing objects).


Spiral array but with fibonacci sequence I am trying to make a sunflower.
The seeds in a flower grow in a spiral.
Whenever I add an array spiral and make it follow the curve, it doesn't seem to look quite right. This is because it doesn't follow a Fibonacci sequence. How can I fix this to look more like the real thing?
How can I make my array follow a Fibonacci spiral without running into spacing issues?

My current pattern with the array modifier following the spiral curve:

The pattern I am trying to create:

Pasting the following code will create vertices in the distinct pattern, however it will not place any specific objects instead of those vertices. How would I go about modifying the script so it will place down an object instead of a vertex?

import bpy
import bmesh
import math

n = 1000 # number of points
c = 0.1 # scale factor

mesh = bpy.data.meshes.new(name="Spiral")
bm = bmesh.new()

for i in range(0, n):
    theta = i * math.radians(137.5)
    r = c * math.sqrt(i)
    bm.verts.new((math.cos(theta) * r, math.sin(theta) * r, 0.0))

bm.to_mesh(mesh)
mesh.update()

from bpy_extras import object_utils
object_utils.object_data_add(bpy.context, mesh)

Use Dupliverts

Result using icosphere as "seed"

Organic yet accurate modeling with the golden spiral

  @Rekov Hi, Thank you for your response. While it does answer the
  question on how to create the spiral, it does not show how to create
  the spiral out of the objects which currently exist in the scene
  collection. To clarify, I have modeled a "seed" and I need the python
  script to take the data of that seed to create the spiral instead of
  simple vertices. Please let me know what you think.

Similar to the dupli part of answer here, https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/163958/15543 and using the fibonacci sphere from Closing "Fibonacci's Hole"

Since I already had it: Grabbed the code from https://gist.github.com/batFINGER/64db074e95b716f839a71882b7efcc50 appended code below to make a 2048 point Fibonacci sphere, added an ico sphere, (pick up your own seed object) make it a child and dupliverted it to the sphere.

Set the normals of the mesh to the radial direction from origin.

n = 2048

me = SFBMesh(n).mesh

for v in me.vertices:
    v.normal = v.co.normalized()

ob = bpy.data.objects.new("Fibo", me)

bpy.context.collection.objects.link(ob)

bpy.ops.mesh.primitive_ico_sphere_add()
ico = bpy.context.object
ico.parent = ob
ico.scale *= 0.1
ob.instance_type = 'VERTS'
ob.use_instance_vertices_rotation = True

Here is one made of Suzannes, removed all verts with negative z coord, and scaled the sphere to one tenth in z.


Is it possible to group several objects and then manipulate them (scale, rotate, translate) as one? I've never been quite able to figure out how groups work in Blender (at least not since 2.5/6x). Is it possible to group several objects and then manipulate them (scale, rotate, translate) as one?

Groups in itself are not that useful. You cannot directly manipulate a group of objects as one object. Although groups make it easier to select objects with Shift + G.

The real power of a group comes from instancing and dynamic linking. Which I will explain:

Instancing:

Once you've created a group, you can instantiate this group elsewhere in the scene by Add>Group Instance. This saves you the trouble of creating literal duplicates of your objects. Consider a city scene, I might have a number of objects that makes up a car model. By grouping these objects into a group, I can place a car group instance anywhere in the scene with very little overhead.

Dynamic Linking:

In many ways, dynamic linking is an extension of instancing. The only difference is that we are using a group from another blend file(often called a library). Dynamic linking is a very useful feature in a large production, because it allows larger scenes to be broken up in smaller chunks. (managed by different people)


Is there any advantage to using child particles with object particles? Child particles can help give the appearance of many particles without slowing things down too much, which is especially useful when the particles will be combed or simulated.

But what about when using an object or group for a particle system which is not going to be combed or simulated? Are there any advantages to using child particles in this case?

There is very little advantage. Child Particles make copies of existing particles to reduce the computational power needed. When using objects as the display type for the particles, it is displaying a (translated) copy of that object at each and every particle. As far as render time goes, this will make no difference. When first setting up the particle system, using child particles will let you simulate the particles faster - but once you have the system set how you want it, it does not make much of a difference in render time.

Best way to answer this is to test it:
The following data was gathered from a test scene with a particle system on a simple plane, and using default (non-manifold) Suzannes as the display object. All children were identical:

Suzannes:   Actual Particles:   Children Particles: Total Render Time:
10,000          10,000              0                   00:28.19
10,000          1,000               10                  00:17.02
10,000          100                 100                 00:21.85

Clearly, it takes the longest for Blender to render the 10,000 separate particles, as it must calculate all 10,000. child particles are less intensive, but only up to a point. When you get too many child particles, there begins to be no computational gain between calculating extra particles, and calculating a large number of duplicate particles. This is why one can expect the best performance by using some child particles (but not going overkill).


How can I adjust background color of blendfile previews? Before Blender 2.74, the background of Blender files (not the 3D View, not the rendered picture, but previews in the Windows file manager) have matched the Horizon-Color setting in Blender Render (Properties>World>World>Horizon Color).

Unless you havent set camera on a fullscreen model or scene, all parts of the camera where nothing (no geometry/transparent space) is shown, appear in the color of this setting.

But with Blender 2.74 released, the background color went transparent for overwritten files, ignoring the Horizon setting.

Is there a way to change the color again (without geometry)?

Go to [File] > [User preferences...]

Click the tab [Themes]

Select [3D view] on the list on the left

Scroll down to section [Theme background color] > [Gradient High/Off]

Click the color to choose a new one.


Workflow for filling complex shapes with a 3D pattern Currently for work I'm supposed to visualize honeycomb patterned cardboard filling in more complex shapes, and I'm struggling a lot with finding a good workflow for doing this.
The first option I tried was using shrinkwrap as well as deformations to deform a real honeycomb mesh onto it's shape. This was very messy and slowed down my workflow tremendously..
Second option I tried (after lots of googling) was layering a lot of alpha image textures on top each other to fake depth to give the impression of the honeycomb pattern being a 3D object. This seemed to work really well and made me happy to work with, but only works when the top and bottom layer are the same, which almost always doesn't seem to be the case (me and my boss later found out)..
Third option (my current method). This method I really like, Via an object I project the HC pattern on the mesh and via a shader it generates a 3D hard volume of the honeycomb. This method seems to work really well, but there is one issue with it.. I can't use UV coordinates! Not being able to use the UV's makes it very hard to show the honeycombs bendabillities since it now projects only from the top
I'm not some kind of node wizard so I'm really clueless how I could fill complex shapes with a honeycomb pattern that looks 3D and is also nice to work with.. Am I at the edge of what's possible via 3D? Is there another way?
Thanks in advance, any help is very much appreciated!

I'm no node wizard, so I'd recommend the Displacement node.
Then you can use UV maps for better control.

Add a Subdivision modifier set to Simple (4+ levels)
Use your hexagon texture to drive the Displacement node
Enable true Displacement in material properties

You can also drive the thickness using a BW texture


Retopology Newby - Used Shrinkwrap Modifier - Whats next? Hellooo Everybody:),

could you help me with my little problem?
I'm pretty much a Blender newby, but for a project I needed to get my Retopology after Sculpting done.
So I've watched a view Youtube Videos and I did my Retopology with the Shrinkwrap Modifier.

But here's the Problem:
I have absolutely no idea what I have to do next. I now have 2 different models. One low Poly for the retopology and one High Poly with over 400k Vertices.
How do I bring them together? Or do I need to bring them together to one model? But if not, which one do I use for UV Mapping? I'm just so unexperienced :3..

All the Videos I've watched only show the process during the retopology. But they dont show what you need to do after you've done all.

And If I only Apply the Shrinkwrap Modifier, I still have two models ..

Please help :3.

Retopology reduces the geometry of the mesh to a lower-poly state. You've done that, which is already a huge step. This will decrease render times.

As you've surely noticed you've lost some detail during the retopology process, and that is a shame - but luckily there is a way to get around that: Baking a normal map. This will allow you to add the additional, fine detail in the material which will be vastly more efficient to render compared to the high-poly version of the mesh. This does require your low-poly mesh to be UV unwrapped - this tells blender how an image will fit on the model.

As a first step you want to move the models into each other - so that they occupy the same space (overlap, essentially). After that go to the UV/Image Editor and create a new image (Select Image -> New in the top bar). Select an image resolution. Set the background color to black and generate it.

After that you want to make sure that you're in cycles, and under render settings find the "Bake" option. Click the "Selected to Active" checkbox. Set the Bake Type to Normal.

Select your high-poly mesh, after that select your low-poly mesh while holding Shift.

Finally we need to tell blender where to bake the image to. To do this go to the material node editor and add an image texture node. Once it's been added select your image in the drop down menu. Select the node as well, and then hit the bake button. Yes, this is a somewhat confusing workflow.

Once you've hit bake you should see an updated normal map. If you get some weird green spots in your normal map you want to go and increase the "Ray Distance" setting in the render options.

If you want to see the workflow rather than read it I'd recommend this youtube video right here


When is it ok to subdivide? I'm new to blender and I wonder what's the best way, with the least side effects, to add more detail to a model's face. It seems that the loop cut is the cleanest way of doing it but at the cost of adding unnecessary geometry. Subdivide seems like the obvious solution to a lot of problems but then you can't use a lot of features as it can create ngons. So when do you use it?

When modelling something you would always add minimal geometry (eg. loop cuts) and work with it until the shape of the object cannot be further improved with the current geometry! This is very important, as if you start adding too much geometry initially, you will get lost and you make your task exponentially harder, because you will have to manually manipulate so much more verts.

Now, in most cases you should avoid subdividing altogether, before you are finished modelling, in a sense. Meaning that with your modelling you would have laid out the optimal topology of the model and would have made sure that every vertex and every face is absolutely necessary for describing the object and maintaining the topology! Only then you would subdivide, to get a smoother result (as your object would be approximated at a higher resolution).

Having said that, don't consider the subdivision taboo and absolutely neglect it. Usually it is good practice to check the topology of your mesh, every once in a while, by subdividing it and seeing if it flows and looks natural... this way you can also spot duplicate vertices or holes in the mesh.

I am not a pro modeler and maybe someone could argue this is not always the case, however those are some tips that help me.


Transparent textures that allow light to shine through I was wondering if there is a way to edit a png texture to allow light to shine through its alpha channel. As though the transparent alpha not actually present in 3D space to block the light.  I am using Blender Internal with a spotlight to cast god rays behind my object, and as of right now, the transparency on my mesh plane is blocking out the light.
Any solution is greatly appreciated, and if you also know how to solve the problem in Cycles, I'm open to that option as well (as I know I will be completing similar projects with Cycles as well).

In Cycles you don't need to do anything special, just set your material to use the image's alpha channel to control the mix of a diffuse (or other shader) and a transparent shader.  The light will pass right through the transparent areas:

click on the image to enlarge

To get volumetrics you need to change the world texture to have some volume scatter (and increase the intensity of your lights a bit):

For Blender Internal it's a bit trickier:

Set the transparency for the material by enabling the transparency box and moving the Alpha value to 0:

On the texture settings enable the

Use Alpha option for the image

and on Infulence settings enable Alpha

That will let the light pass through the texture, but other objects will receive the shadow of the mesh, not the transparency of the texture.

For other objects to receive the shadow cast by the transparency, you have edit their manterial and on the Shadow section enable Receive Transparent

Now... as far as creating a volumetric light that uses that transparency... It just doesn't seem possible.

The buffer shadows on the lamp seem to be follow only the mesh...

When you are expecting for something like this:

To create such image, you need to have a real mesh, not just a texture, to create the correct shadows.


Random stacked pellets for a scientific study For a scientific study about air flow distribution through stacked pellets we want to build a model (stl-file) of hunderds of random stacked pellets in space.  The individual pellets have all a dimension of 10 mm length and a diameter of 6 mm. The pellets have to be stacked in a way that they can make only surface contact with each other but without cutting through the volume of each other.

Do you think this is possible with Blender?

For illustration (see attachment) I made a small example in CAD software (Geomagic Design) based on a stl-file of one pellet but it is very time consuming to do it manually.  By the way… up to now I don’t have any experience with Blender.

Thank you for your answer!

Paul

I think I might have a solution. I am not sure if it will meet all the requirements, but maybe it will help.

You can achieve the render above by using an awesome add-on called Animation Nodes.

Here are the instructions:

1.Go to https://github.com/JacquesLucke/animation_nodes, download and install the add-on as you would with any other.

2.Make sure the add-on is enabled and then add the object that we will be instancing into the 3d view. In your case the pellet, I used a cylinder.

3.Switch the screen layout from default to compositing.

4.In the node editor, on the bottom,  click on the animation nodes tree type. It should be on the right of View Select Add Node. Then, click new.

5.Now we are ready to create the node tree. Each node can be added by pressing Shift A and choose it from there or Ctr A and type the name of the necessary node. I will be using the latter.

6.Press Ctr A , type object instancer and select it. Here you can select how many pellets you want and underneath you can select the pellet model itself(where the little cube is).

Click on the object instancer node and press w. You will get a pie menu. Click on Loop through Objects.Now you will get two more nodes: Invoke subprogram(which will be connected to object instancer) and the Loop input.

8.Press Ctr A again and type Object Transforms Output. Check the XYZ checkboxes on Location and Rotation.

9.Now, on the Loop Input node, grab the black socket that has the word Object next to it, click it and drag to the black socket of the Object Transforms Output.

10.Next, press Ctr A and type random vector . Go back to the Loop input node and drag the blue socket from Index to the Seed of Random vector, then from the Vector of Random Vector to Location of Object Transforms Output.

Play around with the scale and node seed of Random Vector to get the positions that you want.

Finally, let's randomize the rotation: Ctr A , type Random Euler, drag the Index of Loop Input to Seed of Random Euler and from the Euler of Random Euler to Rotation of Object Transforms Output.

And that's it, change the values of scale and seeds of both Random Vector and Random Euler until you get the number of pellets you want. If you want to add more pellets, go to the Object Instancer Node and add as many instances as you need.

Hope this was helpful! If you have any other questions about this method please go ahead!


Implementing a Night Sky with stars, the moon? I am researching how to implement the night sky, and I have found this useful answer (Stars background in cycles) that explains how to get the background to be filled with stars (even the milky way). I need some help with the lighting though: how can I simulate the light coming from this night sky? I could simulate the moonlight with a sun light, but how about a certain level of illumination generated by, for example, a city?

Thanks.

One possible solution is to use HDRIs like the ones available for free at HDRI haven.

They have night skies.

Use is trivial (see below). Also they "rotate" realistically with the camera, which is harder to achieve otherwise.

Go to your World settings, click on the dot at the right of Color, choose Environment, then pick the HDRI file you downloaded. You can adjust the strength afterwards.

Assuming 2.80 (works with 2.79 though).


How to display hidden functions in menu bar? I use (and study) the Blender 2.8x and find the Solidify function in menu of Mesh in Edit mode by hotkey F3 and entered keyword but the function don't displayed in menu bar. How display all available and hidden functions in menu bar? How to get a list of all hidden functions?

The function is available in Edit mode under Face > Solidify Faces.
You can then adjust it in the pop-up overlay.

I believe all functions are accessible through the main menu bar, they're just hard to find sometimes. :).


How can I open an image with a Python script in Windows? In the script editor in Blender 2.79 on Windows, I can open an image with:

bpy.ops.image.open(filepath="C:\\path\\to\\image.png")

However, if I put this code in a .py file and open Blender from the command line (git bash, in this case), passing the .py file with a --python flag, Blender crashes:

  Error: EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION

What's up here?

Looks like a bug, it works in Blender 2.78c – I've reported it here: https://developer.blender.org/T53446

Update: Fixed in 2.79a: https://developer.blender.org/rB5b3c15e3363aa7bea5d26c56191b7e8e74021868


My UV unwrapped image flips between edit mode and preview mode this is a weird one. I have an unwrapped cylinder. I have checked the uv map is correctly oriented. I added the texture coordinates and a mapping node.

When I look at it in edit mode, the image shows correctly.

But, when I go to render or look at rendered mode, the image flips 90 degrees to a horizontal position.

Where did I go wrong?

Okay, I figured it out with a suggestion from Jachym Michal (I think it was you).

The boolean modifiers were messing with the uv map. Which makes sense, when I think about it.

After applying the modifiers, I needed to go back in and redo the UV map to make the image appear where I wanted.


How to move object to a global position using hotkeys? When I move an object using, for example GXO it has no effect at all.
It seems like this kind of shortcut works relative to the current transformation.

How can I use the same, except setting the object's global position instead?

When moving an object you can type in measurements that are distances from the current location of the object to move. Similar options are available for scale and rotate.

With 2.70 we also have an advanced input mode which lets us use some basic python to calculate the distance with something like sin or pi. I don't know of any access (yet) to the current global location to use in this calculation.

So to set the global location of an object you need to edit the object properties.

These are also available in the properties sidebar (Press N) of the 3dview.

If you have a python console visible you could also alter the active object by typing in C.active_object.location.x = 0.0 or C.active_object.rotation_euler.y = 0.0 You can also access any object by name with D.objects['Cube'].location.x = 0.0

C and D are predefined variables in the blender python console C = bpy.context and D = bpy.data


Why is the symmetrize function cutting a face? I'm following a tutorial to build a robot. I have done as the instructor asked and created this cylinder as hinge.  When I try to symmetrize it, rather than duplicating it, it just puts a cut in the face such as in the attached picture.

I also noticed some weird issues as I pan around it. I've screen captured it so you can better see what I am talking about.

Youtube link here.

2 steps to solving this.

Firstly, to mirror to the other side of the head, your origin point needs to be in the center of the head because the orogin is the point everything is mirror from.
Then
Immediatly after symmetrizing a menu in the lower left will appear saying "Symmetrize". Click the triangle and a drop down will appear. Change the direction until you find something that fits your intention. It appears that you want to select X+ to -X in your object transforms, but this could depend on your objects rotation because the symmetry is local to the object's rotation as apposed to constant to the world scale.


How to fill ngon with quads? Using knife project I have created a custom mesh for a modular Unity asset so it works for my use case. I now have a n-gon that creates a really ugly topology in Unity:

I would like create quads from my ngon. It should be simple but I can not find a way to do that. The knife tool does not snap to vertices initially. Once you start the first cut it seems to snap to vertices but then I would have to start cutting again to start at any other existing vertex.
If I right-click a edge I get teh Knife topology tool which lets me snap on a vertex. I ended up with this topology, not too bad for a noob?

Bisect with boundary edges.
Based on the rectangular nature of the corners of given mesh.

Sample result, far from optimized as some edges above could be dissolved.
A script to create a plane from all the boundary edges. The plane coord is edge center, the plane normal is nominated up direction (Z axis) crossed with edge direction.
Script, run in edit mode.  Note in hindsight should limit this to selected ngons, and edges.  For test sake make the ngon its own object, place in edit mode.
import bpy
import bmesh
from mathutils import Vector

ob = bpy.context.edit_object
me = ob.data

bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(me)

up = Vector((0, 0, 1))
def as_plane(e):
    return (
        (e.verts[0].co + e.verts[1].co) / 2,
        up.cross(e.verts[1].co - e.verts[0].co).normalized(),
        )

planes = [as_plane(e) for e in bm.edges if e.is_boundary]

while planes:
    plane_co,  plane_no = planes.pop()
    if plane_no.length < 1e-4:
        continue
    bmesh.ops.bisect_plane(
            bm,
            geom=bm.edges[:] + bm.faces[:],
            plane_co=plane_co,
            plane_no=plane_no,
            )

bmesh.ops.remove_doubles(
        bm,
        dist=1e-4,
        )

bmesh.update_edit_mesh(me)


How to make this look human This is my second try to model a character this time I set the goal , that the model looks similar to me.

I have put really much effort in this, but I'm not happy with the result. It doens't look human.

What is the cause? How can I better imitate a human? How can I make it look like me? Which parts of the face should I rework? Is the texturing right?

It's not too bad. I couldn't say about the texture because your picture is too dark. But about the proportions I would say:

Lengthen the forehead
Shorten the chin
Scale down and spread the ears
Scale down and rise the nose up
Scale up the mouth and thicken the lower lip
Make the neck straight
...

To compare you could overlay your photo with your mesh, either in Blender or Photoshop.


Fcurve noise modifier: change settings with python I have a noise modifier on a scaling action on a cube. I want to adjust the scale, strength and phase settings of the modifier, for all three axes of the action, with python.

I can add the modifier:

bpy.ops.anim.keyframe_insert_menu(type='Scaling')
bpy.context.area.type = 'GRAPH_EDITOR'
bpy.ops.graph.fmodifier_add(type='NOISE')

but I can't figure out how to access the modifier settings for scale, strength and phase.

You shouldn't ever use bpy.ops.anim.keyframe_insert_menu(), it's solely meant for user interface interaction. Use Object.keyframe_insert() (not the operator!) instead.

There's also no reason to use bpy.ops.graph.fmodifier_add(), especially because the dependency on an area type. Use the low-level RNA methods instead:

import bpy

ob = bpy.context.object

ob.keyframe_insert("scale") # ensures animation_data and action are not None
action = ob.animation_data.action

for fcu in action.fcurves:
    if fcu.data_path == "scale":
        mod = fcu.modifiers.new("NOISE")
        mod.scale = 5


Alpha channel through glass material instead of background (Cycles) I'm trying to render some windows, reflecting an environment map, and to be transparent to let light enter inside the house. There are two windows facing each, and I need to see throught both, and keep the alpha channel here.

Here are the window's material nodes that do (half) the trick :

But, as you can see, there is no reflection on windows, which is needed. The "is Camera Ray" is overriding the reflections too. But if I don't add the "is Camera Ray" to the "is Shadow Ray", the background is rendered instead of alpha channel:

So, is there a way to have a "glass" material with both:

reflections of an env map,
light passing through
alpha channel through

EDIT: Well, the answer from duplicate question suggested doesn't solves the problem. The main difference here is that some parts of the rendered material is viewed over another object (interior walls, here), while some area is over background. The answer from the suggested duplicate does only take account of an object over background only.

By mixing a glass or glossy shader with a transparent shader based on a fresnel node, rays will be allowed straight through the glass at smaller angles of incidence, and will reflect at grazing angles. Rays which go through and reach the environment background will give alpha transparency:

Note that the Fresnel node is not necessary for mixing (setting the factor directly will get something like what you are looking for), but it does make the reflections of the material behave in a more physically based manner.


Change that convoluted font mesh hi! haha, the example is a bit simple but converted font meshes tend to be so complex as more complex the fonts you use. and i saw a vid tutorial [if not for completely forgetting what tutorial it was again :( ]
that tutorial shows how to neatly 'gridify' the mesh which i think is so useful.

~ something like this

could anyone share how you do this? thanks!~

You may achieve this type of topology (although it is not perfect) using the Remesh Modifier.

First extrude yout text mesh a bit.

Go to Object Mode and enable the Remesh Modifier

In Object header, in the Display panel check the Wire checkbox. It'll allow you to see how the modifier works in a realtime.

Uncheck the Remove Disconected Pieces checkbox (if you don't some of the letters may dissapear) and play with the modifier's settings.

At the end delete the previously extruded vertices.


Is there a way to visualize the tris of a scene? Is there a way to visualize the tris of a scene ?

I want to visualize them in the viewport, because sometimes I want to turn the hidden edge of some quads.

Selecting All Triangles

You can use the MeshLint add-on to select all the triangular faces in your mesh.

Another way is to select a triangular face, Select Similar ShiftG > Polygon Sides and this will select all tris.

Rotating Edges

If you have a mesh where the quads have been converted to tris you can "turn" or "rotate" the orientation of the edge within that triangulated quad.

For example, in the screen shot below there is a Suzanne mesh that has been converted to all tris using the Triangulate Modifier. In Edit Mode if we select an edge that bisects a quad we can then press CtrlE and from the contextual menu choose Rotate Edge CW or Rotate Edge CCW depending on whether you want Clockwise or Counter-Clockwise rotation (for a triangulated quad it makes no difference which you choose, the result is the same).

Further details

This operation can also be accessed from the menu under Mesh > Edges. It can be performed in all three selection modes (Vertex / Edge / Face).

If you plan to do this operation many times repeatedly it would probably be best to assign a keyboard shortcut to it. While the contextual menu is open you can right click on the menu items and assign shortcuts.

An example utilizing the Mac's "Command" modifier key:


How to properly use git with blender? We normally save backups with .blend1 and so on (but I will ignore all the .blendNumber files), but if I wanted to have a repository and maybe 2 or more people working on it at the time, how should I go about that (is possible to resolve conflicts?).

Also what about the textures because if I pack them and only change the texture, all the blend file will be changed so it can conflict if some one changes the texture and other person change the model.

Or I should go in the path of one repo per asset?

I should also say that this is on the path of game develop, but it should be helpful for movies, short cuts and any other that want to use git as a history as on:

http://who-t.blogspot.mx/2009/12/on-commit-messages.html
http://chris.beams.io/posts/git-commit/
https://github.com/erlang/otp/wiki/Writing-good-commit-messages

From Neil answer

https://github.com/ldo/blendgit

I would suggest checking out ShapeDo, which is like github for 3D cad files.

It suppoorts blender files and tracks changes much better since it "understands" 3D files and doesn't just compare the raw text or binary file content. Also supports previews for collaborations, and is still free as far as I know.


Should Every Different Textured Piece Be It's Own Object Just looking for best practice here. Let's say I'm building a house. The roof, windows, door and shutters are all different textures. Should this all be one object or multiple objects (and if so, should they all be parented to the same object?)?

I would assume they should be different objects so I can apply different textures. Is this the correct assumption?

Thanks!

If you're just concerned about how the object looks, there might not be any reason to make them separate objects; multiple materials can be assigned to a single object:

Add a material slot and new material
Select some vertices
Assign the material to the selected vertices


Is it possible to composite a scene without rendering from the command line? There are options to enable or disable the compositor, but is it possible to composite without rendering ?

./blender --background my_file.blend --composite-only \
    --render-result-from-file my_render_result.exr \
    --render-output my_file_output.exr

Setting bpy.context.scene.render.use_compositing allows us to enable or disable the compositor but I cannot find a good way to skip rendering.

The best workaround I have found is finding the layer with the least objects and only enabling that layer for each render layer in order to get the quickest render and then using a script like:  https://github.com/armadillica/flamenco/blob/master/flamenco/manager/application/task_compilers/tiled_blender_render_simple_mix.template to add image nodes to simulate the render result.

Is there a better way to do this ?

Yes, there is a better way to do this. If your composting process doesn't require a render, it should be in its own file. You would do whatever rendering you need, save those out to OpenEXR (or some other format) and use an Image Node to read in your image, or sequence of images and run those through your compositing process.

The way that you "skip" rendering is by deleting all "Render Layer" input nodes and all 3D cameras. This causes problems if you need cameras in your scene, which is why your composting should be in another Blender project.

Alternately, you could put the compositing in another scene in the same Blender file, if that's how you're organizing things.


Can't import characters and animations from mixamo I'm new to blender and I can't seem to understand where I'm going wrong with this. So I made a landscape, and wanted to import a character from mixamo. I downloaded the character with a simple animation and it comes out iether without a body and only its bone structure in Collada (.dae) , or in FBX it comes out all deformed.
collade: This is how the character looks like when imported as a .dae

This is how it looks when imported as fbx:

and this is how it looks when I try to rotate the fbx-imported character.

It is extremely frustrating. I hope some one can help me with this. Thank you all in advance.

The Fbx is ok, but the mesh is controlled by its armature, so if you want to rotate it you have to rotate the armature, not the object.


Bending a road at 90 degrees for a modular road system? I'm building a modular road system. I'm trying to make a road piece that bends around 90 degrees. Essentially a quarter of a circle in shape. I've used (Pi x Diameter)/4 to get the length my road needs to be.

The original piece looks like this. a 10mx10m road piece extended to 100mx10m by using the array modifier and applying it. Extending the length to 157.07963m. Reset Rotation and Scale.

Simple deform modifier seems to be the tool to use.

Something doesn't seem to be adding up though. With a diameter of 200 (200m x Pi)/4 gives me 157.07963. If I start of with this length of road and apply a 90 degree angle bend the final mesh has dimensions of y 38.131m and x 148.49m. I would expect to see y=100 , x=100, i.e the radius. The original mesh is y=10m x=157.08m.

To make matters worse, when I rotate it 45 degrees, I can see that the top of the ends aren't even straight.

Modifier Used

hatinacat2000's solution is great, but this was really bugging me and I had to find out what I was doing wrong.

My main mistake was having the centre of my road at 0,0 and also the minor mistake of having doubles in there from the array.

It's easier just to show an image of where the road should be. The empty axis is at 0,0.


Renderfarm ERROR:EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION I have 4 computers running  blender where 2 of them are slaves, one is a master, and one is the client. I am using the Network Render Add-on.
After about 50% of the render is complete, I get the following error:

The slaves are idle, but the job just shows as queued:

I'm getting this error with both Cycles and Blender Render. But in Cycles, the render doesn't even start.
Does anyone know what is going on?

An EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION can only ever be caused by a thread accessing virtual RAM that it's not supposed to. That's the only possible cause.

There are only two ways that can happen.

1) a thread is writing to a RAM location that belongs to another thread. I cannot stress enough how uncommon this case is for production applications. This is practically unheard of. If this ever happens (which is rare) it's a driver, not an application.

2) an application ran out of memory. It's NOT uncommon that a program will "detect" that there is no more available memory by just attempting to address some, getting told "STAHP!," and then crashing.

I suspect that you're loading a lot more than you think you are, or you have some kind of weird circular dependency that is just recursively loading stuff until it crashes. This has also happened when the GPU runs out of VRAM. There's a weird thing that when a GPU runs out of VRAM, sometimes nobody listens... consequently, the system keeps loading stuff, ignoring the fact that it's all going to RAM... and then Virtual RAM... and then crashes.

I'd recommend manually trying to render on each machine to make sure they're all working fine.

Unsolicited Advice

Really, the best way to network render if you have fewer than 10 machines is to set up a network drive (or Dropbox, but DB is slower) and have all your machines render separately (as if they were rendering by themselves) to that location. Turn on "Placeholder" and turn OFF "Overwrite." Each machine will attempt to render a frame by creating an empty file with the right name. Because "Overwrite" is OFF, when it sees that a file with that name already exists, it will skip to the next frame. It will continue skipping until it's able to create a placeholder. Then it will start rendering that frame. When it finishes rendering the frame, it'll attempt to create a placeholder for the next frame, and the cycle starts over again.

This method is great because it automatically balances the load among "differently-abled" machines. Each machine just renders the next frame in the sequence. You can also stop any machine at any time, and add any machine at any time, without disrupting the process. Especially if you've got them all loading the same Blender file from the same location (network or Dropbox), you don't have to spend a lot of time copying Blender scenes from one computer to another.

Note: If your frames are coming out too fast, or if your network is too slow, two machines might create the same placeholder at the same time, and that frame will (oddly) end up getting skipped. Just stop one of the machines, delete the skipped file, and start it again. That machine will skip to the gap, render that image, and then skip to the next missing frame.


Is there a way to apply a transformation across preexisting keyframes? I'm working on a modification of a preexisting weapon model's animations for a game mod, and need to make adjustments to the animations for the swapped model. What I essentially need to do is move one bone and then apply that transformation throughout all of the keyframes in the animation.

The obvious way to go about this would be to go through every key frame in every animation and type out the transforms with precise values, but that's incredibly time consuming and seems a likely way for me to make mistakes.
Is there a way that I can perform one transformation, and then apply it to every other keyframe?

On a related note, is there a way I can align the camera to a bone's particular axis? If there's no way to perform a mass transform like this, it would at least eliminate a lot of potential for error by doing transformations by the view's orientation with consistent accuracy from frame to frame.

Keyframes can be created, read, updated and deleted.
Descriptions can be accurate or inaccurate.
From your description it leads the reader to believe you can delete all the keyframes for one particular bone and then create a single new keyframe or transformation.  If there are no keyframes the current transformation is the one that dominates.


Background image not displaying I set a background image (below) but it's not displaying while editing, and yes I'm not in ortho mode.  Any ideas?  Also attached a screenshot.

Update: this above part is now answered in comments—you must be in one of the preset ortho views or the camera view, and not the general ortho view or the perspective view.

I'm also interested in making this show up in my Cycles render, but it's not showing up despite having checked the Transparent checkbox under the Film panel.

Threads I've already read include:

How do I set a background image while I am editing?
Background image is not displaying in rendered mode
I can't see my background image in the 3D view

Background images will only be displayed in:

Camera Prespective view (Numpad 0)
Any of the preset Orthographic views:

Front/Back (Numpad 1 or Ctrl Numpad 1)

Right /Left (Numpad 3 or Ctrl Numpad 3)

Top/Bottom (Numpad 7 or Ctrl Numpad 7)

To toggle between Prespective and orthogonal view use Numpad 5


Rigs are deforming strangely Earlier today, I had some trouble because of the rigs moving other parts. Thankfully that was solved, but now I have another problem (as you can see, I'm pretty new to rigging people). I want my limbs to bend sharply, except they're curving at the joints. How do I solve this? I suppose it involves something with weight painting?

The lower arm mesh is influenced by the upper arm bone. You need to do several things:

First put your Armature modifier above the Subsurf, enable Preserve Volume, plus I don't think you need 2 for Viewport Subdivisions but it's a detail.
Your topology needs to be aligned on your bones and also you need to make sure that it will allow your elbow to bend smoothly, so move your elbow edge and bevel it.
Select the armature then the object, switch to Weight Paint mode, in the N panel > Tool, choose Blend > Subtract or Mix depending on if you want to subtract or add influence, in the Options only keep 2D Falloff so that you'll be able to paint through the mesh.
Select the upper arm and paint its influence so that it doesn't cross the elbow, same for the lower arm.
Move your bones to test.


In Blender 2.8, how to make an animation with different objects appear at different keyframes I am new to blender. I have a question related to the animation in 2.8. Actually, I have several obj files, and I import them to get multiple objects.

For example, I have 30 objects imported from my given obj files. Now, I want to make an animation, where each frame shows one object. For example, at keyframe 1, I show my object 1 and hide other objects, and at keyframe 2, I show my object 2 and hide others including object 1, etc.

I tried several ways, including shape keys, but it does not work for me, since my objects may have different vertices (unable to join). Also, if I set a different keyframe for a different object, they are not on the same channel. Thus, I can not show a video in this way as well.

My simulation is something like the liquid moving status, but I am only allowed to combine such objects into an animation, not directly use the blender to get a liquid effect. So my question is, if I have many objects, how can I make an animation, and show one object at each frame and hide others? Thank you so much!

If I understand your question correctly you're simply trying to switch objects visible for one frame, then off again to be replaced by the next object at the next frame and so on...

The slo-mo video below shows masks 10, 11, & 12 being visually switched in and out at frames 10, 11 & 12 respectively.  This is done in the Outliner at right.  The eye icon is simply keyframed on or off by hovering over the icon, clicking so it's on or off, then pressing  "i" key. (insert keyframe)  If you make a mistake, hover on it again and press  "ALT-i"  to remove the keyframe, or CTL-Z.

Note - when not rendering  in OpenGL, the camera icons would need to be switched and keyframed the same way.


Makehuman addons in blender I am using makhuman 1.1.0 and blender 2.77a . I also downloaded the makehuman blender tools and copied them to blender 'addons' folder. However in my blender user preferences UI only 'makewalk' addon is  visible. I cant see 'makeclothes' and 'maketarget' addons. Please suggest how to fix it ?

I solved the problem by copying addons from makehuman package and by not by downloading explicitly. Idealy both mush be same.


Inverse Kinematics to rig a Truck with a Trailer I'm trying to animate a truck with a trailer on it can follow a path realistically. I know I should be rigging the model using inverse kinematics but I can't get it to work.

I found a previous post on this topic but I can't replicate the answer that u/DrJamgo gave. Would someone be able to walk me through this or just share a .blend file where they got it to work? I don't mean to seem lazy I've just had no luck on this after working on it for hours.

Does anyone know how to rig a truck/trailer so that the trailer follows the truck in a realistic way?

Have a look at the following blend file:
https://nofile.io/f/xHeoevF0kwr/car10xxx.blend


Setting A Circle's Rotation From A Changing Number in the BGE I have a timer that counts from 82 to -82 and back.
And I have a circle that should rotate (x rotation) from 82 to -82 and back.

How can I assign the timer number to the x rotation number of the circle?

My code so far is:

cont = bge.logic.getCurrentController()

circle = cont.owner

matrix_rotation = circle.worldOrientation

euler_rotation = matrix_rotation.to_euler()

degrees_rotation = [math.degrees(a) for a in euler_rotation]

circleRotation = int(degrees_rotation[1])

Now I want to reverse the steps but don't know how to do it. The timer is driven by the system time and the circle should spin accordingly (it is kind of a skybox).

All your need to do is take your timer's output (the timer var in my script), convert it to radians and then insert it in the object rotation vector.

import bge
import math

cont = bge.logic.getCurrentController()
circle = cont.owner

x = math.radians(timmer)
circle.worldOrientation = (x, 0.0, 0.0)

The reason for the math.radians() conversion is worldOrientation is a vector storing the rotation for the X, Y and Z axes in radians.

As a side note, a much simpler way to get the rotation of a object in degrees  is with these two lines. I used the same variable names you did to make it easier to see where it would fit in.

euler_rotation = circle.worldOrientation.to_euler()
circleRotation = math.degrees(euler_rotation[0])


Set resolution of curve generated with Animation Nodes I'm experimenting with Animation Nodes to create a set of Bezier curves that start near one empty (SPole, left arrow), pass near a second empty (Midpoint, cross at top), and end near a third empty (NPole, right arrow). The first step in my experiment is to create a single Curve object and then extend the Node tree to generate the rest of the set of Curves. Here is a 3D view and the Node tree I've constructed so far:

To be clear, the two reroute nodes in the tree on the right are simply there to make the tree more compact for the screen capture.

Not shown in the Curve settings: the preview resolution of the curve is 12 and the render resolution of the curve is zero. These values seem to be fixed by AN as I cannot change them. When I add a shader and test render this curve, it has a resolution of 12. It is clearly a resolution of 12 in the 3D view shown, too.

How can I increase the resolution of the generated curve? I've looked through practically every Animation Node in version 2.0 and can't find a "Set Curve Resolution" node. Several YouTube videos on generating curves with AN also have low curve resolutions visible in their finished Curve object(s). I also tried to set the Resolution Attribute directly, but I didn't have any success.

Thanks in advance!

you can change the visibility of some inputs in the properties shelf (press N in the Node Editor).

select the curve object output node and check the eye icon for preview resolution. you can now set the resolution in the node itself


How do I use live motion, and paste a model onto it, like Gollum? I wanted to try to use this to make a short film without having to do a lot of manual animation. I will restate the question here in more detail. I want to be able to move around a scene in real life, and then put a model over me so that the final footage will be the model instead of me. For example I could say gollum or the movie mars needs moms. I'd also like to know how to do this in cycles.

There are two approaches you could take -

Use motion capture. This involves using an actor that normally has markers attached to various parts of their body which can then be tracked from several camera angles and then used to control an armature that moves your 3D character.
Use motion tracking or match moving. This is often broken into two parts, camera tracking and object tracking. Camera tracking allows you to recreate the camera motion in 3D so that objects you add will follow the environment in front of the camera as if they was in front of the real camera during filming. Object tracking then follows an object that moves within the video, this could be a prop that an actor is holding that gets replaced with a high tech laser rifle. You can even track markers placed onto a persons face and use them to deform a 3D characters face. The points you track will be turned into empties within blender that you can use as reference to place objects or used to move objects within the scene so they match the video.

While the first option is getting cheaper it is still mostly left to movie studios with the budget, we can do the second approach within blender. This can be quite involved so you may want to watch some tutorials explaining it like track, match, blend or blenderguru's intro to camera tracking.

Some tips are to use some highly visible markers, in places that will get covered by your 3D objects. Place markers as far apart as possible. Account for rotations and the possibility of markers getting hidden and overlapping each other.


Matrix rotation not changing scale I'm trying to use Blender to test some matrix transforms but I'm still trying to learn at the same time.
The problem is how to use the Python API to apply a rotation matrix, but to start with I have tried this step.

First I added a Mesh Plane then Scaled it along Y axis so it forms a rectangle.

Running the code causes the plane to rotate but the shape is "restricted" by the scale of the shape before the transform. I expected the whole plane to rotate around the x-axis and keep the shape.

import mathutils
from mathutils import Matrix
from math import radians
import bpy

mat_rot = mathutils.Matrix.Rotation(radians(15.0), 4, 'X')

curr_obj = bpy.context.active_object
obj_mat = curr_obj.data
obj_mat.transform(Matrix(mat_rot))
obj_mat.update()

I also notice in the Properties Transform, the Rotation X does not change.
Can anyone help me understand what's going on?

UPDATE

lemon, thanks for info on using obj.matrix_world.
I have now tried this code now, but even the results are still not as expected. The shape doesn't keep the 6*6 square shape and the Rotation X is only 40.1deg instead of the 45deg.
Any ideas?

import mathutils
from mathutils import Matrix
from math import radians
import bpy

bpy.ops.mesh.primitive_plane_add(location=(0, 0, 0))
bpy.ops.transform.resize(value=(6, 6, 1))
obj = bpy.context.active_object
mat_rot = Matrix.Rotation(radians(45.0), 4, 'X')
obj.matrix_world = obj.matrix_world @ mat_rot

In your second example, the shape changes, because your are transforming the mat_rot by the matrix_world, but you need to do it the other way around.

obj.matrix_world = mat_rot @ obj.matrix_world

Further, your code should be streamlined to apply the transformations at object level (and not through ops).

from mathutils import Matrix
from math import radians
import bpy

bpy.ops.mesh.primitive_plane_add(location=(0, 0, 0))

obj = bpy.context.active_object

mat_rot = Matrix.Rotation(radians(45.0), 4, 'X')
mat_sca_x = Matrix.Scale(6, 4, (1, 0, 0))

mat_sca_y = Matrix.Scale(6, 4, (0, 1, 0))
obj.matrix_world = mat_rot @ mat_sca_x @ mat_sca_y

And finally, you can rely on other methods than ops, to add your geometry. See this answer for details on adding geometry from scratch.

from mathutils import Matrix
from math import radians
import bpy
import bmesh

# Create the object and mesh datablock.
me = bpy.data.meshes.new("me")
obj = bpy.data.objects.new("obj", me)

# Apply the transformation.
mat_rot = Matrix.Rotation(radians(45.0), 4, 'X')
mat_sca = Matrix.Scale(6, 4)
obj.matrix_world = mat_rot @ mat_sca

# Add the grid as the mesh
bm = bmesh.new()
bmesh.ops.create_grid(bm, x_segments=1, y_segments=1, size=1)
bm.to_mesh(me)

# Link the object to the scene.
scene = bpy.context.scene
scene.collection.objects.link(obj)


Check if a property is animated or has a driver Using python, how can I check to see if some property (like context.object.location) has any keyframes, or has a driver attached?

A keyframe check could be done like this:

import bpy

def has_keyframe(ob, attr):
    anim = ob.animation_data
    if anim is not None and anim.action is not None:
        for fcu in anim.action.fcurves:
            if fcu.data_path == attr:
                return len(fcu.keyframe_points) > 0
    return False

print(has_keyframe(bpy.context.object, "location"))

But don't think there is an easy way to test for drivers.


Some vertices moving farther than the armature in pose mode/weight paint The vertices on the top left and bottom right are not moving with the rest of the vertices when I rotate on the Y axis. Is this preventable, or just something that will happen no matter what?

The rigging is not good, several bones are controlling the tails so their influence are conflicting.

You can see it if you select your armature, go in Pose mode, then select your mesh and go in Weight Paint mode. Select each bone: the color of the mesh is the influence this bone has on this part of the mesh. The more it's red the more it influences. Blue is zero influence.

You can correct this with the brush (Add or Substract option depending if you want to add or substract weight, and don't forget to enable the vertex selection masking for painting in the bottom horizontal menu).

You can also correct in Edit mode, go in the Properties > Data > Vertex Groups menu and decide, with the vertex group selected and the Assign and Remove buttons, what part of the mesh is supposed to be influence by what bone.

Also, I don't think that the topology of your mesh is good, it is supposed to fit the movements you could make with the bones. For example you can't properly parent each bone of your tail to each segment of your
mesh as there are no edge loops separating each segments of the mesh.

The best thing for your tail would be to let it as one piece and to parent it to the first bone of your tail: it would control the whole tail and the other bones would be useless, but even this solution is not easy as the tail mesh sticks to the body mesh and the bone would also affect the body. For example it would be easier it the tail was in the same object but a separated mesh.


Is my blender somehow bugged (lots of useless drop down menus) I just updated from 2.82 to latest 2.91. This is what I noticed immediatelly. The modifiers take twice as much space. On the left is 2.82 and on the right is 2.91.

Is this supposed to be like that or is my version broken in some way? I used my startup file and prefs from 2.82, should I redo my install or is it really supposed to be like that?

This is normal. I think it is because:
A) The bigger layout is easier to work with, and
B) It's probably easier to code as well. Just stacking the widgets has got to be simpler than the compact format.


How do you export an STL using proper units? I want to export an STL file using the units in my scene (millimeters), however, when importing the STL, the model is in fact MUCH smaller than that. The units in blender seem to only be a display feature, however I believe that 1 Blender Unit is equal to 1 mm, but working with only these units is annoying and restrictive. Is there a way to export an STL using the displayed unit in my scene, or are there any workarounds?

The STL exporter has the Scale setting. You can use it to scale blender unit to one, that your target software uses. It's easy to find out exporting the default cube (2 x 2 x 2 meters), and check its size in the target software. Then use the coefficient found. As for display units, when you select 'Metric' in the scene's Units section, it gives the Scale setting enabled, where you can tell blender that one blender unit equals say 10 meters instead of default 1.
Note that you have to keep the scene scale adequate for blender's physics to work right. It assumes that 1 blender unit equals 1 meter.


How can i have different mass on same object? So, I am building a project that has double pendulum, like one pendulum attached to another pendulum...
So i created a cylinder and scaled it up and made it like a thin long rod and then i added a sphere (while being in edit mode) and made a bob of pendulum, then i gave a rigid body simulation to it... i wanted the rod to have different mass and the bob tho have different mass. how can i do that?
Thank you..

Getting mass is easy.  You apply rigid body in physics menu then open the setting arrow in it. The default is 1kg but you can change this to particular materials eg lead in the object>rigid body>calculate mass menu option. This works well and I've built complex shapes using micro cubes like lego/mineworld and then hot their masses and simulated them.
I too would like advice on best approach to double pendulum. I tried 3 UV Sphere connected by nurb paths extending the many youtube  simple pendulum Blender examples.  I can only get the middle ball to swing and one nurb path just gets stuck locking the second pendulum.  Did you complete? I wish some guru would show how its best done...


Does anyone know what happened to my render? I've been working on this scene for a while now and have never had any troubles at all until this afternoon. For some reason, the render (both in viewport and exported) now just come out as noise and I have no idea why. Does anyone have any ideas? The only action I performed since the last successful render was a Boolean (applied) to create the pit. As you can see from the screenshot, no other views have been affected...

The object used as the focal point for Depth of Field was probably removed in the boolean operation and thus the focus distance was set to 0. Choose a new focal point object or set the distance manually.


How I could replicate this bumpy texture? I was curious if anyone had any ideas on how I could replicate this texture? If I start playing around with texture displacements, but it always breaks the mesh.

Any help would be appreciated!

If you'd rather not spend the poly-budget until render-time, you could do it with a Cycles (only) displacement shader. The features seem to be following the topology, so you could U UV unwrap your object with the 'Reset' option. That will make all the quads occupy the whole 0-1 UV space.
For render-time displacement to work,at the time of writing, Cycles has to be set to 'Experimental', and the material has to be set to 'Displacement', or 'Displacement and Bump' in its Settings panel.
The object has to be subdivided sufficiently to resolve the displacement detail. However, Cycles can decide how much render-time subdivision is needed, on a per-pixel basis, by giving the object a Subdivision Surface modifier, and checking 'Adaptive'.
Then you can use this sort of shader-tree:

To get this sort of result:

The 'Subtract' and 'Multiply' nodes could be a vector 'Mapping' node, if you prefer, and the 'Vector Curves' could be a 'Color Ramp' node, if you'd find it easier to use.
EDIT: Thanks to commentary by @Chris, about problems he encountered with this tree, I think it would actually be easier to use RGB Curves than Vector Curves.. the 'C' combined adjustment becomes available.. it behaves better. Here's his .blend, given the easier set-up:


Question from a AutoCAD drafter / aspiring Blender 3D modeler. Is there any draw tools in Blender that are similar to AutoCad? As the title says I use AutoCad on a daily basis and a novice Blender user. Mainly 2D drafting is what I work with in AutoCad. I got to thinking about if Blender has any mesh modeling tools that can do stuff like in AutoCad with mesh models.

Offset tool
Is there any type of offset tool in Blender? In AutoCad, the offset tool can copy a line or arc and displace the copy to a specified dimension away from the original making them parallel to each other.

From Base point tools
In AutoCad, tools like copy, mirror, scale, rotate, etc. let you select a base point to work from. For example if you were to scale a circle up in size, AutoCad lets you pick a base point from a snap point or empty space and it will scale from there.

If you know any other tools that are similar that I havn't mentioned and would like to share, it would be very helpful.

Thanks

I don't have any experience with AutoCad but I can tell you that these all sound perfectly possible.

Offsetting sounds like simple duplication. Shift-D the object or part of the mesh you want to copy and then move it, restricting to an axis (via X, Y, or Z hotkeys) to keep it parallel. If you want the new mesh to always resemble the old you can make a linked duplicate with alt-d. The new mesh will mirror the old one any time you edit it.

As a 'base point' blender has the '3D cursor', that red and white circle you always see. Left clicking places the cursor and then by pressing the period key (not on the numpad but on the keypad) your transformations will use it as a 'pivot point' (blender lingo). If left clicking isn't accurate enough you can make the cursor snap to the grid or to any vertex or object center you select (shift-s to bring up the snapping menu).

Blender is extremely capable, but probably has different names for most tools. It has less of a focus on precision and more on artistry than CAD programs from what I understand, but you can make it work. I've watched interviews wherein car engineers and designers started their visualization with blender and then brought it into AutoCad to tweak later.


Image doesn't render properly / in full color I'm just learning Blender so I am not sure if this is a common issue but while I attempted to render this image of a donut I made, a portion of the donut doesn't render with color and it appears to be showing a part of the donut which isn't there.
I've attached a screenshot of how the scene looks in the viewport and the other photo is that of the render.

Not sure what the issue is here... The body of the donut is its own torus object.

It looks like you have a second collection that is hidden but not disabled (box is still checked in the outliner). I'm guessing this collection contains a second donut. Even though it is hidden, it will still show up in the render. To make it not show in the render, you need to disable the collection by un-checking the box:


Creating complicated models using scripts I'm new to blender and 3d modeling in general, but I have a python background. While searching I found models created via scripting. These models were good, but the general idea was creating repetitive elements like cubes or toruses to form a different object. So I was curious about the limits. Is there a thing that scripts can't do, but we can do via GUI, or is there no limitations at all?

Edit: I was asking the limitations of the scripts, and couldn't understand how this question was opinion based.

So again let me ask in this way. Is there any way that I can create a human model with scripts? That's the only thing I want to know.

Scripts (as far as I know) can access almost every part of Blender. There are scripts to create relatively complex objects, but they are usually add-ons instead. For example, there are add-ons to create trees and mountains.

To answer the rest of your question, scripts to generate complex meshes are not usually seen for two primary reasons:

Usually complex meshes require much care and an artist's touch. The artist wants complete control over the creation, and will use scripts only to create the simple pieces that are repetitive, then put them together into a more complex mesh. This is good, because computers aren't creative, but are very good at creating lots of things with simple variations.
Scripts to generate complex objects that are not extremely simple are usually broken out into separate programs. For an artist to relinquish control of their hand in the art to a program to generate, or in many cases, simulate, they still need to have lots of options to control the simulation. They want the program to be complicated and advanced, with lots of options. This is why, usually, scripts to generate mountains, trees, or people are often separate programs, then the meshes are just imported. Some examples are MakeHuman, The Grove, and World Machine. These programs have all had much work put into them as standalone programs that are useful in their own right. The other benefit of this is that now these generated meshes can be used in (mostly) any 3D software.