anmiation freezes while playing I made a short intro and it is fine, but when I press (play) the animation freezes very often. I also tried to render the animation hoping that it would run smoothly but the problem didn't get better.

Your scene doesn't have any particular issue. I think that on a powerful pc it would render smoothly. The freezing of the viewport is an effect of a low FPS count as your computer takes a while to calculate the position of the polygons from the simulation and render them.

The issue with the "rendered" version is probably caused by the usage of the AVI raw format that is not perfectly compatible with your video player

By exporting to another video format and waiting some time, you should obtain something like this without further adjustment.

Things that may affect 3D viewport performance:

Number of polygons:

While your scene is composed by only two object, your polycount is surely considerable. You may try to reduce the resolution of the text object, expecially in the areas where the mesh is more dense.

Simulations

You don't need to setup another level of collision (unless you are trying to achieve a particular effect) as the explode modifier is based on the particles system which have is built in phyiscs options.

Number of particles

In this particular case, the more benefit cames from reducing the polycount. By roughly applying a 95% decimation modifier you can see how the preview gains about 25fps, making it usable.


image to displacement maps i have old coin pictures as pngs or jpegs i want to turn them in to a displacement map that i can get good height to get a good rendering result.
how can i do that?
i have tryied these steps but it did not help.
How do I make a normal/displacement map when all I have is a photo?

Actually it is still not clear to me if you want to fake the 3D effect or if you want to really displace the topology, for example for 3D print purpose.
I don't know if you can achieve an accurate real displacement just from a b&w photo, because for this purpose you will need a picture that will precisely use black for bottom surfaces, white for peak surfaces, and all the shades of grey inbetween respecting the heights of the object surfaces, which is rarely the case with most photos.
Here is what my attempt gave from you coin picture. I chose a coin that had a better chance to give a good result: no oblique shadows, and the dark areas can be interpreted as the the bottom surface, bright areas as the peaks. As you see it is not very satisfying:

So the following answer is not for real displacement, it's only to fake 3D with Normal or Bump maps, in that case it's much less important if the grey spectrum doesn't respect exactly the heights of the real object.
I gave it a bit of additional margin to make the mapping easy:

I created a normal map with CrazyBump (a bump would have worked as well, no big difference):

Then I unwrapped, mixed a Diffuse with a Glossy, plugged the original (extended) image in their Color inputs, plugged the Normal map into their Normal inputs:


What are the benefits of the different cylinder caps? I've been modeling for quite some time but I’ve never bothered to ask this question.

There are several ways to subdivide a cylinder cap? I've been going across vertex to vertex (right example), but I’ve seen a great many models and more experienced modelers triangulate along the perimeter (left example). What are the benefits of triangulating the edges as opposed to cutting it across, triangulating to a center vertex or just leaving an N-Gon?

I suppose once the object is triangulated (in a game engine like Unity or Unreal), the way I’ve been doing it would lead to one extra polygon on the cap end. Is this the reason the crossing rectangles approach isn't used as much?

I like the topology clean whether it's game model or not - so here are all the caps you will ever need:

If you have more sides, you can downscale these caps into them - the corresponding sub-cap topologies are highlighted (4-side cap, 6-side cap, 8-side cap):

With this you can make very clean any size cap with grid-like topology (which is very good).

If the number of sides is too big, the marked quads on next example will be a problem. This is how to setup loops in such topology to keep it again mostly grid and fix the problem:

Not only for subdivision topologies it's always good to inset the cap like so (its good for smooth shading also, thus for normal-maps etc.):

I don't like the square approach for triangles, I would prefer the vertex-to-vertex quad approach if I had. Long thin quads are bad also but still better than triangles.

Creating a triangle fan could be only pardoned in mobile game models or when flat shaded. Long thin triangles and a vertex with more than 5 edges are both the worst from topology and shading standpoint.


How to map surface in retopologizing I decided to practice a bit with blender and I was trying to create a head following this tutorial on net:
Creating a Realistic Head in Blender

It is speed up so its hard to sometimes figure out what is going on.
I am now on retopologizing section, however I noticed that when author of the tutorial shows just retopologized part (not yet finished just to check it out) you can see it smoothly with crevasses and such things, it looks as if he somehow mapped surface/geometry of the high poly model he made before to that retopologized model.

My question is how did he do it and how could i do it? My retopologized model just looks like bunch of flat faces. I study art at college and I wanted to go deeper into 3D modelling, our lessons on this subject were rather scarce unfortunately.

What He does is add a sub surf modifier(Ctrl-2), as well as enable smooth shading Tab to enter edit mode, A to select every thing, W>Shade Smooth, and Tab to exit edit mode.


Mouth Deformations when Posing I'm having issues with the corner of the mouth section of my rig. When I move the jaw up and down I get sharp deformations in the mesh that looks like this:

How do I fix this?
The file is located here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CRH3UKruwP-dywsDXeF-6dn-580X6jYG/view?usp=sharing
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Weights are quite sharp try Smooth Vertex Weights

BTW - If you check vertex per vertex in this jaw area, single vertex affected by 20 groups? It doesnt sounds good :)


Bevel Smooth Surface Issue I created a bevel curved surface between a flat and upright plane. Trying to blend that corner and use it as a seamless backdrop to place object in front of it. Like what you see in professional photo Studios.Problem is that I keep seeing that line connection through the camera of the 2 planes meeting each other despite the bevel attempt. Even tried different lighting conditions to 'cover up' the line but no luck.  I have attached 3 images. Any suggestions would be grateful.

Probably your camera clipping region is too narrow?

Try adjusting it from the Camera Properties > Lens menu

(You can check if the limits are big enough to encompass your scene by enabling Viewport display > Limits: see below)

P.S. I don't know what scene you have in mind, but from your screenshot it looks like your backdrop is veery big. Scaling everything down with respect to the world origin could be an option and wouldn't require changing the clipping distance.


I have a problem making a anvil and i cant seem to find the cause im a beginner trying to get the hang of blender and while creating an anvil i found
this problem there seems to be my good mesh inside of this bad mesh i cant seem to find the answer anywhere. at the bottom you can see it the most but if i try to drag the model by any part the good model comes through whiste the blocky and bad looking one stays any ideas?

I think that what you're calling "bad mesh" is the actual mesh without the influence of the subsurf modifier, while the "good mesh" is the result of the subsurf (and actually the result when rendered. When using the subsurf modifier, the vertices should be considered as "control points", which sometimes will not coincide with the rendered forms. To learn how to manage your control points and achieve the results you want, you should search for tutorials about "Hard surface modelling", in particular you'll have to get familiar with Edge control loops and edge crease. Lots of tutorials are available for free, like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBkwodrQq_4.


Can you scale the scope of the Proportional Editing without a 3 button mouse? Im trying to use Proportional Editing.
I don't have a 3 button mouse.
Is there a way to modify the field of influence without having a scroll wheel?
I already have "emulate 3 button mouse" and "emulate num pad" turned on.

Update: Turns out, the Apple Magic Mouse that Im using does allow a scroll function if you swipe it down the middle. So I am able to get the functionality I am after. Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

Use the Page Up and Page Down keys to adjust the circle of influence.


Adding random object every time you press the same key I'd like to make one spawnpoint that, adds a different/random object every time on pressing of the same key (space bar for example).
This tutorial explains nicely, How you can make random objects appear with an Always-sensor from a 'list' in the python script. But when I change it to a Keyboard-sensor, it doesn't work.

Any ideas on how I can fix the script so it spawns random object with every keystroke? Or is there a way I can link multiple 'EditObject-actuators that each add different objects' to one Keyboard-sensor... and somehow give random priorities to those?

This is the final result I'm trying to achieve, only pressing 1 key.

Thanks in advance!

When you add a sensor, you need to eval if its active in the script so you can do stuff.

To evalute the keyboard sensor named "Keyboard"
from bge import logic
import random

keysensor = logic.getCurrentController().sensors['Keyboard']
scene = logic.getCurrentScene()
own = logic.getCurrentController().owner
list = ['Cube','etc']
'''Eval if sensor activated'''
if keysensor.positive:
    choice = random.choice(list)
    scene.addObject(choise, own, 100)

EDIT
To properly use scene.addObject the object has to be in an inactive layer
see objectsInactive

And the script to work properly.
from bge import logic
import random

keysensor = logic.getCurrentController().sensors['Keyboard']
scene = logic.getCurrentScene()
own = logic.getCurrentController().owner
list = scene.objectsInactive
'''Eval if sensor activated'''
if keysensor.positive:
    choice = random.choice(list)
    scene.addObject(choice, own, 100)

ObjectsInactive is a list of all objects who are in an inactive layer, so if you need just some of the objects yo can add a property to the objects so you can gather them easy.

Then change
list = scene.objectsInactive

for
list = [obj for obj in scene.objectsInactive if 'spawnObj' in obj.getPropertyNames()]

That way the list would be fill with objects that have a property named "spawnObj".
Finally use descriptive names for the sensors, instead keyboard, keyboard.001, keyboard.002, ect... SpaceKey, aKey, BKEY, ckey, etc..
Demo file:


How to import mhx2 model programmatically? I want to import a mhx2 model into blender using a script. I know that the function is bpy.ops.import_scene.makehuman_mhx2() but cannot figure out what the parameters are. Could someone provide an example? Any help or suggestions is appreciated.

Here is an example:

bpy.ops.import_scene.makehuman_mhx2(filter_glob="*.mhx2", filepath="C:\\1.mhx2", useHelpers=False, useOffset=True, useOverride=False, useCustomShapes=True, useFaceShapes=False, useFaceShapeDrivers=False, useFaceRigDrivers=True, useFacePanel=False, useRig=True, finalizeRigify=True, useRotationLimits=True, useDeflector=False, useHairDynamics=False, useHairOnProxy=False, useConservativeMasks=True, useSubsurf=False, subsurfLevels=0, subsurfRenderLevels=1, useMasks='MODIFIER', useHumanType='BOTH', mergeBodyParts=False, mergeToProxy=False, mergeMaxType='BODY', rigType='EXPORTED', genitalia='NONE', usePenisRig=False, hairType='NONE', hairColor=(0.15, 0.03, 0.005, 1))


Blender 2.8 bevel with radius size I'm newbie in Blender. For do practice I found technical part drawing.
I need a bevel with 25mm radius. In the bevel menu there are options offset, width, depth and percent. I tried different options but I couldn't it properly.

How can I draw this bevel?
The other question is I changed my units to mm. But in the bevel menu If I entered 25mm the result bevel is big so I entered 0.25mm. Is this a problem with unit conversion?
Edit
Simply I try to this

I just want to do this If it is possible

Here I have couple objects with different scale, that share the same object data. It seems that objects are different, but whey are the same, and bevel operation proceeds on the objects same way, in object scale coordinates.

But what if I want to do an operation at world scale?
In the case, I shall apply the scale Ctrl+A -> Scale, so that it will not affect the coordinates.


Why do I get a "can't edit this property from a linked data block" message when trying to edit an appended object? I'm trying to append a model from one file to the other but every time I try it's acting like it's linked but I cant even move it or scale it.

If I try to I get the message "can't edit this property from a linked data block"

What's going on?

Never mind, found it. Had to go to out-liner and delete the linked data from there, works like a charm now.


How to animate object rotation on a single local axis when local and global axis not aligned? In the animation I want rotation locked to a single local axis like when you press R then X twice to rotate.

An example would be a wheel rotating on an axle.

You can simply use the Copy Rotation contraint:

Create a new empty;
Select your object, switch to Constraints tab in Properties Editor, add a Copy Rotation constraint, set the empty as Target, toggle Offset, set Local Space as the owner space (current object).
Then you control the rotation by rotating the empty.

Tip: For quick constraint creation, you can also first select the empty, then holding Shift to select your target object, then ShiftCtrlC -> Copy Rotation.


Rotating a finished animation How can a finished animation be rotated? Or, should the animation process be redone according to the new rotation?
I rotated the whole scene but the resulting animation does not change.

You can always create an empty, and parent your animated object to it. Select first your object(s), and at last the new empty. Then, press Strg+P and select Object (Keep Transform). After that, you can rotate or move the empty around, and your animation will follow.


Change image by Image Sequence in Shader Editor every nth frame I'm trying to make a video, where I'm using 40 images as an object color possibilities. But when I'm using Image Sequence, the image will change every next frame. But I would like to change each image every sixth frame. Nothing that I found here doesn't help me. Thanks for any information.

So I think I found a solution by keyframing the offset property.

0 at frame 1, 10 at frame 100 and it seems to be moving slowly enough.

Kind of a hack though.


Anti-aliasing problem with gtx 1080 I have a big problem of anti-aliasing near the edge of the door . This problem occurs only when i render with GPU ( GTX 1080 ) with the same settings . How can I do ?

Gpu render: http://i.imgur.com/DXtBwz4.png

Cpu render: http://i.imgur.com/oCLmsvK.png

I'm assuming you're using a build off of Graphical.org? Apparaently the anti-aliasing is a reported bug in those versiosn as they don't fully support the nvidia chipset yet.

For more read here: https://developer.blender.org/T48544


Need Help to recursively import RDCs from a Folder and store each element into a Collection As written in the title and kindly need help, my script is almost ready but I have some troubles because it stores only the first element on the collection under its named from file.
I'm pretty new to python, however.
Using the MapsImporter Plugin for scraping Google Maps from RenderDOC into Blender.
Original Question: https://github.com/eliemichel/MapsModelsImporter/issues/128
import bpy
import os
import sys
import glob

directory_im = 'C:/LowPoly2/'
files = glob.glob(directory_im + ".rdc")
for f in files:
    head, tail = os.path.split(f)
    collection_name = tail.replace('.rdc', '')
    bpy.ops.import_rdc.google_maps(filepath=(f), filter_glob=".rdc", max_blocks=-1)
    myCol = bpy.data.collections.new(collection_name)
    bpy.context.scene.collection.children.link(myCol)
    for ob in bpy.context.selected_objects:
        myCol.objects.link(ob)

OK, so this code works with the test data on my rig:
import bpy
import os
import sys
import glob

directory_im = 'C:\\LowPoly2\\'
files = glob.glob(directory_im + "*.rdc")

# helper method to create a new LayerCollection
# also setting it to the active LayerCollection
# the Google Maps importer then puts the objects into that LayerCollection automatically
def create_coll(parent_layer_collection, collection_name):
    new_col = bpy.data.collections.new(collection_name)
    parent_layer_collection.collection.children.link(new_col)
    new_child_layer_coll = parent_layer_collection.children.get(new_col.name)

    bpy.context.view_layer.active_layer_collection = new_child_layer_coll

    return new_child_layer_coll

# create a master collection to batch import the files to, or re-use the currently active collection in the scene - up to you
master_collection =  bpy.context.view_layer.active_layer_collection

# iterate over files
for f in files:
    head, tail = os.path.split(f)
    collection_name = tail.replace('.rdc', '')

    # create a new LayerCollection to import the objects to
    # I am storing the reference to it here in case you need to run further actions on it
    # e.g. changing color etc etc
    myCol = create_coll(master_collection, collection_name)

    # run the importer, it will work within the new sub-collection
    bpy.ops.import_rdc.google_maps(filepath=(f), filter_glob=".rdc", max_blocks=-1)

It becomes rather tricky because you need to deal with both Collections and LayerCollections, to be able to set an active layer collection. The first function creates just that, and returns a LayerCollection to be used, which is also set as active collection on the way. By doing that, the importer automatically places its objects in there "for free".


Only rotates in Z axis I'm trying to rotate my object but no matter which ring I click and drag, it only rotates in the Z axis. I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling Blender, and that doesn't work.

try clicking r (with your object selected) and press z,y, or x to rotate on that axis also the question seem a bit hard to understand can you upload a picture or try explaining you problem a bit better, hope you have success.


Scaling UV map to fit bounds I've been trying to scale the UV map for a 3D arc (i.e. a slice of a hollow sphere) to fit the entire bounds of the UV map.

Unwrapping the mesh results in a circle, which I'm looking to scale up to the bounds of the map as in the following:

I played around with proportional editing - i.e. moved 4 diagonal vertices (top left, top right, etc) to the 4 corners using the sharp falloff, and then moved the 4 edge vertices (top, left, etc) to the 4 edges using the smooth falloff. But the best I could come up with was the following, which results in a really horribly warped map:

If there's a better way to go about doing this (or a better way to use proportional editing correctly), I'd love to hear about it.

Select one side (left/right) from 1 diagonal to the other, only borders, and scale it on X axis to 0 (S, X, 0) then move it away

Continue with other sides (up/down-> Y axis)

Once all four sides scaled and moved away, select the other vertices, scale them down, then select the borders again

scale and move them to fit your UV bounds

Select everything but the border vertices and from the UV menu, click minimize stretch (or Ctrl+V)

use mouse wheel to blend the effect to your liking, when it's ok, hit enter


Why does this add shader create so much noise? This question is based on the shader in this answer. When I render the scene using plain glass for the material ball, it takes about 500 samples to converge. Here is the node setup and the result at 512 samples:

When I use the dispersion glass material, however, it produces a large amount of noise. Here is the node setup and the result at 2048 samples (4 times as many samples, which should be more than enough to make up for using 3 glass nodes).

Using mix shaders with 3x brighter glass produces the same result. The image does eventually converge after around a hundred thousand samples, but that's obviously not practical for real-world renders. Here is an overnight render at 65536 samples:

I can get a similar, but slightly different, result in far fewer samples by rendering 3 separate images and combining the color channels in an image editor:

But that leaves me with two questions: first, why does using the add shader produce so much more noise than expected? Second, why does it give a different result than a normal glass shader? Specifically, where does the black band at the bottom of the material ball come from?

Here is the .blend file, for reference:

All of this is observed in the material ball scene as of Blender 2.76. There are no lamps in the scene, and enabling/disabling multiple importance sampling of the world background doesn't have any significant effect on the noise. I haven't tested it in other scenes or other versions of Blender/Cycles.

This method can be used for every 3d program: you render 1 sample 200 times at same spot and combine using average mode.


Procedural wrinkled paper lamp cycles material I am not completely new to Blender, but I'm actually on a project of interior design visualization where I would like to create a material that would allow me turn any surface into this kind of paper lamp.

Its basically wrinkled paper extruding from the volume, never intersecting with each other, slightly opalescent, with a light source inside (which could obviously be another object).

I have no idea where to start from. I guess it should involve procedural material rather that using an image, but I'm not sure how to make the lines protrude neither how to generate them and be able to modify their parameters

I'd be really grateful if someone could show a way into this problem. Cheers!

Ok, so here's what I could come up with. This is what I could achieve with materials only. Not good enough for closeups, but perhaps enough for far-off objects or to save resources.

With modelling I got to this. It's not perfect, couldn't figure out a way to automatically make them not intersect, but its a reasonable time/effort/fidelity ratio.

Star of with an Icosphere, subdivide it enough, for the desired level of detail, then add a Decimate modifier.

Apply the decimate modifier, enter Edit Mode and in Edge Selection Mode with the Random Select operator select any number of edges around 50% to 60%.

Bevel those edges, then extrude them outwards with Alt + E > Region (Vertex Normals).

Add a Subsurf modifier on top, and you are good to go. Material is the same as above without all the texture work.

Additionally you may use Proportional Edit with a Random falloff type, to scale all vertex outwards, and/or rotate them slightly, and give it a more irregular look. Use a fake loose vertex, placed at the center of the sphere, selected for scaling, then use the 3D Cursor as center of transform and increase the influence radius as necessary.


Automatic Heat Weighting: Failed to find a solution for one or more bones I am trying to do automatic weighting on this object, but I am getting a "Automatic Heat Weighting: Failed to find a solution for one or more bones".

I have tried multiple things to fix this:

Applied: Location, Rotation & Scale
Recalculated Normals
Removed all modifiers

I still cannot get it to work. Here is the file if you want to take a look:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1838097/Alesia.blend

Try adding a subsurface modifier to the meshes you want to parent before you parent them. You can remove it later. For some reason it should work.


Linearly Scale Light Temperature I want to have a plane which goes from temperature x to temperature y with respect to one of its sides. I was looking into drivers but this doesn't seem to accommodate geometry, only scale and position. Is there anyway that I can linearly increase the emission temperature of a plane surface with respect to the length of one of its sides; say its width.

You can map color temperature like you can map any other shader value with nodes, no need to involve drivers unless required.

Just use either direct texture coordinates as input for a Color Mix node, or use World Coordinates from a Geometry node instead.

Separate the desired direction, use math nodes to adjust length of progression, then feed it into a Color Mix with each temperature plugged to a Color socket.

Alternatively for more complex progression patterns you may use a gradient texture.


How do I make my armature visible through my mesh There seems to be no option to see my armature through my mesh unless I use wireframe but I want to see how it looks while it's textured to see how it stretches the UV's. I can't believe that this question hasn't been asked before since the major 2.8 release came out and swapped everything around.
Someone told me to check the properties tab but no luck.

So some workarounds might be like previously mentioned, use wireframe. I found this really annoying and tedious. Then I found some help and told me to use x-ray, that is actually not the same thing in 2.8 and now will make your mesh see-through. You can do this by going to your header on the 3d viewport and it should be the last tab to your right. That should bring a drop-down menu out and there should be a checkbox that says "x-ray"

So the REAL solution is that they changed the name from, "x-ray" to "in-front". Now you can find this by going to your properties window and under the "object" tab there should be a header that reads "Viewport Display". This is where the "in-front" option is.


In 2.8, Blender crashes while rendering trees I'm trying to render a scene and in both render engines it crashes right before it would start making the image. I thought trees were the issue so i tested the render without them, but it crashed anyways. It might be my computer not being the best too, but if anyone knows a fix please tell me what's wrong.
Computer Specs: AMD Fx4300 (3.8GHz), 16GB RAM, AMD Radeon 260x (2GB), windows 10)

i think 6 subdivisions are way to high. reduce to 2 and test it again..
you can open Task Manager if you are on Windows and check the MemoryManagement. then see if it fills your Memory.

you can also start blender with debugging turned on then you get a report when blender crash and close and you have some more Information.

Start blender_debog_log.cmd and wait for the crash


Placing mesh in the scene renders it white As you can see in the render, that area is white, where the mesh cuboid was placed. It's in second layer.

Problem was in composting nodes, modifying the default nodes that are created after setting up tracking scene solved the problem.


What rendering framework does blender use? Does it use OpenGL?  Crystalspace?  Ogre?  I want to change the rendering system but I don't know what framework blender uses.  Also, what physics engine does blender use?

Blender, by default, uses its own rendering systems, depending on selection.

The offline renderer is a path tracing engine called Cycles.
The online renderer is a rasterization based engine called Eevee.
Both rendering engines harness CPU and GPU to different degrees, including the OpenGL, OpenCL, and CUDA based GPU libraries.

Blender used portions of Bullet for some physics calculations, with other approaches for its particle system interactions.


BGE- Prevent a custom mouse pointer from snapping to the center of the screen when mouse look is used I am trying to create a rotation system around my character so that when i hold down right mouse button and move the mouse, the camera rotates round the character and when you let go of it, the view stays where it is. Once you let go, you can use the custom mouse pointer to click on items in the scene.

I have the problem that when you rotate the camera, the pointer snaps to the center of the screen (when i want it to stay in place) and jolts the camera. I am aiming for a way to have a similar system to the game Astroneer for reference. Any idea of how i could achieve this?

You need two modes/states

view change mode where you turn the camera with mouse movement. Typically the mouse cursor is not shown in this mode
click mode where you can see and move the mouse cursor. The camera is not turned by the mouse.

You need to define when to switch from one mode/state to the other


What could cause an object disapear only in Edit Mode? I accidentally clicked shift+t. Then if I go to object mode I can see it.If I switch to edit mode It disappears.I tried to uncheck it in user preferences too and in object tab too. Maybe I accidentally clicked something else.

shift+t moves object's texture space - it has nothing to do with visibility.

You may have some modifier the effects of which is not visible in edit mode, or, more likely, you hid everything with h. To unhide the geometry hidden, you can go to edit mode and hit alt+h to unhide everything.

To reset the location of object's texture space if you moved it accidentally, you can set the values to 0 in the Properties Editor, Mesh tab, under Texture Space:


Blender internal shadows not rendering i come back to internal after a long time and I've forgotten many things about it and much has changed, why aren't any shadows rendering in my scene?

here is the file
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7fkkzfq5qG1cGZWVVU4TDlaNjA/view?usp=sharing

nevermind i found the answer, was my own mistake

in the compositing texture nodes, i directly connected the color to the output without connecting it to a material node first. smh.


Eevee or similar in 2.79 Has anyone made something similar to eevee for blender 2.79? I really just do not like blender 2.8. I'm sorry if this question feels a little out there or rude.

The closest this that exists that I am aware of is a prototype that led to Eevee (Clement Foucault's pbr viewport branch):
http://www.clement-foucault.com/#blender_pbr / https://github.com/Hypersomniac/blender-shader

It has a bunch of nice improvements on the old viewport but is still very much a prototype. It is also based on an older version of blender than 2.79 (still in the 2.7Xs though).

All that said, I'd recommend trying to persevere with 2.8, and pin down exactly what you don't like / become familiar with the changes. Dislike can often come just from a lack of familiarity, it may only need a few settings tweaks and a bit of practice to be fine.


Splitting up a Texture and Object into different parts I was wondering if it is possible to split an object's texture/UV map after splitting an object in Blender i.e. splitting a full body mesh's map into legs, hips, etc. and how would I do it if it is possible?

For example, I need the lower jaw to have its own texture. I have no idea how to do it or go about it though.

The texture isn't just for the lower jaw, so when I export the object, there isn't a fitting texture for it.

Or is there another program that does this automatically?

Separating Texture Maps

You can bake textures from one object to another. If the objects are already separated (as it seems to be in your case) it makes things easier.

1. Separating the Object to which you want to bake the new texture.

Tab into Edit Mode and select all faces of the mesh you want to have in a separate object.
hit Shift+D to duplicate the selection.
hit P and select "Selection" to create a new object from your selected faces.

2. Preparing new Objct

Select your newly created object, (tab into object mode, if otherwise) go to "Properties - Materials" and delete the material.

With you newly created object, tab into Edit Mode and create a new texture of the size you desire (also pack the islands and correct the margins, if you want)*.

3. Bake texture from Original to new Object

Select the original object.
Shift>+Select the new Object.
Go to "Properties - Render - Bake", select "Textures", turn on "Selected to Active" and hit "Bake".
Don't forget to save the new texture map after baking.

Create a new material for your newly created object and assign the Texture(s) to it. You can then go to the original object and delete the part from which we created the copy in Step 1.

*Be aware, that changing the UV size as well as the size of the new texture might result in visible texture differences between the original and the new object.


Blender 3d view port rotation issue I have a model under construction - this is ok but I've done something to the way it relates to other objects in the 3d view.
With just the model in the view all appears to be fine when I rotate the view in any direction.
If I add two new objects to the scene and rotate the view, the new objects move as expected in relation to each other but the model always appears to be in front of the other two objects - it never passes behind the other two objects.
If I duplicate the model, the two models behave as you would expect but both are always in front of the others in the scene.
I think I've set some parameter on the model but I can't see it!

It sounds like you've turned on X-Ray display mode for your object.  You can toggle X-Ray mode under the Object properties tab > Display Rollout.

X-Ray display draws the object in front of all other objects (which don't have X-Ray enabled).  It is most often useful for armatures to keep them from getting lost inside the meshes they control.


Fire simulation does not show when I re-open the file I created a fire simulation. It was working and good. But I saved it using "Save as". After I reopened it there was nothing showing.
Render View

Here top left kept saying "Updating Mesh" "Updating Images"
I changed my render engine
Changed material
Solid View also corrupted
Doesn't Show fire

I have successfully fixed it
There was problem with cache
Freeing data and re-baking helped


How to activate another addon and have it stay when default blend is called on new file command How can my script be sure that some other script used gets loaded.

For now, I'm using
    addon_utils.enable("some_needed_addon")
inside the register() function of init.py of my script

and
    addon_utils.disable("some_needed_addon")
in the unregister()

and at the biginning or this init.py I have

if "bpy" in locals():
    import importlib
    importlib.reload(my_first_py_file)
    importlib.reload(my_second_py_file)

else:
    import bpy
    import addon_utils # To use some other addons

etc.

With all that, when you call the new file command, the other script is no longer activated so it is not callable, because I didn't save it in user preferences and don't want to because I'm not sure user will want that.

If your add-on depends on another.

You can enable it from the script like this:

import addon_utils
addon_utils.enable("another_addon", default_set=False, persistent=True)

default_set: to leave the users preferences alone.
persistent: to keep the add-on loaded, even when the user runs File -> New.

This can be called from the register function.


What is node tree execution in the animation nodes addon and how should it be used? I am new to the animation nodes addon. What exactly is node tree execution?

It seems to be necessary for the updating of the 3D view, which is strange because when using Cycles nodes, everything updates automatically. The tooltip says "Execute all main networks in the tree" - what is a "main network"?

By default "Auto Execution" is checked and set to "Always", which eats up my CPU. When is it not enough to use the tree/frame/property changed options?

Execution:

When you build a node tree in the Animation Nodes addon (AN), you are basicly creating a python script in a visual form.

Now you have to control when this script will be executed. If "Auto Execution" is turned off the script you "developed" only executes when you click on the Execute Node Tree button.

Many of the buttons you see in Blender have python scripts attached to them which execute when you click on them. It is the same here, only that you didn't had to write any python code. It is generated from your node setup by the addon.

Networks:

A network within animation nodes of a group of nodes that belong together. You can have multiple node trees. In cycles each node tree can have only one material, but in AN you are allowed to have multiple networks within a single node tree. Nodes that belong to the same network have the same color (well, there are exceptions but they are not important here).

There are two different types of networks:

Main Networks, which they have a neutral gray color by default
Subprograms, which have a random color by default (this color can be changed in the Color panel when one node of this network is selected)

Beside that there are some subcategories of the Subprogram Network type: Loops, Groups, Scripts.

Subprograms cannot be executed on their own, they need to be called from somewhere else. You normally call them with the "Invoke Subprogram" node.

Main networks on the other hand can be executed on their own. This makes them the entry point of the node tree execution.

Auto Execution:

In some cases you may want to have total control about the exact moments your node tree is executed, but most of the time (when you do animation or something similiar) you want that the scene updates automatically when you change the node tree. This is where Auto Execution comes into play.

When Always is checked the script continuously executes (around 20-60 times per second (can also be changed with the Min Time Difference slider)). This gives you a good real time experience in the viewport but as soon as your node tree becomes more complex this permanent execution can slow down your scene drastically.

If this is the case you should uncheck Always and think about when you want that your script executes. If you do animation you want to check Frame Changed most of the time so that the animation playback works. If Tree Changed is checked your script will automatically executes when you make/remove nodes/links. And if Property Changed is checked the script runs when the you change a property of a node.

Which configuration of settings you choose here is totally up to you.


How to fill a hole between 2 circles quickly If I had 2 circles placed on top of each other, like the cap and bottom of a cylinder, how would I fill in those walls without filling in the circles themselves?  (Basically, a cylinder without its top and bottom).  I'm not looking for a "just use a cylinder" in this case.  Thanks!

Select the two circles and bridge them using  SPACE B R I


Is it possible to automatically simplify geometry in blender without losing object shape? 3ds max has a sort of modifier that allows you to take a heavily subdivided mesh and take away some of the polygons that would anyhow create a single polygon (i.e they are facing the same way).

You could use the Decimate Modifier. You can find the documentation here.
Please note that you only see its effect while in object mode.

You can find a 2 minute tutorial here.


Having different material for 2 linked object HI i have a sphere and duplicate linked it so now they're both are identical. Is it possible to link only for mesh changes ? for example i want these 2 sphere to have its own differnt material while they're both still keep updating itself when i edit the shape (edit mode).

Is it possible ?

Go in the Properties panel > Material > In the dropdown menu, switch from Data to Object, now you can create a new material but the meshes are still linked.


Is it possible to save all rendered images (in the render buffer slots) in one operation? I have a different render in all eight render buffer slots. In the UV/Image Editor there is an option to “Save All Images” but when I select it, nothing happens. How do I configure the save path and save all the images that are in all the slots in one operation? If "Save All Images" is not for the render buffer slots then what is it for and is it possible to do what I want to do? I am trying to discover if there is something quicker than selecting each slot and saving out the individual image.

save all images  is for modified texture images, images that you have loaded from storage or packed in the .blend file and have been edited ,if no straight option is available  you can use a script to automate that process .
this script will save all non empty slots to the file path specified in the render tab and with the name displayed in the Image-editor and the number of the slot :  "Render_Image_slot_1.png"

import bpy

scene = bpy.context.scene
path = scene.render.filepath
ext = scene.render.file_extension
for img in bpy.data.images :
    i = 0
    if img.type == 'RENDER_RESULT' :
        print(img.name)
        for i in range(8):
            img.render_slots.active_index = i
            try :
                img.save_render(path+img.name+"_slot_%d"%i+ext, scene)
                print("slot %d saved"%i)
            except :
                print("Slot %d is empty"%i)

in case you need this more then once here is the Addon file for download install it and you'll find the entry in UV/Image-editor➞Image➞Save_all_slots, you can assign a shortcut for it.

to install :


Is Linking Files Good Practice? I have a scene of a large animation that is split up into many different files. They all share the same static objects in the same places, just that characters and moving objects are changed in every file, as well as a camera angle per blend file.

Now I've come across a problem that I'm consistently changing the background props as I go along. It becomes annoying as I have to fix all the files one by one.

However, blender has a link function on the file tab that I haven't used before. It seems like this could fix the inconsistency risk between scenes.

Is it safe and normal to have a blend file that has all the objects in the right place without any animation and all the rest of the files using that same scene containing the animations alongside it link back to the original file? Is there any catch?

The biggest advantage of linking is that it makes files easier for Blender to compute. It also makes it easier for you to manage - provided you have a coherent structure. The Linked Library Addon can be considered essential for workflow.

Setting the background in one file that you linked in, should give no problem, and you will probably wish you did it sooner.

Where things can get a bit more challenging is linking in files with animation, especially if they have to react with objects in another file. In such case you might leave empties to mark placement but that is not always ideal.

I highly recommend keeping your files consistent. In particular I have run into trouble in the past with textures that are saved relatively in some files and absolute in others. Because I have the auto-save on my linked library, Blender would create a new folders with Textures and not reference the original texture folder that I had with the original file.

As a resource: there is an excellent explanation on - Jason's Blog


Is a photo editor or vector graphics software essential for 3D creation and Modeling I am new to blender and I am trying to build my skill. I am curious as to whether learning an addition raster or vector-based graphic software is essential in Blender, as I feel there are some textures that I feel may need. or is it possible to find all I need online? I don't want to spend time learning photoshop while I could be using that time improving my blender skill

There is no such a rule.  In fact there are no rules at all here. It depends on what you want to do. No software is essential in digital art. You can use whatever you want or like and whatever gives you the desired results. With that said it is a fact that photo or image editing software is extremely useful when working with 3d.

Having worked with Photoshop almost every single day of my life for the last 15 years or so I can say... that it does not necessarily need to be Photoshop :D . It's a good and popular choice, but you can definitely find good or even better alternatives. You can choose Krita, Affinity Photo, Gimp or even do some painting straight in Blender, but Photoshop will do as well. Or don't choose at all, use all of them that you can get your hands on. As for you not wishing to spend time on it... Well I would recommend not to think too much about it. You will not waste that time and you should be prepared to spend loads and loads of time if you are learning CG anyway. The main concepts are pretty similar in most image editing software packages and will be useful whatever you choose. In 3d graphics context, image editors are relatively simple, so it's definitely not a bad idea to just choose one and learn it. Don't make a big deal out of it.


What is this type of texture called? I kinda need help figuring out what the following type of texture is usually called, as I'm trying to figure out how to add it over a pre-existing material

texture:

I guess it is the specular map. Specular maps are the maps you use to define a surface's shininess. Here's the example of a specular map I've found on net:

Here's how it works: First example (the one pictured below) doesn't use specular map. As you can see the gloss is evenly distributed on the model.

Second example shows the same model, but with the glossiness distribution based on the specular map.

To control on what parts you want the glossiness to appear you have to create a black and white texture and map it on your mesh (in my case pure black color is a 100% glossiness and white color is no gloss at all).

After setting the texture as a factor between Diffuse and Glossy shaders, you have your gloss appear on the desired parts of the model.

Here's the interesting tutorial about how to create the specular maps:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Gqp4bNJ52M


Delete Keyframes in Rig I have a rig, and I want to change all the key frames for my right arm. When I delete one, all of them delete across the entire rig. How do I delete for one part of the rig, i.e. my right arm.

You can delete a concrete animation data keyframes in a Dope Sheet Editor.
In this example I have two bones which have separate rotation animation.

Arm rotates 60 degrees and forearm rotates 30 degrees.

If you want to delete a forearm rotation for example you go to the Dope Sheet Editor, select the dots (which represent the keyframes) that belong to forearm bone and delete them (hover the curor over timeline in Dope Sheet editor window and press X).

Now when you play the animation only the rotation of an arm bone remains.


How to render rotating propeller? I have a nice (in my opinion :) ) looking propeller on my Fokker VII. I am happy with this for stationary shots, but if I want to composite this in an aerial scene, I obviously shouldn't have the propeller still.

How would you render this propeller in a way that it looks like it is spinning very fast? What are the tricks, do you blur it or something?

I think you mean the motion blur effect.

In Cycles render engine, you can first animate the propeller with a very fast rotation, and toggle Motion Blur in Render tab, then set a appropriate Shutter time:

For Blender Internal render engine, there is also a Sampled Motion Blur panel in the Render tab:

For compositing, you can enable Vector pass in Render Layers tab, and use Vector Blur node to make use of it. Example:


Are vertex groups that had Mask Modifiers applied to them gone forever? I may have been using this wrong, but I've been applying materials to a complicated object, and using Mask Modifiers (and hitting apply) to hide the parts I was done with and didn't want in my way anymore. I wasn't using weights at all.

I've put a lot of work into this. I wanted to start bringing those "done" vertex groups back to see my finished work, but can't find any way to do this. I have a number of vertex groups under my object in the Outliner, but right-clicking on them and selecting "unhide" causes a "Not yet implemented" error.

Can I get these masked vertex groups back, or was I basically deleting my work as I went along?

Once you apply a modifier the transformation is permanent.

Modifiers are designed to work in a non-destructive way, once you apply them it is going to be very hard to go back to a previous state, as the undo function is quite limited (and completely unavailable once you save and re-open a project).

Unless you have a good reason to apply a modifier, you don't need to

Form the blender Manual:

  Modifiers are automatic operations that affect an object in a non-destructive way. With modifiers, you can perform many effects automatically that would otherwise be too tedious to do manually (such as subdivision surfaces) and without affecting the base geometry of your object.

  They work by changing how an object is displayed and rendered, but not the geometry which you can edit directly. You can add several modifiers to a single object to form The Modifier Stack and Apply a modifier if you wish to make its changes permanent.

If you need to disable the modifier temporarily you can use the camera and eye icons.

Again, from the manual:

  Render (camera icon)

  Toggles visibility of the modifier’s effect in the render.

  Show in viewport (eye icon)

  Toggles visibility of the modifier’s effect in the 3D View.

  Show in Edit Mode (box icon)

  Displays the modified geometry in Edit Mode, as well as the original geometry which you can edit.

  Show on cage (triangle icon)

  When enabled, the final modified geometry will be shown in Edit Mode and can be edited directly.


Replace object's normals with normal map I baked the normal map in substance painter and it looks fine in substance painter, but when I exported the textures to blender cycles the normal map does not seem to be applied to the model in the same way as substance painter - substance painter seems to ignore the normals of the low poly model, but blender does not.

Is there a way to achieve the same look of the normal map as in substance painter?

model in Substance Painter

model in blender cycles

model in blender view port

this can be eliminated in two ways the simplest and immediate is to set, the angle of smooth to 30 degrees,

or second way is to determine which edges should be planar, but this requires a selection of all edges of planar faces by setting the sharp edges, and adding a layer of custom normal edge.

However, I suggest you also take a look at the manual, where you can better understand these commands.
https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/dev/modeling/meshes/editing/smoothing.html


How to texture a rooftop I am trying to reproduce this rooftop, but I have some trouble.

I tried with a "clouds" texture to create the random dirt, but it looks more like waves in the ocean.

I tried with a more dirty ground, like the one I found here :

I tried to recreate the dirt myself, it looks good only when it is one image. But once it is in Blender, the texture is repeated and it gives a bad repeated effect. So I tried another version with light gray and blue, and the map effect, so that we don't see the borders, but it is too simple :

Would you have some tips for me? The texture will be large enough to fill the size of the rooftop, and the view will be close to the ground, so I must add some details as if we were close to the ground.

Thanks

At least 3 ways to approach this.

fully procedural
fully textured
mix procedural and texture.

My interests lie mainly with procedural. An approach involves literally stacking piles of noise textures ontop of eachother and masking out parts using other noise textures with large scale to get the patchy-ness. Then if it's too cloudy and wishy washy use a contrast node to get sharper edges.

As a starter get your head around a small setup like this

Step 1:

Really analyse what you like about the real-life roof top, what makes it pop for you. Write down the keywords, think about why those features are there and are they related to the surrounding architectural features? like drainage, seepage, repair work, shelter from the elements..

You can use the Position socket of the Geometry node, to push the Noise Texture along in space by a given Vector until it matches up with something that appeals to you.

Step 2, patchier!

RGB Curves node allows you to weave in and out of a colour gradient. I'm leaving the colours visible to show where they come from.

Step 3 details

mixing and masking,

Here the Color Ramp node is also used to flip colour ranges, to give the effect of dried up puddles of gunk with residue on the edges.

more noise layers.. Using the Vector Combine node lets you cycle through the 3d space of the node texture, and you will see many crazy shapes but occasionally a few features that seem to somehow fit with the geometry. If you have a lot of distortion going on in one section of the noise texture, shift the x,y,z until it gives more appealing visuals. There's no science to this, just experimentation.

Masking

So far all 4 or 5 noise textures get piped into one node (the Difference node) before it hits the shader. From here on it gets complex and you might start to experiment with node groups to keep the various layers separate (conceptually), and mix them together using large scale Noise textures to allow for big sections of one texture and more abrupt transitions to the output of a different node group.

Here I've gone back to creating a mask using a Noise Texture node, it shows how one might mix two colours as a function of Noise. In the example I picked flat RGB colours to show what effect the mixing has on blanket colours, but if you stick elaborate grungy "color ends points" in there it will start to approach what you are looking for. Making the mask is arguably easier to do manually, but keeping it procedural avoids the headache of raster resolution.

And here the many layered noise (converted to a Node Group with a colour output) is inserted as one of the colour sources. The other is still blue, but you can probably imagine that another Node group could be created to do the colouring of that section.

It's possible to get very creative with masking, and various Texture types to arrive at local features which seem to be caused by the architecture.

Keep masking out Textural features until you feel you could be spending your time doing something more productive :)

Hopefully this gives some ideas, it wasn't intended to be a tutorial. And this doesn't even get into the 3d aspect of texturing..  the gritty-ness of the surface, the bumpyness of certain parts, the faint depressions, the interuptions in materials. If a roof is done with two different batches of roofing there can be big colour differences.


Choose arbitrary vector as "up_axis" for camera with "Track To"-constraint Hello guys!
To programmatically add a constraint to the camera in my scene, I do the following:
import bpy
from mathutils import Vector
from mathutils import Quaternion
import random

camera = bpy.data.objects.get("Camera")
target_object = bpy.data.objects.get("Cube")

camera.constraints.clear()
track_to = camera.constraints.new('TRACK_TO')
track_to.target = target_object
track_to.track_axis = 'TRACK_NEGATIVE_Z'
track_to.up_axis = 'UP_Y' # <- is it possible to change this somehow?

This works fine and the camera correctly follows the cube. However, for my task, I need the camera constraint to randomly change the selected up_axis to an arbitrary vector on the plane, which lies orthogonal to the track_axis every time I run the script. I hope Figure 1 clarifies my goal. Is there a simple way to do this?
I already tried:
loc, rot, scale = camera.matrix_world.decompose()
new_rot = Quaternion(rot.axis, random.uniform(-180, 180))
camera.constraints.clear() # <- seems to be required for the rotation changes to take effect
camera.rotation_quaternion = new_rot

But this approach causes the camera to entirely lose focus on the cube.
Thank you in advance!

Align to and roll on vector.

In a related question showed the math of aligning an object to the view as defined by the camera, instead here will align the camera -Z axis to the object and roll the camera randomly around it.

Vector v2 is the global direction camera faces

Vector v1 is the vector defined looking at camera from object

The rotational difference between the two gives us the rotation required to make camera point at object

Change the space to rotate about the origin point of the object in global space.

Make another random rotation matrix to roll about this point about the axis v1

Test script (often would use context object for cube and scene camera for camera, to avoid need to edit and run, rather simply change active object)
import bpy
from mathutils import Vector
from mathutils import Matrix
from math import radians
from random import random

camera = bpy.data.objects.get("Camera")
target_object = bpy.data.objects.get("Cube")

cmw = camera.matrix_world
tmw = target_object.matrix_world

v1 = tmw.translation - cmw.translation
v2 = cmw.to_3x3() @ Vector((0, 0, -1))

R = (Matrix.Translation(cmw.translation) @
    v2.rotation_difference(v1).to_matrix().to_4x4() @
    Matrix.Rotation(random() * radians(360), 4, v1.normalized()) @
    Matrix.Translation(-cmw.translation))

camera.matrix_world = R @ cmw

Possibly worth mentioning, could do same by rolling first on v2
R = (Matrix.Translation(cmw.translation) @
     Matrix.Rotation(random() * radians(360), 4, v2.normalized()) @
     v2.rotation_difference(v1).to_matrix().to_4x4() @
     Matrix.Translation(-cmw.translation))

Make a dolly
Another approach would be make an empty, parent camera to empty. Track the empty to the cube.  Simply roll the camera using the z axis.
Examples.
https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/130456/15543
https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/176762/15543


How do I get this mesh ready for sculpting? I've just picked up Blender recently and after learning all of the basics, I attempted to make a base mesh for sculpting a Great Maccao (a raptor-like creature from a video game). I've gotten thus far and whenever I attempt to sculpt on it, the results are not pretty. I followed this tutorial, since it has the roughly the same shape in mind (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZnUgt659oI). Any ideas of what I've done wrong? Any and all help is appreciated.

I’m not sure and it’s difficult to tell with the matcap on but it appears to me that it might be wrong facing normals. Try going back into Edit Mode, selecting all the mesh and pressing “Ctrl+N” to fix the normals. Happy sculpting.


How do I turn off this line in weight painting? I was editing the weights and I guess I accidentally pressed a hotkey or something. Now whenever I try and remove some weight, the brush changes to this weird delayed brush that removes weights after I passed over it and I have to keep going back and forth with it instead of just wiggling my mouse over an area like I always do. What did I press so I can avoid it and how do I go back to the normal brush?

What has happened is that you have activated a feature called Stabilize Stroke, which can be found in the Active Tool Tab of the Properties Panel, under the Stroke Section. It is very easy to enable this feature by accident, by inadvertently pressing its shortcut, which is Shift + s. The reason it is slow is because it gives up draw performance in order to facilitate a more precise line result. The same feature exists in Sculpt Mode, and can be accessed the same way.


How to set the path for userpref.blend file? After compiling Blender as a Python module I realized that userpref.blend does not exist in ~/.config/blender/2.79/config. I want to use a userpref.blend file that I have on my desktop computer (when using Blender with the GUI). So I wonder how can one manually set the path to userpref.blend file using Blender's Python API?

Setting the environmental variable BLENDER_USER_CONFIG would do the job. So Blender assumes the path to the userpref.blend file would be BLENDER_USER_CONFIG/userpref.blend


Walk/fly camera in sculpt mode Is is possible to use walk or fly camera in sculpt mode? Whenever I press Ctrl+F it calls for a brush strength manipulator.

Yes, it is possible. It turned out that I had to change the hotkeys to use the walk camera in the sculpt mode.


Why won't blender 2.8 bake more than 250 frames? I have changed the cache, and also extended the frames length.
Here is a Video that shows the problem.
It is recorded after baking the animation.
Here is the video.

to me it seems like a bug because nothing helped and I am not that inexperienced in blender.

Blender has different simulation engines, and they have different cache length settings¹ (it's honestly true that these settings could be made more consistent...).

It appears that you have extended the cache length for the Rigid Body physics inside the Scene tab, but you actually wanted to extend the Cloth cache.

You find it here: under Physics > Cloth > Cache > End:

¹ fluid cache is bound to the Start/End of the animation; Rigid body cache is under the Scene settings; Soft body, Cloth and Smoke have their cache options in the relevant Physics tab for each object; particle cache lasts for the lifetime of the last emitted particle


Custom 'Smooth Shading' shorcut not working I have added shortcut for smooth shading ] and for flat shading [. But why its not working on the object.

I have restart blender hotkey is present but its not working on the object.
Any suggestion or help. Thanks

Answer where to find the addon
Go to Text Editor and press Ctrl+T and you can find the addon Is key free

Blender doesn't currently support symbols for shortcuts. Try using a different combination with only alphabets and special keys. If you want to check for available keys, enable the "is key free" add-on from User Preferences and go to the tools shelf of text editor and you will find the add-on at the bottom.


Can you export a mp4 as .webm with the new Blender 2.8 update? I'm trying to export a mp4 video as a .webm, but the render animation does literally nothing.

Can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong or whether it's even possible to export as .webm?

Update 2

Lukasz-40sth is right Blender 2.81 has a WEBM container which eliminates all the previous issues. It also supports the Opus audio codec. These features were added by Dr. Sybren Stüvel based on FFmpeg which implements the container and codecs.

Update

While the output described in the configuration below does output a video that is playable by all major browsers, it doesn't follow the guidelines for WEBM. For instance the WEBM Container Guidlines specify that:

  DocType element SHOULD be "webm"

However Blender's output has DocType set to matroska when using the Matroska container. I assume that SHOULD in this context refers to the meaning specified in RFC 2119, it's recommended but not a must. The file should therefore still be a valid WEBM.

Disclaimer: I'm not very familiar with video container formats, the following information may be inaccurate.

Blender 2.80 doesn't have a dedicated WEBM container, however WEBM is a subset of the Matroska container format that only allows a specific set of audio and video codecs. Therefore you should be able to produce a valid WEBM with the following settings:

Container   : Matroska
Video Codec : WEBM / VP9
Audio Codec : Vorbis

The output file will have the .mkv extension which you can rename to .webm.

When you have created your video in the VSE and then use Render Animation to export the video, it will be stored in the directory that is specified in the Output panel (for example in the screenshot it's /temp). Make sure that you're checking in the correct directory.


Does the compositor affect image quality? I noticed that the compositing is applied after the image is rendered. Does this mean that when working with an 8-bit Output that the compositor can affect image quality negatively? (i.e. artifacts like banding etc.)

No, the compositor will not degrade rendered images.
The compositor works with 32bit float precision, in scene referred linear (meaning that there is way more information that what can be displayed in the monitor).
Of course, there could be intentional or unintentional degrading in the compositor caused by incorrectly connected nodes and/or poor judgement by the user.
A likely source of image degradation is the use of highly compressed images in lossy compression schemes (like jpeg or mpeg), in which the the original image will suffer corruption with each subsequent cycle of decompression and re-compression.
As for Color Banding, it would happen when the image is saved to 8 bit formats, as this method of encoding cannot resolve subtle color gradation with only 255 levels for each color. Areas of similar colors, and dark, almost monochromatic gradients, will suffer greatly.
To disguise banding in the rendered image, use dithering.
Note that even if the image is saved as 16 bit or 32 bit per channel, it is possible that it cannot be displayed at a better quality: Most monitors display only 8 bits per channel (and some even less than that). Banding then is inevitable (just pause any of your favorite movies during streaming and you will see what I'm talking about). Banding might disappear if the higher bit depth images are displayed properly in a 10 bit monitor or better (retina display or any professional grade monitor or video projector)


Why is the acc variable jumping back to 10? I have this code:

import bge
import math
import time

cont = bge.logic.getCurrentController()
scene = bge.logic.getCurrentScene()
own = cont.owner
act = cont.actuators["Action"]
act1 = cont.actuators["Action.001"]
mot = cont.actuators["Motion"]
Empt1 = scene.objects["Empty.007"]
Empt2 = scene.objects["Empty.008"]
Empt3 = scene.objects["Empty.006"]
end = cont.sensors["Actuator"].positive
col = cont.sensors["Collision"].positive
finish = cont.sensors["Col1"].positive

acc = 10
walk4 = False
print(Empt1['Interval'])
print(Empt2['Interval'])
print(Empt3['Interval'])

if Empt1['Interval'] >= acc:
    walk1 = 1
else: walk1 = 0

if Empt2['Interval'] >= acc:
    walk2 = 1
else: walk2 = 0

if Empt3['Interval'] >= acc:
    walk3 = 1
else: walk3 = 0

if ((walk1 + walk2 + walk3) == 3):
    walk4 = True

if walk4 == True:
    cont.activate(act)
    cont.activate(mot)

if not end:
    cont.activate(act1)

xyz = own.worldOrientation.to_euler()
rotx = math.degrees(xyz[0])
roty = math.degrees(xyz[1])
rotz = math.degrees(xyz[2])

if not 'init' in own:
    own['init'] = 1
    own['timer'] = 10.0

own['timer'] += 1.0 / bge.logic.getLogicTicRate()

print (rotx, roty, rotz)

loc = own.worldPosition
print (loc)

if col:
    own['timer'] = 0.0
    print("THAT HURTS!!!!!")

if (own['timer'] > 1.5) and (own['timer'] < 1.8):
    own.setAngularVelocity([0.0, 0.0, 0.0],0)
    own.setLinearVelocity([0.0, 0.0, 0.0],0)
    own.worldPosition = [0.0, -6.83, 1.12]
    xyz[0] = math.radians(0.0)
    xyz[1] = math.radians(0.0)
    xyz[2] = math.radians(0.0)
    own.worldOrientation = xyz.to_matrix()
    acc = acc + 10
    walk4 = False
    cont.deactivate(act)
    cont.deactivate(mot)
    print ("TIMER ERROR! BIG PROBLEM!!!!!")

print (own['timer'])

if finish:
    own.setAngularVelocity([0.0, 0.0, 0.0],0)
    own.setLinearVelocity([0.0, 0.0, 0.0],0)
    own.worldPosition = [0.0, -6.83, 1.12]
    xyz[0] = math.radians(0.0)
    xyz[1] = math.radians(0.0)
    xyz[2] = math.radians(0.0)
    own.worldOrientation = xyz.to_matrix()
    walk4 = False
    cont.deactivate(act)
    cont.deactivate(mot)
    print ("FINISHED")

print ("walk1:", walk1)
print ("walk2:", walk2)
print ("walk3:", walk3)
print ("walk4:", walk4)
print ("ACC:", acc)

As you can see that whenever col is positive the acc variable should become 10 numbers bigger. It does do that, but it then quickly switches back to 10 for some reason, according to the console.

What's the reason for this?

Every frame you are assigning acc = 10.

to avoid that and make it persistent assing it as a attribute og bge.logic

from bge import logic

if not hasattr(logic, 'acc'):
    logic.acc = 10

Then can use:

if anything >= logic.acc:
   logic.acc += 10


How do I change Blender's dimensions to display in inches? I'm am trying to scale an object but the dimensions are "m"?  Is that "meter"?  Too big for my printer.  I'd like to change it to inches.  Is there a setting for that?

Yes, m stands for meters. You can change the units in the Scene Properties tab.


How to model coiled cable Hi im new to blender (started about a month ago) im trying to make a coiled cable for my so called imaginary "desk setup"

Heres what im trying to make

Ive tried using screw modifier but the thing is I dont know how to make it like a cable as you need the ends to not be coiled. I searched all over the internet on how to make this but i cant find them.

If you could just direct me to what I could do and explain in detail so that i can follow step by step on how to do this.

Extra, and if, just if you can help me with rigging the cable so that I can move it around to make it more natural in the scene, example photo below:

Thanks in advance for any help.

Quickly use a screw modifier for the basic shape.

You could use a curve to make the second step easier - the extra objects addon will let you add a screwed curve.

Then just create the tail parts. I applied the screw modifier then I extruded but if you had used a path it would probably be easier

I copied and flipped the whole thing, using snapping to add it to the top of itself, thus making the top tail.

Then put the whole thing on a curve using a curve modifier.


How to attach a rigid body to a cloth simulator I'm trying to make a parachute that can hold rigid body items as they fall and slow the rigid body's fall. I've tried using wind to make the parachute fall slower, but I can't figure out how exactly to attach the rigid body object to the parachute. How would I do this? I've tried using hooks from the parachute ropes to the rigid body, but this only stretches the parachute.

This may not be the approach you're looking for.  I've posted it in case you can use it.  The Blend file is below...

The canopy and ropes are mesh and joined as one object.  The lower end of the ropes are all apexed as one and those vertices given a hook.
The box and cylinder are separate objects.  Both are given rigid body physics which is delayed until the box reaches the ground at frame 70.  (Animated at frame 1 and switched to "Dynamic" at frame 70)
A Nav(igation)-Empty (the large circle at the canopy) is the parent of all four - the hook, canopy, box, and cylinder.  The Nav-Empty is keyframed to descend and sway and all 4 objects are forced to follow.
At frame 70 when the box reaches the ground, it's physics are switched to "Dynamic".  So too is the cylinder's.
The physics engine takes over and they ignore their parentage and react with the ground which is also a rigid body, but "Passive" and set to "Mesh".
Both the box and cylinder's antics are then baked from frame 1 to when they settle down at frame 93.
(all boxes are ticked in the baking panel)
Once baked, make sure each object's physics are switched off and the redundant physics strips in the Dopesheet, deleted.
With the canopy, box, and cylinder under no constraints, (operating purely under keyframes), the parentage of the canopy's apex hook can then be changed to be a child of the box from frame 1.
When it's played again, nothing should change.  The canopy's ropes however will follow it's parent about on the ground, and being a hook, won't pull the canopy about with it.
All that's left is to rotate the canopy's Nav-Empty a little as the box shoots off to the left, then morph the canopy's deflating shape with shapekeys as it 'floats' to the ground.


No bevel option in 2.62 I'm trying to bevel an object, but I can't see any option for that. I've tried using the CtrlB shortcut and Mesh > Edges > Bevel. But as it can be seen in the screenshot, there is no option for that.

I'm using Blender 2.62 in Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. I'm not sure, but I think I downloaded Blender from the Ubuntu Software Center.

The bevel feature in question wasn't added until Blender 2.63 and shortcuts weren't added until 2.64 so CtrlB won't work.


Script for render many different material on one object I am new in Blender and i have only small experiences in scripting. But I would like to ask somebody for one thing. I have one object a would like to render it with many different external pictures like a surface of the object and every render save separately. I have no idea how can the sript look like. Some idea?
Thanks
Honza

If your "image" is actually an Image Sequence then it will cycle through the various images as the frames of the animation iterate.  Your screenshot shows you using a single image.  If you were instead to load that texture node with multiple files (shift-click, or maybe just a in the file selector dialog) then it would have a few more options.

Edit: The example image is for 4 frames, but it is not hard to build an image sequence of thousands of frames if they are all in one directory (a selects them all).  If they are in multiple directories you might have to use some python to get them all into the same image sequence, but I haven't experimented with that situation.

If you were unable to use an image sequence, you would probably end up using a bunch of MixRGB nodes and keyframe the factor value to switch between inputs.  This would quickly get messy as the number of options grows and your binary tree of MixRGB nodes becomes a forest.


Disable collection on all layers except one? I have 10 layers and every time I make a new collection I have to click on each layer to exclude collection from every layer. For example, I created collection on layer 1 and need it to be enabled only on layer 1. Is there an option or hotkey to exclude collection from all layers except this one?

The following Add-on code can do this for you. Save the code as oco.py and install that file as an Add-on in Blender. You can then activate it when searching for Collection Ops in the Add-ons section of Blender.

Once done, right-click in the Outliner on the collection you would like to exclude for all other View Layers and select the command on the bottom:

Here's the Add-on code:

'''
Created on 09.07.2019

@author: r.trummer
'''
bl_info = {
    "name": "Collection Ops",
    "author": "Rainer Trummer",
    "version": (0, 1, 0),
    "blender": (2, 80, 0),
    "description": "provides functions in the Outliner context menu to work with collections",
    "category": "Object"
}

import bpy
from bpy.props import BoolProperty

#===============================================================================
#    Operators
#===============================================================================
def get_flattened_layer_collections(layer_collection):
    for c in layer_collection.children:
        yield c
        yield from get_flattened_layer_collections(c)

def find_layer_collection(view_layer, layer_collection, **kwargs):
    pool = kwargs.setdefault('pool', view_layer.layer_collection)

    colls = get_flattened_layer_collections(pool)

    for c in colls:
        if c.collection == layer_collection.collection:
            return c

class COLLECTION_OT_Unset_For_Other_View_Layers(bpy.types.Operator):
    bl_idname = "collection.unset_for_other_view_layers"
    bl_label = "Exclude In Other View Layers"
    bl_description = 'excludes collection in all other view layers'
    bl_options = {'REGISTER', 'UNDO'}

    deactivate: BoolProperty(default = True)

    def execute(self, context):
        for vl in context.scene.view_layers:
            if vl != context.view_layer:
                vl_collection = find_layer_collection(vl, context.view_layer.active_layer_collection)
                vl_collection.exclude = True

        context.view_layer.depsgraph.update()

        return {'FINISHED'}

#===============================================================================
#    put the commands into menus
#===============================================================================
def draw_outliner_collection_commands(self, context:bpy.context):
    layout = self.layout
    layout.separator()
    layout.operator(COLLECTION_OT_Unset_For_Other_View_Layers.bl_idname)

#===============================================================================
#    registration code
#===============================================================================
__classes__ = (
    COLLECTION_OT_Unset_For_Other_View_Layers,
)

def register():
    for cl in __classes__:
        bpy.utils.register_class(cl)

    bpy.types.OUTLINER_MT_collection.append(draw_outliner_collection_commands)

def unregister():
    for cl in reversed(__classes__):
        bpy.utils.unregister_class(cl)

    bpy.types.OUTLINER_MT_collection.remove(draw_outliner_collection_commands)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()


Placing Wave Texture In Center Of Geometry I am a Node Noob and i was wondering how/if i could center this wave texture in the middle of my knob here. I did a knife project on the "pointer" so the UV of the top of the knob where i want it centered is not good.
Thanks!
Can provide a blend file, but i do not remember how to do that.
This is what im going for:

If you want the texture coordinates (0,0) to start at the center of your object, use Object Texture Coordinates:


Export FBX with full collection hierarchy I’m trying to export to FBX, but it's only exporting the mesh and not the full heirarchy.
Is this possible?
Thank you…

import bpy

sCollection = bpy.context.collection

def parentCol(_colParent, _objParent):
    for col in _colParent.children:
        newObj = bpy.data.objects.new("empty", None)
        bpy.context.scene.collection.objects.link(newObj)
        newObj.name = col.name
        newObj.parent = _objParent

        if len(col.objects) > 0:
            objs = col.objects
            for obj in objs:
                obj.parent = newObj
        else:
            parentCol(col, newObj)

root = bpy.data.objects.new("empty", None)
bpy.context.scene.collection.objects.link(root)
root.name = sCollection.name

parentCol(sCollection, root)

The script is originally from this question. Since I see you spotted the script as working for you I wanted to flag your question as duplication, but system doesn't allowing me to do that. For that I copy&pasted the script here as answer. So you can accept it here if this solved your needs.


My mesh's automatically deformed in the viewport after aplying a new material to some faces of it I'm new to Blender, and started practicing with Blender Guru's tutorials. I'm currently on the applying a texture part of it.

I've just finished UV unwrapping using the UV squares addon and just assigned a new, second material to some faces of the cup. Thing is, as soon as I apply the new material, my mesh's pierced everywhere with these 'faces' (sorry, I don't know how to call it). This is shown like this only in the solid viewport, while in Wireframe and Rendered it looks exactly as it is supposed to.

Does anyone know what's happening here? All I can think about is that I screwed up with the unwrapping, or that it may have to do with my PC, I run Blender in a pretty weak machine, though it's been working great up until now, but still, I'm at loss here. Thanks in advance, and sorry for my lack of language in the matter, I'm still a newbie.

I added an image to make it clearer.

while I can't do much without access to the .blend file, from viewing the screenshot it does seem that the strange interior geometry isn't part of the cup object (if it were, it would have edge lines on it since you are in edit mode). I would try leaving edit mode and trying to select it to see if it is a different model. If it is part of the cup, I would try recalculating the cup's normals by pressing "A" to select all faces, then "Alt + N", then selecting "Recalculate Outside" or "Set from Faces".

I would also check the modifiers tab on the cup and see if you have any displacement or other modifiers which could be causing the effect.


How to access character (physics type) via python to update it's jump force in real time? I would like to know if it's possible to access the jump speed via python to set different values for it. (.game.jump_speed / GameObjectSettings.jump_speed).

Is there a python script sample somewhere?

Here is a practical example to illustrate this question:

Let's say you have two types of platforms: Red and Blue.
When one collides with the red platform this event triggers a jump force of 10.00 (ten).
When one collides with the blue platform this event triggers a jump force of 20.00 (twenty).

There is a .blend for prototyping here (google drive, saved in Blender version 2.78c):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Byr4NYScNOlRMkkwWGx5VG5ETEk/view?usp=sharing
(Controls: WASD to move the character).

Physics pannel:

Current api (2.78c) GameObjectSettings.jump_speed

GameObjectSettings is part of bpy which only work inside of blender and only in Blender, this means that your game using bpy and bge only will work inside Blender because bpy will not work in standalone and you dont want that if you are making a game but if you are makin sortsof simulation and you will be using always blender then you can use bge and bpy.

You can access jump_speed:

from bpy import data

data.objects["Cube"].game.jump_speed = 50
print(data.objects["Cube"].game.jump_speed)

As soon as you run the script 50 will be the value for jump force in physics property panel:

here you can found some (old) good bge python tutorials

If you want in game dinamically change the jump speed you can use the next script portion was extracted from one of the tutorials, thanks to Goran Milovanovic

script

from bge import logic
from mathutils import Vector
import math

class MoveWSAD:
    """
    Goran's 2.6x FPS base-frame

    2011 - Goran Milovanvic - nilunder.com

    """
    def __init__(self, cont, own):
        self.cont = cont
        self.body = own
        self.sen_key_w = self.cont.sensors["W"]
        self.sen_key_s = self.cont.sensors["S"]
        self.sen_key_a = self.cont.sensors["A"]
        self.sen_key_d = self.cont.sensors["D"]
        self.sen_key_space = self.cont.sensors["space"]
        self.sen_col_onground = self.cont.sensors["onground"]
        self.speed_ground = 4
        self.speed_jump = self.speed_ground * 0.8
        self.main = self._inAir

    def _getMoveVec(self):
        forward_back = self.sen_key_w.positive - self.sen_key_s.positive
        left_right = self.sen_key_d.positive - self.sen_key_a.positive
        velocity = Vector((left_right, forward_back, 0))
        return velocity

    def _onGround(self):
        vec_velocity = self._getMoveVec()
        vec_velocity.magnitude = self.speed_ground
        if self.sen_key_space.positive:
            vec_velocity.z = self.speed_jump
        self.body.setLinearVelocity(vec_velocity, 1)
        if not self.sen_col_onground.positive:
            self.main = self._inAir

    def _inAir(self):
        if self.sen_col_onground.positive:
            self.main = self._onGround

"""Strapicarus 2017"""
class Player:
    def __init__(self, cont, body):
        self.body = body
        self.move_wsad = MoveWSAD(cont, body)
        self.main = self.walking

    def walking(self):
        if self.move_wsad.sen_key_space.positive:
             self.change_speed(1)
        self.move_wsad.main()

    def change_speed(self, speed):
        if self.move_wsad.speed_jump < 20:
            self.move_wsad.speed_jump += speed
        else:
            self.move_wsad.speed_jump = self.move_wsad.speed_ground * 0.8
        return

def main(cont):
    if not 'init' in cont.owner.getPropertyNames():
        cont.owner['player'] = Player(cont, cont.owner)
        cont.owner['init'] = True
    cont.owner['player'].main()

main(logic.getCurrentController())

LogicBricks

Physics panel

EDIT ADDED

Well a just download your blend and you put the right blend this time (i forgot to mention that before answer), and i test
¿if i change the loc z in motion actuator the character will jump higher? and YES it works.

So you just need increase the loc z value to set the jump speed for that motion actuator:

And if you want a python way here is to:

jump.py

from bge import logic

def main(cont):
    jumpact = cont.actuators['jumpSpeed']
    colsen = cont.sensors['Blue']
    if not 'init' in cont.owner.getPropertyNames():
        cont.owner['init'] = True
        cont.owner['_onair'] = False
        cont.owner['jumpSpeed'] = 0.0
        print('init...')
        return

    if not cont.owner['_onair'] and colsen.positive:
        if  cont.owner['jumpSpeed'] < 10.0:
            cont.owner['jumpSpeed'] += 1
            jumpact.dLoc = (0,0,cont.owner['jumpSpeed'])
            print('adding jump speed')
            print(jumpact.dLoc.z)
        else:
            cont.owner['jumpSpeed'] = 0.0
        cont.activate(jumpact)
        cont.owner['_onair'] = True
        return
    else:
        cont.deactivate(jumpact)
        cont.owner['_onair'] = False
        return
#    print(dir(jumpact))
#    print(jumpact.force)
#    print(jumpact.linV)
#    print(jumpact.torque)
#    print(jumpact.dLoc) #FOUND IT ! xD

main(logic.getCurrentController())

Logic editor

Blend file


How to animate morphing a sphere from a lipid membrane (rectangular plane) I'm trying to animate cellular endocytosis, similar to in the link below. I wanted to show a virus particule moving towards a flat lipid membrane, before getting engulfed by the membrane and emerging on the other side surrounded by a lipid bubbble.I'm completely new to blender and I don't even know where to start, any pointers in the right direction would be extremely helpful!

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fgfycat.com%2Fdiscover%2Fendocytosis-gifs&psig=AOvVaw2F0LWhpRoofavpHTlUDfVS&ust=1591082936457000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCOCHq4GM4OkCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAJ

Let say you want to achieve something like that:

What you should do is use Metaballs for the 2 cells, and a classical mesh for the virus. This way you can make the 2 metaballs merge together. You'll need to give a semi-transparent material to those cells (here a simplified version of what it could be):


How to Save OpenGL Viewport Animation in Blender 2.8? I am able to create the viewport animation, and then play it back from the render menu, but there doesn't appear to be any option to save it. When I render from the camera I have, it saves to the path specified in the render options in the properties panel. However, viewport animations don't show up there. Very confused as to where that file is going to allow playback from the render menu at the top of the viewport.

You have to specify where the file is gonna be saved before you render it from the viewport! Otherwise it doesn't work, I had the same issue.


How to smooth Edges between two boolean-joined Meshes? I want to remove edges between two boolean-joined meshes as shown in the images below.

Honestly, I can only think of manually adjusting the verts to fit, or merge them. For merging verts, just select the edge loops on both parts, click on the merge icon on the bottom, and say S (scale) Z (locking z axis) 0. A way to use both methods, is to select a bottom vert on the top object, and the adjacent top vert on the bottom object, and say S, 0. Kinda tedious though.

Hope this helps.


Can I set the default number of vertices for a cylinder? Is there any way to set the default number of vertices for a cylinder?
Every time I create one I get 32 as default but I usualy work with low poly models so I want it to be something like 8.
How to do that ?

Add a cylinder then look at the Last Operarotor panel at the very bottom of the Tool panel you will find options for the new cylinder.

Secocnd option:
Add a cylinder then hit the F6 key, a popup panel will appear. Here you will find the same options.


Keyframes disappearing I was working on Blender for 2D animation and at some point the keyframes just disappeared. They are still there hidden because I can access my drawings but the yellow squares are not visible anymore:

Did I activate some shortcut by accident ? Or is it a bug regarding grease pencil ?
EDIT 1: The solutions given here Hidden keyframes in timeline do not solve my problem. Scrolling up as much as I can do not bring back the keyframes, nor clicking view -> Frame all.

Normally I should see the layers below "summary" but here they just disappeared but they are still visible in the layer panel.

As mentioned there are many possible causes but I had this problem because of some mysterious activation of the setting Only Show Selected, "Only include channels relating to selected objects and data." I do not know exactly why this gets set (besides obviously clicking it) but clicking its button (so that it is not the active blue color) brings back the keyframes.


Is there a way to join two strips in VSE? Is there a way to join two strips into one? For example, If you cut a strip in two, do some other stuff and then realize, you want to undo the cut or something; I found how to groups strips, but not how to actually merge them into one.

For strip split by Cut K - Erase X second part of strip and extend the end point manually or by Snap to Playhead Shift+S

For strip split by Hold Cut Shift+K go to properties panel N and change Hold Offset End to zero (or what ever number that fits to a gap).


Align view to selected operator (numpad .) when scripting? Whenever I hit Numpad. (align view to selection), it doesn't show up in the info panel. Is there an operator for this, so that I can use it in scripting?

The operator name is bpy.ops.view3d.view_selected(). See my answer here for additional information on this and also how to quickly reach the online manual and the API reference. Here are the accompanying docs for the operator.

  Hover over a button and you should see a short description etc.. This
  can be useful for getting operator names.

You can go to the 3d view header and go to View > Align View > View Selected and check the operator name there.

Copy To Clipboard

While your mouse is over the menu item you can press Ctrl + C and the Python command gets copied to the clipboard to save you retyping it.

Log Everything

Some operators are excluded from the report window because typically you don't want setting the cursor (for example) to be logged, however this can be overridden by either...

Starting blender with the command line argument --debug-wm
Running this in the python console bpy.app.debug_wm = True

Then output of all operators executed will be logged in the info space and the console.


What are the most common reasons for not being able to edit UVs? In 2.80

I have unwrapped the UVs. But I can't edit them now.
I tested this with another object in a different file and that was not a problem, so I guess it's something specific to my other file.
Also, the UVs only show while I have them all selected in the 3D view. Is there a way to have them all showing whether they're selected or not?

Thanks

Strangely, the solution was to remove the texture I had on that mesh.


Possible to bake boolean difference or use "exact" only when "fast" fails? I am working with a 720 frame animation in Blender 2.91 with a liquid fluid simulation. To make the fluid simulation fit the container, I applied a boolean difference modifier on the fluid mesh.
Unfortunately, the "fast" boolean occasionally fails, resulting in the fluid mesh disappearing in 20+ frames during the animation. Using "exact" for the boolean difference results in no issues, but adds 30 minutes to the render time of each frame.
Is there a way to catch the failed "fast" boolean difference and retry with "exact"?
If not, might there be a way to bake each frame's boolean difference so I'm not having to recalculate it every time I adjust and rerender frames?

You can add both booleans, but disable the exact boolean. Then, you can keyframe their toggles on frame 0, by hovering over the buttons and pressing I. Then, you can go to the first frame, where you need exact boolean, toggle between the booleans, and again use I to keyframe them. Then on the first frame after that, where you no longer need exact, you can again toggle them and keyframe them, and so on.


Edit Images Externally With Linux Mint My Linux Mint version is 18.3 Cinnamon (64) bit

I'm using Blender 2.79b (Cycles)

This is the path where Gimp.desktop is located:

/var/lib/flatpak/app/org.gimp.GIMP/current/active/export/share/applications/org.gimp.GIMP.desktop

However, when I use the function Edit Images Externally in Blender I get the following error message:

  Image editor could not be launched, please ensure that the path in
  User Preferences > File is valid, and Blender has rights to launch it

Please note:

I've already saved the image to edit externally.
I verified the path where Gimp is located.
I accessed Gimp as root and changed all access values to: READ & WRITE. The execute box is also checked.
I also saved the User Preferences in Blender.

This is not a duplicate because the similar question asked is about Windows whose OS is completely different from Linux.

To discover the real path where Gimp executable is, I was told by the Gimp Team that I must right click Gimp.desktop with a text editor.

Typically, you should be able to leave User Preferences > File > Image Editor blank - as Blender will attempt to find 'gimp' on the system path. The 'Image Editor' preference is there as a means of selecting an alternative Image Editor or specifying where to find it if it isn't already on the path.

Note also that the '.desktop' file is a means of your window manager opening an application - Blender should not be using that as it will invoke 'gimp' directly. However, if you open the '.desktop' file then it will tell you what command clicking the 'Gimp' desktop icon will invoke (ie, where Gimp is installed if it isn't on your path).

Firstly, ensure that 'gimp' is on the path. You can do this by opening a 'terminal' window (I'm not too familiar with Mint but it should be something like 'Terminal', 'XTerm', 'Term', 'Command Window' or something similar) to get a command prompt. Then enter 'type gimp'. This should come back with something like :

gimp is hashed (/usr/bin/gimp)

This tells you that Gimp is available in /usr/bin/gimp and is on the system path.

If this is the case then you should simply be able to leave the 'Image Editor' in the File preferences blank - Blender will find it.

If gimp cannot be found (the 'type' command didn't locate it) then you'll need to specify the full path to 'gimp' (not the '.desktop' file). Locate it on your system and set the 'Image Editor' to that full path - so if 'gimp' is located at /usr/local/myversionofgimp/gimp then set the Image Editor to the full path to your 'gimp' executable (ie, '/usr/local/myversionofgimp/gimp').


Cloth modifier. Is it possible to set spring rest length and bending angle? I am working on cloth simulation with blender through python,

Mainly 2 phases,
first, I wrap clothes around a static human body model and apply cloth modifier,
then, I add the cloth modifier again and simulate while the body moves,

the first phase creates certain deformations on the cloth that later affect the results of the simulation,

Is it possible to change the rest length and bending angle of the spring mass model? So that my clothes do not show any kind of bias to certain shapes

So, I have been trying to do this on my own by modifying Blender source code,

in the file 'source/blender/physics/intern/BPH_mass_spring.cpp', in the function 'BPH_cloth_solve', just after it gets the reference to the Cloth object (line 1080), I manually set the rest angle of every spring to 0.0f,

this seems to do the trick w.r.t. bending,
problem now is the rest length,

I'd like to be able to define a vertex group that shall have uniform spring rest length,
I think this could be achieved by adding an additional flag to ClothVertex class (source/blender/blenkernel/BKE_cloth.h, line 96), and changing the ClothModifier so I can add an additional field with a vertex group (and maybe a checkbox to activate this behaviour), then, I think I should set this vertex flag at 'source/blender/blenkernel/intern/cloth.c', function 'cloth_apply_vgroup' (line 650), this should allow me to have access to which springs belong to this vertex group, so in the same part of the code I set rest angle to 0.0f, I can compute an average spring length for those springs and set it as rest length,

nevertheless, I am a little lost on how I can change the Cloth Modifier so that I can include an additional field with a vertex group, so that it later becomes a field of the object ClothModifierData on 'cloth.c',

if anyone has a better picture of how blender source code works and can share thoughts on this I'd be very thankful,

I'll keep trying to figure it out by myself, and if I see reponses from other people that have the same problem, I can share whatever solution I finally come up with


Why there's not homogeneous volume scatter in 2.72? There was an option to render volume in blender 2.71. I was used to doing that like in this tutorial: http://www.blenderguru.com/tutorials/make-atmospheric-lighting-blender/#.VKkh0CuG_h4

But now, in Blender 2.72, it is not possible to use homogeneous volume, because, the check button is just not there anymore!

I also tried to open project made in 2.72 in 2.71, and the option was there, but not in 2.72. Im really confused of that. Why is it removed?

Of course this feature has not been removed; it's just moved in the UI.

You can now find it in the Settings subpanel of the World tab: