"tapering" without the modifier or rotating

If i understand the question correctly you can use the shear tool for that. The shear tool can be accessed by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Alt+S.


There are a lot of ways to do that.

You can use some Projection painting, or some stencil painting, or use the UV Project modifier, or hand paint the texture yourself (since it's a few black strokes on white background, I think it's actually the fastest and easier way to go).


While texture painting, is there a way to limit the maximum opacity of the paint simmilar to the weight setting in weight paint mode

The answer is that no, you cannot set a threshold that will limit the full opacity of overlapping strokes - these strokes from your example are additive, so the overlapping area appears more opaque than the parts that do not intersect.

The better way to handle this is to use the Mask tool to paint your strokes using the visualization color of your choice and setting your strength to full with no pressure control, then inverting the mask and switching to the Fill tool and setting the strength to your desired transparency, and then you can get even fill across your whole mask.


Are you using Blender Render or Cycles Render? (This is shown at the top of the window.)

If you are using Blender, go to the "Textures" tab in properties, select "Projection" in the mapping tab, and change it to how you like. To tile it, change the size property.

If you are using Cycles, open up Node Editing. Link the Image Texture to the Material, link the Mapping Vector to Image Vector, and link The Texture Coordinate to Mapping. (It makes more sense in an image.) Click "Flat" in the Image Texture, and select a projection. Change the "Scale" values in mapping to tile.


How to remove background colors in antialiasing pixels in Eevee?

Change the world background to a black color and it should look fine.

In this example I am using a world enviroment but wanted a color/alpha to appear for the camera/render.

At first the render came out with a light blue border over objects, and as I changed the "world bg" to black with the light path node, the render came out fine, without borders.

I hope this can be understood easily, im at work and typing this without thinking it too much


Automatic weight not working on valve rig

Select your mesh then enter into edit mode and select all vertices then choose remove doubles as shown below, this will solve the issue.


How to add glare/bloom effect to image sequence?

When you move Glare-Treshold from 1 to 0 you can see Glare works (somehow).

Reason why it is not working for red emission object is because you saved sequence as PNG, that is 8-bit color depth, so you lose emission power information.
New scene with the Cube worked, because you composite direct unsaved render - full color depth (high dynamic range), that is not afected by color bit depth of saving file format.
To use image sequence for that purpose you have to set render output as OpenEX (or Multilayered) file format that is 32-bit.

You can alternatively use your rendered 8-bit PNG sequence, but you have only a chance if you:

matte red pixels and increase strengh or
matte red pixels and use glare only on this pass and mix together

One of the possible ways of second option is ...

But as you can see, it will be always difficult to glare red on purple that is similar color. Or you can make it more visible if you dont care it became white glowing object.


You can use scaling of a bone (say one of the spine bones) to make your character taller. If the child bones also scale and that is not what you want, just uncheck the 'inherit scale' in the bone properties. The parented meshes will follow the enlarged character as well.


How to make a (mesh) light only cast a shadow?

1: Negative lighting

Add a lamp and an idetical one but with negative strength and shadow casting disabled:

Positive Lamp

Negative Lamp

Without the Lamps

With the Lamps

Additional Notes

Because mesh light shadow casting can not be disabled, this works only for other light sources. Requires more samples than without the shadows. These are subtractive shadows, meaning the value of the shadow is subtracted from the color. Multiplicative shadows would look better, but those require spearate render layers and compositing.

2: Compositing

On the render layers tab there is an option for quickly replacing all materials with a single one, which can help with creating a shadow map render for the light by using a simple white material. You could exposure and gamma adjust the result of the render layer and multiply it ower the original render.

Additional Notes

This is a little longer setup, but with material overriding and putting the main lights and the shadow light to separate layers it can be easier. It might be good to disable bounces for the shadow render. This method however, instead of casting only shadows also darkens faces facing away from the light.


Smoke simulation "Bake" is missing (or moved?) from 2.8.0 to 2.8.2

It's now under Settings : Bake Data / Free Data.
Blender 2.82 use a brand new simulation engine (Mantaflow) for fluids and smoke, so any tutorial prior to this version is outdated.
For the given screenshot Cache > Type change to Final then the Bake option appears below.


Using an Archimesh glass panes pixelates my HDRI background – anyone know why?

Turn off half res trace under SSR in Eevee:


I got it. The nunmer of solve errors was about 3.2, but now it fits perfectly. Firstly i used fSpy, copied focal lenght and pasted it into camera settings in mation tracking. After that i changed refine from none to focal lenght and optical center. The most important thing is that i made a perpective point on the table. It caused so high solve error, but it works. Unfortunately i must redo models, but now it perfectly matches.


It looks like you textured your model using the Textured Mode. The problem is that those settings don't transfer back to your material settings. For example if you have the face and the clothes on different textures Textured mode will allow you to unwrap some faces on one texture and others on the other one but the Material will ignore that.
Make sure to work in the Material Mode and set your material to Shadeless so you can see the texture better.


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

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


How to render out an image sequence where each frame has a different name automatically

Blender allows you to render an animation to images and include the frame number in each filename. To get more control over the saved filename you can use a python script to do the rendering.

Paste the following script into blender's text editor and adjust the list of filenames to what you want to use for each frame. Instead of using blender's render buttons you can run this script to save each frame using the filenames you want.

A disadvantage is that blender's window will not get updated while rendering this way. You may want to do the render from the command line to get some feedback. If you save the script inside the blend file and name the text block myrender you can use - blender -b myfile.blend --python-text "myrender"

import bpy
import os

# the folder to save the renders
outpath = '//renders/'

# filenames is a list containing frame number and filename
filenames = [
    [1, 'PC.png'],
    [2, 'IR.png'],
    [3, 'SP.png'],
    [4, 'Board01.png'],
    [5, 'Circuit01.png'],
]

scn = bpy.context.scene

for r in filenames:
    scn.frame_set(r[0])
    scn.render.filepath = os.path.join(outpath, r[1])
    bpy.ops.render.render(write_still=True)


How do I fix Exception Access Violation error on startup?

I want to answer so that anyone with my particular situation might benefit ... I had this same frustrating problem with WIN 7, and  a Intel HD graphics  (which supports only OpenGL 2.1) ... I tried some suggestions which didn't work (though I needed the 2013 C++ library anyway, a link to this is given at the Blender site just below the Blender download links--I had only 2010) then I simply updated the graphics driver from a 2010 version to the 2012 version . and that did it. Actually I was surprised it did, but it did.

Read also that some other people had to go back to an older driver instead.

At any rate 2.77 can at least run with a Intel HD graphics, I am proof.

By the way I used an Intel utility called Intel driver update Utility to find the right driver. The screen went black after the driver was installed, and I feared the worst, but after restarting things seemed ok, the driver was installed and even Blender worked! Darkest before the dawn or something. Assuming all is well..

Oh last detail which probably doesn't matter) I didn't install Blender, I unzipped the zip file and ran it straight..


How to open an independant window using the same file

In the window menu you can choose "New window".
Every portion of a window can contain any number and kind of Blender editors, you can select them with the dropdown menu.


Custom Property vs ID Property for temporary User Preference Variable?

I decided to do this because it just works:

my_property : BoolProperty(default=False)
...
if button_pres_event: # Not real code
    self.my_property = not self.my_property
    do some stuff

I prefer this over the Scene ID Property I had before because it automatically creates it when the operator runs (no more checking if it exists first) and I can easily give it a starting value.

Basically, it simplifies the code. I'm sure there are other benefits but simpler/easier code is a good enough excuse for me.


Watch out, you have an unconnected socket shader socket in your node tree.

Anyway maybe mix a little translucent shader into your glass one. You setup looks quite good to me already, much of the remaining work needed is probably pertaining to setting up a proper scene and environment. "Jam in the void" will never look like proper jam.

You might optionally also want to add a particle system to your jam object to simulate the seeds in suspension.


How can I snap a duplicated part of a mesh to a hole with the exact size so it forms one whole object again?

Try to use a Grid Fill option. First select all edges around the hole with Alt+RMB, then press Space and type Grid Fill. If the result isn't as nice as you expected, change it's settings in a Tool Shelf (T).


Short Answer:

It doesn't matter at all.

Long Answer:

Bump mapping doesn't really care whether the colour of a particular pixel is black or grey or white or even negative. What it does care about, is the relation between that pixel and the pixels surrounding it.

The only thing that matter is the difference between the values. The two sets of pixels in the image above will give identical results, because the difference between black (0.0) and grey (0.5) is 0.5, and the difference between grey and white (1.0) is also 0.5.

As proof, here are two identical renders:

Why is it like this?

Under the hood, Blender is simply calculating the surface normal for each pixel. A normal is simply the direction that point on the surface is facing, irregardless of its position.

Note: None of this is true for actual displacement, only bump mapping.


Select a square grid of faces.  Make sure that you have a face as an active selection.  Use the checker deselect tool (from search menu) to select a checker of these faces.  Triangulate and set "Fixed" as the method in the operator box.  Select inverse and triangulate.  Set "Fixed Alternate" as the method in the operator box.


Rendered image background has strange stripes

Must be a glitch, but deleting the plane flat with the grid and adding it again fixed the issue.


How to make plasma ball's lightning's moving more naturally?

To get a smoother spline based on the wiggle node, you need to evaluate the noise at parameters of the spline. Moreover, to move the waves along the spline, simply add a scalar proportional to the frame number:


The gun and head mesh are in one object.

Press the Tab key to enter edit mode, select one of the vertices of the gun, then use Ctrl + L to select all of the gun's meshes and erase them.

Ctrl + L is the function to select all connected to the currently selected element (vertex, edge, face).

Finally, you will only get the head.

If you want to separate the guns into different objects without erasing them, select the mesh and press the P key.


Using bmesh

rather than drive yourself nuts with trying to use what is basically a UI operator (IMO), can use the bmesh equivalent bmesh.ops.bisect_plane.

Here is a test script, to run while object is in edit mode. It bisects all faces / edges of edit object with a plane at (0, 0, 0) normal z axis, in the meshes local space.

import bpy
import bmesh
context = bpy.context

# run this in edit mode
ob = context.edit_object
mesh = ob.data
bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(mesh)

# select all faces
for f in bm.faces:
    f.select = True

edges = [e for e in bm.edges]
faces = [f for f in bm.faces]
geom = []
geom.extend(edges)
geom.extend(faces)

result = bmesh.ops.bisect_plane(bm,
                              dist=0.01,
                              geom=geom,
                              plane_co=(0, 0, 0),
                              plane_no=(0, 0, 1))
print(result)
bmesh.update_edit_mesh(mesh)

Or alternatively in object mode

import bpy
import bmesh
context = bpy.context
# run this in edit mode
ob = context.object
mesh = ob.data
bm = bmesh.new()
bm.from_mesh(mesh)

# select all faces
for f in bm.faces:
    f.select = True

edges = [e for e in bm.edges]
faces = [f for f in bm.faces]
geom = []
geom.extend(edges)
geom.extend(faces)

result = bmesh.ops.bisect_plane(bm,
                              dist=0.01,
                              geom=geom,
                              plane_co=(0, 0, 0),
                              plane_no=(0, 0, 1))
print(result)
bm.to_mesh(mesh)
mesh.update()

The plane coord and normal passed to the operator are in local space of the mesh. To use global coordinates

local_coord = ob.matrix_world.inverted() * global_coord

Can change the geom input into the operator

from math import radians
edges = [e for e in bm.edges if e.select] # use selected edges
# faces with a normal orthogonal to z axis
faces = [f for f in bm.faces
               if abs(f.normal.angle((0, 0, 1)) - radians(90)) < 0.001]


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

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


How to select last imported object with console?

You can edit the location, rotation and scale of objects without operators:

bpy.data.objects['SomeObject'].rotation_euler = (0.1, 0.5, 3.141592/180*50)
bpy.data.objects['SomeObject'].location=(0,0, 0.5)
bpy.data.objects['SomeObject'].scale=(2,2,2)

When you import objects from .FBX file the imported objects are usually selected by the importer so you can get the objects by looping through selection:

import bpy

sel = bpy.context.selected_objects

for obj in sel:
    print(obj.name)

What you mean by last imported object is up to you. I suppose you could sort the selection somehow. This might not be the most elegant way, so someone please correct me, but it could go something like this if you wanted to sort them alphabetically by name:

import bpy

sel = bpy.context.selected_objects

sortedObj = [ [obj.name, obj] for obj in sel]
sortedObj = [obj for name, obj in sorted(sortedObj)]

for obj in sortedObj:
    print(obj.name)


how to take images with multiple cameras with Script?

You might want to edit the os.path.join to get an OS independent tmp directory or set something else.

import bpy
import os

scene = bpy.context.scene

for ob in scene.objects:
    if ob.type == 'CAMERA':
        bpy.context.scene.camera = ob
        print('Set camera %s' % ob.name )
        file = os.path.join("C:/tmp", ob.name )
        bpy.context.scene.render.filepath = file
        bpy.ops.render.render( write_still=True )


How to measure the dynamic range of an HDRi?

To properly answer your question, I'll lean on the photographic term of F-Stop to define what this range is.

What we know:

An F-Stop is a halving and doubling of light, relative to the exposure referenced.
A scene referred system has scene linear levels of light ranging from zero to infinity.

Therefore, to get from the question of dynamic range in stops to data values, we need to do a little math and figure out what our maximum and minimum values are in a given image, then convert that range to F-Stops for our solution.

We know that 2^FStops * middle_grey_peg will give us a numerical value for a given number of stops above or below middle grey in scene linear. So how would we go back from scene linear to F-Stops? Invert the formula for log(scene_referred / middle_grey_peg) / log(2) and we get the number of stops up or down for any given scene referred value.

If we subtract the two, we'd get overall dynamic range.

We can simplify it by skipping the middle grey value:

( log(scene_referred_maximum) / log(2) ) - ( log(scene_referred_minimum) / log(2) )

The result will be total dynamic range, expressed in stops.

I'm sure someone here can come up with a clever way via Python to get the minimum and maximum RGB scene referred values from a Cycles render or EXR image?

In theory the following code appears to work on EXRs, but your mileage may vary:

import bpy
from math import ceil, log

image = bpy.data.images['your_exr_goes_here.exr']

print("Total dynamic range in stops:")
print( ( log(max(image.pixels)) / log(2) ) - ( log(min(image.pixels)) / log(2) ) )
# Equivalent to (log(max) - log(min))/log(2) of course.


How to make a camera follow a specific particle

I opted to manually animate the camera and keep a single particle object (piece of paper) in the field of view. Thanks


Try to add "Subdivision Surface" Modifier.


Only one object (cube with background image) is rendering after 1st frame

After getting some mixed results it would appear that the issue is a bad rigid body cache.

Open the file and set the current frame to a negative value (-5 works) then play the animation all the way through to rebuild the rigid body cache, then render.


For starters, it is only showing up in local view, not global view (notice the lack of layers shown in the 3d view ribbon bar).

The problem is that those object(s) are not applied to any layers.

To fix this, select each object and assign one of the rendered layers to it.

By the way, to switch between global and local view, hit Numpad / or go to View > View Global/Local.


This is the track with the modifiers muted. Notice it is centered on the origin with location, rotation, and scale applied. Notice the length of the track is along the X axis. Its not shown, but "BezierCircle" is also centered at the origin.

Here is a view with the modifiers applied. Notice the array modifier has "Fit Type" set to "FitCurve" and "BezierCircle" is selected, and "Relative Offset" is selected and set to (1,0,0) so the duplicates run along the X axis. Finally, notice the "Curve" modifier also uses the X axis as the deform axis.


Vignette is distorted and not symmetrical

That weird shape looks a hell of a lot like a distorted mountain to me. You shouldn't plug your source image into the Lens Distorsion. You could instead take a Distort-->Scale node, in Render Size mode, so that you have a totally white image.


How do Power and Strength values correlate?

I did some testing. You can use this as a reference sheet :).

  Power : Strength ratio is 10:2,5 (for 1m² area)

Area lights use Power (W), Mesh lights use Strength
Mesh light used - default plane with Emission shader

Intensity and size relationship

Area lights - maintain their intensity with increased size.
Mesh lights - increase their intensity with increased size

Power:Strength reference sheet

I tested these as 4096x4096 images and still couldn't tell the difference.
Sorry for the color banding and compression artifacts.
Noise is a tiny bit higher for Mesh lights.


How to make evenly spaced pillars for a roller coaster track?

This is one approach - (probably not the best one)

In object mode, create a plane, coplanar with your curve, its width snapped to the curve's bottom ends, and with a height sufficient to accommodate the curve in projection.
Create vertical edge loops in it (CtrlR + Mouse wheel), one loop for each of your columns.
Knife Project your curve onto the plane, and eliminate unwanted vertices
Duplicate the set of edges comprising the cut curve in the plane

You now have the profile of your track, with its vertices evenly spaced in Y, to do what you will with - (possibly Duplivert?) whatever suits the rest of your model best.


Is it possible to simulate bump maps using lighting?

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

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


I am trying to fill a bottle with liquid

You will need to use Type: "Effector" and Effector Type: "Collision".

Here the steps for a basic fill the bottle setup:

Have a cube big enough to cover the bottle and the source of the liquid, maybe even some spilled liquid, who knows ;)
Make sure the cube has it's scale applied! Ctrl+A "Scale"
Go in the Physics Properties and activate the Fluid, Type: Domain.
Select the bottle, make sure the Normals (please see at the end of the answer for a deeper explanation) are correct, better check early then wonder about the wonders Blender can give you later. Switch on the "Face Orientation", which can be found in the "Viewport Overlays" drop-down-menu at the top right of the viewport.

With the bottle all blue (correct Normals) you can also apply Fluid physics to it and select the Type: Effector, with the Effector Type: Collision.
As for the settings needed here, i ended up testing a bit and ended up with these settings, you may need to adjust them depending on the thickness of the bottle though.

Pretending that you use a sphere as source, it needs to be scaled down to make sure it goes in the bottle, scale it in edit mode, or if scaled in object mode, make sure to apply the scale Ctrl+A "Scale"
Setting up the source is done by activating it as "Fluid" and setting it as Type: Flow, with the Flow Type: Liquid. The settings are rather plain, but can be adjusted later. Important to note is that if you want to fill a bottle, you may want to animate the inflow. Check the Use Inflow and press I over it to set a keyframe. Move to one frame before the time you want it to stop and press I once more to add a keyframe. Now go to the next frame and uncheck Use Inflow and press I one last time, effectively closing the hose.

Domain, bottle and source done, you need to adjust some details in the domain to get a result. I found it easiest to check if i like the simulation by activating the X-Ray Alt+Z.
Being able to see through the cube(domain) and the bottle helps, so now you can go in the Physics Properties of the domain and scroll all the way down to find the Cache panel. Here to get a fast feedback set the Type to Replay, means the simulation will run when you press play (usually with Space). Adjust the time frame for how long the simulation will be calculated. The liquid simulation will run further in replay even if you only simulate for 50 frames but have 100 frames running. Later for the baking, you may need to increase the length of the simulation that will be calculated to ensure that it is covering the entire filling and settling. Here roughly what it looks for me.(excuse the cheap bottle :p)

Now comes the tough part, you will need to re-simulate and adjust a lot, so a tip i wished i had heard before: Should you suddenly have the liquid fall through the bottle and ignore it completely, set the time to 0, then go in the Cache section of the domain and switch the Type to Modal and then back to Replay, if that does not do the trick it helps if you change the Frame Start from 1 to 2 and back to 1. I wish there was a reset button somewhere but at least this seems to help. You can also delete the cache, by opening the folder, going out of the folder and deleting it.
Let's pretend you got the simulation set up now and want it to be finalized, go in the Cache section of the domain and set the Type to Modal.
Go back to frame 1
Scroll up in the domain to the settings area and click on Bake Data, this will run through the set frame-range and generates the particle simulation (we are not finished yet though)
Now you can play the animation again to see if all is still as you saw it in replay.
With the particles baked, you now most likely want to see some liquid. For that you need to scroll down a bit to find the Mesh panel, which you need to check/activate in order to be able to click on Bake Mesh. Leave the settings and maybe change to preview if you have a rather long simulation to get a fast result. Later you can play (yes have fun) with the values to get the best (to your liking) result to commit to the final baking. Note: That the liquid will only be simulated for the set time, after that the domain will show up again, so if you want more time for the liquid to settle, you have to give the simulation more time extra!

There is also one Type Final in the Cache, where you can Bake All, but it still does not change the fact that the simulation will only show the simulated liquid for the time it's set up. For that, you can duplicate the domain, select the new one, go to the last calculated frame and Apply the modifier, giving you a stopped in time version that you can use instead of the simulated one once that is run to it's last frame. A simple switch from simulated to the new final state object should suffice in most situations. Animating the Visibility in render will do the trick.

Here the final result with the simulation playing to frame 49, where i then switched to the finalized copy of the domain (frozen in time 49).

I'd recommend to let the liquid settle a bit more though.

Finished, i hope this helps getting started.

Version used for this was:

Added info regarding Normals:
A bit deeper info regarding the "Normals" as in "Face Orientation", since this is a point often underestimated. NOTE: The faces will only be in color if "X-Ray" mode is not active

With "Face Orientation" switched on, faces will be color coded blue for what pretty much all should look like when viewed from outside the object and red as for the inside the object. I tend to imagine it as the meat of the object, as that would be red. You could say if you stand in front of a blue face, you are outside, if you stand in front of a red face, you are inside the object, thus seeing parts of your object red even though you are a distance away from your object, means those red faces are oriented wrong.

Normals do affect not only the shading and thus the look in the render.That said, Normals will affect the subdivision surface modifier (or rather how the object looks if subdivision is added to it), the simulation of cloth, fluids and particles as well even 3D-Printing, since essentially only the inner part of the object (go in the object and look, it should be all red) will be printed/filled by the slicer software.

Should there be Normals that need to be corrected, it's usually the easiest to select all and press Shift+N which "Recalculates the Normals" in case you only need to Flip one or a few select faces, you can press Alt+N to open the popup menu and select "Flip".


Making details like these (Sword Handle)

What I think you should look into is using the curve modifier! This will let you take a single strip of leather and physically wrap it around the handle by following the shape of your curve. Alternately, if a large amount of variety is either not your concern, or to be added at a later stage of the object, you could try the array and curve modifiers together, as well. This will let you take a very small section and follow it along the curve, repeating itself as many times as you want it to.

The ideal set up would be to first start your array, then make your curve around the sword hilt, add a curve modifier, then adjust your array. Both methods allow you to adjust the size of the object along it's length by scaling the control points. This can even be constrained to an axis, in case you need one particular part to be thinner or smaller.


It looks like these are the Normals of your object vertices. Display the right panel with N > Mesh Display > Normals and disable the Display Vertex button:


Find all meshes that use a specific material

You can use the select drop down in the viewport to select > select by > material


FOR BLENDER 2.80 to pre 2.92:
Go to object data properties and select alpha and change the slider.

.
FOR BLENDER +2.92:
Same as before, go to object data properties and select opacity (they renamed it) and change the slider.


Blender 2.8 sculpt mode shows triangulated faces

As of June 5th, this behavior is no longer present in the latest build of Blender 2.8 beta. I guess it was a bug that has now been fixed.


How to call select_linked_pick from script?

Managed to solve this issue by simply using different operators to get the same result:

    loc = event.mouse_region_x, event.mouse_region_y

    bpy.ops.view3d.select(location=loc)
    bpy.ops.mesh.select_linked()

Found from this answer by CoDEmanX.

Seemed a lot simpler in the end than trying to retrieve the right indexes for everything to use select_linked_pick...


Rigify Error Bone cannot connect chain bone

If you move (separate) the spine.004 bone the error appears.
The bone spine.003 and spine.004 have to be perfectly aligned.

Steps (in edit mode):

1.- Selected bone spine.003

2.- MAY+S - Cursor to selected

3.- Select Spine.004 and  selection to cursor

4.- There is no more error and the rig is ok.

I hope I've helped.
R.


Python: How to identify (by index) the edge closest to a given location?

Following a discussion in comments, there may be a point to consider: what does distance to edge means.
My first though was: the shortest distance to any point along the edge.
But you would prefer the distance as: the distance to the center point of the edge.
So two solutions below:
shortest distance to any point along the edge
A possible way is to use a BVHTree.
This tree usually queries for faces using find_nearest.
But we are looking here for edges and in consequence we can't use it directly (nearest face does not imply nearest edge and some edges may have no linked face).
The trick is to make polygons from edges and give it to the tree using FromPolygons to build the tree.
This is done below looping over edges and make a triangle from its two vertices.
import bpy
from mathutils import Vector
from mathutils.bvhtree import BVHTree

# Get the object and its mesh
obj = bpy.context.object
mesh = obj.data
matrix = obj.matrix_world

# Get vertices locations
vertices = [matrix @ v.co for v in mesh.vertices]
# Construct polygons from edges
polygons = [(e.vertices[0], e.vertices[1], e.vertices[0]) for e in mesh.edges]

# Create a BVH Tree from it
tree = BVHTree.FromPolygons( vertices, polygons, all_triangles = True )

# Search for a location
location = Vector( (0, 1, 1) )

# Query the tree
found_location, normal, index, distance = tree.find_nearest( location )

print( index )

Building the tree has a cost and generally we use it if several searches on the same tree. But as I tested it BVH is faster than direct calculation.
So it seems to be better to use a BVH tree.
Here is the code for min distance/index from a point (just for information: don't use it):
# Min distance calculation
def search_min_dist( mesh, location ):
    min_dist = None
    min_index = None
    for index, edge in enumerate(mesh.edges):
        e1 = mesh.vertices[edge.vertices[0]].co
        e2 = mesh.vertices[edge.vertices[1]].co
        length_squared = (e1 - e2).length_squared
        if length_squared == 0.0:
            # if edge is in fact one point
            d = (location - e1).length_squared
        else:
            # parametric projection on e1 e2
            p = (location - e1).dot(e2 - e1) / length_squared
            if p > 1:
                # if above e2
                projected = e2
            elif p < 0:
                # if before e1
                projected = e1
            else:
                # in between
                projected = e1 + p * (e2-e1)
            d = (location - projected).length_squared
        if min_dist is None or d < min_dist:
            min_dist = d
            min_index = index
    return min_index, sqrt(min_dist)

the distance to the center point of the edge
We can also use two approaches: using a Blender utility or direct calculation.
I've tested both and as this is equivalent in runtime, I give here a solution using Blender mathutils class KDTree.
KDTree is to work on points/locations in order to give nearest elements.
For our problem these points are the center of the segments.
So we can:
import bpy
import time
from math import sqrt
from mathutils import Vector
from mathutils.kdtree import KDTree

def search_min_dist_kd( obj, location ):
    mesh = obj.data
    matrix = obj.matrix_world
    # Get vertices locations
    vertices = [matrix @ v.co for v in mesh.vertices]

    #Create the kd tree
    kd = KDTree(len(vertices))
    for e in mesh.edges:
        i1 = e.vertices[0]
        i2 = e.vertices[1]
        median = (vertices[i1] + vertices[i2]) / 2.0
        #populate it
        kd.insert(median, e.index)
    #initialize it
    kd.balance()

    #get closest median point
    found_location, index, distance = kd.find(location)
    return index, distance


I made animated wind but doesn't seem to be working with the particle system

Just move the wind near to your particle system and set the strength to e.g. 100. Then you will see a result.


How create two new a objects(mesh) from single selection

Ideally you could use bmesh.ops.split() but the option to copy to a new mesh is still unsupported.

Using bmesh you can copy the selected verts and faces and create a new mesh out of them, then use that in a new object.

import bpy
import bmesh

act_obj = bpy.context.active_object

if act_obj.mode == 'EDIT':
    bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(act_obj.data)
else:
    bm = bmesh.new()
    bm.from_mesh(act_obj.data)
new_mesh = bmesh.new()

onm = {} # old index to new vert map
for v in [v for v in bm.verts if v.select]:
    nv = new_mesh.verts.new(v.co)
    onm[v.index] = nv

for f in [f for f in bm.faces if f.select]:
    nfverts = [onm[v.index] for v in f.verts]
    new_mesh.faces.new(nfverts)

scene = bpy.context.scene

new_data = bpy.data.meshes.new("mymesh1")
new_mesh.to_mesh(new_data)
obj = bpy.data.objects.new("SplitObj1", new_data)
scene.objects.link(obj)

new_data = bpy.data.meshes.new("mymesh2")
new_mesh.to_mesh(new_data)
obj = bpy.data.objects.new("SplitObj2", new_data)
scene.objects.link(obj)

bm.free()
new_mesh.free()


How to render a pixelated, occluded wireframe with freestyle?

You can use the Blender OpenGL viewport rendering for this.

Go to edit mode, activate edge-select and Z-Clipping:

Go to User Preferences, System, then disable all lights and make the final one black (color and specular, in my screenshot, only the specular ones are set to black).

Go to the Theme settings, 3D View and set selected edges to white and selected faces to black.

Select everything and press the "OpenGL render active viewport" (3D view header, the left one in the screenshot).

To remove other lines such as lamps you can enable Only render in 3D view > Properties panel (N) > Display > Only render and press CtrlSpace to toggle the 3D manipulator.

If the background is a problem, you can put a face there or also make it black in the theme settings.

AA has to be disabled, otherwise you will get smooth lines.

Result:


I had this problem.
I had accidentally locked the track in the movie clip editor dope sheet.
Once I un-padlocked it and gg worked again.


PNG will be anti-alliased.

Try to export your UV map as .SVG. It will be anti aliased too but you can change this.

I'm using gimp (it's free). I don't know if you can do that in paint.net

Open your .SVG in gimp. Choose the size and check "Import Paths" and "merge imported Paths" (tried to translate).

in the "Paths" tab, click on "paint along path"

uncheck "antialiasing", choose your line width (color will be foreground color)

your lines will be exactly the color you want, nothing more, nothing less.


EEVEE scene illuminated but no lights present in Render view

Solved!!!

When I'd saved my own start up preferences, Id forgotten to delete a lighting Cache. I deleted it, re added my lamp and everything works again. Stupid error on my part


How to draw shapes in the node editor with python bgl

Here is a basic bgl, blf (and gpu) example based on this answer:

import bpy
import bgl, blf, gpu
from gpu_extras.batch import batch_for_shader
from mathutils import Vector
import math

def draw_poly(coords, color, width):
    shader = gpu.shader.from_builtin('2D_UNIFORM_COLOR')
    batch = batch_for_shader(shader,'LINE_STRIP', {"pos": coords})
    bgl.glLineWidth(width)
    shader.bind()
    shader.uniform_float("color", color)
    batch.draw(shader)

# based on http://slabode.exofire.net/circle_draw.shtml
def draw_circle_2d(color, cx, cy, r, num_segments):
    theta = 2 * math.pi / num_segments
    c = math.cos(theta)
    s = math.sin(theta)
    x = r # we start at angle = 0
    y = 0

    vector_list = []
    for i in range (num_segments+1):
        vector_list.append(Vector((x + cx, y + cy)))
        t = x
        x = c * x - s * y
        y = s * t + c * y
    draw_poly(vector_list, color, 1)

def draw_line_2d(color, start, end):
    shader = gpu.shader.from_builtin('2D_UNIFORM_COLOR')
    batch = batch_for_shader(shader, 'LINES', {"pos": [start,end]})
    shader.bind()
    shader.uniform_float("color", color)
    batch.draw(shader)

def draw_typo_2d(color, text):
    font_id = 0
    blf.position(font_id, 20, 70, 0)
    blf.color(font_id, color[0], color[1], color[2], color[3])
    blf.size(font_id, 20, 72)
    blf.draw(font_id, text)

def draw_callback_px(self, context):

    # ...api_current/bpy.types.Area.html?highlight=bpy.types.area
    width = context.area.width
    height = context.area.height - context.area.regions[0].height

    # 80% alpha, 2 pixel width line
    bgl.glEnable(bgl.GL_BLEND)
    bgl.glEnable(bgl.GL_LINE_SMOOTH)
    bgl.glEnable(bgl.GL_DEPTH_TEST)

    shader = gpu.shader.from_builtin('2D_UNIFORM_COLOR')
    batch = batch_for_shader(shader, 'LINE_STRIP', {"pos": self.mouse_path})
    shader.bind()
    shader.uniform_float("color", (1.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.5))
    batch.draw(shader)

    draw_line_2d((0.0, 1.0, 0.0, 0.8), (0,0), (width, height))

    # yellow line
    draw_line_2d((1.0, 1.0, 0.0, 0.8), (width, 0), (0, height))

    # white circle
    draw_circle_2d((1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 0.8), width*.5, height*.5, 70, 360)

    # red circle
    draw_circle_2d((1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.4), width*.5, height*.5, 230, 5)

    # draw text
    draw_typo_2d((1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1), "Hello Word " + str(len(self.mouse_path)))

    # restore opengl defaults
    bgl.glLineWidth(1)
    bgl.glDisable(bgl.GL_BLEND)
    bgl.glDisable(bgl.GL_LINE_SMOOTH)
    bgl.glEnable(bgl.GL_DEPTH_TEST)

class ModalDrawOperator(bpy.types.Operator):
    """Draw a line with the mouse"""
    bl_idname = "node.modal_operator"
    bl_label = "Simple Modal Node Editor Operator"

    def modal(self, context, event):
        context.area.tag_redraw()

        if event.type == 'MOUSEMOVE':
            self.mouse_path.append((event.mouse_region_x, event.mouse_region_y))

        elif event.type == 'LEFTMOUSE':
            bpy.types.SpaceNodeEditor.draw_handler_remove(self._handle, 'WINDOW')
            return {'FINISHED'}

        elif event.type in {'RIGHTMOUSE', 'ESC'}:
            bpy.types.SpaceNodeEditor.draw_handler_remove(self._handle, 'WINDOW')
            return {'CANCELLED'}

        return {'RUNNING_MODAL'}

    def invoke(self, context, event):
        if context.area.type == 'NODE_EDITOR':
            # the arguments we pass the the callback
            args = (self, context)
            # Add the region OpenGL drawing callback
            # draw in view space with 'POST_VIEW' and 'PRE_VIEW'
            self._handle = bpy.types.SpaceNodeEditor.draw_handler_add(draw_callback_px, args, 'WINDOW', 'POST_PIXEL')

            self.mouse_path = []

            context.window_manager.modal_handler_add(self)
            return {'RUNNING_MODAL'}
        else:
            self.report({'WARNING'}, "NODE_EDITOR not found, cannot run operator")
            return {'CANCELLED'}

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

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

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()

Documentation: https://docs.blender.org/api/current/gpu.html

Blender 2.7x

import bpy
import bgl
import blf
import math

# based on http://slabode.exofire.net/circle_draw.shtml
def draw_circle_2d(color, cx, cy, r, num_segments):
    theta = 2 * 3.1415926 / num_segments
    c = math.cos(theta) #precalculate the sine and cosine
    s = math.sin(theta)
    x = r # we start at angle = 0
    y = 0
    bgl.glColor4f(*color)
    bgl.glBegin(bgl.GL_LINE_LOOP)
    for i in range (num_segments):
        bgl.glVertex2f(x + cx, y + cy) # output vertex
        # apply the rotation matrix
        t = x
        x = c * x - s * y
        y = s * t + c * y
    bgl.glEnd()

def draw_line_2d(color, start, end):
    bgl.glColor4f(*color)
    bgl.glBegin(bgl.GL_LINES)
    bgl.glVertex2f(*start)
    bgl.glVertex2f(*end)
    bgl.glEnd()

def draw_typo_2d(color, text):
    font_id = 0  # XXX, need to find out how best to get this.
    # draw some text
    bgl.glColor4f(*color)
    blf.position(font_id, 20, 70, 0)
    blf.size(font_id, 20, 72)
    blf.draw(font_id, text)

def draw_callback_px(self, context):

    bgl.glPushAttrib(bgl.GL_ENABLE_BIT)
    # glPushAttrib is done to return everything to normal after drawing

    bgl.glLineStipple(10, 0x9999)
    bgl.glEnable(bgl.GL_LINE_STIPPLE)

    # 50% alpha, 2 pixel width line
    bgl.glEnable(bgl.GL_BLEND)
    bgl.glColor4f(1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 0.8)
    bgl.glLineWidth(5)

    bgl.glBegin(bgl.GL_LINE_STRIP)
    for x, y in self.mouse_path:
        bgl.glVertex2i(x, y)

    bgl.glEnd()
    bgl.glPopAttrib()

    bgl.glEnable(bgl.GL_BLEND)

    # ...api_current/bpy.types.Area.html?highlight=bpy.types.area
    header_height = context.area.regions[0].height # 26px
    width = context.area.width
    height = context.area.height - header_height

    p1_2d = (0,0)
    p2_2d = (width, height)
    p3_2d = (width, 0)
    p4_2d = (0, height)

    # green line
    bgl.glLineWidth(3)

    draw_line_2d((0.0, 1.0, 0.0, 0.8), p1_2d, p2_2d)

    # yellow line
    bgl.glLineWidth(5)
    draw_line_2d((1.0, 1.0, 0.0, 0.8), p3_2d, p4_2d)

    # white circle
    bgl.glLineWidth(4)
    draw_circle_2d((1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 0.8), width/2, height/2, 70, 360)

    # red circle
    bgl.glLineWidth(5)
    draw_circle_2d((1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.4), width/2, height/2, 230, 5)

    # draw text
    draw_typo_2d((1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1), "Hello Word " + str(len(self.mouse_path)))

    # restore opengl defaults
    bgl.glLineWidth(1)
    bgl.glDisable(bgl.GL_BLEND)
    bgl.glColor4f(0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0)

class ModalDrawOperator(bpy.types.Operator):
    """Draw a line with the mouse"""
    bl_idname = "node.modal_operator"
    bl_label = "Simple Modal Node Editor Operator"

    def modal(self, context, event):
        context.area.tag_redraw()

        if event.type == 'MOUSEMOVE':
            self.mouse_path.append((event.mouse_region_x, event.mouse_region_y))

        elif event.type == 'LEFTMOUSE':
            bpy.types.SpaceNodeEditor.draw_handler_remove(self._handle, 'WINDOW')
            return {'FINISHED'}

        elif event.type in {'RIGHTMOUSE', 'ESC'}:
            bpy.types.SpaceNodeEditor.draw_handler_remove(self._handle, 'WINDOW')
            return {'CANCELLED'}

        return {'RUNNING_MODAL'}

    def invoke(self, context, event):
        if context.area.type == 'NODE_EDITOR':
            # the arguments we pass the the callback
            args = (self, context)
            # Add the region OpenGL drawing callback
            # draw in view space with 'POST_VIEW' and 'PRE_VIEW'
            self._handle = bpy.types.SpaceNodeEditor.draw_handler_add(draw_callback_px, args, 'WINDOW', 'POST_PIXEL')

            self.mouse_path = []

            context.window_manager.modal_handler_add(self)
            return {'RUNNING_MODAL'}
        else:
            self.report({'WARNING'}, "NODE_EDITOR not found, cannot run operator")
            return {'CANCELLED'}

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

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

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()

Documentation: https://docs.blender.org/api/current/bgl.html#module-bgl


Use Boolean modifier after adding some thickness to circles so modifier to work or use Knife Project.

Cutting with Boolean modifier

Boolean didn't work in your case most likely because there wasn't geometry needed for it to operate with. Two flat faces won't be cut with any Boolean operation; if you extrude these faces in any direction (e.g. by Z axis) and then add the Boolean, it will be executed correctly.

First fill the circles with geometry: if they are still curves convert them to 2D; if they are meshes select all the vertices and press F. Position them accordingly: center one should be as separate object, and 3 others should be joined as another one.
Extrude them / add Solidify modifier; you may leave small values in order the extrusion to be deleted further on as double vertices (increase threshold a bit to achieve that).
Finally add Boolean to the center circle and choose object with 3 circles as a target. Delete created additional geometry if needed.

Knife Project

It's basically described here. In this case you shouldn't extrude anything. Some general steps:

Place circles as in the 1-st way;
Select those 3 joined as the first object, then one in the center and enter their Edit mode (the selection order is important because it determines where faces will be cut from).
Press  Numpad 7 to enter Top View. It will make Knife Project to cut object using this projection.
In the Toolshelf (open with T) find Knife Project and choose it.

See also:

Cases where boolean operations can fail

How would you cut a shape out of an object using another object?


Your viewport material's alpha is not set to 1, that's why your object is semi-transparent. Click on the Color field and set the Alpha to 1.

The red color might come from backfaces. You can either recalculate normals with SHIFT + N or deactivate it in the overlays :


Replicating the behaviour of SketchUp's plugin "Soap Skin Bubble" in Blender

Cloth simulation can work very nicely as a modelling tool in Blender.
Some differences from the Sketchup add-on you refer to:

Blender Cloth is more general, so there are more settings. They can be saved as presets, though, once you've got them sorted out.
The Sketchup add-on assumes the boundary of the shape is pinned. In Blender, you have to pin vertices explicitly. Create a 'Pin' vertex group, allocate it with weight 1,  and declare it pinned in the 'Shape' panel of the Cloth settings. (Name the group whatever you like)

Blender Cloth Pressure (one of the 'Physical Properties' panels)requires a a closed manifold mesh, otherwise it 'leaks' So, as you see, your shape has been extruded downwards, and the bottom face filled. The rim and base can be discarded after applying the Cloth modifier.
I also added a 'Tension' vertex group to control the shape of inflation.. to give the inflated shape a thinner waist:

Unlike the add-on, the Blender simulation runs as an animation. This one stabilized in about 20 frames.


Ungrouping objects connected via a vertex

Your group is a single object. You can select the object, go into edit mode, then separate parts of the mesh into separate objects.
From Separating Meshes - Blender Documentation

In edit mode press the hotkey 'P'. Then select one of the option:
Selected

This option separates the selection to a new object.

All Loose Parts

Separates the mesh in its unconnected parts.

By Material

Creates separate mesh objects for each material.

If the parts are unconnected in edit mode (as you stated), use Separate > All Loose Parts.

They seem to be connected to random vertices at the grid origin.

If the parts are connected, You can try to can try to delete the vertices/edges before separating the mesh by loose parts. Otherwise you will have to select the part of the mesh, which you want to separate and separate by selected. (Useful:  'L' [Select Linked])


Making first intricate mesh on my own after tutorials, need some pointers

One element of the eventual solution might be to model each button group as its own mesh and then join the different button groups into a complete object at the end of the process (and keep a copy of the separated versions in a second .blend file in case you need to make some tweaks).

Loop cuts are not the ONLY tool available to you.  Subdivision (of faces or edges) can be of considerable utility as well.  However, it can lead to inconvenient temporary situations if you do things in the "wrong" order.  Expect to do things inefficiently for many many tries until you get a feel for the "right" way to do things.  It is just part of the learning process.

Yes: non-quads can be inconvenient when dealing with subsurfs.  Their problems are mostly concealed when they happen to be coplanar will all their neighbors, so you can exploit that.

Another thing you can exploit is that loop cuts try to be straight across, but you can relocate some of the edges of the loops in another part of the mesh to deal with different button dimensions or spacing.


Duplication follows an UV sphere but rotates duplicates

Don't ask me why but flipping the sphere's normals seems to solve the problem.
"Normal" normals :

Flipped normals :


Displacement node not working as expected

On the Height Node:
- Change the space color on the height map from sRGB to non-color


Focal Length Using Cropped Sensor Cameras

Yes, I if you set the sensor size to the Nikon DX preset, the field of view should be the same as a real camera. The field of view is computed from the dimensions of the sensor and the length of the lens, as is in the real world.

A 75mm lens on a full sensor camera (24x36mm sensor size) would cover a field of view of 26.9 degrees.

A 50mm lens on an APS size sensor (23.6x15.8mm) would cover afield of view of 26.6 degrees.

Remember that the 1.5 factor in real life is "approximate". The exact match for a 75mm lens would be a 49.34mm lens.


Object being squished when using object offset in array modifier

Figured it out, you just have to make sure that the scale of the object you're using as your object offset is the same as the object your applying the modifier to is the same.


Why is my road offset from it's parent bezier (wrapped to a sphere)?

Do you really need one unique road?

If that's the case, you could create a sphere, a curve, and use the Snap option to stick the curve to the surface of the sphere, then gradually scale down the sphere so that the curve also scales down.

If you don't absolutely need one unique road (which in my opinion is the case in this picture) you could fake this kind of object this way:

Create your road segment, apply the scale and the rotation, give it an image texture.

Create a curve. Give your road segment an Array modifier, Fit Type > Fit Curve, and a Curve modifier.

Duplicate your curve + object, rotate and move it as you like, scale the curve (and only the curve).


In Blender 2.8, can a object be both masked (Holdout) and Exclude for a given View Layer?

You can now use Object passes in the Compositor, created through the Cryptomatte options in the ViewLayer properties.

In the Compositor, three "CryptoObject" socket will be available, that are transformed to a mask (matte) through the "Cryptomatte" node announcement & demo.

You can then render a Render Layer without the object altogether, and another one with the object, that you will use only to create the matte.


You've set up a "brush" texture instead of a material texture, as you can read from the first drop down menu of your screenshot.
Select your plane, create a new material for it and assign the movie as material color texture.


Cycles image sequence node offset and the object info random

here is a quick and dirty script, its really inefficient though, creates a distinct material for each cube. I Suggest maybe investigating the animation nodes plugin? you can do fancier programming logic with that.

import bpy
import random
import glob

scene = bpy.context.scene

image_names = glob.glob("/Users/myuser/Blender/images/*")

for name in image_names:
    bpy.ops.image.open(filepath=name)

cube_count = 1000

for c in range(cube_count):
    bpy.ops.mesh.primitive_cube_add(view_align=False,
     enter_editmode=False,
      location=(3*random.random(), 3*random.random(), 3*random.random()))

for ind,ob in enumerate(scene.objects):
    if ob.type == 'MESH' and ob.name.startswith("Cube"):
        ob.select = True

        #make a new material
        rand = "--"+ str(random.randint(0,100))
        mat = bpy.data.materials.new(name="Mat"+str(ind)) #set new material to variable
        #add the material to the object
        ob.data.materials.append(mat)
        ob.active_material_index = len(ob.material_slots) - 1

        #make a new node texture node
        mat.use_nodes = True
        node_tree = mat.node_tree
        node = node_tree.nodes.new("ShaderNodeTexImage")
        tex_coord_node = node_tree.nodes.new("ShaderNodeTexCoord")
        mapping_node = node_tree.nodes.new("ShaderNodeMapping")
        diff_node = node_tree.nodes['Diffuse BSDF']

        node_tree.links.new(tex_coord_node.outputs['Generated'],       mapping_node.inputs['Vector'])
        node_tree.links.new(mapping_node.outputs['Vector'], node.inputs['Vector'])
        node_tree.links.new(node.outputs['Color'], diff_node.inputs['Color'])

        node.projection = 'BOX'
        node.select = True
        node_tree.nodes.active = node

        rand_image_index = random.randint(0, len(bpy.data.images))
        node.image = bpy.data.images[rand_image_index]

    else:
        ob.select = False
`


You can parent the object to an empty, scale the empty along the world axes, and rotate the object around its local axes.
In the example below, the empty is the parent of the cube, the empty changes scale, and the cube rotates around its local axis


how to make a handle of a bottle like this one?

Use Mesh Modeling with Subdivision Surfaces

Hi Jason,
The mesh in your file is very high poly, which often makes it more difficult to edit. Next time, try using poly mesh modeling with a subdivision surface modifier.

Try capturing the shape with as few polygons as possible, and let the modifier help give the appearance of a smoother surface.It's usually easier to edit when there's less geometry to work with, and the modifier will still give the benefit of appearing more detailed than the base mesh actually is.

You can add extra edge loop cuts to sharpen areas, and you can increase and decrease the view count in the subdivision surface modifier. You can even crease your mesh in the N Properties panel under the transform section. Have a look at the image and the blend file provided.

If you often model these kinds of objects, consider taking a look at Claas Kuhnen's youtube videos. He often does product design and concept modeling tutorials that you may find useful.

https://www.youtube.com/user/cekuhnen

Hope this helps,
Good Luck!


How do i Snap an vertex just where it touches and edge following it´s own axis?

Blender has very limited precision modelling or CAD-like features, this is not natively supported at the moment.

You may look into third party addons to help you achieve this, some are commercial some are free:

You can try Blender TinyCAD addon (which I believe is shipped with Blender by default) that has a few intersection options. It doesn't directly provide snapping options, but can extend an existing edge until it reaches another one.
If you don't mind spending a little money, there is a payed addon Snap Utilities that provides a Sketchup-like workflow, with a pencil tool. (I am not in any way affiliated or associated with the addon creator, although I did purchase it).
There is also a free version of the above Snap Utilities, with some limitations in functionality


Model has a hole in it due to weird geometry in wireframe mode?

You've created a shapekey and it is selected, so whenever you try to bring some corrections in Edit mode it changes this shapekey, not the base shapekey, and as soon as you come back to Object mode, you don't see what you've done on this second shapekey, as its value is at 0, you only see the base shapekey, which remains unchanged. So you need to select the base shapekey and work on it, you can even delete this second shapekey if it's not useful.


How to make a displacement map from existing 3d geometry

The best way I know is to use Baking.
You must have your plane (or whatever the low-res object is) UV mapped with a new image assigned to all the faces you want to bake to (select faces in edit mode, select/reselect the image in the Image Editor).
Then in the Render settings, at the bottom is the bake panel.

Normalized allows you to specify a maximum distance
Selected to Active is important too, enable it to ensure the displacement is baked from all selected objects to the active/last selected object.
Example:

(Note that baking doesn't play nice with overlapping geometry - in this example the underneath of the sphere and torus was deleted, and the sphere moved up to ensure it doesn't collide with the torus. Not doing this will produce artifacts.)


Rigged Mesh Behavior Is Different Despite Same Weights

If two vertices, even if near to each other, move differently, surely they have different weights.

When using automatic weighting, this common problem arise when some vertices get weight from some bones and other form more (or less) bones, so if you check only the head and the neck they seem similar, but in fact they are different.

In edit mode, if you select a group of vertices you can read the weights of the active one (last selected) in the N properties panel, so making a comparision between two vertices that have a different behaviour will underline where the problem lies.

An useful trick is to use the "selected to active" function, in which you select a group of vertices (like all bottom teeth), then shift select the vertex to follow (in my example it could be the center vertex), and press the little folder button (you have to do it for all the involved vertex groups, if some vertex group have influence on the selected vertices but not on the active, you have to use the remove button in the vertex weight tab).


Shrinkwrap doing crazy things on surface topology

You can try to:

Raise the polygon count in both objects with subd modifier;
Recheck there is no vertex incorrectly assigned to the vertex group;
Lower the vertex weight;
Small nudges to the objects to find a "sweet spot".


You are in the wrong editor window (texture editor)

Use the Shader editor.


Python Scripting, add hotkey with map type Mouse?

Shift+LMB example to toggle Properties > Scene > Simplify:

import bpy

# operator
class ToggleSimplify(bpy.types.Operator):
    bl_idname = "view3d.toggle_simplify"
    bl_label = "Toggle Simplify"
    bl_options = {'REGISTER', 'UNDO'}

    def execute(self, context):
        context.scene.render.use_simplify = not context.scene.render.use_simplify
        return {'FINISHED'}

addon_keymaps = []
# register
def register():
    bpy.utils.register_class(ToggleSimplify)

    # handle the keymap
    wm = bpy.context.window_manager
    kc = wm.keyconfigs.addon
    if kc:
        km = wm.keyconfigs.addon.keymaps.new(name='3D View', space_type='VIEW_3D')
        kmi = km.keymap_items.new(ToggleSimplify.bl_idname, type='LEFTMOUSE', value='PRESS', shift=True)
        addon_keymaps.append((km, kmi))

# unregister
def unregister():

    for km, kmi in addon_keymaps:
        km.keymap_items.remove(kmi)
    addon_keymaps.clear()

    bpy.utils.unregister_class(ToggleSimplify)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()

Also see: https://www.blender.org/api/blender_python_api_current/bpy.types.KeyMapItems.html


Is There A Way To Make Reflections Act Similar To Cycles In EEVEE?

Creating a Light Probe > Reflection Cubemap and a Light Probe > Irradiance Volume brings you close to the Cycles result. If you need any explanation on light probes, please ask.


How do I 'pan' the camera around an axis for an animation?

Another trick that might help is to track the camera to a target.

If you have a specific object you want to orbit around and the motion doesn't have to be absolutely circular then you can add a Track To constraint to the camera with the object in question as your target. If you keep Space as World Space <-> World Space, you'll want to switch the Up: to Y and the To: to -Z.

Instead of directly tracking to the object in question you could add an empty of course, and make sure the empty is where it should be. You then can move the camera freely around, it will keep tracking its target. Set your key frames for camera location where you need them, rotation is handled by the Track To constraint, keeping the camera trained on its target.

The quick way to do this is to first select your target, then Shift + select your camera. Shift + Ctrl + C will give you a constraint popup, select Track To. The first selected target will be automatically assigned the target for your constraint.


Lock transformation in local coordinate system

That's what the Transform Location locks are for, they lock the objects on the Global axis, the fact that you switch the Transformation Orientation from Global to Local won't change it.

If you want to constraint an object on its local axis, use a Limit Location constraint, switch the Convert to Local Space and choose on which axis you want it to be constrained.


How do I freeze the wave modifier animation?

You can freeze the wave by animating the 'Offset' field inversely to the frame advance.

Supposing you have a wave with a positive speed, and at frame 0, it has an Offset of 2. You want to freeze the wave between frame 100 and frame 140.

Then at frame 100, you want an Offset of 2, at frame 101 an Offset of 3, up to frame 140, an Offset of 142. (The offset direction seems topsy-turvy to me, but that's the way it is)

(You could either do this with a driver...)

Or, if there are no interfering variables,  keyframe the Offset value to 2 at frame 100, and 142 at frame 140.

Then go to the Graph Editor, hit T on the start and end keyframes, and set the interpolation to 'Linear' to get rid of the easing, which would screw the linear relationship you're looking for.


Even though the poster was having a different problem, one of the answers to another question Painting problem when using pen in Blender seems to do the trick for me. If I change the Preferences > Input > Tablet > Tablet API to Windows Ink then the stylus paints with the selected color.
I have no clue why this is happening though; I will accept any answer that sheds some more light on this issue.


Where does Blender store log information?

The paths for the crash logs are platform dependent. The following information can also be found in Blender's manual.
If you intend to add these information to a bug report, please attach the logs as file.
Windows
On Windows the location is determined by the environment variable TEMP. If you haven't modified this environment variable, it will point to C:\Users\[your username]\AppData\Local\Temp\. In order to locate the crash log, open the Windows Explorer (Win+E) and type %TEMP% into the path bar. The name of the crash log be the same as your project file, but with the file extension .crash.txt. If you haven't previously saved the project before, it will be blender.crash.txt.
Linux
On Linux the crash log is written to the /tmp directory. The name of the crash log be the same as your project file, but with the file extension .crash.txt. If you haven't previously saved the project before, it will be blender.crash.txt.
macOS
The crash log will be presented through the macOS Crash Reporter. You will have to copy the text and save it in a file yourself.

Additional information can be retrieved by starting Blender with debug command line flags.
Windows
The Windows version provides batch files for convenience that allow to create log files without using the command line. They are located in the same directory as the blender.exe.

blender_debug_gpu.cmd (--debug and --debug-gpu flags)
blender_debug_gpu_glitchworkaround(--debug, --debug-gpu and --debug-gpu-force-workarounds flags)
blender_debug_log.cmd (--debug and --debug-cycles flags)
blender_factory_startup.cmd (--factory-startup flag)

Double-clicking on the batch script will start Blender with the listed debug flags and write log files to %TEMP%\blender\debug_logs. Once Blender has either crashed or was manually closed, the Windows Explorer should automatically open and display the log files. If Blender was able to start, then this will also include a file that contains the system information blender_system_info.txt.
Linux
The log file creation requires to redirect stderr and stdout into a file. Open a terminal, navigate to the directory where Blender's binary is located and then use the following command or a variation with different command line flags:
./blender --debug --debug-cycles > ~/blender_debug_output.txt 2>&1

The resulting log file will be placed in your home directory, assuming that your terminal supports the alias ~ for it.
macOS
The log file creation requires to redirect stderr and stdout into a file. Open a terminal and then use the following command or a variation with different command line flags
/Applications/Blender.app/Contents/MacOS/Blender --debug --debug-cycles > ~/blender_debug_output.txt 2>&1

The resulting log file will be placed in your home directory.

Blender's command line also allows to configure additional logging options for more fine grained reporting.


Add empty(which is parented to character bone for example arm) which spawns the shield. and then add logic bricks that parents the shield to the character


I'm not sure though why that happened. But  you can join the sleeve and stitches with ctrl+J in object mode if they are sperate object. Or select every thing,  go to edit mode and search for (merge by distace) option (F3). And apply it.  It will join the vertices which almost share the same place.
Remember  after doing this you have re assign the weight.
Hope that helps.


Generate a random square texture from color input

You can get good results with a single Voronoi Texture

Set Randomness to 0
Plug the Color Output to your ColorRamp
Set ColorRamp to linear (since the edges are already defined)

Edit:
To keep the corner aligned: offset and scale the texture using The Mapping Node

Or offset the UV coordinates by 1 / ( 2 * scale)
Thanks to @Gorgious for providing the formula.


What is the difference between a Viewer and a Compositor node?

As per the manual
They are two of several output nodes and allow you see or save the working image in progress. At any point only one viewer and one composite node is active.

The Viewer node is a temporary, in-process viewer. Plug it in wherever
you would like to see an image or value-map in your node-tree.

and

The Composite node is where the actual output from the compositor is
connected to the renderer. Connecting a node to the Composite node
will output the result of that node's full tree to the Renderer,
leaving this node unconnected will result in a blank image. This node
is updated after each render, but also if you change things in your
node-tree (provided at least one finished input node is connected).


Blender video output settings change after render

Yes, if you most the time use to write out a certain format instead of the "currently" set default format.

Solution would be to make your setup default.

I'd suggest to go from a new file aka press Ctrl+N and make a new General scene.
Go in the Output Properties and set it up how you want it to be default.
Go in the File Menu->Defaults->Save Startup File

From now on, til you chose to "Load Factory Settings" you will have the new settings as default. This can be used for pretty much all settings, that's why it's best to go from a new clean scene, as to not accidentally set unwanted things as default.


Python3.4 in Blender is bundled within Blender. It doesn't share libraries with system's python (see this related post).

So, to use extra libraries you need to install it into /blender/2.72/python/lib/python3.4/.

OR you can remove /blender/2.72/python and Blender will fallback to using the Python installed on the system (however the versions must be compatible).

OR you can specify a folder in the script input of the User preferences:

Note that this folder must contain 3 sub-directories : addons, modules, and startup. So you can install the library in the modules folder.

As Gandalf3 suggested, you can find more information in the wiki here.


How to keep triangles connected and the same shape, while modifying/transforming?

There are matrices inside sverchok.
Category Analiser - origins node to find matrices.
use category Viz - viewer bmesh to show triangle and matrices to make multiple items.
Or use category Scene-mesh instancer node
Also surface way of this task exists
Please, import this node tree https://gist.github.com/78da59d7bcba7ee9b90e9276a09022d5
in "sverchok import panel"
copy link and press "import from gist"


Animating active object in physics simulation

This has been prepared on the assumption that you're unfamiliar with Blender's animation and constraint handling...
(Blend file below)

When mixing animation, physics, parentage etc, a significant amount of time and trouble can be avoided by keeping things 'modular'.  i.e. get the first part working, bake it, then the second, bake that etc.
The philosophy behind this is because Blender's modifiers, physics, parentage etc, can all play havoc with each other when acting on the same model concurrently.
Strict and sometimes quite finnicky procedures can circumvent some of these interactions but only when adhered to, often to the letter, and assuming that the workarounds are even known!
The answer given here has been extended beyond what was asked for to illustrate how easy it can be to multi-switch between constraints and physics.   Picking up an object would usually require further action such as being carried off and placed somewhere else.  Mixing physics with similtaneous animation is also a relatively simple matter, but this project won't require that.
A hint - save your work with incremental filenames at every new stage!
Another -  Tick all the boxes in the baking panel.
See Below for the fine detail - re: baking frame ranges.
-==============-
The item to be picked up is the Monkey.  That is given Dynamic physics properties from frame 1 initially so it drops onto the conveyor.  When it settles the action can be baked from frame 1 up to the settling frame. (see details below)
Once baked that part of the action is set in concrete and won't change without direct intervention.  You have to manually switch off it's physics however and also delete the two physics strips left behind in the Monkey's Dopesheet entries.
With the physics gone, the Monkey can then use the conveyor as a parent (CTL-P) and that's what carries it along to the pick-up point.
Once reached, the parentage has to be switched to the pincer arm, so baking is used once again, but only for the necessary frames.  i.e. where the original parentage was introduced up to and including the parent change-over.
Two concurrent 'Child-of' constraints can do this, but in the long run, it's far far better to simply bake the action and preserve what's already working.
Once baked, the pincer arm can become the parent to both pick up and carry the Monkey.
It's lowered again and dropped gently.   Bake it again up to the drop frame.
Once baked it's free to be given physics again, where it drops, rolls, and falls off.  Bake that and your entire action is pretty much immune from future interference.
-==============-
Not one of these procedures encountered anything like the hassles that can crop up when keeping multiple constraints and physics active.
A year from now, the file can be reopened and guaranteed to perform exactly as before, working on the premise that a new version of Blender won't depart significantly from it's most basic animation handling-code.
Should any section need a change, that section only can be re-physic'd or whatever, then baked again.  (with all due care in the Dopesheet to accomodate the new action)
-===============-
Baking Frame ranges -
The initial drop onto the conveyor takes place between frames 1 to 47 and these are the frames to be baked.  Remember, if you bake an extra frame or 2 and it upsets the action, simply delete them in the Dopesheet.  (Save your work first)
The conveyor parentage, where it's carried along,  runs from frame 47 to 97.
The pincer arm parentage where it's picked up - frames 97 to 133.
Physics are applied again from frame 134 to 180 where it's rolls off and falls away.


Armature out of place in object mode but not in edit mode...or almost

Have you accidentally moved the armature or bones in pose mode? You could try switching to pose mode

⎇ AltR to reset all rotation,
⎇ AltG to reset all translation,
⎇ AltS to reset all scale.


Crash when I start Blender 2.83 on Windows 7 Pro

Something similar happened to me with  on a Win 8.1 laptop, but I was also getting an error message related to a sound setting. Strangely, I made it work by upgrading my graphics card driver to the latest version, so you can try that. If not, try to see if Win 7 is still supported. Hope this helps! Stay safe.


EXR Transparency Border with bloom and glare

By default, the Video Sequence Editor operates in the sRGB color space, while the Compositor always operates in the Linear color space. (You can read more about the difference in the Color Management section of the Blender documentation.)
When you render to OpenEXR, the information in the image is stored in the raw Linear color space. This means that the colors have not yet been mapped to sRGB, and in fact there are many possible different ways that mapping could be done (as changing the View Transform and Look settings can illustrate). Although the VSE does handle images in the Linear color space even when compositing in sRGB, the compositing operations themselves still happen in sRGB, which means the image must be converted to sRGB before the alpha blending is applied.
This is fraught with potential problems, and although I sadly can’t say with confidence why exactly this leads to black fringing in your example, it seems wiser to play it safe and do this compositing entirely in the Linear space. You can set the VSE to Linear in the Scene ▸ Color Management panel:

This eliminates the fringing in the rendered result.

There are other tradeoffs related to the choice of VSE color space, and the full subject is too complex to attempt to cover here. But if all you are doing is compositing rendered output from Blender itself, using the Linear color space is almost certainly a perfectly fine choice.
If you find that using the Linear color space does cause problems for whatever reason, one solution could be to use multiple scenes, one of which uses the Linear color space in the VSE, the other which uses sRGB. Then you can do your video compositing in two passes, first compositing in the Linear space and outputting sRGB video, then further processing the sRGB video in the sRGB space. Of course, if doing everything in the Linear color space works fine for you, that is preferable, since that is much simpler.


I've found my own answer.
I had an obstacle representing the room the lava will be beneath, when I cut the inflow I moved the obstacle all the way out of the domain, It appears that this is what caused the glitch, and moving it only slightly seems to have worked.


Texture wrong in the sides of a plane with solidify modifier

As @Chaudhry Yousuf suggests, you need to unwrap your mesh and apply your texture using its UV map.
You can find more info about UV map on the BlenderGuru's Youtube channel :
here, or here


NLA action modifiers, character walking on curve

Add a curve and check Path animation and set the evaluation time.

Add a Follow Path Constrained after that you character should look like this

With the Locked Track influence you can control the vertical orientation, I used torso because for some reason I wasn't able to select the root bone.


Can the 'top' view be rotated by 180° around the Z-axis by default?

There is no way to customize the default orientation as far I know (maybe some clever person could write a script and assign it to the numpad keys)

As an alternative you can change the default scene.

Rotate the view to where you need it, then press Ctrl+U to save the startup file. That way blender will always open with your preset view.

Make sure that the Load UI (load User Interface) box is enabled on the user preferences>file>load & save section.

You could also create custom layouts and save those as part of the startup file, that way instead of changing the views, change to the layout that has the orientation you want to use CtrlLeft or CtrlRight

See this related post: Can screen layouts be locked?


Root bone and walking cycles (how to keep armature in place)

It's simple (if uncomfortable for an animator!).
You have to keyframe the pelvis bone's movement but ONLY on the up/down left/right axis. Don't move it back and forward at all, and your character will walk in place like on a treadmill.
This is annoying because you can't even perceive if the motion is right unless it's actually MOVING around!
So, to save your current project you can go to the timeline or dopesheet side list, pick the track that contains the bone's forward movement, and simply delete it. The bone will keep doing its job as usual, only now it shouldn't move forward anymore.

I tested this on a very complicated rig, full of IKs, so that's why it looks weird, but if you look only at the shoulder bone, after deleting the Z-location it keeps going up and down as normal, it just stopped moving forward.


How do I make my mesh have a matte black finish in cycles?

Matte simply means diffuse.  So for a pure matte, black shader I would simply use a diffuse shader with the color set to almost black (HSV about [0,0,0.98]).  If it is pure black, it will not reflect any light and thus not look good.

Photorealism note:  Almost nothing in the real world is purely diffuse.  To make your material look much better and more believable you might want to mix in (with a factor of about 0.05) of a glossy shader with a roughness of around 0.12.


Why my active objects are not sliding down when the passive rotates?

You probably just need to set the passive "animated"

"animated" means that the simulation assumes the active or passive object will be transformed during simulation, so to take its future transform into account...


Terminology may vary, but what Skeinforge/ReplicatorG is calling "dangling edges" refers to one specific type of non-manifold geometry. It is the kind where an edge is shared by more than two faces. In other words, this is bad:

It is an infinitely thin shared edge, because even though each cube has a volume, they are joined in a way that is impossible in physical reality. Imagine if you were to perfectly line up two tables so that their corners touch in a similar way - would you have one table or two? You would still have two tables, of course. With this kind of non-manifold geometry it would be analogous to having the tables inseparably stuck together at the corner where they touch, even though they are only connected by a few molecules. A 3D printer doesn't know what to do with that.

Here is another example - infinitely small corners. Or if you prefer, "dangling vertices".

So what are your options? Well, you can either separate them:

Or you can create a very small area where the cubes touch that joins their volume:

3D-printable edge connection:

3D-printable corner connection:

Now that you understand the nature of the problem, your challenge will be coding into Python a new way of generating your geometry that is manifold. Have fun. :-)


Invert knife tool cut or other tool to use

I would extrude a single vertex around, building the model up instead of cutting it out.

⎈ Ctrl LMB can be used to extrude and position geometry in one step, or E can be used for a two step extrude and move.

That said you might get a similar result much more easily if you auto-trace the image into a vector SVG with a program such as inkscape, then import the SVG into blender.


To do this in cycles, you'll want a glossy shader.

You can do this from the properties menu like this:

But this actually will create the corresponding material nodes in the material node editor:

At least in cycles, the node editor is a lot easier and faster to work with directly once you get used to it, allowing you to create more complex setups quickly:

See the manual for a complete list and description of all cycles nodes.

To help make it look more realistic, use a non-uniform/textured environment to avoid flat looking reflections:


How do I copy/Paste an object into another project and still have it colored

Use Shift + F1 in the project you would like to copy it into. Navigate to the original .blend file, open the Objects folder, and select the objects you would like to append. Appending the objects will create new instances in your new .blend file, however, linking will preserve changes made to the original later.


create a 2D lattice and match it with your tile
use the Lattice modifier on the tile and assign the create lattice
parent the tile to the lattice
add the Shrink wrap modifier to the lattice
Enable Snap to Face on your target object
move the lattice on the target object.

Play around with shrinkwrap offset, lattice resolution and subdiv modifiers to tune it.


How to insert a keyframe for Mask Point coordinates

It seems like keyframe insertion for masks is exclusively handled by bpy.ops.mask.shape_key_insert() and cannot be done from python in a different manner. This operator only works in the right context (mask open in clip editor or image editor, or mask strip selected in sequence editor) and if the points of your mask are currently selected.


How to project the lines of a basketball ball on an ancient greek head for 3D printing?

You could do it with a displace modifier. You just need a displacement map of your texture. I made mine with a normal map which was quickly done from a regular basketball texture so the result is not perfect. You really should use displacement map.
First you need to have enough resolution in your mesh. I had a head which had quite a lot of resolution but it still required 2x Subdivision Surface modifier. The Subdivision Surface modifier should be set to Simple not Catmull-Clark. In my example the deformation cannot be seen because there is a lot of geometry beforehand. Also give your mesh a Displace modifier. Next press New in the Displace modifier.

Press the Show texture in texture tab button in the Displace modifier.

Press Open and find your displacement map.

Set you Color Space to Non-Color.

Go back to Modifier Properties panel and in Displace Modifier set Coordinates to UV and decrease the Strength.

Remember to UV-unwrap your object so you get nice result. Next you can export the mesh from File -> export -> stl. Select Selection Only and Apply Modifiers.


How to 'scale' a texture image to the object

I am going to guess that you created a cube, stretched it along one axis, and then added a wood texture, something like this:  (I used a different wood texture but the idea is the same.)

You can tell whether you applied the scale by looking at the sidebar in object mode:

in this example I scaled Y by 10 but didn't apply the scale.  In object mode, CTRL-A brings up the apply menu.

Selecting scale fixes the scale:

But that doesn't fix the problem because you still have the default UV Map that was created when the cube was created.  So you need to create a new UV Map.  Here's the quick way to do that:
In edit mode, select all of the vertices of your rail.  Then use CTRL-E to bring up the edge menu.

select "Mark seams".  Your beam will now have red edges to indicate that ever edge is a seam:

Next you have to unwrap the beam.  Because all the seams are in place you can use the shortcut U-key U-key (typing U twice.  That'll give you a UV map that looks like this one more or less:

For me, this isn't enough, because the grain of the wood in the photo runs 90 degrees to the way wood would be cut for a beam.  To fix this I needed to rotate the UV map.  This is done by going into the UV edit window and then using the rotate and move tools to reposition the map.
The shortcut for this is 'a r 9 0 RETURN' to rotate and then 'g' to move.  left click to exit move -- this works just like in the 3d viewport

once that's done, my beam looks like this:

There is a lot more to UV unwrapping, like why I unwrapped each face separately, and other ways to manipulate the UV islands, but this answer is getting long.


Using the default configuration you'll need to hold down shift while tweaking the knob for panning. Your Space Pilot Pro should have a shift built into it for easy access.

You can also adjust Blender's NDOF keymap to better suite your liking.


Why does parented to bone object copy location of tail instead of the head?

I guess, this is natural behaviour of the bone. A set of two connected bones (parent+child) means that Head of child will copy location of parent's Tail.

Same thing with other objects.


Why does a multiplied texture with alpha loose detail information?

Setting the Blend Mode to multiply isn't necessary.

Material Settings:

Specular

Intensity: 0.0

removes this:
Transparency: On

Method: Z Transparency
Alpha Slider 0.0

Texture Settings:

Type: Image or Movie
Image: The Texture Image
Use Alpha: On (Otherwise darker parts of the image which are supposed to be opaque will be partially transparent)
Image Sampling

Alpha: Use : On (Otherwise darker parts of the image which are supposed to be opaque will be partially transparent)

Mapping

Coordinates: UV
Map: UVMap

Influence

Color: On (1.0)
Alpha: On (1.0)

Blend: Mix (Default)

Settings to compare:

Result (left rendered, right image editor)
Image source by Luc Viatour / www.Lucnix.be

Result zoomed


If you intend on painting the model with non-symmetrical details, then you will want to apply the mirror modifier at some point before painting and setting an image texture. The mirror should be applied before baking if you are getting details from the source object - this also will help avoid seams in your normal map.


What nodes to use for enhancing an image texture imported as a plane

Your text image needs to be a PNG with a 0% alpha background (transparent background). Then use this nodes setup: plug the 2 Image Texture nodes into 2 Diffuse nodes, mix them into a Mix Shader, use the text alpha as the factor of the Mix Shader:


How can I select hundreds of items in the outliner that have similar names?

Try Select > Pattern. This will allow you to select objects based on a pattern with a set of wildcards.

The available wildcards are *, ?, and [...]

Use * to match any number of characters
Use ? to match a single character
Use [abc] (or [ABC], but this only matters if Case Sensitive is enabled) to match any letter, and [0123456789] to match any number between 0 and 9. You can match specific numbers too, e.g. [127] will only match 1, 2, and 7.

If you want to select all AsteroidA_LP... objects, then it sounds like you want something like AsteroidA_LP.*.


First, the answer to the question:
To get rid of shadows in cycles, you can disable Shadow in the Ray Visibility of the object (not the emitter).

BUT
Those are not shadows you are looking at, they are reflections of the object itself.
You've created a very reflective, almost mirror like material.

Without changing the lights, here's a render using a diffuse shader on the object, the alleged shadows are gone....

Here's the same scene with a glossy only material, showing the reflections on the glossy sirfaces...


How to create a pop-up menu to get numerical input

You can create an operator which will show a menu when called , this is the Simple Operator example edited to fit this case :

Run the script to rigster the operator
press Space and type Simple Object Operator

import bpy
from bpy.props import IntProperty

def main(self, context):
    bpy.ops.object.subdivision_set(level=self.level)

class SimpleOperator(bpy.types.Operator):
    """Tooltip"""
    bl_idname = "object.simple_operator"
    bl_label = "Simple Object Operator"
    bl_options = {'REGISTER', 'UNDO'}

    level = IntProperty(default = 1, min = 0, max = 10)

    @classmethod
    def poll(cls, context):
        return context.active_object is not None

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

    def invoke(self, context, event):
        wm = context.window_manager
        return wm.invoke_props_dialog(self)

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

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

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()


SVG file with curve modifier possible with curves?

I don't think you can achieve this if your logo is a curve, I guess you need to convert it to a mesh, so:

Delete the Curve modifier.
Convert your curve to mesh with an altC > Mesh from Curve.
To clean your mesh, go in Edit mode and press X > Limited Dissolve.
Now as your mesh is supposed to bend you need to give it back a higher topology, you'll use the Remesh modifier (maybe there's a better way though).
Extrude your mesh with E.
Give it the Remesh modifier with Octree Depth > 8 and deactivate Remove Disconnected Pieces.
Apply the modifier. Now you have a high poly. Only keep the top surface.
You can give your object a Curve modifier with the curve as Object. It works.


How to Mirror After Starting Sculpt with MultiRes Modifier

This may be out of date, but quick tip - if you mirror a mesh by scaling -1, you can then reverse the normals via 'recalculate outside' or 'flip normals'
see:
https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/modeling/meshes/editing/mesh/normals.html#recalculate
https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/modeling/meshes/editing/mesh/normals.html#flip
You may also be able to work around this by changing the order of the modifiers in the stack.


Light ignoring a solid object to illuminate object hidden behind the solid object

You can change the shadow option on the wall object.


How do I use the NLA editor with Linked characters?

Many, many years later ... having just stumbled-upon this never-answered thread .. I think that I can offer a practical solution (based on current software):

Define the "dancing mech," in the library blend-file.
In that same file, place everything – including any armatures, actions, etc. – into a "group," so that external files can reach everything by linking only to that group.
In the external file, link to the "group."  (You will be rewarded with an object that you can, for example, bind to a path with an appropriate constraint, but that you cannot animate or otherwise edit.)
Now, select the group and "Make Proxy."  This will create a new object named "GroupName_proxy."
In the NLA Editor, you should now be able to select the proxy-object, Edit..Insert that object, and insert your NLA actions into that strip.

In Blender parlance, anything that is "linked" (from an external file) cannot be "edited," unless within the current file there is a "proxy" which can capture and therefore contain the changes within this file. Alas, years later, Blender's user interface still falls short in making any of this easy and obvious.


Reconstruction Mode doesn't show up in movie clip editor

The workflow for tracking has changed in recent versions. The Reconstruction options you are looking for are now on the Solve tab on the toolbar. Enable it by pressing T Or you can access them through the reconstruction menu.


Dont be an idiot like me and try using edge split in the modifiers tab. I remember having this problem before and it's caused by booleans and I fixed it many times before with edge split, so I have no idea how I was dumb enough to not think of that. Don't drink and model, kids, that never goes well


Switch your normal Image Texture node from sRGB to Non-Color:


Here is a way to do it:

Create your X object, set its origin to its geometry.
Give your X object a Subsurf modifier and a Smooth Shading.
Create an Empty at its base.
Give your X object a Simple Deform modifier > Twist mode, and choose the Empty as the Axis Origin.
Create 3 keyframes through the timeline for the Deform Angle of the modifier, for example:
frame 0 = 0°
frame 30 = 120°
frame 60 = 0°

Now your X object twists, but you must rotate it:

In the Properties panel > Object > Transform, rotate your X object on the Z axis, for example:
frame 0 = 0°
frame 60 = -360°

To do the second twist (on the X axis), just disable the first Simple Deform modifier with a keyframe on its visibility (eye and camera icons) after the end of the twist, create a second Empty on the right or left of the X object, rotate this new empty 90° on the Y axis, give your X object a new Simple Deform modifier with this second Empty as the axis, and again, play with angles, rotation and keyframes.

Also, if you want to move your X object in your scene, parent your X object and its empties to a new empty.


Just choose imperial in the unit setting panel. By doing this, the grid and all length system will give a proper behavior if you use imperial.

There is no different between imperial and metric. But if you want to cooperate with others, start in metric unit will be a better choice in my opinion.