Lining edges up: Make features collinear, preserving surrounding geometry

Multiple objects

There are a couple ways I can think of. One way is to use custom transform orientations.

In edit mode (↹ Tab), select the edge that you want to align the object to and press ⎈ Ctrl⎇ AltSpace to create a new transform orientation.

The manipulator widget should align to the edge and you should see the selected transform orientation switch to the new custom one in 3D view > header:

In object mode, select the object you wish to align and press Align to transform orientation in 3D view > Header > Object > Transform:

Your object's local X Y and Z axes will be aligned to the active transform orientation. This is probably not exactly what you want. In your case, since you just want to adjust the rotation of the first object around the Z, set the rotation along the other two axes to 0:

Now we are closer, but still off by 90° around the Z. To fix this, just add 90:

Single mesh

You might be able to use custom transform orientations here too, but here's a different way just to mix it up:

What I did in the gif:

Snap one vertex on the transforming edge to a vertex on the target edge.
Snap the 3D cursor to the vertex which was just snapped to (⇧ ShiftS> cursor to selection)
Set the pivot to the 3D cursor (.)
Set the snapping target to edge and rotate the mesh (R) until it snaps into place.

You should be able to apply this approach to multiple objects too.


How to hide lighting(like unchecking diffuse as in 2.79 ) from lamp but keeping shadows in EEVEE?

Add another light in the same spot with negative power.


Force specific model to be drawn in "texture" mode

I often use a workaround: instead of changing the general view mode i leave it as "textured" and change into wireframe the object I'm working on. Hope it helps.


Why does blender 2.8 twist the thumbs the wrong way around in my Poser 11.1 Pro FBX figure when it imports

Have you tried applying the rotation?
Most image formats have a rotation parameter but not all software (including blender I think) honors it. I think you can do it in GIMP.

https://www.impulseadventure.com/photo/exif-orientation.html


Why the texture does not show on my object?

The .obj file is improperly set

Should be

f 1/1/1 2/2/2 3/3/3
f 2/2/2 3/3/3 4/4/4
f 3/3/3 4/4/4 5/5/5
f 4/4/4 5/5/5 6/6/6

instead of

f 1 2 3
f 2 3 4
f 3 4 5
f 4 5 6

and vt values should be between 0 and 1


why can't blender read a movie which blender has itself rendered?

okay i figured out the problem.  must make sure proxy view preferences match proxies which have been built or re-built.  i hadn't built the 50 percent proxy but was viewing that proxy in the viewer.....hence the lack of result.


Why can´t I place a texture in the colour bar anymore?

You are using the wrong render engine. You want to be using cycles, but you are using Blender Render. At the top of the screen there is an option to change the engine. You can see in the first screenshot where it says Cycles Render.


Parenting/Joining a helmet to a skeleton rig

The helmet consists of 2 elements msh_vents_topSide and msh_visor. You need to select both of them with SHIFT+click, then still with Shift select bone "head" (it's top most circle in "rig" rig), then press CTRL+P and choose Bone. This way whole helmet will be parented to head bone with weight 1 and no need for weight painting.


Get smoke simulation to observe emitter's pose?

I know the smoke sim has changed a lot recently, but it used to have a modifier on the modifier stack. It's possible that your smoke sim's modifier is above the armature modifier in the modifier stack, IWC the smoke sim is getting calculated, THEN the pose is getting calculated.

It also looks like the t-pose figure is a little bigger than the other. If that's the case, you should make sure your scale is applied on the model and the rig.

Hope that helps!


Have a look at your upper leg bones.

On the bone properties tab under inverse kinematics, there are the settings for bending limits and stiffness that are used by the IK solver to calculate the end positions/rotations for the bones.

Your left upper leg has different settings than the right here.


How to place a flat object orthogonal to camera, but not center of camera view

You could give your watch a Track to Object Constraint that tracks the Camera.
Now the watch always looks at the camera no matter where you move it.


According to your screenshot you're using cycles, the workflow is different.

In Object Mode

Select your object RMB
Add an image texture node with the image selected.
Press Bake

To bake from one object to another select two objects and tick the Select to Active option.


How to select a face created with edges?

Those black lines are edges which are co-planar to that face, but not associated with it. If you select those edges, they can be deleted without deleting the face. If you want to select those face sections individually, you'll have to remake them first. Start by deleting the face. Then select the edges (or verts) around one of the desired faces, then press 'F' to generate a new face there. Hope this helps!


You mast create a driver to the Shape key mix value for manipulating this value from a Armature.

In Shape keys click on Value of your Shape key and select Add Driver -> manually create later. Or press Ctrl + D while hovering value slider by mouse. Driver will be violet:

Next in Graph editor - select Drivers mode:

On N -> Drivers panel setup driver like this:

Finally, check, can you manipulate shape key by moving bone in Pose mode?

And at last, in new scene press Ctrl + Alt +P -> select armature object. It will creates a local copy of armature, and you will be able to manipulate the bone, that control your Shape key.


why does my roundcube create a cube when here it creates a ball?

It's probably a bad default setting, to have a sphere you need to go into the Operator box and increase the Radius up to 1:


Render only changing part in the animation

Lets say it depends on the level of detail and realism you want. Mostly it has to do with the lighting and shadows. If you don't mind if the shadows aren't animated, then you can easily render just the static objects on to a transparent background, as a simple image. Then you can render out the dynamic parts onto a transparent background, then use the compositor and put it all together as the animation. If you want the dynamic shadows then it can be done as render layers, but the shadows will effect the chessboard and require it to be rendered. UV mapping and baking the materials will help with the render time. you will just want the diffuse color, none of the lighting or other effects. That will only help if the materials and textures are complex.


One way...

Create an empty circle
Give it a Mirror modifier with Bisect checked in the mirror axis. Move half the vertices toward the center, until you get the shape you like, and apply the modifier.
With all selected in Edit mode, CtrlF Face menu > Grid Fill.
Assign a Solidify modifier
Assign a Bevel modifier, by angle, (Segments 2, Profile 1?) to catch the sharp edges
Assign a Subdivision Surface modifier

Now select the central vertex, and under O, proportional editing, raise it up a bit, with a diameter and falloff profile you like, to get the curve.
..and maybe, in Edit, CtrlV Vertex menu, > Smooth the vertices, a touch

Grid Fill needs an even number of vertices to work cleanly, the Mirror modifier helps ensure that, even if your petal isn't quite the same shape as this one.


I would use Inset Faces. You can select loops where you want to add loop cuts by using Alt + LMB  and then press I to inset faces.


Animation Nodes extra nodes Morph between two objects with particles

Note- Please watch the tutorials of Animation Nodes based particle-system for Blender2.79x and Blender 2.8x and Forces and other Group Nodes.

I am using Blender 2.79x for the morphing particles but you can also use the same node-tree in Blender2.8x.

Edit:

Morphing particles between animated objects:
For morphing, we need random points on the mesh of the object that we will use for the locations of particles. So, I have made a AN-Random Points on Mesh group-node to scatter random points on the mesh using BVH nodes. You can adjust the seed, Amount (in this case is total particles) and scale,

I have also made a AN-Custom Delay Falloff group-node which has easy controls (similar to keyed particle-system) for morphing transition between objects,

Step-1: I have added the particle-emitter Object A (Cube, you can also use a separate object for particle-emitter) and Object B (Cylinder) with animation on xyz-rotation,

The Emitter has these settings:

Step-2: Then add the AN-Particle Input group node which gives the necessary outputs (particle-system, locations, etc) and Particles Output node then connect the particle-system input, and also disable the Always execution option in the N-panel,

(You can download extra Group Nodes if you need.)

Step-3: Now we have to find the points/locations on the mesh objects (Emitter and Target) using AN-Random Points on Mesh group-node and Amount is the total number of particles:

Step-4: For the morphing effect, we have to Mix points (on the mesh, mentioned in Step-3) using AN-Vector List Mixer with Falloff which works similar to Mix Vectors node. Now, we can control the transition with any Falloff node,

Step-5: We have the resultant locations (or Post-Locations, after doing Step-4) and Pre-Locations, so we can calculate the velocities of the particles using AN-Velocities From Locations group node then connect the Post-Locations and Velocities to the Particles Output node,

Step-6: This is the final step, add the Falloff node which will control the morph transition. I have used the AN-Custom Delay Falloff node and set the Start Frame = 1, End Frame = 200 and Delay = 0.01 (you can change accordingly, e.g., to add some frames stay on some object),

Step-7: We can easily extend this node-tree for three objects transitions, here the third object is Object C (Ico sphere),

Step-8: I have used the AN-3D Noise group-node to add turbulence effect to the particles, and using Interpolate-node I have limited the turbulence effect during the transition, (two objects),

For three objects,

Step-9: After the final transition, to make the interaction of particles with gravity, I have added the Force filed and enable the All field weights in the particle settings. Then connect the AN-Vector List Mixer with Falloff group-node after the final object (in this case is Object C) to off the effect of final transition object and its falloff parameter is controlled by AN-Custom Delay Falloff group-node:

Three objects morphing of particles and interaction with gravity, the final node-tree:

Blend File for Blender 2.79x:

Blend File For Blender 2.8x (required addon to bake Node-Based Particles):


Is there a way I can make render times longer to avoid overheating?

Here is a related SuperUser post.
In Blender, you can lower the number of threads by going to Render Properties -> Performance.

Change from auto-detect and lower the number of threads.
I lowered mine to 2 and started a CPU render and it does appear to split the compute load pretty evenly among the processor cores, so one part of the chip won't necessarily be hotter than the other and it should prevent an overheat.

(This PC runs pretty hot.) :)
It's also worth quickly noting that denoising is a processor intensive task in itself, so it may not be a solution.


What is snapping in Blender and how to use it properly?

Snapping is when you use the position or even orientation of something else in some operation to align/snap/move to/scale to/rotate to something that you are editing with that operation.
Blender has loads of various great snapping functionality.
Snap Menu
There is this snap menu that you can call with Shift+S:

Snapping in Transform Operations
And then there is also snapping in transform operations that depends on all these settings of your Transform Orientation and constraining of the transform operations or Axis Locking, Transform Pivot Point and Snapping Settings. These work in so many ways, that it would be hard to describe them all. You can find out more about it in the manual that you are reading and the links to it that I put in this answer, but the basic idea is that you combine all of those settings to make snapping situation that you happen to need. For example if I want to snap the center of Suzane's eye to the vertex of the point of the cone in my scene, one of the many ways to do that could be to set the Transform Pivot to the 3d Cursor, Snapping to Vertices and Snapping target to Center, this way, I could drag the cursor with Shift+ right-click, hold Ctrl down to enable snapping for it and snap it to the vertex on the eye, and then use grab G transform operation to snap the place the cursor was at to the vertex I hover my mouse over:

But you can see that there are many settings there and they will all work differently in combination with each other, you can also use rotation and scale transforms with various ways of snapping, and also you can use a to snap to multiple targets(you need to temporarily release Ctrl to press a if you are using it to only temporarily enable snapping during transform operation)
You will eventually get the feeling of what you need when you get familiar with all the settings, you should just try them out, and of course you will find it very well documented in the manual.


Script Version.

Displaced dense grid mesh split 2 in x, 2 in y.

Since the map is one continuous mesh and you wish to split into a grid, have used a modified version of @Codemanx's answer

Splits the mesh into chunks, locally using bounding box.

Run script in object mode.

Edit x_segments, y_segments, z_segments to suit.

import bpy, bmesh
from bpy import context
from  mathutils import Vector
# bounding box helper methods
def bbox(ob):
    return (Vector(b) for b in ob.bound_box)

def bbox_center(ob):
    return sum(bbox(ob), Vector()) / 8

def bbox_axes(ob):
    bb = list(bbox(ob))
    return tuple(bb[i] for i in (0, 4, 3, 1))

def slice(bm, start, end, segments):
    if segments == 1:
        return
    def geom(bm):
        return bm.verts[:] + bm.edges[:] + bm.faces[:]
    planes = [start.lerp(end, f / segments) for f in range(1, segments)]
    #p0 = start
    plane_no = (end - start).normalized()
    while(planes):
        p0 = planes.pop(0)
        ret = bmesh.ops.bisect_plane(bm,
                geom=geom(bm),
                plane_co=p0,
                plane_no=plane_no)
        bmesh.ops.split_edges(bm,
                edges=[e for e in ret['geom_cut']
                if isinstance(e, bmesh.types.BMEdge)])

bm = bmesh.new()
ob = context.object
me = ob.data
bm.from_mesh(me)

o, x, y, z = bbox_axes(ob)

x_segments = 2
y_segments = 2
z_segments = 1

slice(bm, o, x, x_segments)
slice(bm, o, y, y_segments)
slice(bm, o, z, z_segments)
bm.to_mesh(me)

bpy.ops.object.mode_set(mode='EDIT')
bpy.ops.mesh.separate(type='LOOSE')
bpy.ops.object.mode_set()

See this answer re boolean chopping https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/133136/15543 Note: May not work correctly if modifiers are on object being sliced


Why are there bright unwanted lights coming out of nowhere in my render?

These are sometimes called fire flies.
This can be eliminated by setting the "clamp indirect"value to 1, found in the "sampling" section in the "render" tab.


What is the replacement of 'scene.render.layers['RenderLayer']' in blender 2.8?

Render layers have been replaced by View Layers. Recommend do a search in the API docs or use the python console to figure out how to access the ViewLayers of the current scene:
 >>> C.scene.view_
                 layers
                 settings

>>> for vl in C.scene.view_layers: # Iterate through all view layers
...     print (vl.name) # print the name
...
View Layer
View Layer.001
View Layer.002
...

You can also access the current ViewLayer (in context) by using bpy.context.view_layer (or by using C convenience variable in the console C.view_layer):
>>> C.view_layer # View layer reference
bpy.data.scenes['Scene'].view_layers["View Layer"]

>>> C.view_layer.name # View layer name
'View Layer.001'

Another way is using get(<LAYERNAME>) on Scene.ViewLayers collection:
>>> C.scene.view_layers.get('View Layer')
bpy.data.scenes['Scene'].view_layers["View Layer"]

>>> my_vl = C.scene.view_layers.get('View Layer')
>>> my_vl.name
'View Layer'

Basic example on how to set attributes of the current view layer (in context):
import bpy

# Get the current view layer
vl = bpy.context.view_layer

# Set uv pass attribute
vl.use_pass_uv = True

# Set normal pass attribute
vl.use_pass_normal = True

# Enable diffuse light passes
vl.use_pass_diffuse_direct = True
vl.use_pass_diffuse_indirect = True
vl.use_pass_diffuse_color = True

Example on how to enable the 'UV' as well as the 'Normal' pass on all view layers in the scene:
import bpy

for vl in bpy.context.scene.view_layers:
    vl.use_pass_uv = True       # Enable UV pass
    vl.use_pass_normal = True   # Enable normal pass


How to properly make an object to follow a path?

Left follow path without empty
right follow path with empty

General steps

create a path
create an object

2.1 If you are going to use an empty you can use any,
   usually to avoid complicate things selected PLANE AXES
select path
enter edit mode
select a point where you will start to follow the path once selected

5.1 press SHIFT + S and select cursor to select

5.2 pres enter or LMB
exit edit mode
select the object
press SHIFT + S

8.1 select to Cursor Offset

8.2 pres enter or LMB

This is where the road bifurcates into 2, without empty object and with empty object

follow path without empty

select the OBJECT that the route will follow (child)
select the PATH that the route will follow (Parent)
press CTRL + P and select Follow Path
go to the timeline and press play to get the animation

follow path with empty

select the OBJECT that the route will follow (child)
select the EMPTY PLANE AXES that the route will follow (Parent)
select the EMPTY PLANE AXES that the route will follow (nao is a child)
select the PATH that the route will follow (Parent)
press CTRL + P and select Follow Path
go to the timeline and press play to get the animation

NOTE: for the example with empty change the point of origin of the mesh to the tip of the arrow and in the example without empty the point of origin of the mesh to the tip of the arrow continued in the center of it

NOTA:

WHEN YOU DO NOT USE THE EMPTY THE OBJECT IS SUFFERED TO DEFORM A LITTLE OR MUCH ACCORDING TO THE ANGLE OF THE CURVES OF THE ROUTE,
when you do not use an empty the mesh that follows the route tends to deform a little or a lot depending on the sharpness of the angles of the curves of the route and usually turns in directions that are not planned

use an empty between the object and the route helps control this and prevents deformation of the mesh

observe the image well and see the detail with both arrows one with empty and one without empty


How do the number of cores in the CPU relate to the rendering tiles?

Each thread of the CPU will render one tile. For example: if your computer's CPU has 4 cores and 8 threads, then blender will render 8 tiles simultaneously.

The number of threads used can be limited using a fixed number on the Performance section of the Properties Panel, the default is Auto-detect, which will use all of the available threads for rendering.

If you are using GPU, there will be one tile rendered per GPU. Multiple GPUs will allow you to render multiple tiles simultaneously.


is there a quick way to delete a group and leave the objects?

Ctrl-Alt-G opens the remove from group popup where you can remove all selected objects from all groups. When the last member of a group is removed the group itself will be dissolved.


rotation driven by vertex z value - ocean modifier

You can add an empty, select it and then Shift select your plane. Enter edit mode and hit CtrlP. This will parent you empty to the vertex, so the empties location will match that of the vertex.

To make this work with the ocean modifier. Make a new object, set it to shrink wrap the plane with your ocean modifier, and then make it a single vertex. Use the above parenting technique to attach you empty to the vertex.


Can particle object color and alpha be controlled by Particle Age (Blender Internal Render)?

The way I solved this was to give the particle object (not the emitter) a blend texture, mapped to the coordinates of an empty.

This way, the colour of the particle depends on the distance to the empty.

Example here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/il0aiq8a7gteelw/chimney.blend?dl=0


Why my "Render" viewport shading just looks like Material preview??? even I add the Light point?

You may have "Scene Lights" and "Scene World" unchecked. If unchecked, the Material Preview lighting and reflections appear in your Render Preview:

This can also happen if you connect your materials directly to the material output without a shader, as seen below. If done this way, the material is considered "unshaded" and is thus unaffected by scene lights.


Convert a mathutils.Vector object into 3D coordinates

You access Vector object as sequence like this:

This functionality comes from python, it's called slice notation.

From API reference:

  Note: Classes, methods and attributes that accept vectors also accept other numeric sequences, such as tuples, lists.

You don't have to convert anything, both tuple or vector will work for object location:


How to naturally connect objects of different shapes

Here is a way using Grid Fill.

UPDATE: check out the "Bridge Edge Loop" option proposed by @RayMairlot in the comments. It may be best suited to your need.

ref: https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/modeling/meshes/editing/faces.html#grid-fill

Subdivide the side to match the number of vertices on the other side
Create supporting Edges
Select edges on both sides
Grid fill
repeat for the other sides.


What is the max amount of cores and threads Blender can use?

Theoretically, Blender can use an infinite amount of cores, there are not set limit to this. Not as far as I know of though.
But cores don't really impact the performance on Blender renders directly, but it's rather the amount of threads your CPU can pump out and still maintain optimal speeds that matters. If you go to Cycles render, you've probably noticed the orange squares that travel across your screen eventually. Each one of these squares are threads, so having more threads will result in more squares. Bumping up the amount of threads manually isn't going to do you any good without a good multi-core CPU, like the one you mentioned.
So a short answer to this question; theoretically, there is no limit. So go ahead and buy a 100 core CPU if you so wish. Blender should (theoretically) be able to use all the cores.
Multi-core CPUs are almost always better at doing complex calculations at least the standard CPUs are (there are theoretical quantum computers which run with fewer cores, but at fenomenal speeds, but I won't go into this field).
I don't recommend getting yourself an expensive CPU like the 1920X unless you are professional in the field. Most software available for you today use up to 4 cores, but a majority still only fully utilizes two cores. Before I went into the IT business, I thought getting the AMD FX 8150 Black Box 8 Core CPU would boost my overall computing performance and speed up software such as Blender, games and such. It did speed up the Blender rendering times indeed, by a noticeable bit, but since most games out today don't use more than 4 cores, my performance actually dropped in some games.
So make sure you know exactly what you're going to use your computer for before purchasing one of these CPUs, as their designed use is almost exclusively for digital media editing/creation.


Is it possible to deselect random elements?

After selecting your random vertices, assign them to a vertex group.  Then unhide everything, unselect everything.  Finally, select the vertex group.


How to Add Background Images in 2.8 and later

You can do this in Blender 2.81 by pressing Shift+A then going to Image > Reference. In all honesty, it doesn't matter whether you choose reference or background. The added image will be directly facing the viewport camera at the time of adding it, so align your viewport to the correct orientation you want the image to first.

When you select the image, you will have an Object Data Properties tab with a picture icon on the right side menu. Click on it and you can now change the settings for the image.

If you check Use Alpha and change the Transparency bar, you can change the transparency of the object. Changing Depth will cause the image to be displayed in front of or behind your objects. Changing Side will allow you to see it only from the front/back, useful if you have both front and back reference photos.

The Display Orthographic and Display Perspective checkboxes allow you to decide if you want to be able to see the reference in the respective view modes.

You might find that being able to select your reference image while editing is annoying. In the top right corner, click on the Filter button, and under Restriction Toggles, enable the Selectable option (its an icon of a cursor). Now, just disable the Selectable icon next to the reference image and you can no longer select it.


Deformations when using subdivision surface

I think here are the main problems with your mesh:

You need to create some edge loops close to the angles if you want them to be sharp.
You have a lot of inside faces. Select them and delete.
Try to avoid triangles, use the Knife tool to create quads: K to activate, Z to cut through the mesh.


Problem Exporting Lattice Deform + B-Bones + Shape-Key Drivers

Well, my Blender instructor actually told me how to fix this problem, so for those of you who are experiencing this same dilemma, try this:
Instead of exporting the file, just save a file with ONLY THE CHARACTER. Then, open the scene you want to "import" the character into. Go to File->Append. Here, find you blender file with the character, and click enter. Then, go to the "Object" Folder, select all with the "A" shortcut key, and click "Append" in the bottom right hand corner. That's it - the character, with the armature, lattices, and EVERYTHING is imported to your new scene!
Sorry about this. I hope someone else has this question, and finds this answer helpful! :D


Here's my answer with most of the script credit going to zeffii from this page. I just added the Save Blend file line at the top.

You can set the output path parent folder with the folder variable. The script creates the child mesh and material folders. The MTL files are moved to the material folder at the end of each OBJ loop.

import bpy
import os
import shutil

bpy.ops.wm.save_mainfile()

folder = '/path/to/export/folder/'
meshFolder = folder + 'mesh/'
matFolder = folder + 'material/'

if not os.path.exists(folder):
        os.makedirs(folder)
if not os.path.exists(meshFolder):
        os.makedirs(meshFolder)
if not os.path.exists(matFolder):
        os.makedirs(matFolder)

selected = bpy.context.selected_objects.copy()
bpy.ops.object.select_all(action='DESELECT')

for obj in selected:
    name = obj.name.replace('.', '_')
    obj.select = True
    fullpath = os.path.join(meshFolder, name + '.obj')
    bpy.ops.export_scene.obj(
        filepath=fullpath,
        check_existing=True,
        axis_forward='-Z',
        axis_up='Y',
        use_selection=True,
        use_animation=False,
        use_mesh_modifiers=True,
        use_edges=True,
        use_smooth_groups=False,
        use_smooth_groups_bitflags=False,
        use_normals=True,
        use_uvs=True,
        use_materials=True,
        use_triangles=False,
        use_nurbs=False,
        use_vertex_groups=False,
        use_blen_objects=True,
        group_by_object=False,
        group_by_material=False,
        keep_vertex_order=False,
        global_scale=1,
        path_mode='AUTO')
    obj.select = False
    shutil.move(meshFolder + name + '.mtl', matFolder + name + '.mtl')


1 model for unity but 2 files in blender?

Im Speculating that the orb wont just lay there on the plane, but maby gets some animation or interactive behavior.

The Blender file format is treated as an Prefab in Unity. Editing it further, adding scripts, components, rearranging, etc or unpacking it breaks connection and therefore the benefit of quickly updating edits from blender to unity vanishes.

Therefore I'd suggest a seperate .blend file for the floor or even exporting the active selection as .obj or .fbx and overwriting the coresponding objects in the unity asstets folder manually if you want them in the same .blend scene for better refrence (animation, modeling, etc.)


If they are planar:

Mesh > Transform > To Sphere (with weight 1). Shift Alt S (+1 Enter)


One light for object shadow and another light for ground shadow

This is doable with layers and render layers as cegaton suggests.  Here is one way to set it up.

Put all your objects (except ground and lamps) on layer A.
Put the ground on layer B.
Put the "object shadow lamp" on layer C.
Put the "ground shadow lamp" on layer D.

Set up your render layers as follows:
Render layer one (objects and object shadows): include layer A (objects) and layer C (object shadow lamp).  Exclude layers B and D.

Render layer two (ground and ground shadows): include layer B (ground) and layer D (ground shadow lamp).  Exclude layer C.  (Do not exclude the objects on layer A, you still want them to cast shadows.)

Don't forget to check "Transparent" under the Film tab in the render settings.  You can handle your background/environment in another render layer, with no objects and an Environment pass.

Then composite the two layers with an "Alpha over" node.

Objects and object shadows:

Ground and ground shadows:

Composite:

Composite with environment:


How do I apply a Blend4Web module similar to the plane flight preview?

Please take a look at the source files of the Island demo you mentioned.

https://github.com/TriumphLLC/Blend4Web/tree/master/apps_dev/flight

Search for create_advanced_preloader in the flight.js file.


To do that you need to use effectors, which are not built into Blender: there are many addons online like "Blender effectors" that could do that, maybe, but if you want to be sure try Animation Nodes.
It's a bit more complicated but very customizable.
In any case, you need to fragment the object beforehand (there are addons that do this too) and animate a plain effector (the one you see in the picture) over the object, apply a rigid body simulation to all pieces a make the effector trigger it when it get close to each piece. Also create a plane on the ground with a rigid body simulation, and set it as an obstacle.

Now you have the statue breaking into pieces and falling onto the ground: At this point animate the material color of the pieces from gray to the color you want, and finally to white, and make the effector trigger it as well when it gets close. Also animate the scale so that when they fall on the ground they shrink and disappear.

I don't know what your skill level is, and I was a bit vague, so if you have troubles working with effectors watch some tutorials on you specific effectors addon, since they may operate in different ways (also, make sure they support rigid body and color simulations before downloading them)


Script for making every material one material per one object

Thankfully it’s very easy. The material datatype has a method copy() which returns a new duplicate material.
Something like this:
for o in bpy.context.selected_objects:
    o.data.materials[0]=o.data.materials[0].copy()

This code assumes the material is linked to the mesh data block.


How to find the name of the active material with python

The answer is bpy.context.active_object.active_material.name


Boolean to cut a hole in a face does not appear to be working

You can't see the result of the boolean operation because both meshes are visible. If you disable the visibility of the cutting object you can see the result of the boolean operation.

But you should really try to avoid using booleans for simple operations like this. Booleans will create very messy topology that will give you headaches down the line. There is a indeed a time and a place for booleans, but if you are starting with blender, start on a more solid footing by learning other ways that will yield proper topology.

Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bc52fcrHvAA


Not particularly quick, but quite simple, try this:

Import the DXF file, with the default DXF importer, enabled from the preferences > addon menu, like this:

then

Use the standard settings

You will find your DXF shape as group object in your scene

Select the group shape, and reset it to its origin (from the toolbar as below, or press ctrlaltshiftC), select "Geometry to Origin"

Now remove the group with shiftaltG

Now you have your shape as curve object: convert it to mesh with altC and select "mesh from curve"

Now you have your shape as mesh

Enter edit mode, select all, and Press altF to fill faces, leaving holes

Now you have a filled/holed mesh, and extruding it should get you what you want... You can of course first clean the filled surface using dissolve, but it works anyway, like:

then

to get, finally:

I hope this was what you were looking for... :)


The values of the Z Buffer are in float values, and then they get clipped to <0,1> (<0,255>) range in your file format.

Either save the images in some hdr format (.exr for example) that will support float values
or re-map the values to the <0,1> range yourself with Map Value node.


How to pull up the selected edge and scale to the center at the same time?

I stand corrected on my comment, the 'Normal' orientation is not needed here, (although the combination of 'Individual Origins' and the 'Normal' orientation is very handy in situations like this.)
With Pivot set to 'Individual Origins', amd Orientation left at 'Global':
Having Alt selected the horizontal edge loops, and used CtrlShiftNumpad + from initial pairs to select every other cut between tiles, they are V ripped to separate the faces.
Then in Face mode, all faces are S scaled down a bit to make selection of tile bottom-edges a bit easier. With that Edge mode selection, and the cursor near the middle of the view...

GZ raise the bottom edges to tilt the tiles without splaying their bottom corners, and then GG slide, with Alt held to release the clamp.
The tiles can be scaled back again if you want to reduce the cracks between them. Various tile-bottoms are moved up and down a bit, using GG again, for a chirpy randomness. Maybe CtrlShiftB bevelling the corner-vertices makes the tiles a bit cuter.
After Solidify, Bevel (by angle) and Subdivision Surface modifiers..


How do I duplicate a particle system and keep its settings separate from the original?

Do exactly what Sanbaldo said, BUT using Cmd+C and Cmd+V when duplicating the object instead of Shift+D. Then those steps will work!
Hope it helps!


What does abbreviations like DEF, MCH, CTRL, WGT stands for in rigging?

Every rigger uses own bone naming conventions, prefixes or suffixes, usually in agreement with animators for which the rig is intended (in studio). There is no standard, but there are however some commonly used terms:

ROOT, MASTER - first bone in hierarchy or sub-hierarchy (tentacle_root)
DEF - bone contributing to deformation
MCH - mechanism/mechanical helper bone
ORG - original bones of metarigs from which the final rig is generated
CTRL, CON - control bones - various bones meant to be operated by animators
JNT - a joint
WGT, SHP, CS - widget, shape, custom shape, etc. - meshes to represent bones
IK, FK - bones belonging to inverse or forward kinematic bone chains
STR, NSTR, ASTR - stretch bones, non-stretch bones, anti-stretch bones (I've also seen SCA, NSCA, ASCA as scale, non-scale and anti-scale)
SPL - IK spline bones
MM, MUSC - muscle mass, muscle - bones to represent and bind muscles
POLE - IK pole bones, also usually just marked as CTRL
CW, CCW - clock-wise, counter-clock-wise, for marking rotation direction or bones for hinges
CEN, LFT, RGT, LF, RT, L, R - center, left, right


You are doing this in Solid View so you are not able to select the dots behind your view.

To solve this issue go to Wireframe Mode by pressing Z and now you can select the dots behind your view, but not with click select the dots with circle tool. The short key is C .


For animaton you need to create keyframes, that are inserting by pressing I. Creating or removing smf are not a operation that can be keyframed.

Instead of this try to animate displaying of modifier. So do the following:

Go to the 1 frame
Hover cursor on eye icon  and/or camera icon and press I
Go to a frame that you want to hide modifier
Disable modifier (eye icon disables in viewport, camera - in render)
Hover cursor on eye icon  and/or camera icon and press I

It will create an animation, that will hide modifier after chosen frame

For creating a hole, I recommend to create a copy of cylinder, that will not leave a cube, and make them invisible for render:

You can do it in outliner.


Brush Texture is a different color when painted on my mesh

Choose Blend > Mix, and choose a white color, these are the 2 reasons why your texture is not printed as it is:


"Drop Over" a higher channel in Video Sequence Editor

Where is only 3 channels needed to make unlimited count of fades. Use Cross or Gamma Cross for creating fade effect:

And you don't need to use keyframes in this case, fade effect will be from start of one strip to end from other strip.

And channel position doesn't matter, first and second strip sets up not by top and bottom order, but by selection: first and second selected.


Just so this is said... this is a bug, meant for the developer of the addon to fix... I would file a bug report.

ie: There most likely is no way to fix it without re coding the addon.

community answer on bug reports here:

Best place to put bug reports?

EDIT

If the addon was working in a older version, then one solution would be to roll back to a previous version. Its a bit drastic but if you want to use the addon badly enough it would probably fix it.


There is a built-in importer for DXF file format, if you can save or export your drawing as text-based DXF file. It works fairly well in most cases and should import without major hiccups, though some minor bugs are expected.

Fills and stroke widths will not for the most part be preserved, as there is no such structure in Blender. Blender being a 3D modelling tool has no concepts of fills, hatches or line widths.

Layers get translated into groups since blender's current 20 layer system is too limited to accommodate the potentially unlimited number of CAD layers.

You can activate it from settings under User preferences >Addons search for DXF.

Make sure your drawing has no X-lines or Ray objects since those cause import to fail. Also dynamic blocks and other complex structures will likely fail.


How do I make a wheel to rotate around its own axis instead of around its parent object?

I think it is because the origin point of the wheel is in the wrong place.

Select the wheel in Object mode
go into the (T) panel->Tools->Edit->Set Origin to Center


Why do my leaf and grass textures have black outlines when rendered?

From the image of your texture, it looks like the BaseColor has a built in alpha component. If that is the case, you must connect it like this in addition to changing the blend modes:


Its normally a problem with the graphic. Check that your graphics drivers are up to date. Also once you have done and if the problem is still there mess with the windows draw settings in user preferences. The settings under system.

Also have a look at these links
https://www.blender.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26691
https://www.blender.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28035


Why do volumetrics render noisier when using GPU then when using CPU in Cycles?

The following answer is based on a Twitter thread by Stefan Werner.

Volumetric rendering on the CPU can be less noisy with fewer samples, because Cycles uses equi-angular sampling. This importance sampling technique by C. Kulla and M. Fajardo is currently not implemented for GPU rendering.

The slides from the Eurographics Symposium on Rendering 2012 may help to understand the paper.


how to create new scene with no default objects?

When you create a new scene, you can choose empty (new), so I guess you mean new file?
So your solution should be: Delete everything, make the layout the way you want and go to File -> Defaults -> Save Startup File


"Unsubdivide" = Reduce vertices in loops

From MoonBoots' comment, Checker Deselect seems to be an effective solution. Ctrl+Alt+RMB over a perpendicular (non-loop) edge; Select -> Checker Deselect; Select -> Edge Loops; and delete edge loops. Under Checker Deselect, the N option determines deselect pattern (e.g. n=2 means -/+ and n=3 means -/-/+ if skip=1), and the Skip option determines number of adjacent edges to be included in that + (e.g. skip=2 means (+/+)/- and skip=3 means (+/+/+)/- if n=2). See video (does not demonstrate use of N and Skip options): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yptda_yKQIU


Unwrap produces utter randomness even with marked seams, while smart UV project kinda works

The issue is unclean geometry left from boolean - specifically this area:

There is very thin long face running alongside the wing's trailing edge that is causing the problems. Only the top surface of the wing does not unwrap correctly, if I select other parts separately, they unwrap individually fine, so the problem is localized to that area only.

If you clean up that geometry, the model will unwrap correctly. Unfortunately removing doubles or recalculating normals won't help, it looks like some nasty leftovers from ngons.


I am not quite sure I understand, but you can recreate the edge slide from a loop cut by selecting the edge, keying G, and then G again, and moving the cursor. This gif shows the difference between G and G, G:


Downloaded and pre-rigged model is partially invisible in object mode

Hehe, I just had to press the "Reload Trusted" button on the top.


Unwanted purple background with image texture

The rest of the environment outside of the window probably doesn’t have a texture on it since you’re trying to use window space for the mapping. The purple is probably being emitted from the environment dome that’s outside your camera view


Edit Mode Changes not showing up in Object Mode

If your active Object is an armature

When you have an Armature in Edit mode, then you always see the Bones in Rest Pose. While when you switch to Pose Mode or Object mode, then you see the object in its current pose.

You can get out of this by resetting your pose to pose mode:

enter pose mode
Select all bones ( A )
Then type: ALT RALT SALT G to reset rotations, scales and locations of your pose bones. Or alternatively from within the 3D Viewport footer navigate to: Pose -> Clear Transform -> All

If your active Object is a Rigged Mesh

Then the object is (most probably) assigned to an Armature via the modifier Stack. In that case the Object by default gets displayed in Rest Pose when you edit the mesh. In the image below you see the object aligned to the Armature Pose when in Object mode(left side), but displayed in Rest Pose when in edit mode(right side).

However, you can force to display the effect of the Modifier in edit mode as well:

Open the Modifier Stack
In the Armature modifier set the options (see image)

Display Modifier in edit Mode
Adjust edit Cage to Modifier result (see note below)

Note: The tool tip text is from upcoming Blender 2.72 In older Blender releases the text was: Apply modifier to editing cage during edit mode


Create a plane in edit mode.

Then, scale it along the y axis until it is slightly longer than it is wide. Exit edit mode with TAB and then press CTRL + 2 to add a subsurf modifier. Adjust length and width with the scale commands until it looks like the base of the "pyramid". Add edge loops by pressing CTRL + R and sliding to make the sides flatter. Scale the two end edges to make it rounder. See the first picture for the end result. Then, press I to inset faces into the shape. Use extrude (e) and scale (s) to build up the shape. Remember, you can use e+s to extrude the shape outwards. My example isn't awesome, but I also didn't pay a whole lot of attention to proportions. You could easily do better than me! :)


smart uv unwrap creates duplicate (not overlapping) uv mesh segments

These are not not duplicate face they are vertices shared between these faces and are highlighted on both of them and that's because you are using vertex select mode if you switch to face select it will be clear

something to note about UV mapping :

each vertex has a general index obj.data.vertices[index] and loop indecies (one or more ) obj.data.loops[loop_index] which is used in the UV mapping so each vertex can have more than one UV coordinates in the UV map. UV coordinates are obj.data.uv_layers[UVmap_index].data[loop_index]

in a nutshell when UV mapping you are dealing with faces not vertices

UPADATE:
The problem is with UV unwrapping which is producing scattered face from different regions  and the low resolution texture image you are painting on ,after using texture paint on the face only :

you can see that the paint spreads to different regions and that's because of :

UV unwrapping ( small spacing , and scattered faces )
Texture low resolution (compared to the mesh density )

what you can do is :

unwrap again with larger margin
use higher resolution texture

OR:

try another unwrapping method

Note :

you may want get ride of the extra vertices using Remove Doubles ,
you can paint texture directly on the mesh with Texture paint mode


I think you are missing Solidify modifier.


I would use the bevel tool.

In edit mode, place one loop cut where you want each groove.  Then select the edge loops and hit Ctrl+B and drag to what ever width you want the groove.  The bevel tool splits each selected edge into two edges connected with a face.


Activate Rigid Body Physics at certain time?

If you are running a single simulation,

Keyframe the Rigid Body World Speed.

This is the simulation starting from frame 1.

Go to frame 1 and keyframe the Speed property of the Rigid Body World to 0. Keyframe it to 1 (or any other) on the desired starting frame.
Set the keyframe interpolation to constant.

The resulting simulation won't move untill the desired starting frame. (It moves with a speed of 0.)

Keyframe the Animated property

If you only want some objects to start simulating on a specific frame use the Animated option on these objects (as suggested by Mr Zak) as explained in this answer.

Setting and keying the animated property for each object individually may be tedious. Use this script.

import bpy

# get the current frame
fr = bpy.context.scene.frame_current

# get the selected objects
objs = bpy.context.selected_objects

# cycle through the selected objects
for o in objs:

    # set the "Animated" property to unchecked
    # change "False" to "True" if you want to check it
    o.rigid_body.kinematic = False

    # keyframe the "Animated" property
    o.rigid_body.keyframe_insert(data_path='kinematic', frame=(fr))

Paste the code into Blenders text editor. Move to a frame where the objects should remain stationary. Select them and (hovering over the text editor) press AltP to execute the script. The selected objects will now have a keyframe on the "Animated" Property of their rigid body.


Is there a way to reset the seed of random material in Blender 2.8 Viewport?

There is non as far as I know, at least currently though it would definitely be a very desirable feature, along with customizing the color ramp used to color them.
It does seem to use the same technique employed by the Random output socket of the Object Info shader node uses, which is uses object name as unique identifier.
So while you can't just randomize the global solution easily, or on several objects at once, it does seem to respond directly to object name changes, like the shader tree version.
That means if you rename your object it will change colors. It is trial and error process, since you don't have direct control over which color is assigned, but as a workaround you can iteratively change names until a color that pleases you is assigned.

If you like to keep your scene organized or dislike random names, you can still keep your names descriptive by appending some random string or number at the end to force change the assigned hash like my object 001 or my object #afhpo.


The smoothing algorithm fakes normals across polygons with a linear interpolation across the triangles into which they are divided  for rendering, between the vertex normals at the triangles' corners. Asking that interpolation to simulate the curvature of a surface when the triangles are very long and thin is, literally, a bit of a stretch.
To give smoothing a chance, it's better to have those triangles approach equilateral as closely as possible, and to have smooth transitions between the sizes of faces, where you want smooth transitions between interpolated normals.

Just CtrlShiftB bevelling the vertex at the point a tiny amount, CtrlB bevelling the base perimeter a bit, with 2 segments and a profile of 1, and CtrlR cutting some edge-loops around the cone, as above. gives the smoothing algorithm more to chew on:

If you're getting really fanatical, you can delete the N-gon at the tip, and CtrlF Face menu > Grid Fill it, putting a couple more edge loops in there to aid the transition:

.. and even Catmull-Clark Subdivide the result... It depends on how far you want to go.


I cannot reproduce it with blender 2.77. I can see the bubbles escaping the tube in the cached position in your file, but as long as I go back to the beginning and restart the animation, it works almost ok.

Either you have an older version and something was fixed in blender or you never actually reset the cache. Blender resets the particle cache when you set the current frame to 0. You have to run the animation again for blender to recalculate particle positions. Thus, you might have already fixed that and you can't see it

In a theoretical attempt to solve the problem there are a number of things that might help:

Nothing is really impermeable. Though you have (correctly) permeability set to 0. Some bubbles might escape still. IIRC increasing the subdivisions on the pipe might improve the situation, but it seems this isn't the case here.
Increasing the Particle Damping factor on the pipe's collision properties helps to catch those rogue particles that would escape
Making your pipe a solid instead of just a wall of faces. Either use the solidify modifier or just extrude everything and then press AltS to offset the new faces. This way the particle will have to escape two faces to get out. It will also help with the bubbles that partially stick out of the pipe.

Finally, your pipe is way too high-poly for just being a pipe. You should be able to achieve the same rendered quality without so many polygons.


Fluid Animation have dragged me through blood and sweat

Solution for Particle size:

Go in the domain cube and select the particle system that is generated in there (Liquid needs to be active in the domain for the particle system to show up!).
Find the Viewport Display Panel and change the Size to 0.001m instead of the 0.01m it was.

There seems to be something that sets the particle size back to 0.01m everytime. Did not happen in a new scene, but i do not know what settings or buttons where pressed in the run of creating the entire scene.

Solution for the cup:

Create a duplicate of the cup, you can call it "Simcup".
Remove all but the inner walls, also the subdivision surface modifier can be set to 2 for both, render and view. It's also a good idea to make the Simcup a child of the original cup, so it sticks to it.
Add a solidify modifier and set the thickness to 0.015m

To have the simcup not disturb the render and or viewport, go in the Object Properties and there to the Visibility and deactivate the "Show in Render", then in the Viewport Display deactivate "Shadow" and set Display As to "Bounds"

Now remove the Fluid simulation from the cup. The simcup on the other hand keeps it, as it was copied when you duplicated it.
The Sampling Substeps seem to be a good value with 5 and the Surface Thickness worked well with 0.01

Suggestion for the inflow:
The cylinder was to big and caused the cup to always be flooded and overfilled.
Adjusting it down a bit and reducing the time the inflow is open helps a lot.

And finally the domain, aside the fact that it can be scaled down (in edit mode please), you can change settings and try on Replay mode, for that it's best to set the time on 1 and then deactivate and reactivate the Fluid modifier visibility, seems to be a lot better then deleting the cache every time. Learned something new here too :)

One setting to consider is the Diffusion, where you can use the preset water.

After clicking on the "Water" entry you have to move your mouse out of the popup.
Also, make sure to set the Real World Size value to the right size.(I scaled the cube down and used the longest side Z)

If you want to start the liquid inflow at a certain time, you can save yourself a lot cache by starting the simulation at that time, though the keys for the inflow you had already set, i started at 1 for convenience while testing.

So try and test around until you are happy and once it's looking fine, you can increase the resolution for more details if needed, then switch the "Domain Cache" Type to Final and press Bake All.

Updated with little explanation:
The Domain in regards to liquid simulations takes the place of the liquid itself, but only for the time it is simulated as mesh. So if the simulation is running from frame 1 to 100 you must expect the domain cube to show up again from frame 101 onward. That problem can usually be solved by giving the simulation a bit more time to settle and then exchanging a still of the simulations last frame with the domain. The Object used for the inflow can be set invisible after the simulation is baked in mesh as the liquid will take it's place, except in case that the inflow is hidden anyway, like in a pipe or such.

Here two visual motivations:

Happy Blending


You can approach it like this:

Make simple fluid sim, low resolution will be enough:

Create a plane and subdivide to get your blocks "resolution", position it very high above the water. Add Shrinkwrap modifier to project it onto the simulation:

Parent a little cube under the plane and set dupli verts:

Render it with plane transparent:

Add an ground plane and make column of little cubes from just 1 little cube (to fill holes in water):

As this is based on a voxel simulation you don't get data how the cubes move inside the volume (or on the surface), they are just stationary. To do that you would have to base it from particles. Thats for another approach, this is super fast to setup and simulate.


Easy way to format mathutils.Matrix Vector as tuple (or list) for json?


Why do I get a type error when trying to name a newly created object?

This works fine for me with repeated calls to

makecircle(2, 3, 10, 10, 10, 1, (0,0,0))

I end up with "Tile10.3" and then a whole lot of "Tile10.001" using the blender naming system.

You need define a blender object property once, all the bpy.types.Object.xxxx = IntProperty(...) should be moved to a register method, called once.

The error you are getting is almost certainly that you have defined

bpy.types.Object.name = IntProperty(...)

elsewhere in your code.  As long as that code has been run ONCE somewhere while the file is open, the name property of an object is expected to be an Integer and will remain throwing that error if you try and set it to a string.
If I run the offensive little bit of code then check the console

>>>C.object.name
0

which isn't really what we want.

import bpy
from bpy.props import IntProperty, FloatProperty, FloatVectorProperty
from math import radians

def makecircle(uid, id, ring, rad, vert, sthick, origin):
    bpy.ops.mesh.primitive_circle_add(
        radius = rad,
        vertices = vert,
        location = origin,
        rotation = (0,0,radians(45)))
    circle = bpy.context.object
    circle.ring = ring

    circle.name = "Tile" + str(ring) + "." + str(id)

def register():
    bpy.types.Object.time = FloatProperty(name="Time")
    bpy.types.Object.duration = FloatProperty(name="Duration")
    bpy.types.Object.pause = FloatProperty(name="Pause")
    bpy.types.Object.interval = FloatProperty(name="Interval")
    bpy.types.Object.target_rotation = FloatVectorProperty(name="Target Rotation")
    bpy.types.Object.ring = IntProperty(name="Ring")
    bpy.types.Object.event = IntProperty(name="Event")
    bpy.types.Object.uid = IntProperty(name="Uid")
    # will produce the error you are getting.
    #bpy.types.Object.name = IntProperty()
register()

makecircle(2,3,10,10,10,1, (0,0,0))


Does scale of camera have an effect on camera tracking a scene?

The scale of the camera is irrelevant. The scale of the scene is not.
The scale for the 3d reconstruction of the scene based on tracking information is arbitrary.
If you happen to know what the distance is in the real world between two  of the elements being tracked, you can use that to inform blender to scale the tracked scene based on that distance. Select the trackers and set and apply the scale.

Read: Camera tracking reference scene to match different shots in a common space
But even if you don't set the scale when you solve the scene, you can scale and reposition all empties and camera with ease. If you move any of the elements of the tracking constraint, all of the elements will move as they all depend on the camera. It is here that you can scale the camera to make the reconstruction be the scale you want.

For a comprehensive post on motion tracking read:
How can I get better results when doing camera motion tracking?


If you can use some vertices to find the median point (such diameter, diagonal...), you could follow these steps:

In edit mode, select the vertices to find the median point and press shift + s to move the cursor to selected

In object mode, press ctrl + alt + shift + c to set origin to cursor


First: make sure you have the Node Wrangler add-on installed and enabled.

Then, use ctrl + X to delete the reroute without removing the connections.


How do you access the Blender underline keyboard shortcuts?

If you press the space bar you get a search tool where you could search the name of the required operation and it show the shorcut of it (if it has a shortcut)


I like the effect you have managed with your solution.

You can use a shader in Eevee with the node setup shown.

The inputs on the left control intensity, scan (vertical offset) and focus (sorry I forgot to rename this one).  Thhis can be modded for different scan orientations using the mapping node.

Ad endum

Thought I would offer some explanation on this, it was 0400 hrs when I posted this so I was quite tired.

The magic happens in the mapping node (purple), basically I use the scale vector to squash the texture in the Z direction and scan it using the location vector.  I use a math node to scale the input controls and make them more friendly.

Then pipe this into a a gradient texture and onto the emmision shader.

I've added some white noise to give that laser effect (although this should probably get its vector from texture-node->object rather than the mapped as white noise shouldn't be squashed.

The rest should be pretty much obvious.


First they use a Node Wrangler shortcut.  They're doing a Shift +  RMB and drawing a line over the two noodles coming out of the Value node.
This command combines the two noodles into a Reroute node that splits out to its two destinations.
Then they delete the Value node and bring a new input over from the Group Input.  Essentially they've recreated the Value node as a slider on the node group.


Interpreting a formula for Blender Python

With numpy
An ideal candidate for using numpy  For example, can define a sequence
>>> x = np.arange(5)
>>> x
array([0, 1, 2, 3, 4])

and run a function quickly over all items, simple example squaring them.
>>> np.power(x, 2)
array([ 0,  1,  4,  9, 16])

Halving and squaring
>>> np.power(x / 2, 2)
array([0.  , 0.25, 1.  , 2.25, 4.  ])

The question equation.
Test script, defines a function of $x$ with scalars (assume they're scalars) $L$ and $c$
import bpy
import numpy as np

def distribute(x, L, c):
    return L * np.power(x / L, 1 / c)

# test run

x = np.arange(20)
for d in distribute(x, 10, 2):
    bpy.ops.object.empty_add(location=(d, 0, 0))

Empties placed as result of test run.
Related.
Create curve from Numpy Array using Python


For the bit about them disappearing when you use a modifier, this is fairly simple enough, just duplicate the object and change the modifier Operation on one of them to Difference and on the other, set it to Intersect and target them at the same object that you want to use and split the other.

You should now have two separate objects and still be able to modify them via their unique boolean modifier, when you are satisfied, simply apply the modifier and separate them.

In the image below, I have two separate objects but each has a boolean modifier with the same target which is the plane (I have set its draw type to Bounds so the objects can be seen easier). I have also applied the boolean modifier to the top piece so I am able to separate it from the rest of the object.


Scroll feature prevents unchecking Deform for many bones at once

You can press Alt+W to get the 'Disable Bone Options' menu and disable Deform for all the selected bones.


Searching a little bit more and more, I find many things about Mem Cycles consume and real consume. With GPU-Z I can see a real read.
First of all, the modifiers turned on in render, Subdiv mainly. When blender Mem says 1670Mb, is the limit for my 4Gb GTX 970.
All textures is better to be JPG, PNG. Only use float as EXR or HDRI on particular cases like environment lighting.

Maybe, one day, Cycles developers would think using GPU only to process and hardware RAM to cache everything, like Redshift and Octane do :)


How to use loops.foreach_set and polygons.foreach_set to add faces to a mesh

Got it, what was missing was not:

me.loops.foreach_set("vertex_index", vert_idx)

but correct:

me.polygons.foreach_set("vertices", ...

i tried it before and it crashed all the time because i forgot to ravel() the numpy array i used.


Merge by distance M>B and change the threshold until you've removed enough vertices to minimize the seam.
Then add an edge loop to support the geometry in front of that area.
See the gif below for a visual:

Note that this will fix the issue for now, but in the future, you should consider better topology, and not strictly rely on booleans for modeling.
topology guides is a good resource to begin with, and there are many questions here on the site that will lead in the right direction also.


Radiance: How does the focus of a "spotlight" work?

Found some explanation here:

  The focal length produces only a subtle difference as it shifts the
  effective position of the source behind the actual emitting surface. A
  real spotlight has the effect of changing its falloff to being
  something less than r^-2 (where r is the distance to the emitter) in
  this way. The actual falloff is closer to (r+e)^-2, where e is the
  focal length of the spotlight's optics.  It is a minor concern, I
  admit.


You can have the water detect collisions and not actually register any collisions by setting it to ghost.

Once that box is checked, anything that hits it detects the collision, but it physically treats it like a no-collision mesh. So, you can simply have a logic setup similar to this one on your character.


Your question is not clear enough, but if you're talking about a 3D object, here is a way to do it (maybe there's a simpler?):

Create a 6 vertices circle, subdivide it once, extrude it inwards and merge.
Extrude it up on the Z axis.
Extrude a 12 vertices cylinder from one of its face.

Delete 5/6 of the shape so that you only keep 1/6.
Put an empty at the same point as the origin of the object.
Use it as the object of an Array modifier / Object Offset mode, Count = 6.
Rotate the empty 60° on the Z axis so that the shape make a 360° star shape.

Apply the Array modifier. Delete the empty.
Repeat the star shape 7 times, use the Snap option / Vertex mode to make the shapes stick to each others.
Only keep the centre of this shape, it will be your pattern.
Remove any doubles.

Give it an Array modifier / Relative Offset mode, on the X axis. Choose the amount of iterations with the Count value.
Give it a second Array modifier / Relative Offset mode, on the Y axis.


I can only see model via a transparent grey strip

Press Alt+B to clear clipping border.
or View -> Clipping border


how to make everything be turned off for Cycles Ray Visibility?

There are a bunch of ways to do this. The TextEditor->Templates->Python->Operator simple has an example of the Operator syntax.

Here's a rather brutish interpretation of what you want:

import bpy

class ClaasVisibilitySwitch(bpy.types.Operator):
    """Tooltip"""
    bl_idname = "claas.visibility_switch"
    bl_label = "Simple Object Operator"

    func = bpy.props.IntProperty(description='0 is off, 1 is on')

    def execute(self, context):
        ob = context.object
        visibility = ob.cycles_visibility

        attributes = ["camera", "diffuse", "glossy", "transmission", "scatter"]
        for attr in attributes:
            setattr(visibility, attr, bool(self.func))

        return {'FINISHED'}

class ObjectModifier(bpy.types.Panel):
    bl_label = "ObjectModifier"
    bl_idname = "ObjectModifier"
    bl_space_type = 'VIEW_3D'
    bl_region_type = 'TOOLS'
    bl_category = "Claas"

    # uncommenting this will make the panel be invisible if no
    # objects are selected/active.
    # @classmethod
    # def poll(cls, context):
    #     return context.active_object is not None

    def draw(self, context):
        layout = self.layout

        scene = context.scene
        cscene = scene.cycles
        ob = context.object

        # if you have a poll function like above, then early returns
        # like this aren't needed.
        if not context.object:
            layout.row().label('no active objects')
            # finish drawing early
            return

        cob = ob.cycles
        visibility = ob.cycles_visibility

        layout.label(text="Ray Visibility:")
        row = layout.row()
        row.operator('claas.visibility_switch',text='on').func = 1
        row.operator('claas.visibility_switch',text='off').func = 0

        flow = layout.column_flow()

        flow.prop(visibility, "camera")
        flow.prop(visibility, "diffuse")
        flow.prop(visibility, "glossy")
        flow.prop(visibility, "transmission")
        flow.prop(visibility, "scatter")

def register(): bpy.utils.register_module(__name__)
def unregister(): bpy.utils.unregister_module(__name__)
if __name__ == "__main__": register()

I imagine you might want a single button that has states, like a BoolProperty. Here's a not-fancy version using a scene Boolean.

import bpy

def bool_updates_scene(self, context):
    ob = context.object
    visibility = ob.cycles_visibility

    attributes = ["camera", "diffuse", "glossy", "transmission", "scatter"]
    state = bool(context.scene.claas_visibility_switch)
    for attr in attributes:
        setattr(visibility, attr, state)

class ObjectModifier(bpy.types.Panel):
    bl_label = "ObjectModifier"
    bl_idname = "ObjectModifier"
    bl_space_type = 'VIEW_3D'
    bl_region_type = 'TOOLS'
    bl_category = "Claas"

    def draw(self, context):
        layout = self.layout

        scene = context.scene
        cscene = scene.cycles
        ob = context.object

        if not context.object:
            layout.row().label('no active objects')
            # finish drawing early
            return

        cob = ob.cycles
        visibility = ob.cycles_visibility

        layout.label(text="Ray Visibility:")
        flow = layout.column_flow()
        flow.prop(scene, "claas_visibility_switch", text='All')
        flow.separator()
        flow.prop(visibility, "camera")
        flow.prop(visibility, "diffuse")
        flow.prop(visibility, "glossy")
        flow.prop(visibility, "transmission")
        flow.prop(visibility, "scatter")

def register():
    bpy.types.Scene.claas_visibility_switch = bpy.props.BoolProperty(
        update=bool_updates_scene
    )
    bpy.utils.register_module(__name__)

def unregister():
    bpy.utils.unregister_module(__name__)
    del bpy.types.Scene.claas_visibility_switch

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()

making it look nice with a different Icon for each state should be a separate question.


It is possible to get sharp defined edges using volumetrics - see Give this mesh a uniform thickness on all the tubes and unions. Assuming your source data is to sufficient resolution then it should just be a matter of adjusting the Volume Sampling settings in the Render properties.

Decrease the Step Size to get better resolution. This is defined in blender units so pick a value that is close to the resolution of your data based on the size of the volume. If the number of steps does not span the volume then increase Max Steps to compensate.


Please wait/ loader in the while is loading another scenario

I need to put a loader, a please wait or something similar when I send
  the command to change the scenario in BGE. I really don't know how to
  implement this. Can anyone help me?

1) Show a scene that tells the audience that a scenario gets loaded.

It can be a simple text.

which is shown this way

2) after rendering one frame switch the scene

The last frame from 1) will be shown until the scene from 2) is loaded completely. The duration depends on the size and complexity of the next scene (and the speed of the hardware).

Ensure the first scene rendered at least one frame (therefore the delay sensor).

Be aware this method does not work with animations. The game will be suspended until the next scene is fully loaded. This also applies when the next scene is loaded as overlay or background scene.


Rendering particles vs ALT+D copying the object

I believe there is another way to "duplicate" objects, called "linking objects" (not entirely sure what it's called). But basically, you duplicate it as Alt + D, but it remains somehow part of the original mesh.

Alternatively you could use multiple array modifiers.


Is it possible to turn off cap fill on an existing cylinder?

No, you will have to delete the faces manually. You can change it directly after adding, though.


You have unwrapped your object but didn't use the UV coordinates
you are using the color from the image instead of the alpha
the non transparent part of the object is better to have a material

here is node setup for the object :

if you want the other part to be transparent switch the order of the 'transparent' and 'diffuse'


There are a few addons 1 2 3 and external solutions for this around, but the truth is in recent versions Blender's native builtin  tools have improved considerably in the area of asset management.

You have always been able to link (remotely references data) or append (import from other file) data from any other Blender file into the current one by going to File > Link or File > Append.

You can do this for most data like models, groups, materials, lighting and animation.

In recent versions asset management got considerably improved by making the file browser able to display Blender image thumbnails even for Blender internal data, and making Blender able to generate per data-block thumbnails.

Just go to File > Data Previews > Batch-Generate Previews and make sure your file browser is set to display thumbnails.


How do I get the screw modifier to go around the Y axis for a 2d Trace

The screw modifier by default uses the Z axis, you can change this in the modifier options.

If the revolution axis doesn't correspond to the world Y axis its because your object is rotated in Object Mode.

Check your objects rotation in the 3D View > Properties Shelf > Rotation (N Key)


Does the setting for domain size make a difference if the units are set to something other than None?

If you go into edit mode and press "n" look in the mesh display area and you'll see an option for displaying the lenths of the edges.  If you scale in object mode the values of the edges don't change. If you scale in edit mode they do. If you scale in object mode, hit Ctrl+A and accept the scale. Now your edge lengths reflects the new dimension. This may be why you see no change when you scale the domain. Just guessing, but I think it may help.


Cyclic dependency of constraints: "Track To" to child object

This doesn't work because a dependency cycle, i.e. both objects are dependent upon each other. To solve this, add another empty and parent both objects to it. To move the cube, move the parent empty.


If you use your pen with a fast click on a slider you can enter a value, but if you put (with the pen) your cursor on the slider and slide, the slider acts as .... a slider! (At least, this is what happens with my Wacom Intuos on 2.8 in sculpt mode).


Is there any way to simulate connected solid objects using cloth physics or similar

This can be achieved with Cloth physics or Soft Body physics.

Starting with Soft Body (since it's more versatile), the first step is to create the mesh - effectively two joined cubes. So starting with the default cube, select it and use Ctrl+D to duplicate it and position it in the desired location. Select both cubes (select one, hold Shift while clicking the other) and press CtrlJ to join them into a single object. NOTE : You should select the 'child' cube first (the one you want to have dragged about by the other), followed by the 'parent' - this way the origin of the combined mesh will be at the centre of the 'parent' cube.

We could use Soft Body options to keep the cubes from being distorted. However, this will interfere with the bending motion we want to produce. Therefore, we'll add 'struts' to the mesh to give it rigidity.

Go into Edit mode (Tab) and select wireframe view (Z). Select two opposing corners of a face and press F to create an edge between them.

Repeat this for every face on each cube - this will make each cube rigid without having to use the Soft Body 'Stiff Quads' or 'Bending' options, leaving them to be adjusted for controlling the bendiness between the cubes.

To join the cubes together, select each nearby pair of vertices in turn and again press F to create an edge between each.

Whilst still in Edit mode, select all the vertices of the 'parent' cube, create a new Vertex Group (named 'pin') and click 'Assign' to assign those vertices to the group.

Now swap back to Object mode (Tab) and in the Physics panel add Soft Body. In the Soft Body Goal settings set the Default Strength and Stiffness to their maximum and set the Vertex Group to the 'pin' group created earlier. In Soft Body Edges set the Pull and Push springs up to their maximum - this will force the edges to be a fixed length, locking the shape of the cube due to the 'struts' that were added earlier.

Now animate the mesh as desired - you should get the 'child' cube following and adjust the Bending Stiffness spring in the Soft Body Edges to get the desired stiffness of the joint. Switch off gravity (set the Soft Body Field Weight to zero) and enable Soft Body Self Collision if required. Optionally adjust the Soft Body Solver settings (eg, increase Min Step) if necessary. You can also adjust the Friction (on the main Soft Body properties) to calm down the bounciness if required.

This can produce the following result :

Cloth physics is fairly similar but needs a minor tweak to the mesh - since the cloth uses the presence of faces rather than edges to determine how the mesh behaves. So using the same mesh (ie, two cubes with added 'struts'), in Edit mode, select the 4 vertices between the two cubes and press F to create a  face.

Instead of Soft Body (remove it if using the same model), add Cloth. On the main Cloth properties panel, enable Pinning and use the same 'pin' vertex group as used for the Soft Body version. Disable Gravity in the Cloth Field Weights and enable Self Collision in the Cloth Collision panel.

You can use the Cloth panel to adjust the behaviour of the simulation. It's not as tunable as the Soft Body simulation but you should be able to get reasonable results - although you might still get some distortion of the cubes at high speed.

Blend files included :

Soft Body

Cloth


Simulating Time dependent on input with python

I've found there's no built in way in blender (other than physics simulation engines) to do this. Instead I mapped 'time' to frames linearly and customized the number of frames in the animation with scene.frame_end with the while conditional being

   while number_of_frame < scene.frame_end:


How do I combine two texture maps into one model?

When exporting, textures aren't necessarily saved in the same directory as the model. To find out where the texture is saved for an .obj, open the .mtl file:

If you don't see a .mtl file in the same directory as the .obj, it may not have been written. To ensure an .mtl is written, select "Write Materils" in the file window when exporting.

If you'd like the textures and model together in one file, bake the textures to the vertex colours and export as .ply:


How do I make tank treads without the treads becoming distorted?

Besides the comments provided, you can also avoid this by not having geometry along the X-axis that lets the object bend.


How to make a texture interact with scene lighting and shadows in cycles

You do not need the Transparent BSDF node. Just plug the alpha from the image texture into the Fac of the Mix node.

The Transparent BSDF is a shader node, and the Fac on the Mix node is looking for a value 0 through 1, a black and white map.

Your logo will "interact with light", it just will not be glossy because of the way you are mixing the glossy nodes.

This is a simple node setup to mix the diffuse logo with a glossy node, yet still have the logo partially glossy.
Use the "white" end of the ColorRamp node to control how glossy the logo will be. White (a value of 1) will have no gloss, and black (a value of 0) will be full gloss, and you would not see the logo.


Fill a solid corner topologically correct

If you have F2 addon enabled, here is a very magical trick.

Pressing F when F2 is enabled, several things will happen:

If 1 vertex is selected, it will create a face from the 2 edges connected with the vertex in the direction/position of the mouse cursor.
If 2 vertices or an edge is selected, it will try to created a quad face with the adjacent edges/vertices.  And the result doesn't need merging or 'remove double'.
If 3 or more edges are selected, it will simply create a face with selected edges.  Result can be an N-gon.


Optimize Blender's user interface for performance

In The System tab of User Preferences goto Opensubdiv Compute and try using OpenMP or CPU.

Also on that same tab, scroll to the bottom and increase your Memory Cache limit. It should be set to 1024 by default. If you have 8gb of ram, then click that box and type *7 after the number 1024 (so 1024*7) which equals 7168, which means that blender will use 7 of the 8gb of RAM for memory. Be careful and play around with this value, try to stay in multiples of 1 so you use 1, 2, 3, 4 ect GB of RAM.

To better fine tune blender to your machine, read up on the settings available to you in the user manual.
https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/dev/preferences/index.html

I would suggest working in blender internal, as this side of blender is not so resource intensive. You may also want to work on low poly projects. This will also help you with modeling.
However, if you would like to speed up renders in cycles, take a look at this video: 18 Ways to Speed Up Blender Cycles Rendering - https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiGiNO38abbAhVhITQIHcloBGAQFggxMAE&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D8gSyEpt4-60&usg=AOvVaw2jR9KDsJDWUto-lZ-N4csG

You could also optimize your windows start up by removing things that you don't need to start when your computer boots up. De-fragment, and uninstall any programs that you don't use anymore. Aside from that, I do not believe there is much you can do without upgrading your hardware.

You can also render files without blender open, to my understanding, from the command line. There are several tutorials on youtube about this. And even addons to use for this purpose.


Rendered in LuxCoreRender just for fancy look.

I'm not sure which cube you are referring to, so I'll first send you to some fluid sim 101 and then I'll show you what have I used for this scene.

Blender Docs
Blender fluid simulation tutorial in one minute

Now you know how to make simple Fluid sim and here is how I've achieved this low poly look:

Domain:

I've used resolution - 24. You can tweak it as needed. Lower value = lower poly count.

Inflow Object (Cube):

Here I've changed only Inlfow Velocity to -5m/s on Z axis. To speed up fluid.

Cycles:

If you want to render it with Cycles you can use this material for Domain object. But if you are gonna to use it with Unity this is optional.


How to connect two walls as as T or as a corner

Dissolve those faces that are overlapping, select them and the ones you want them to connect to and press Ctrl + E --> Bridge Edge Loops to fill them.


Compositor, can`t see blur effect from different camera angle

You are using an ID mask to assign the blur on a particular material. But the faces with that material are not visible as they are occluded by the rest of the cube.

If the material is not visible, you won't get the blur.

It seems to me that if you want to get the blur, you have two choices:

1- use a separate layer and object masks to create the blur.

2- Use volumetric lights (volume scattering) to have an environment in which suspended particles are lit by the light source that is not visible, as it would happen on a room with dust or or haze.


How to get local rotation from Matrix but taking parent transforms into account

So quaternions worked! Thanks BatFinger!

import bpy
from mathutils import Vector

Original_rot = bpy.data.objects['Armature'].pose.bones['shoulder'].matrix_basis.copy()

bpy.data.objects['Armature'].pose.bones['shoulder'].rotation_euler = Vector((0,0,0))
bpy.context.evaluated_depsgraph_get()

a = bpy.data.objects['Armature'].pose.bones['shoulder'].matrix.copy()
b = bpy.data.objects['Armature'].pose.bones['shoulder_extra_snap'].matrix.copy()

bpy.data.objects['Armature'].pose.bones['shoulder'].matrix = b

q1 = a.to_quaternion()

q2 = b.to_quaternion()

difQuat = q1.rotation_difference(q2)

difEuler = difQuat.to_euler()

bpy.data.objects['Armature'].pose.bones['shoulder'].rotation_euler = Vector(difEuler) + Vector(Original_rot.to_euler())

Might not be the best code but it works!


Your idea with the curve isn't bad at all, but for the form of the log you need to alter the geometry as well, I would suggest, create the logo as one mesh, create the shape as simple as possible, in this case just use a plane create the outline, cut the angles with the knife-tool and keep it with only quads, it should be very easy to create this mesh ;-)
When you have the finished mesh, create a few shape-keys, where you just move the vertices back to where they should start. Then insert Keyframes to your timeline, to control the different shape-keys. All the best Marco

For a better understanding here is a quick example of how I would do it.
Here is a little Video https://youtu.be/OW1WdF42yrk on how it would work. And here is a dropboxlink to the example file https://www.dropbox.com/s/aas26i1z0t2e5wa/Logo_folded.blend?dl=0

All the best Marco


As you model a glass bottle, you'll probably want to have caustics taking into account all those bumps on a mesh. Hence in this case those parts should be part of geometry and thus modeled.

Extruded base object (circle) has 24 vertices for overall roundness of final mesh provided that additional loops needed for details. Select edge loop where curved bumps will be. Deselect every other vertex of the loop (you can use Checker Deselect for that); use curvature for reference. Selected vertices will represent the rounded bumps of the bottle.
Scale them along normals (Alt+S) and grab in the opposite side from the sticker (so if you work with the loop lower than sticker, grab selection down). Do the same for all other loops where you'd like to have roundish bumps.
Make sure to convert all other edge loops into perfect circles for preserving correct form of the bottle (select them one by one and choose Circle operator from W > Looptools menu; note that Looptools addon should be enabled for that). After adding Subsurf modifier (on the 2-nd level of subdivision) scaled parts will be subdivided good enough so non-planar Ngons won't cause any problems here.

Most likely you'll also want to add thickness to the mesh in order to have better caustics. The only thing with adding Solidify modifier in this case is that you'll need to apply it and then use W > Looptools > Circle once more, but this time on the edge loops created with modifier (they will be copied from the outer curved loops and hence may refract light in an unexpected way).


How do I get a better understanding of the coordinate system in blender?

Generated coordinates

Here is a simple base setting, converting the 'generated' output to color.

Generated gives a vector composed of X, Y and Z space coordinates. But these space coordinates are limited from 0 to 1 along the bounding box of the object.

X, Y, Z, put into a color, respectively correspond to R, G, B values of the color.
So, black is at the origin (0, 0, 0) and with is at the opposite (1, 1, 1).

To check that the values correspond to the bounding box and are not above 1, we can try this experiment :

Add an independent vertex inside the mesh at its lower corner (the black one), and change the setting of the nodes like this :

On the image above :

Top left, the cube vertices are shifted, but the bounding box is larger thanks to the independent vertex we added before
Bottom, a holdout is applied if any coordinate is bigger than 1
To right : the result. The cube is nearly white because X, Y and Z are closed to 1. And notice that no holdout is applied (so nothing is bigger than 1).

Color

Try these two setups :

Same color (apparently), but different input values.

But we can check that the resulting color has a G value over 1, thanks to the hold out again :

So here we now know :

Concerning the generated X, Y, Z values : between 0 and 1 along the bounding box
Concerning the color : eventually above 1, but "no direct impact" on the rendering if above 1 (let's say that the diffuse shader does not take care if > 1, so the shader limits the value to 1)

Mapping node

We come back to this kind of setting :

If we shift the X value over 1 (3 below), finally the shader will show it as if 1.

If we scale up the X value (30 below), rapidly as X grows the value will be over 1. If 30, the value is > 1 when X is 3.3% of 1 = 0.033.

That's why the final result is the same, except for the slice where X is between 0 and 0.033.


The problem is that the upper bone of that finger weighting is wrong. To solve this, select your mesh then then shift+select your armature and choose parent with automatic weighting and the problem will be fixed as shown below:


How can the rendering of metadata be suppressed?

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


Unable to assign materials, maybe a material property setting issue

Cycles materials will display as a solid colour in the viewport, unless the viewport shading is set to material or rendered.

The material settings include the viewport colour to use for the material.


Oops, I should have been setting the font size.

blf.size(FONT_ID, 14, 72)

My guess is that some other text code is not resetting the font size properly. Similarly, when using text shadow, you have to set the blf.shadow_offset (even if you want to leave it at 0, 0) to avoid the shadow flickering.


How can I create a fuzzy fur like this? (see image)

Enable Interpolated Children and use a Kink type of Curl with a small distance for the Amplitude.


I use the next setup.

launcher.blend has a camera and a plane with a python controller that run my script launcher.py and the logic is always sensor > python controller > game actuator:

And the script check for files and...

from os.path import isfile, join
from scripts.settings import Settings
from scripts.functions import erro, install_path

class Launcher():
    """This class launch the game if no problem encountered."""
    def __init__(self, controller):
        """Assing game actuator file name and mode"""
        self.settings = Settings()
        self.gameActuator = controller.actuators['Game']
        if isfile(join(install_path, 'intro.blend')):
            self.gameActuator.fileName = str(join(install_path, 'intro.blend'))
            self.gameActuator.mode = 0
            self.main = self.initialize
        elif isfile(join(install_path, 'menu.blend')):
            erro(self, 'intro.blend file not found', 1)
            self.gameActuator.fileName = str((join(install_path, 'main_menu.blend') if isfile(join(install_path(), 'main_menu.blend')) else join(install_path(), 'erro.blend') ))
            self.gameActuator.mode = 0
            self.main = self.initialize
        else:
            erro(cls = self, msg = 'menu.blend file not found', level = 0)

    def initialize(self, controller):
        """Launch the game menu if settings are ok."""
        if self.settings.read_config_file():
            print('ready...')
            controller.activate(self.gameActuator)
            # at this point, bge should restart and load the new blend.
        else:
            self.settings.defaults_settings()
            if self.settings.read_config_file():
                print('ready...')
                controller.activate(self.gameActuator)
            else:
                erro(cls = self, msg = 'menu.blend file not found', level = 1)
                try:
                    controller.activate(self.gameActuator)
                except Exception as e:
                    erro(self, 'Error fatal!', 0)

def main(controller):
    if not "launcher" in controller.owner.getPropertyNames():
        controller.owner["launcher"] = Launcher(controller)
        return
    controller.owner["launcher"].main(controller)


You have keyframes on your bones. You can examine them in the action editor, which you have opened on the left side.

After resetting the transformations, you are entering edit mode, then entering pose mode. On reentering pose mode, the fcurves are reevaluated. Since the keyframes are extrapolated horizontally your pose bones have values.

Remove the keyframes to completely reset the transformation. Or reset the transformations and create new keyframes with I.


Can you switch between different material versions?

A bit dirty but you could use a node group:
Select the Mix Shader that you use as a shutter, press CtrlG to create a group. Once done, press Tab to go into the group and unplug the factor socket that will be created by default. If you play with the factor value it will switch from a shader to another:

Press Tab again to go out. In all your other materials create the group you've created with ShiftA and plug the shaders:

Now select one of these groups and play with the Mix Shader factor value, it will switch all the other material Mix Shaders as well.


Use the bevel operator for this, by default Ctrl + B in mesh edit mode.

Add one additional loop or cut to the Bevel from the operator properties, either in the 3D View Toolshelf or by pressing F6 after running Bevel and increasing the number of cuts


Is there a more efficient way to edit actions alread used in NLA?

The snowflake button is only displayed for actions not added as an NLA strip, or newly created ones.

For actions already contained in a strip, it's much easier to select the strip and Tab to tweak it. After that, just Tab again to exit strip-tweaking mode. There's no need to replace existing strips: the action's change will be reflected immediately in all strips containing it.

At worst, you will have to Sync Action Length Alt-R on each strips and rearrange them if their action's duration is changed. Replacing action strips is almost never necessary.


The default denoise options currently offered in blender (AI, Optix and the original blender denoiser) produce jittering because they do only Spatial Denoising, meaning that they use only one frame for input, so all images are denoised separately. The main problem with this approach is that noise patterns might not be consistent or homogeneous from one frame to the next. Sometimes this kind of denoising might actually create more problems than using no denoising at all.

Edit
For proper temporal denoising in blender read:
How to denoise animations using Blender's Temporal Denoiser?

In case of animation, you could also use denoise tools created specifically for video. Those tools not only can do Temporal Noise Reduction, by analysing several frames to understand how noise is transforming from frame to frame, but also use some spatial noise reduction as well.
Some suggested tools:
Neat
This denoiser can remove noise from video sequence, and it uses information from neighboring frames to denoise images. The best use for this plug-in - render animation without denoising, then remove noise from sequense in Natron (for example). Unfortunately, this Ofx plugin is commercial.
Deflicker
This Ofx  plug-in can remove jittering from denoised sequence. Instead  Neat, it can not remove noise, only flickering. As Neat, this plug-in can work in Natron and, unfortunately, it is also commercial.
Resolve
This video editor also has sophisticated noise reduction tools (only in studio version) and it is also commercial.


It's not possible at the moment. This "VSE Backdrop" feature has been introduced in the gooseberry branch with rB0717d:

  DESCRIPTION

  Gooseberry request: Backdrop for sequencer.

There has been another request rB9a934 for an "Overdrop" what is exactly what you saw in your Video which has zoom functionality and can be dragged around. But it differs from the Backdrop feature you asked for. Actualy it's an evolvement of it and got renamed.

But as it is in development with feature branches not everything that is being developed for an Open Movie project finally gets into the Master Branch of Blender. Not every feature is bug free or already polished enough and therefore this would take too much time to merge it back into master.

A detailled description what has been merged back from Gooseberry is in the Blog article Gooseberry in Blender Master and unfortunately for the Sequencer only

  A backdrop feature

has been mentioned there. Not the "Overdrop" feature. So your missing feature has not been removed, it just never made it into the "official" Blender development branch that results into the Version you can download from blender.org/download. You might ask the developers to merge this Overdrop feature back into Master as well.


Bones are deforming the mesh at different rates. Is there a way to fix this?

This is because the eyelashes are not included in the head bone's vertex group :

Select the armature and switch to pose mode
Select the head mesh and switch to weight painting mode
Select the head bone and you'll see that :

You just have to paint the whole head mesh vertices for the head bone's vertex group with the same weight color, including the eyelashes, and you'll be saved !


Perhaps enabling the "Adjust edit cage in modifier result" option in the Mirror modifier panel is what you need?


A better way to composite one video sub-clip over another with chroma key?

You are right, you would:
1. use the chroma key source as a single input node then generate a key with the keyer node. This scene will appear in the VSE as a strip with an alpha channel

add an Alpha Convert node set to "Straight to Premultiplied"
Add the scene strip to the VSE timeline on top of the background strip. Check its blend type and make it "alpha over" instead of cross or replace.

You should then be able to trim it to length as required. Remember that to get audio you would have to add the original source strip to the VSE timeline of the compositor scene. But this only works in the latest versions of Blender.

Otherwise you will have to sync the sound up to the scene strip.


How do I create multiple groups of weight paint?

You can do this by adding an additional vertex group under Properties > Data > Vertex Groups.


Mesh gets physically distorted when rendering in cycles?

You need to make sure there is nothing plugged into the "Displacement" output of your material shader.
Alternatively you can also disable the true displacement within the material properties, but this might leave the artifacts as a bump.


Camera follow object and wont allow to move with 3d cursor

Check if you have Lock To Object enabled. In that case, the Blender Camera will always keep a certain object - which is chosen in the list - centered in the Viewport. Lock To Object is enabled if there's an object selected in the field, see screenshot below where it says "Cube". Click the little X next to the object name on the right to disable the locking:


Is there a VNC (remote desktop) software that can successfully launch Blender..?

I've used blender successfully with RealVNC.


How to select/list all users of an Action?

Any animation editor will show you such a list, provided the keyframed objects are selected at the moment. If you don't know which specific object contains the action you want unlinked, you can simply select everything in your scene, with a, and then check an animation editor. All keyframed objects, and ONLY keyframed objects, will be revealed in the animation editor in question. This list will show both the name of all keyframed objects, as well as the actions to which they are associated. Below, I show the view from the Dope Sheet, but it also works with the Graph Editor.