How calc value of translate with constraint_orientation="VIEW"?

To calculate the values you convert the original value using the orientation matrix to the world space  :

  values = intended_value * Orientation_matrix

in the script this would be ( moving 1 unit on the X-axis of the view ) :

import bpy
from mathutils import *

for area in bpy.context.screen.areas:
    if area.type == 'VIEW_3D':
        viewport = area.regions[4]
        v_m = area.spaces[0].region_3d.view_matrix  #orientation matrix
        #vector conversion from view space to world space
        values = Vector((1,0,0))*v_m
        #the translation is done in global orientation without any constraints
        bpy.ops.transform.translate(value=values)
        #bpy.context.object.location += values   #another way to translate
        print(values)

for bmesh operator (the calculation is done inside the operator ) you pass the translation vector and the matrix of the space used for this translation :

import bpy
import bmesh
from mathutils import *

#get the view matrix
v_m = None
for area in bpy.context.screen.areas:
    if area.type == 'VIEW_3D':
        viewport = area.regions[4]
        v_m = area.spaces[0].region_3d.view_matrix

#create a bmesh
obj = bpy.context.active_object
bpy.ops.object.mode_set(mode='EDIT')
bm = bmesh.new()
bm.from_mesh(obj.data)

#translation
vec = Vector((1,0,0)) #one unit on the X-axis
all_verts = bm.verts  #the vertices to be translated
bmesh.ops.translate(bm, vec =(1,0,0), space = v_m, verts = all_verts)

bpy.ops.object.mode_set(mode='OBJECT')
bm.to_mesh(obj.data)


how to get 3D vertex bounding box around the object in python

For the 8 bounding box corners in local coordinates:

ob.bound_box

Transformation matrix from local to global:

ob.matrix_world

Both together:

bbverts = [Vector(bbvert)*ob.matrix_world for bbvert in ob.bound_box]


Query if modifier exists on listed objects

You can access each objects modifiers as a dictionary by Object.modifiers. Then simply check if the name or type of your modifier is part of modifier collection (Modifier.name/Modifier.type) otherwise add a new modifier using ObjectModifiers.new() method:

import bpy

mod_name = "Subdivision"

for obj in bpy.context.selected_objects:  # Prefer using explicit variable names. Generally, i is used for counters, not objects
   if obj.type == "MESH" and mod_name not in obj.modifiers:
      sub_div = obj.modifiers.new(name=mod_name, type='SUBSURF')
      sub_div.show_only_control_edges = True

Related: Check if active object has a modifier


Fade to Black Effect in Video Sequence editor?

Fading to black is slightly more complicated than it has to be. The trick is to use the cross effect.

Add your video clip
Add a color strip (under Effect Strip > Color), the default is black, so leave it at that. Position the color strip at the end of the video clip.
Select your video strip then the color strip (Make sure to do it in that order. The cross effect will fade to whichever clip is selected last)
Add a cross effect
Play the animation.


A few issues with your file:

You have a big cube.001 that is not visible in the viewport (eye icon) but that is rendereable (camera icon) that blocks everyting. Get rid of it.

Then you have an object (cube) that is a big block of glass and volume scatter. The volume scatter is set at a value of 0.2. bring it down to 0.05 and you'll see your objects will start to show.

What are you trying to accomplish with the glass shader? Unplug it.

If you are looking for the reflection of the water surface use a different plane for that.

Then you have a bunch of objects called circle.xxx that are disabled for render and that have materials done in blender internal. You have to recreate those materials in order to use them in cycles.

The edges of the big cube that you are using as water is visible in the shot. Is this a pond or a fish tank?

Why is the lamp inside the water? Also, the light was set using blender internal materials and in cycles it needs to be an emission shader. And it needs to be quite bright to compensate for the volume scatter in the water.


I would use Sverchok (A Blender node system for Geometry)

Click on the image to view full size.

How it works is you feed Sverchok a base mesh, in this case the blue Icosphere with some distorted noise displacement. This mesh is used to generate a second set of vertices positioned some distance away in the direction of the vertex normal. The vertex normal is defined by the average face normal of all faces which are connected to a vertex.

This new set of vertices has the same vertex index order, this means we can reuse the edge list (list of vertex indices which makes up each edge) and create tubing from the resulting edges.

The new set of vertices is also used to place duplicated instances of the node sphere (in this case a NURBS SurfaceSphere)

Alpha_0 : This mesh is outputted by the BMeshViewDraw node. Because it's only outputting one mesh the name has _0 appended. This node outputs the new (offset) vertices.

In the properties of Alpha_0 switch on duplication to Vertex.
(I dragged the duplication menu-item to the top for convenience)

Sigma_0 : The tubes, Curve Objects, generated by SvCurveViewer Sigma. These tubes are built from new vertices and old edge list.

SurfSphere: In properties set the parent to Alpha_0, this will then duplicate the SurfSphere at every vertex of Alpha_0's mesh.
.

You'll notice as soon as you parent an object, that the child becomes part of the parent item. The outliner shows it like this:

Result:

Pros and Cons:

Pro:

Learn Sverchok, it can be applied to many scenarios involving geometry
Sverchok is 150+ nodes which can be combined to give a massive amount of modulation in your end result
I co-write Sverchok, if you have questions about how it works visit the issue tracker.

Con:

You have to install and enable Sverchok, it does not come with Blender
At first it might seem confusing, but it works very similar to any other node system. Nodes take input and perform some operation and produce output. Each node does something different, generally the name of the node is sufficient to indicate what it does.


Blender VSE: What to do with 20gb SSD (performance enhancement/rendertime)?

It get faster renders from Blender VSE when I make sure to eliminate any scaling. My Canon cameras produce 1920x1088 footage. Set Blender to render at 1920x1088.


How to create an object with both emmision and diffuse or reflective properties?

You can plug a Texture Coordinates node from Reflection to Mapping node, mapping node to Math node set to mulptiply connected to ColorRamp and connected to another Math node set to multiply plugged in a Mix Shader node, in the Mix Shader connect Emmision Shader and another Mix Shader With Diffuse as the First Shader and With Translucent as the Second shader

The Result


A lot of your normals are facing inwards.  You probably can't see this because backface culling is disabled by default.  I always keep it activated so I can see these problems right away.  Here's what it looks like with Backface Culling enabled.

You can view the normals using the following setting.

You can flip them with the following tool in Edit mode.

I also use remove doubles because there were many vertices that were overlapping which were not attached to each other.

The door is partially attached to the rest of the mail-box at the bottom which makes the polygon flow difficult to work with.

Also, there is a shelf inside the model which is attached to the outer polygons, this may be intentional but has the same effect as interior faces: it causes rendering artifacts and was the biggest problem here.

Cycles cannot handle super low-poly models very well.  Basically triangles become very dark and visible at areas where the lights hit them at glancing angles.  Adding more geometry, lights and an HDR texture can help with this.

I used inset on the top piece and some loop cuts along the rim.

The main box and the door have a Bevel Modifier attached and set to 'Angle'.

I applied the Solidify modifier on the door latch/hook thing and added inset and loop cuts to it as well as a sub-surface modifier to make the edges more crisp.

Here's the .blend http://www.pasteall.org/blend/34426


Cant render image with transparent background after motion track?

Make sure to use RGBA (A as in Alpha) for your PNG output


To return to the original pose, simply reset all the transformations.

Make sure your are in Pose Mode, by selecting the Armature and choosing Pose Mode in the 3D View (CtrlTab).

Then select all bones (A) and press

AltG to reset location
AltR to reset rotation
AltS to reset scale


In fact, it's more like a question on how to use the Displace modifier, since your image shows the man was using a Displace modifier with a texture to generate that in 3DS Max.

Although different softwares got different steps and flow on getting the same result, Blender got it's way to do this, there is Displace modifier in Blender, too, and also, can be controlled with textures, vertex groups, and even more freely by using specific images. You can also use it several times to accumulate as a combined result. As shown below:


Circular Array not working after modifiyng cube in 2.81

First shot:  Ctrl A > Apply the scale of the cube. (bake the scale into the mesh). Each iteration of the array will inherit the transform of the original, and apply it again, recursively. You want that for the rotation, but not the scale.


Ok false alarm, the fix was just adding a mapping and texture coordinate AND using the object option on the color coordinate


My system is slow, but can I run Blender better anyway?

Keep your expectations within reason and consider how much you are willing to commit to a hardware upgrade should you do so. Computer parts aren't necessarily cheap, so be sure to weigh the costa vs. benefits of a potential upgrade before diving headfirst into this. That said, here is some information about upgrading hardware.

3GB of RAM is limited with today's memory-hungry applications. Upgrading to 8GB or even 16GB won't magically turn your PC into a render powerhouse, but it is definitely a start.
Almost all RAM sticks are fairly simple to swap out, and shouldn't require too much technical know-how. However it is essential that you choose the correct type of RAM stick, else it will not fit onto your motherboard. If you're really unsure, take the PC to a local shop. Other upgrades, such as a CPU, are beyond the scope of this answer.

As for other tips to help performance, quit all nonessential applications when running Blender, and keep your CPU from running hot by ensuring the computer has substantial airflow i.e, keep it in an open area at room temperature and make sure the fans are operational.

Best of luck.


Shape keys influence over time along mesh?

You probably want a series of non-relative shape key (look for a relative checkbox).  Then you would animate the Evaluation Time to iterate/interpolate through the various intermediate shapes of the inflating balloon.  (see https://www.blender.org/manual/fr/animation/shape_keys.html#workflow-for-absolute-shape-keys )

It is possible to accomplish the same thing using relative shape keys, but you have to animate each one, and your application sounds like a textbook example of non-relative shape keys.

You might also be able to accomplish something similar by using an armature and scaling each bone in sequence (which would be almost like using relative shape keys).


How to build different scenarios in the Compositor

I see a couple of options:

1 Using a new scene.

Without having to create new files you can use a new scene with linked objects. Changes in the compositor for one scene will not affect the compositor options for other scenes:

2. Using a a Switch and/or Split viewer node

The switch node allows you to re-route the node flow, so you can compare different inputs:

A split viewer node creates a viewer that allows you to compare both inputs simultaneously, by splitting the window horizontally or vertically.


How to add thickness symmetrically using the Solidify modifier

In the modifier options there's offset that can be ±1 or 0. The first two add thickness either outside or inside. Setting this to zero gives the result you want. Still, you must remember in this case you add half the value to either side.


Mov file size very small compared to pngs

Video compression is designed for efficient throughput, favoring smaller files to minimize data rate.
video compression always implies a trade-off: it is easier to share and playback smaller files, but it comes at the cost of quality.
Compression is always done by throwing away information, every time you encode video there will be some quality lost in favor of bandwidth.
Most video compression is lossy, whereas png can use lossless compression.
Will you perceive the difference? Probably not, as each image is visible for a very short period of time during video playback .
When the compression is too aggressive, that is when you will start to notice artifacts, like banding or macroblocking, to name a few. The fix those errors is to increase the data rate to the point where you are satisfied with the results.
It is possible to have visually lossless compression, and even lossless compression, resulting in huge files, but it is likely as well that your computer or hard drive cannot sustain the data-rate necessary to play them back smoothly.
The name of the game is Efficiency vs Quality: don't make the files any larger, or any more compressed, than what you can live with.
With that in mind, it makes even more sense to render always as an image sequence first, and encode as video later. Such workflow will allow you to experiment with different settings, and find the optimal size/data-rate/codec/container for your specific needs.
In closing, I would add that PNG is not a good format, Not only is it slower to compress, but it is plagued with a lot of problems, the most serious being it's handling of the alpha channel. If you are serious about creating video content, consider using OpenEXR as your intermediate format. Think of EXR as way to store an identical copy of the render layers you create in blender, without having to re-render.
For additional info read:
What image format encodes the fastest, or at least faster? PNG is too slow


How to change the shape of a mesh object by handlers?

Update the mesh of the object, not of the evaluated object
As demonstrated here Updating objects parameters using python creates multiple objects
update the mesh of the object, not its evaluated (for that frame) object.
In addition do not mix context with handlers. The scene is passed as the first argument. This may or may not be the context scene when "handled"..
Only handle objects in the scene being handled..
ob = scene.objects.get("some_name")
if ob:
    ...

bpy.data.objects is a list of all objects in the blend file, which may or may not be linked to any scene, all scenes or none.
Related
How to get the updated vertex coordinates of a cube when rotating?


To cancel an axis constraint, such as the Z axis, hit the same axis key two more times and that will remove the constraint. You can then hit another axis key for another constraint.


Blender viewport and UI lag when external monitor connected

Turbo boost (3,6GHz) only boosts one core. The others sleep, I guess.
So I guess you shouldn't use the boost here. RAM is okay, unless rendering, graphics card isn't used anyway. I use mini-display-port on my System as well, no problem. But im on windows so maybe it's a MAC's problem. Please check out other programs, like Video editing Programs or other comples ones like photoshop. (there are free trials)


In UV map can't move shared vertices independently

This happens because you have the "Keep UV and edit mode mesh selection in sync" button enabled, the selected vertex in the UV editor, is on a seam, so in 3D view, it is shared by 4 faces - assuming you are working with quads- so when selected with the sync option enabled, it will select all related coordinates in the UV editor, disable it by clicking the button, in the image below, it's the button in the lower right corner.
As you can see, I have it enabled, here.

Now check the image below, I disabled the Sync button.

Hope this helps, happy blending.

Edit:

When you have the Sync button disabled, you can only see in the UV Editor, the faces that you have it selected in the 3D View in Edit Mode, so make sure you select all the faces you need to have it available before unchecking the Sync button, or use the 3D View to select the faces/edges/vertices you need, and tweak them in the UV Editor with the Sync button unchecked.


How to not display surplus texture (UV mapping)

You have the correct node setup for the material, but the image you are using needs to be alpha masked.

That is to say, you would need to take the image into (for example) Photoshop, and "cut out" the eyeball so that it sits on a transparent background. You would then need to save this a file format that allows transparency (e.g. .PNG).

This isn't working because, at the moment, your eyeball sits on a black background. Your nodes tell Blender only to show the image when it has alpha (i.e. only show it where it is not transparent). This is correct, but the problem is that your image is not transparent anywhere, so all of it shows.


Best way to mirror duplicate a rigged object?

Few explanations about the method to do it, but I have found nothing conventional to apply here on this initial particular (but well working) way of rigging a wing.

This was mainly manual editing (so not sure to remember all the steps) :

define a center and set a center bone at this location
parent the first wing bone to this center bone
rename the bones with .LEFT as suffix, select them all and "symetrize" to obtain the .RIGHT bones
duplicate wing parts and feathers and scale X, -1, with the center previously defined as pivot
Edit each part of the right wing in order to arrange the normals
Parent (with automatic weights) the wings (not the feathers) with the armature
For the feathers (on the right), select them by group (object mode) in order to bone parent to the corresponding wing part

And the result as given in the comments above :

Nothing "magical" !!


The easiest way is to start a new scene and then save it as a file.  Copy that file to the new computer. When you're ready open that file on the new computer and then use the file menu to "Save Startup file".


Unable to rotate object in normal orientation

If i understood the question you want to rotate the rest back to rotate.

Select the back rest.

In edit mode select the edge and Press Shift+S
Cursor to selected.

Change the Pivot point to 3D Cursor

In object mode rotate now.


Python - How to Align Axis in import image as plane?

Code works as intended. Just had to restart blender for change to my script to take effect.


Add Solidify Modifier to a plane with a different image on each side

When you use the solidify modifier, you are giving the object "faces" with their normals pointed outwards. This means that in the new "box" you create, all the "backfacing" faces are facing the inside (so you cant see them). You can either apply the modifier and add a different material for the different faces (as desired), or you could select the face you want to be different and flip the normals on it.


A bad quality render while it took over 12 hours to render

I think denoising might be the issue here. It looks like too much of it. I would turn it off. It's best to test rendering small regions in areas that you suspect might be more noisy before the final render(ctrl+b to define a region, ctrl+alt+b to clear). You may find that you do not need that many samples if you test it. 20 000 - 30 000(not squared) is usually enough even for scenes with difficult mostly indirect lighting. You might need a lot less than that to get your scene noise free. I would also check the camera's Depth of Field settings and make sure everything you wish in focus is actually in focus. The resolution is also quite low - some might consider the resolution of 580 by 884 pixels 'bad quality'. That's only slightly bigger image than passport photos usually are if you think about it.


How to make walls with the same thickness?

You have uneven scales on all axis (yellow marker). this happens when you scale your object in Object mode.

press  Ctrl  +  A  and select Scale in object mode. That should fix your problem.


You probably pressed Numpad / and toggled Local View. Press it again to disable it. Alternatively, use the View -> Local View -> Toggle Local View in GUI.


Imported SVG shows circles instead of squares

So the problem was in Illustrator. The Image trace tool considered some rectangle as Circle. I had to convert all part how gave me Circle.

Full answered here: https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/a/118502/131137

Thanks to him (And you too !) !


If you haven't already, you will want to assign a flow group for your smoke domain and place your emitter into a group.

First, select your emitter and assign a group to it (alternative way to group would be to select the emitter, go to the Object tab -> Groups, assign a group and give it a name).

For your smoke domain, under the Physics tab -> Smoke Groups, set the Flow Group to the group you just made. This will prevent mixing of other emitters with that particular domain, allowing multiple domains to be in the same area and layer.

EDIT: One last thing I forgot to mention, make sure each domain has their own material.

And be warned: This may greatly increase render times, so consider placing them on separate layers regardless.


how to make designs on the wall which is already coloured

you need to learn about texturing and/or modeling (depends on what you're trying to achieve)

Texturing:  If you want a design similar to the kind of a wallpaper, you need to either download an image of the design from the internet or make one yourself using painting apps like Krita, Photoshop or GIMP (you can even use MS Paint for a starter). Once you have an image of the design you want on the wall or object, you need to add it to the material of the object. Also to make it look in better proportions, you need to UV map your wall object:
Go to edit mode
Select every vertex of the object (press A)
Press U and Unwrap the mesh
done
Modeling:  If I'm not mistaken, you already are learning modeling. So all you have to do is go to the edit mode and change the mesh to your liking. You can use the sculpting mode as well but i suggest you to use it only to add finishing details or to make organic entities (animal, plants and stuff)

Hope this simple explanation helps you get started.
If not, try going through this tutorial: https://youtu.be/9PJL0eAuZ_E

Welcome to the Blender family and i guarantee you, you're gonna love using Blender :)


2 bones, 3 leg pieces. Middle piece is deforming. Why?

Could be sufficient to add a small knee-bone between the others, which is the only one to move the knee?


skin become dark after render in cyle render


Ocean displacement map not showing waves, even with enough faces

As Einstein's Minion pointed out, you have the scale set to 0. Increasing to around 4 seems to give a pretty substantial effect. As others have also mentioned, adding more geometry helps, so I added a Subdivision Surface Modifier to the top of the modifier stack for the purpose of this example. This should really be all that's necessary to make the waves show properly:


This node is on converter -> math and then you can enter your operation, in your case add


If both cylinders have the same amount of vertices on their head faces, you can

select both objects

CTRL-J -> Join

tab -> edit mode

select edge loop of both faces

Edge -> Bridge edge loops

result:


How to mask out a object in motion tracked shot to put people behind things?

i figured out the answer. what you need to do is build the object you want to mask and then put it as in the background group and it will work


How do I parent another object only to a specific bone?

You can parent an object to a specific bone using a 'Child Of' constraint:

Here, the object I want to parent to an individual bone has a 'Child Of' constraint added, with the armature and bone I want it to follow selected from the 'Target' and 'Bone' search boxes.

Pressing the 'Set Inverse' button may be required to return the object to it's original position as after choosing the target object it may jump to that bone's position.


Problem with AMD Prorender install on MAC Catalina Blender 2.81

The problem could be that there is an extra file you need to download to get the add-on to work. I know for a fact that for LuxCore render there is a similar issue, and that was solved by another file that needed to be downloaded for it to work. Another trick that might work in case there is no other file that needs to be installed would be to install the add-on in Blender manually. You would need to do this by looking at the start up file location for Blender, and searching until you find the file for add-ons. (This can be easily done by looking at the file location info Blender gives you in the info section of an add-on.)


How to add metalness to a specific color on a card

In your image editor select corresponding color on your card and make black and white mask for metal, where white is metallic part.
Invert that mask for roughness map (or make new mask for more control).
Modify your card material in node editor to use principled shader, where base color connects to your original image.
Use your metal mask for metal, rough mask for roughness.

If you want to get more adventurous, you can make a 3rd mask where you set your 'paper' material with fine-grain greyscale noise, and you can apply it with bump map.

Your final shader would look something like this (notice non-color data for masks):

If you find some masks give too strong/weak effect, you can use ColorRamp from Convertor menu for fine-grain control.


CUDA error: Out of memory in cuMemAlloc(&device_pointer, size) line568

This is normal. Your specific graphics card may have 3 or 6 GB of VRAM depending on the model. Your 3d scene needs to be loaded to the memory of your graphics card for it to be rendered on the GPU. It will eventually run out of memory as your scenes get bigger same way as you run out of hard disk space eventually as you have too many files on your computer.

To solve the issue, you can render your scene on CPU so your 16GB of RAM are used instead of the 3 or 6 GB of VRAM in your GPU.

Another way could be making sure that you are not using unnecessarily too much of geometry or particles and the textures you use are not bigger than you need. You should keep in mind that the textures used on GPU are not compressed, so it does not matter if you are using small compressed .jpg files - they will be uncompressed to their full size during rendering.

Of course another solution would be to upgrade the graphics card to one with more memory. That would work as well. GTX 1080TI cards for example have 11 GB of memory. However, it is not difficult at all to run out of that as well if you use particles for example. You should always keep resources in mind when designing your scenes.


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

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


Renderlayer is completely white and Im NOT on depth pass?

Check that your UV image editor window isn't set to show alpha only.


It's not entirely clear to me exactly what you mean by '"extra" from the roof'. If you mean the overhang on the sides, you could modify the geometry by cutting (in any one of several ways, though in my own workflow a boolean modifier would not be a choice I'd make) the surface of the roof, and removing the vertices outside the new geometry.

If instead of that, you mean the parts of the rectangles extending above the roof, then you'd probably want to modify the walls. Again, there are several ways to accomplish this, but exactly which one would be most useful is hard to say without seeing more information.


How to install import_3dm add-on properly?

The 3dm importer depends on the rhino3dm package that has to be installed as well. In order to get the add-on working:

Install rhino3dm.
Install the 3dm importer add-on.

The first step can be accomplished by running the following script. Open Blender, switch to the Scripting workspace, copy and paste the script into the text editor and execute it. Make sure to check the output on the console for any error messages (Window > Toggle System Console). If everything works properly it should print the version of the installed package.
In case your Blender installation is located in C:\Program Files\ you will have to start Blender as administrator. Otherwise, it doesn't have the permission to install the package.
import bpy
import os
import ensurepip
import subprocess

try:
    import rhino3dm
except ImportError:
    # The import failed, therefore we check ensure that pip is available and attempt to install the package.

    # ensurepip.bootstrap() also calls pip, which adds the environment variable PIP_REQ_TRACKER. After
    # ensurepip.bootstrap() finishes execution, the directory doesn't exist anymore. However, when subprocess
    # is used to call pip, in order to install a package, the environment variables still contain
    # PIP_REQ_TRACKER with the now nonexistent path. This is a problem since pip checks if PIP_REQ_TRACKER is
    # set and if it is, attempts to use it as temp directory. This would result in an error because the
    # directory couldn't be found. Therefore, PIP_REQ_TRACKER needs to be removed from os.environ.
    ensurepip.bootstrap()
    os.environ.pop("PIP_REQ_TRACKER", None)

    # Try to install the package. This may fail with subprocess.CalledProcessError
    subprocess.run([bpy.app.binary_path_python, "-m", "pip", "install", "rhino3dm"], check=True)

    import rhino3dm

print(rhino3dm.__version__)

Next download and install the most recent release of add-on. With the required dependency installed it should activate without any issues.
Important: In case you intend to use the code above in an add-on, it's common courtesy to not connect to the internet or install packages without the explicit consent of the user.


2.8 Why are collections grayed out? How can I open them?

tl;dr: Your collections are set to be excluded from the scene.

This is the Blender 2.80 replacement for enabling/disabling layers. Instead of selecting or deselecting a couple of layers in your viewport, you set your collection to be excluded from the viewport.

Go to the Outliner, left-click on one or Shift + left-click on multiple collections, right-click to open the Menu and go to "View Layer" and click "Clear Exclude" - alternatively hit the Shortcut Alt+E while your mouse pointer is within the Outliner.


You can achieve this using Soft Body or Cloth physics with gravity disabled or turned right down. I prefer Soft Body since it's more controllable and more suited to this.

Start by creating your bag mesh. It doesn't need to be complicated - just needs to capture the general geometry of the bag :

Now enable Soft Body physics on the bad. You'll need to make some changes to the default settings. Start by disabling the Soft Body Goal since we want it to be free floating. In Soft Body Edges increase Pull since we don't want the back to stretch too much. You might also want to increase Friction in the main Soft Body properties to damp down the motion (as if it's moving in water rather than fluttering in air). To make the bag puff out a bit you can enable Soft Body Self Collision and increase the Ball Size nearer to '1' (this will make the vertices push apart) but also decrease the Stiffness so that they only slightly push apart. Finally, in the Soft Body Field Weights turn the Gravity right down so that the bag 'floats'.

Add some fields - such as Turbulance and Vortex to generate some interesting movement and you should have something like this :

Blend file included


In this case the vertice wasn't highlighted as expected because the Mirror modifier, which was present in stack, had button Adjust Edit cage to modifier's result turned on.

This means the result of modifier's work was visible while in Edit mode and editable more or less (so you could select verts mirrored by it, for example).

But in this case part of mesh doesn't exist (because result isn't applied yet) and hence existing vertices of the mesh aren't highlighted as usual (when edges which are connected by these vertices are highlighted too) rather than one by one. Edge is being highlighted only when 2 vertices were selected.

Note: vertices' size is increased for demonstration purposes.

To work without this behaviour uncheck Adjust Edit cage to modifier's result in order to directly interact only with real vertices of the mesh. You can check it if needed to preview changes when it's important for the workflow.

Read more about interface of modifiers and meaning of the present buttons.


Because you're expecting the symmetry to happen on the Y axis but the Symmetrize operation uses the X axis, so you need to rotate your armature 90° on the Z axis in Edit mode and symmetrize again. What we see is what is supposed to happen, your bones have been mirrored on the X axis.


How to get the speed of a Camera with Python?

On every sceneupdate we can call a function which checks for fcurves and then evaluate the current and previous frame.

The script creates a panel in the camera data section and displays the speed there.

import bpy

class CameraSpeedPanel(bpy.types.Panel):
    """Creates a Panel in the Data properties window
        when a camera is selected"""
    bl_label = "Camera Speed"
    bl_idname = "CAMERA_PT_speedometer"
    bl_space_type = 'PROPERTIES'
    bl_region_type = 'WINDOW'
    bl_context = "data"

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

        cameras = [ob for ob in context.scene.objects if ob.type == 'CAMERA']

        for cam in cameras:
            print(cam.name)
            row = layout.row()
            lbl = cam.name
            if context.scene.camera == cam:
                lbl += ' (active)'
            if cam == context.scene.objects.active:
                row.label(lbl, icon = 'OUTLINER_OB_CAMERA')
            else:
                row.label(lbl, icon = 'CAMERA_DATA')
            row.label(self.getSpeed(context.scene, cam))

    def getSpeed(self, scene, ob):
        if (ob.animation_data == None or
            ob.animation_data.action == None):
            return '(not animated)'
        current = ob.location.copy()
        previous = ob.location.copy()
        frame = scene.frame_current
        for i in range(3):
            crv = ob.animation_data.action.fcurves.find('location', i)
            if (crv != None):
                current[i] = crv.evaluate(frame)
                previous[i] = crv.evaluate(frame - 1)
        output = str((current - previous).length)
        output = (output[:10] + '..') if len(output) > 12 else output
        print(output)
        return output

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

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

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()


How to I move a face so that the rest of the objects faces move proportionally

I know this doesn't answer the title of the question but rather its body.
If you are going to use modifiers, you can consider using the screw modifier :
Create a single vertex a 1,0,0.

Add a screw modifier and tweak the screw offset property

add a skin modifier


Easy way to model spiral engraving (knurling) that is usually used on metal for better grip?

Subdivide the area you want to engrave to have enough supporting geometry:

Subdivide it one more time - W > Subdivide:

Unsubdivide - Ctrl+E > Unsubdivide, choose Iterations: 1 in operator properties:

Select single face and select similar - Shift+G > Area:

Poke faces Alt+P and switch to vert select:

Select these 2 vertices:

Select similar - Shift+G > Amount of connecting edges:

Scale these in with Alt+S:

Mark sharp smoothing on the whole area.


The Blender Internal (BI) render engine is no longer a part of Blender since the 2.80 release, which means that this specific panel no longer exists. However Cycles and Eevee both have a node-based material system that lets you configure the same properties. Switch to the Shading workspace or open the Shader Editor in one of the areas.

Shading Workspace

Shader Editor

The basic node setup uses a Texture Coordinate,
Mapping and Image Texture node.

The Texture Coordinate node provides access to the active UV map, which can be used as input to the Mapping node. Similar to the texture panel for Blender Internal, you can adjust the location (BI: Offset) and scale (BI: Size) as well as the rotation. The vector output of the mapping node is connected to the Image Texture node. There you can find the Projection property.

The UV Map node is useful if you want to use a specific UV map, not just the currently active one. In this case you can replace the Texture Coordinate node with it.

All nodes offer even more options, that are documented in the linked pages of Blender's manual.


How to blur part of the screen in the game engine?

Extending the sample shader linked by @NoviceInDisguise:

How it works: the shader gets the rendered image as a texture its x/y coordinates range from 0 to 1.0

The distance from center is calculated by sqrt(x*x+y*y) > .3 to exclude a circular region from blur.

uniform sampler2D bgl_RenderedTexture;

void main(void)
{
  vec4 texcolor = texture2D(bgl_RenderedTexture, gl_TexCoord[0].st);
  float x =  gl_TexCoord[0].st.x - .5;
  float y =  gl_TexCoord[0].st.y - .5;

  if ( sqrt(x*x+y*y) > .3 ) {
       float value = 0.0015;
       vec4 color = texture2D(bgl_RenderedTexture, vec2(gl_TexCoord[0].st.x + value, gl_TexCoord[0].st.y + value)); // Sample area around current pixel
       color += texture2D(bgl_RenderedTexture, vec2(gl_TexCoord[0].st.x - value, gl_TexCoord[0].st.y - value));
       color += texture2D(bgl_RenderedTexture, vec2(gl_TexCoord[0].st.x + value, gl_TexCoord[0].st.y - value));
       color += texture2D(bgl_RenderedTexture, vec2(gl_TexCoord[0].st.x - value, gl_TexCoord[0].st.y + value));
       color /= 4.0;
       gl_FragColor = color;
   }
   else {
       gl_FragColor =texcolor;
   }
}

Node setup: Add a Filter 2D configure it as Custom Shader and select the above script.

Sample render

Disclaimer: A decent blur needs to incorporate values from a 3x3, 5x5 or bigger matrix, the sample code only uses the left and right neighbor.


Can I import multiple strips of different fps into Video Sequence Editor?

There is actually an effect strip "Speed Control" which can sort of change the fps of a video strip. If converting from 24 to 30 fps, you can set the Multiply Speed to 0.8.

However there isn't any interpolation at all, it's like every 5 frames there are two frames exactly the same, thus creating a not so smooth resulting video.


Your bone axis may be misaligned that would throw off rotations and cause other problems.


My idea is to use a material's Particle Info node and route the Index property into a noise texture to provide a brightness.

You'll notice I animated the Y coordinate of the texture so that the brightness of each particle changes over time.  If you have immobile particles and want the animation to loop you could build nodes to set y=sin(theta) and z=cos(theta) where theta is a function of time to loop the coordinates over the course of the animation.

I rigged my animation to use an Object as the particle render instead of a halo, and the material is on the particle object.  The emitter object's material seems to be irrelevant when using Objects to render particles.

My animation turned out EXTREMELY blinky.  I suspect it would calm down if the slope on the fcurve of my Y texture coordinate were shallower.

Of course, the texture node you use (and what parameters you use to configure it) will affect the blinking behavior as well.

I used an emission node, but that means that my particles can be black.  If you want them to be transparent, then use a white emission BSDF and a transparent BSDF, and route the output of the texture node into the factor of a mix node that mixes the emission with the transparent BSDF.


Animation render: Save plain rendered image AND composite image

I simply added a File Output node connected to the Render Layer output in the compositor, as well as a File Output node connected to the last compositing node:


screwed up my Video sequence editor view

Press (click)  LMB over the corner and drag over property windows an arrow will appear.

Press (click)  LMB over the menu button and click over dope sheet.

Press (click)  LMB over the menu button and click over action editor.

Done.


The best tool for this situation is the randomize transform tool. It's not a tool that has a shortcut key and it's buried in the object menu (Object > Transform > Randomize Transform), so the easiest way to access it is to simply search it using Space.
To create the wall from that image, do the following:

Create a plane for the wall.

Duplicate a few cubes around

Use the randomize transform tool and set it to affect the location of the objects (except the axis along the wall) and the scale of the object. Something like this:

You'll get something like this:


Bender uses python for the user interface and it can also automate many tasks that manipulate blenders data. However when you want to customise a material python isn't much help.

If you want to use blender internal render engine you will find that there is some support for external voxel data.

For cycles, I think your best option would be an OSL shader.

I made a quick sample script as a starting point for you -

float myFunc(float x, float y, float z)
{
    return 1.5;
}

shader MyVolShader(
    color   BaseColour = color(1.0,0.0,0.0),
    output closure color Volume = 0)
{
    // P is the current point
    // P[0] == x
    // P[1] == y
    // P[2] == z
    Volume = (BaseColour * myFunc(P[0], P[1], P[2])) * absorption();
}

You then fillin myFunc using your algorithm, and the final colour as desired.

If you want volume scattering, swap absorption() with henyey_greenstein(0.0) in the final calculation (or add them together).

The OSL Language reference should be helpful.

I have a collection of OSL scripts here but none that use volume yet.


This is quite easy to do using the compositor.

In the UV/Image editor create a series of masks, one for each piece of the image.

In the compositor use each mask as alpha channel on the image, connect each element to a transform node and combine them using alpha over nodes.

we are going to construct the movement backwards, starting from the end of the animation.

Move in the timeline to the frame that will be the end of the animation (where all of the elements are combined) and set a key frame for the transformation cooridinates.

In the time line go to the frame of the animation where you want the motion to start and move the values for the transformation so that each of the elements has moved away and set a keyframe.

The elements should move now to the end position.


How do I avoid my video input being distorted?

Many older cameras use rectangular pixels in their CCDs, and will produce distorted images when imported into software using square pixels.
You should be able to correct your rendered output by adjusting the Aspect Ratio values (x=1.33 in your case) in the Render Tab -> Dimensions Panel.


Copying a detailed piece of a mesh and making it conform to the curve of a sphere

I think the solution lies in the Array modifier.

Use the Array modifier on your detail, put an empty on the center of your sphere and use it for the Object Offset so that your details will follow the curve of the sphere.


Blender 2.92 Cannot import OBJ and linked MTL File correctly

Solution: MTL File must contain map_Kd. And of course, the Path to the Texture must be correct.
Then Opening the OBJ in any 3D Viewer should load its Texture as well.
Tested in Blender 2.92 using Export/Import.
Thx scurest


2.8 When and how should I remove unseen vertices?

Suggestion.  Archive you current file so it becomes your old file.  Get a fresh start and create a  new file. You may soon forget about the old file.

Composed from pieces with no excessive or time consuming vertex editing.  Mesh sequence in image. Top Left Gray UV Sphere.  Quarter sphere highlighted, result of quick edit.  Yellow top mesh is composed of 4 quarter spheres, duplicated, rotated 180 degrees and translated along an axis [XYZ].  Bottom row yellow mesh show edges joined with 2

[Bridge edge loops] ... there are many video tutorials on this

Cyan mesh show 4 [Bridge edge loops] with some edge color with the goal of more readability.  You may examine and verify and optimize these steps.  You can change the proportions in edit mode by grabbing [left, right] or [top, bottom] vertices.

Simple Yellow Cube.  Cyan form begins as cube,  modified with many loop cuts and a proportional edit.  All edges showing.  Image above.  Bevel Modifier is a possibility.

Start with a cube. The cube is already a closed well formed object and you can enhance it.  Add bevels or loop cuts and use proportional edit.  All of these terms can be researched here at BSE or the typical other locations you seem to have previously explored.  Your fresh start will be easier and quicker than the old file.

Torus Option. Image above.

Top Gray Mesh Torus with Bevel in four places on 2 global axis [XY].  Your axis may be different.  Bevel Control B. Note the dark vertex density in four places.
Top Yellow Mesh.  [Push Pull] along a global [X] axis.  Select to vertical rings and invert selection then Push Pull.
Top Cyan Mesh.  [Push Pull] along a global [Y] axis.  Select to horizontal rings and invert selection then Push Pull.
Bottom yellow left mesh.  Delete inner faces. Only edge remains.
Bottom Cyan Mesh. [Grid Fill] on top edge hole. You may find it useful to hide the other vertices for this operation.
Bottom yellow right side mesh.  Side View.

I am not 100% clear on what you are trying to create but that in not 100% necessary.
There are always 33 ways to model something in Blender, some better and easier than others.  Your starting point in the question above is not a great learning sequence .  The older file seems to be creating a difficult and unnecessary stumbling block.

You might use Boolean operation, but that is a poor choice.


Where can I find internal Python scripts

Here is my temporary solution, I export all of the python files by running this script...I have a bad feeling this could be done much easier

import bpy
import os

numtexts = len(bpy.data.texts)
texts = bpy.data.texts

for i in range(0,numtexts):
    f = open(os.path.normpath("scripts/"+texts[i].name),'w')
    numLines = len(texts[i].lines)
    for j in range(0,numLines):
        f.write(texts[i].lines[j].body)
        f.write("\n")
    f.close()


There is a option in N-panel in VSE editor "Draw waveform":

If you activate it blender will draw audio waveform on selected sound clip:

You can use it as a guide for trimming and moving video-clips


Annotation Tool - How to control placement of drawing

By default the depth is determined by the 3D cursor position.
All the settings are in the N panel > Tool > Active Tool > Placement, you can choose between:

3D Cursor: The annotation is drawn perpendicularly to your view and it is placed where your 3D cursor is.
View: The annotation does not depend on the 3D view.
Surface, The annotation is drawn on the surface of the objects.

Also good to know: Ctrl left click to erase (if you use the D shortcut to draw annotation, the erase shortcut is D and right click).
Click on N panel > Tool > Active Tool > Note to set the thickness and color of the stroke.
CLick on the "+" and "-" button to create or delete an annotation, click on the eye icon to switch it visibility:

If you move in the Timeline and draw again, by default it will create a new annotation that starts at this frame. If you want to keep the previous one, click on the Note > Frame: X (Locked) button. To unlock, click again on this button. To delete this annotation on all its frames, click on the X button.


This indicates that two faces are superpose ; which doesn't seem to be true in your case. The issue is some of your faces are Ngons (they have more than 4 vertices), and 2.8 UV editor acts weirdly with concave Ngons.

As far as I know, you can safely ignore it, it shouldn't cause any issue.


Set the correct orientation when exporting from Blender to Unity

I had the exact same problem before, and i fixed it by doing the following:

Choose to export with FBX
Check "!EXPERIMENTAL! Apply Transform"
Import to Unity
See that the model is on the correct rotation.


Imac Radeon Pro 580x. No compatible GPU found

I was facing the same problem in Linux. When you install your GPU drivers try to put the following additional options: --opencl=pal,legacy,rocm.

I found this answer here and it worked for me after two weeks with this problem.


Viewport and render not looking as good as edit mode

Thanks to lemon, I just needed to set the clip stat at 0,2


How can I hide the name of the variable related to a list box

Some options
Setting the text in the layout overrides the default
layout.prop(scene, 'tgt_arm', text="")

which by default displays the name of the property
bpy.types.Scene.tgt_arm = bpy.props.EnumProperty(
        name="Target",
        items=MainPanel.armatures_items)

which when not set defaults to the property name, in this case "tgt_arm"
Polled object pointer.

Would suggest instead of an enum use a pointer to the armature object itself.
As explained in https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/101301/15543 can poll them.
Example code:
import bpy
from bpy.props import *

def armature_poll(self, object):
    return object.type == 'ARMATURE'

class MainPanel(bpy.types.Panel):
    bl_idname = "armature.retarget"
    bl_label = "Armature retarget"
    bl_space_type = "VIEW_3D"
    bl_region_type = "UI"
    bl_category = 'View'

    def draw(self, context):
        scene = context.scene
        layout = self.layout
        layout.prop(scene, 'tgt_arm', text="")

    def armatures_items(self, context):
        obs = []
        for ob in context.scene.objects:
            if ob.type == 'ARMATURE':
                obs.append((ob.name, ob.name, ""))
        return obs

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

    bpy.types.Scene.tgt_arm = PointerProperty(
            poll=armature_poll,
            type=bpy.types.Object)

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

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()


Change particle system's physics with a keyframe (or other)

You can animate the "Gravity" and "All" effectors under Field Weights of the particle system. Just keep them at 0 until you need them to affect your particles, then set them to the desired values to get the party going.

If your particles have an initial velocity you need to set keyframes for that as well.


The fact that it is red means that the influence of the selected bone on this part is the most it can be, but it doesn't mean that other bones don't have influence as well...
To make sure that this bone is the only one that controls this part of your mesh you can select it in Edit mode and in the Properties panel > Object Data > Vertex Group, on the dropdown menu on the right of the vertex grouo list (down arrow button), choose Remove From All Groups, then reassign to the right group with the Assign button.


Blender 2.8 No compatible GPUs found for path tracing

First you have to download and install the AMD pro drivers for your GPU here.

If you're using Linux you just extract it and open the terminal inside the folder you just extracted. Type in the terminal ./amdgpu-pro-install  --opencl=pal,legacy,rocm and hit enter. It is very important to put the opencl options. That was the reason why I was trying to install and reinstall my GPU drivers and nothing happened.

Restart your pc and check your GPU options in blender.

I hope this helps all Linux users facing this problem.

Found this solution here.


Error overriding default property for MESH_OT_primitive_torus_add?

The issue seems to be where you are trying to do the import, I expect the script you are adding is read too early to get access to bpy.types. While there is a way to alter the default setting, it doesn't seem to effect creating new objects, my guess is that the presets system overrides the defaults.

If you are adding a torus with a python script you can set the parameters used in your script.

bpy.ops.mesh.primitive_torus_add(major_segments=12, minor_segments=8)

For adding objects manually, the best way I can see is to use the presets system. You do this by adding a torus, then use the operator properties panel to adjust the options used, then click the + next to operator Presets and give it a name.

then your preset options will be available.


This is a simple addon that using the scaling principle allowed by the NLA editor to space apart key frames, making an action take place over a greater time, slowing it down.

Its features:

Auto-baking
Works on rigid bodies
Automatically scales between any given keyframes and allows variable slowing

Installation:

Go to https://github.com/FreddieRa/BlenderAddons/blob/master/Slow.py
Click on "Raw" on the top left
Then right click anywhere and click "Save page as"
Save it as "Slow.py"
Go into Blender and go to "Addons" in user preferences and click "Install from file"
Navigate to where you saved the .py, and then tick the box when it appears in Blender

How to use it:

There are two different things this can be used on, normal animations, and rigid-body simulations.

For animations:
You don't need to do anything except have at least two keyframes.

For Rigid-body simulations: All you have to do is place a keyframe (of any type) at the start and end of the section you would like reversed. This is just so you can select part of the simulation, or all of it like in the picture. Keep in mind it will be baked and so the rigid-body nature will be removed, however this can be put back in afterwards.

Upon clicking "Slow" you will be presented with 4 options:

First Slow Frame - This is the frame from which the slow-motion will start

Last Slow Frame - This is the last frame that will be in slow-motion

Slow Factor - This is how much it will be slowed down by; 1 is nothing, 2 is half as fast

Global - If this is ticked, ALL objects in the scene will be slowed down

Example: Slowing down the middle frames of a rotating cube

How it works:

This works on the principle of scaling a block of keyframes, and shifting everything over to make space for the now-larger chunk. It is baked in order to provide enough keyframes to scale.

It automatically gets the first and last keyframe of any animation and then simply selects the area between two . It also works on objects that are already baked.

Tips and Tricks;

If you want a "slo-mo" scene that the camera pans through at normal speed, copy your camera, delete it, use "Global" to slow everything, then paste your camera back in.
It works on things that are already baked, meaning that you can repeat it on the same object, allowing you to gradually get slower. This can be done by scaling initially between two values (40-80), and then again between two closer values (55-65).
Use it in conjunction with my Reverse-Time addon for awesome slow...backwards goodness (?)

So there you go, use it, mess around with it, it's all commented so you should be able to see what's going on. I welcome comments and suggested improvements.

This is only my second addon and so I will have made mistakes but I just hope this saves people "time" (aha) and can be used for interesting projects!

-Freddie


Looks like you've got Proportional Editing turned on - you might have accidentally activated it with the hotkey O, or by clicking the small blue circle button just above the timeline, a little to the right of center. You can turn it off by pressing O or clicking the button again. That should restore the behavior you're used to.

That being said, proportional editing can be a really useful tool, so if you're not familiar with it, I'd definitely recommend reading up on it!


How to get face normal's x or y axis vector (or matrix)?

obj = bpy.context.active_object
obj.data.calc_tangents()

print(obj.data.loops[obj.data.polygons[0].loop_indices[0]].tangent)
print(obj.data.loops[obj.data.polygons[0].loop_indices[0]].bitangent)

I could find a solution by myself.
Thanks!


Mirrored object doesn't match it perfectly?

It looks like the origin of the mesh is not quite in the correct place.

Select the vertices that you wish to be the centre of your mirror (the vertical line of vertices which run from the nose all the way
back around the head and back up to the nose)
Press Shift+S and choose Cursor to Selected.
Go into object mode and choose Origin> Origin to 3D cursor from the Toolshelf (press T to show the toolshelf).

The mirror modifier should then be moved to be above the subsurf modifier to avoid having a visible seam.

Update: To make the centre line of vertices completely straight, select the centre loop and press S , Y then 0.


fluid not crossing a vertical effector boundary

Your "H" collision object needs to have normals orientated inside (red face orientation outside, blue inside) ... or your Domain is huge with very low Resolution Divisions ... or always good to Select all and Apply Scale ... or all of those :)


Adding a Glow Effect to a Specific Material

In Cycles you could create a material using an Add shader to add Transparent and Diffuse - so that you get the Diffuse effect from the plane added to the view through the plane as if it wasn't there. This could produce the following effect :

Here the 'blade' has an emission strength of 2 and there is a plane behind it (with the above material) between it and the 'background' cube and suzanne. The light bounces off the plane as well as the whole scene behind it being visible.

However, you would be better not going down that route as it's dependent on there only being 1 light source (the light saber) - otherwise the other sources of light would also appear on the plane (unless you hid them behind the plane or moved them to a different render layer). It's also bad practice since it's not physically accurate.

The other option would be to encase the 'blade' in a volumetric scatter material so that it scattered the light - but that would also cause complications as the volumetrics would scatter any light in the scene, not just that from the blade. Also it would be horrendously inefficient.

This is all far too complicated - much simpler to achieve this in the compositor using a Glare node set to Fog Glow. See here and here.


Rendered image only black and white noise

It appears you have two fluid domain objects, one of which has no material (Cube).

Since you can only have one fluid domain while baking, presumably this second domain got accidentally created after the bake was done. Since it has no material it defaults to diffuse. At 10 samples this diffuse surface appears pretty noisy, giving the result in your example render:

Delete it, and all is well:


How to use a transparent material with mist in Blender Internal?

I ended up turning off all the "Use Mist", use Z Transparency where the mist pass image looks correct, and then use that to create my own mist with a compositor instead. It's OK now, plus I can process the mist to color differently.


Here's how I'd go about it:

Add your UV/Nurbs sphere.

Go into 'Edit Mode' and select the top faces then delete them like so:
EXAMPLE

Go into edge mode and, whilst holding 'ALT' click the one next to it select the ring:
EXAMPLE

Press 'E' then 'Z' to extrude that ring a little bit on the 'Z' axis
EXAMPLE

Press CTRL+R to add about 3 loop cuts (scroll on mouse to increase number of cuts. For a sharper connection add 3 cuts or 4 depending on what you want.
EXAMPLE

Using the 'Ring Select' method I described above, select the open ring and, again, extrude it up a little.
EXAMPLE

Now add a SINGLE loop cut, as we did before, but this time, when you've done it, press CTRL+B to bevel it - using your scroll wheel to add 3 or 4 new edges.
EXAMPLE

8.Move them up so that they're just below that top edge.
EXAMPLE

Now select all of those top vertices and move them up to the desired height.
EXAMPLE

Once again select that top open ring using the 'ALT' and click method.

Press 'F' to cap it.

Go into face select mode and select that new face.

Press I to inset that face by about 0.004, pretty much a tiny amount. You can change the values in the bottom left...
EXAMPLE

Now add about 8 edge cuts, or as many as you need so that there are an even number of edges in-between the top and bottom of the cylinder.
EXAMPLE

Come out of 'Edit Mode' right click you mesh and choose 'Shade Smooth'

Now add a 'Subsurface Modifier' and change the 'Levels Viewport' to 2 or 3 depending on what you'like.

You should now have this result:


I assume you're talking about what gets selected when you use AltLMB.  I think it would be safe to say that the Wikipedia definition of edge loops is correct, and even though AltLMB is the "Loop Select" shortcut, it doesn't always technically select an edge loop.  It selects an edge loop if one unambiguously exists, but otherwise, it tries to select something "reasonable".

I'm not aware of any precise documentation of the algorithm used by AltLMB.  The code is in blender/source/blender/bmesh/intern/bmesh_walkers_impl.c, and it's complicated by lots of special cases.  As far as I can see, it works as follows.

First a few definitions:

An n-gon is a face with 5 or more edges and so excludes tris (3 edges) and quads (4 edges)
A k-way junction is a vertex with "k" edges, so there are 3-way, 4-way, 5-way junctions, etc.
Edges connected to certain counts of faces have special names:

A wire edge connects to zero faces
A boundary edge connects to exactly one face
A manifold edge connects to exactly two faces

With these definitions, the type of selection depends on the initial edge selected by AltLMB:

Hub selection: If the initial edge is a manifold edge, the connected face with the most edges is considered (if there's a tie, the face chosen is arbitrarily).  If this face is an n-gon, then "hub selection" is performed -- edges around that face are selected by following a sequence of 3-way junctions around the face stopping at any boundary edges.  This selection type is designed specifically to select the n-gon ends of cylinders and similar shapes, and I think it's also the special case you're seeing in your examples.
Wire edge select: If it's a wire edge, all connected wire edges are selected.
n-gon Boundary selection:  If it is a boundary edge of an n-gon then neighboring boundary edges are followed along 2-way junctions, stopping at the first non-boundary edge or >2-way junction.
Quad and tri boundary selection:  If it is a boundary edge of a quad or tri, then connecting boundary edges that are also boundary edges of quads or tris are followed through 3-or-more-way junctions.  The selection stops at 2-way junctions (i.e., "corners").
Normal loop selection:  Otherwise, if it is a non-wire, non-boundary edge that does not meet the requirements for hub selection, a path of neighboring manifold edges is selected through 2-way and 4-way junctions (with the usual rule for 4-way junctions of choosing the "middle" edge), stopping at the first 3-way or 5-or-more-way junction or non-manifold edge.

I think that's mostly right, though I've probably misread a few weird cases in the code.

One other complication.  When AltLMB is applied to a boundary edge, it actually toggles between two selections -- "edge loop" selection, as described above, and edge boundary selection, which is simpler and just selects all the connected boundary edges.


Is it possible to open a script which contains a function which a button executes?

Most of Blender's core operations are not python scripts, but rather compiled C++ code. If you want to see how these are written, you can download and investigate Blender's source code.

Most addons are a different matter. They're almost all in Python, and you can usually find these in the Scripts/Addons folder under blender's installation directory (for instance in my Win7 installation: C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.76\scripts\addons).


Once you have animated the first object, select the other objects, then the animated object so that it is the active object (highlighted a brighter orange). Then press ⎈ CtrlL and choose Animation Data, this will give each object the same action.

You could also select each object and set the action in the action editor.

In the NLA editor, click the double down arrows for each object to turn the action into an NLA strip for each object.

You can now select and move G each NLA strip so that each object is animated at a different time. You can also set the start and end frames in the properties region N.


Why does trying to texture paint in Blender produce no change to my model?

First, texture which is meant to be painted on is set up to not affect color rather than bump via Textures tab > Influence rollout:

Uncheck Geometry and enable Color in Diffuse section instead to paint with desired color instead of bump.

Second, brush which is used for painting on that texture uses another texture for brush pattern:

However nothing is assigned to that texture choosed to be used as a brush pattern; hence nothing will be painted.
If you'd like to paint with some brush pattern choose a desired image in Brush textures shown on the right of the screenshot above. If nothing is needed to be affecting the brush, unlink that datablock from the texture painting brush settings.


100's of Vertices all with different Y Coordinates need to be moved to same Y coordinate plane

To scale all vertices to conform to a certain "plane" in a direction (Y axis), select all the vertices you want to move.

Place the 3D cursor anywhere along the Y plane you want (IE place the cursor's Y position to the position you want your vertices to move to and ignore its Z and X position).

Change the pivot point to 3D cursor

Press s to enable scale mode, then press y to restrict scaling in the Y axis. Scale "down" to as close to 0 as possible, or type 0. All the vertices will snap to the cursor's Y position while maintaining their original X and Z coordinates.


Using Blender to investigate the cast of shadows from an object onto a specific point in space

I would like to point out that the blender python has an API for ray_casting objects so you don't have to manually loop over all the faces of the object your self.

http://www.blender.org/api/blender_python_api_2_63_8/bpy.types.Object.html?highlight=object.ray_cast#bpy.types.Object.ray_cast

import bpy
from mathutils import Vector, Matrix

SunObj = bpy.data.objects['Sun']
sun_mx = SunObj.matrix_world

Surface_Object = bpy.data.objects['Test Points']
surface_mx = Surface_Object.matrix_world
for v in Surface_Object.data.vertices:
    v.select = False

#here some simple test objects
test_names = ['Torus', 'Suzanne', 'Cone']
test_objs = [bpy.data.objects[name] for name in test_names]
test_mxs = [ob.matrix_world for ob in test_objs]

#we get the sun location from the world matrix
sun_location = Vector((sun_mx[0][3], sun_mx[1][3], sun_mx[2][3]))

#Test test points are stored in object data
test_points = [surface_mx * v.co for v in Surface_Object.data.vertices]

hits = 0
for ob, mx in zip(test_objs, test_mxs):

    imx = mx.inverted() #ray_cast happens in local space
    for i, pt in enumerate(test_points):
        loc, no, indx = ob.ray_cast(imx * sun_location, imx * pt)

        #simulate shadow with selection of the test vert
        if indx != -1:
            hits += 1
            Surface_Object.data.vertices[i].select = True

print(hits)

a sample blend
https://www.dropbox.com/s/004eu6aaqxg6zxy/ray_cast_sun.blend?dl=0


Blender is possibly crashing due to errors. To debug potential crashes, check the debug logs. Follow the steps stated in the link to produce and view such logs.
https://github.com/AC-Panda/b3d-debug/blob/main/README.md


A mesh can be modified by an armature only if it has an armature modifier pointing to the skeleton.

To bring back your animation add an armature modifier to the mesh and select your armature in its "Object" field.

As a good workflow advice, I suggest you not to animate the whole armature as object, instead you should use only bones and only in pose mode (you will have to set some bones as child of  a main bone, maybe the bigger one).


Quick Liquid and Smoke doesn't work in viewport

This is a result of the change to mantaflow in Blender 2.82. You will have to click the Bake Data button on the Physics Properties Shelf of the Smoke Domain, and do this every time you make a change for that change to become visible.

You also have to bake noise data separately if you have noise activated.


Make particule collection retain keyframed movement

Try changing the Particle Settings
I went through this tutorial today and ran into your question when I was following the same steps and seeing that my Collection of "People" were only moving forward in the collection, and not as Particles.

I wanted to make sure to check the same things I went through to solve the issue:

Under the Collection of the Particle Settings
Checking the box Whole Collection changed my particles to move like they were in the collection, rather than just marching in place

Hope this helps any who see it, checking this box wasn't in the tutorial as I know.
Not certain this is the proper fix but this is from the documentation:

Whole Collection
Use the whole group at once, instead of one of its elements, the group
being displayed in place of each particle.

from Blender API


This is the 2.79 manual.  You can download it from here.

This is the 2.80 manual. It is a work-in-progress.

In general, you can use your favorite search engine to search for "blender 2.79 manual" replacing 2.79 with the version you are looking for.  This will usually lead to a link for that version.


Importing of .mhx2 ( or .obj) files possible with python script?

you can use the following script to import mhx2 files into blender.

bpy.ops.import_scene.makehuman_mhx2(filepath="~/Desktop/myfile.mhx2")

make sure before running the script you have activated the makehuman import runtime addon in your blender.


Can I model with in a mode where quads are all planar?

I never needed that, but I think this workflow could do the job for you:

Creating new planar quads:

Make sure you have F2 addon enabled (it is enabled by default in Blender) by pressing CtrlAltU and navigating to Addons. Search for "F2" and enable it if it isn't already.
Extrude one vertex from existing polygon's edge so you get 2 edges prepared for the new quad
Select the middle vertex and move your mouse to the position you want to create a quad's opposite corner vertex
Press F - now the F2 addon creates a planar quad based on these 3 vertices

To move a vertex while keeping a polygon planar (when creating new polygons)

Make sure you have Transform Orientation set to Normal

Select a vertex and press G for move and then ShiftZ 2x to move on a plane perpendicular to Z normal of the face
This of course work only for corner vertices that are not part of other faces this is going to work when you are creating new polygons.
Alternatively, you can use Vertex Slide ShiftV that move's a vertex along edges so it also keeps a face planar. You can press Ctrl while sliding to be able to extend the sliding outside.

And as you have already noted, you can always press Spacebar > Make Planar Faces to convert the existing faces to planar ones.


Is there a Cycles equivalent to Eevee's Bloom Option?

Use the Glare node in compositing, or design your own via a threshold and blurs. Use appropriate alpha encoding and handling and you'll be well on your way without much effort. 99% of the battle is knowledge on the latter aspect of alpha.


OnEditFinished listener or something equivalent?

This is a mix of the answers here Find out if Mesh Operator (bpy.ops.mesh...) was cancelled or not via python and How to get the active vertex within a Handler?

Looks for bpy.ops.transform.translate as the active operator and if used prints out the selected verts and amount transformed.

import bpy, bmesh
from bpy.app.handlers import persistent
from mathutils import Vector

def check_operators(bm):
    op = bpy.context.active_operator
    if op:
        if op.bl_idname == 'TRANSFORM_OT_translate':  #bpy.ops.transform.translate.idname()
            #print("bpy.ops.transform.translate(%s)" % " ,".join(["%s=%s" % (k, str(v)) for k, v in op.properties.items()]))
            print(op.name)
            v = Vector(op.properties["value"])
            if v.length:
                print("value", str(v))
                print("verts", [v for v in bm.verts if v.select])
            else:
                print("operator canceled")

dic = {}
@persistent
def edit_object_change_handler(scene):

    obj = scene.objects.active
    if obj is None:
        return None

    if obj.mode == 'EDIT' and obj.type == 'MESH':
        bm = dic.setdefault(obj.name, bmesh.from_edit_mesh(obj.data))
        check_operators(bm)
        return None

    dic.clear()
    return None

def register():
    bpy.app.handlers.scene_update_post.clear() # for testing
    bpy.app.handlers.scene_update_post.append(edit_object_change_handler)

register()


Blender fluid simulation fluid not colliding with effector's inside

@thibsert is correct: bottle had a gaping hole at the bottom, which I clumbsily sealed by adding a cylinder.
Also...
The Collision Effector surface thickness has to be at least 0.5 Thickness, which I have reported as a bug. And I have no idea why the default Sampling Substeps is '0', when I find that is often insufficient.  This also (unfortunately) implies that you'll have to have a duplicate, 0.5*2 larger scaled (hidden) effector, if you want to fluid to touch the sides and bottom of your bottle (workaround for the bug).
You also had "Use Effector" disabled, so it was ignored by the simulation.  I also increased the Domains Resolution Division, and decreased the particle size: often a pair of culprit contributors to poor results.
here is the resulting blend file:


How can I rig a cube in Blender so that it bends and twists?

Ok, Here are the simple steps.

Create a Simple Cube and Subdivide it twice. (A> Select all, W> Subdivide)

Scale it 2 times (S2)
and Add a Single Bone (ShiftA> Armature > Single Bone).
Rename it to Root in (3D view > Properties region (N)> Item).

In edit Mode add 8 child bones (ShiftA) to root with tips facing the corners of the cube.
Turn on snapping (hold Ctrl) to precisely move them to corners. Create one bone first, snap and place at a corner, then simply duplicate (ShiftD) and rotate (R). Don't forget to select rootbone as parent before duplicating.

In object mode, parent your cube object to the armature (CtrlP). You are ready to animate. All corners work. Add more subdivisions for fine movement.


Select all Objects with "x" amount of Vertices

Select scene objects
Iterating over objects in the scene will keep the selection result is confined to only objects  type mesh in the scene.
An object can be active but not selected.
Prior to blender 2.8
import bpy

context = bpy.context

for o in context.scene.objects:
    o.select = (o.type == 'MESH' and len(o.data.vertices) <= 4)

in > 2.8
o.select_set(o.type == 'MESH' and len(o.data.vertices) <= 4)


Scripting:How to correctly add a boolean modifer to an object?

2.8 example

code run with camera (or any object) as the context object and neither the cube nor the cylinder selected.  Notice I've made the cylinder a little taller, doing with default cube and cylinder of same height same location can be dodgy with booleans

Since I have my nose in 2.8 here is an advanced-ish example for that version.  If you have just started then scripting 2.8 is a good idea going forward

Recommend using a collections get method to find objects. If there is no object named "Cube" in scene, scene.objects.get("Cube") will be None.
Quite likely your cube and cylinder have names with a capital C.  There is a bpy.data.objects.get("Cube") not bpy.data.objects.get("cube") Look for errors in the system console when writing scripts. [Find Link]
Operators are designed to work on context. In this case the context.object.  If cube is last selected and is active, then there is no need to get the cube object, it is implied. This is known as the operator context paradigm. Doing it this way would result in changing  code below such that

cube = context.object
# add modifiers etc

bool = cube.modifiers.new(...
...
bpy.ops.object.modifier_apply(modifier=bool.name)

make an object active: run the script, no need to edit for a different objects.

To get around this (at times) can override context, 2.8 is proving far easier than prior to do this. Simply pass a dictionary with the required context properties, in this case "object" to the operator as first argument. See poll() failed, context incorrect? - Example: bpy.ops.view3d.background_image_add()
Even though the modifier is given the name "booly" .. if another is added with the same name somehow, it will be given the name "booly.001".  If the reference is used then bool.name will always be the name of the newly added modifier.

The code:

import bpy

context = bpy.context
scene = context.scene
cube = scene.objects.get("Cube")
cyl = scene.objects.get("Cylinder")
if cube and cyl:
    bool = cube.modifiers.new(name='booly', type='BOOLEAN')
    bool.object = cyl
    bool.operation = 'DIFFERENCE'
    bpy.ops.object.modifier_apply(
            {"object": cube},
            apply_as='DATA',
            modifier=bool.name)

Some similar examples using 2.79

Boolean difference not making any diiference (Python scripting)


Is there a way to separate selected vertices within the same object

You want Mesh -> Split -> Selection, which is the Y key.


Haven’t tried it ,but scorpion81 updated it for 2.8. https://github.com/scorpion81/Blender-Molecular-Script/releases


... basically you have to rename cached .bphys files.

First enable to Disk Cache checkbox, it gives you an access to saved cache on your disk in .blend directory.
Than Bake caches
Than for safety purpose I would recommend to duplicate whole cache folder.
In blender create one more sim called like MIX or what ever and let bake cache for a whole animation. Doesn't matter what result is produced, just save the blend file.
Inside original cache folder delete all files starts MIX and all previously baked caches let rename with MIX prefix (so the first frame looks like MIX_0000001_00.bphys)

I expect your baked sims continues one after the other like from frames 0-50, 51-100, 101-150

First_0000001_00.bphys ... First_0000050_00.bphys
Second_0000051_01.bphys ... Second_0000100_01.bphys

If they doesn't you would have to rename frame numbers to be sequential as well.

Note:

I see you have baked already, but if you didn't save to disk before and cache is saved into .blend file - I don't know about a way to get them out from .blend and you will have to rebake it.
in some situations can be option to export sims individually as Alembic (.abc) and import .abc back as individual objects and animate their visibility in timeline.


Blender Operation Success or Failure Feedback?

F6 (operator properties)

Operators may still be active, if you press F6 after noticing a seemingly 'no-op' operator you can get a chance to tweak parameters.

Info Panel (Operator reporting)

As a rule you will get some kind of confirmation that an operator has completed, you could drop down the Info panel to see any output printed by the operator.

Terminal / Console

For more verbose messages sometimes operators print to the Command window, on windows this can be opened while Blender is running ( Window > Toggle System Console). On osx or linux Blender needs to be started from a terminal to get the print-outs.

Windows users be warned
Don't close the Console window manually using the X, that will close Blender. To close the System Console, click the menu item at Window > Toggle System Console again -- that will toggle the console off.


Why is my water not rendering nor in preview nor in final?

"FLUID" object is your actual Fluid Domain and it has 3 material slots assigned to it. First one is pure transparent material and this is why your fluid isn't visible. Remove "TRANS" and empty material and you are good to go.
Also, you have "dOMAIN" object which is doing nothing. Consider deleting it or hiding.


How to make a volume fade from center in Blender 2.8?

On going from Gradient Texture node to Math node (using Multiply) you have a multiplication factor of 0. Hence the strength of the emission will be 0. Here is a node setup that seems to work


If I understand your description, without the bevels, your model would look like this in x-ray mode:

If I select all and unwrap using the U key and selecting 'unwrap', I get this:

I think you might want to mark two more circles for unwrapping so the ledge area unwraps cleanly?

unwraps to:


Set x-ray of two objects inside another object

No. X-ray can't work that as as far as I know. Once you put both the armature and the monkey in x-ray, its like they are on the same "layer". The only way I can think of close to this is to invert the normals of the cube, but I don't think that meets what you're trying to do.


(Edited)

Snap a 3D cursor anywhere on that X line you need.
Create a new plane.
Press R to rotate, then X to lock to X axis and rotate a plane so it would be intersecting your figure.
Go to modifiers tab and add boolen modifier.
Select your figure as an object.
Apply a modifier.

It should create a vertice on the intersection that you can use with snap tool.


No, there are no templates so to speak. You can create or buy your own templates though, and bring them into your project using blender append functionality. The blender foundation announced a project to improve this system.

To create your own template library, open new blender file (you won't want other work in here). create a bunch of spheres, and build the materials you want. I recommend naming them carefully, since you will be pulling them by name alone.

Once you have your library, you can link or append the materials, I recommend appened, since it allows you tho change the materials in your .blend, while link you have to change them in the master, and it will affect all the files using that file.

To appened, go to file > append or hit Shift+F1.

and navigate to your .blend with the materials in it. When you click on the .blend, you will see allot of folders. Click on the one called material

You will see the names of your materials. select the ones you want for your project, and then tweak them to your needs!


Exporting to Unity - How do you get a single FBX to support multiple materials?

Each material you assign in Blender, will be a material in Unity.

It looks you already have that, if Unity has generated all those material slots. You will just need to re-assign the colour in Unity, or attach the texture you've used if I read your question correctly.

Each face has a different material on it, 3 materials in Blender, Unity will read that and create three materials for those faces.


There is no doubt that the best result can be generated by using Particle or Physics system, which is a bit complicated to talk about in a few words. A quick-and-dirty way is shown as below:

Switch Transformation Orientation to Normal, try to find and select a single vertex which Z axis towards up (or nearly up). Press ShiftG1 to select nearly all possible upward vertices by tweaking a reasonable Threshold value, as shown in Figure 1 and 2.
ShiftD to duplicate the selection, then P1 to separate it as a new mesh. Now you can freely tweak it with a few modifiers to make a nice pile-looking snow cover, particularly with the Displace modifier. As shown in Figure 3.


How to Inset + tweak Depth using numeric input

To change multiple parameters for an Operator numericaly, use the Tab key:

Press I to inset
(Optional) Enter numeric value for the Thickness
Press Tab to switch over to Depth
Enter numeric value for the Depth
Confirm operator with Enter


When in draw mode, creating lines/curves, how do I drop or finish the line?


Blender not working in Windows 10, any suggestions?

I've been using Blender one Windows 10 for a while and have not had any problems.

Some tips:

Run the latest version
Run as Administrator
Try the installer instead of the zip, or the zip instead of the installer


Merge Two Separate Equal Objects to Edit Them at the Same Time

When you select one of the objects, selecting one object as your root object, then you are going to want to select your secondary object to link.
Then by pressing Ctrl + L, it will allow you link the object's data to the main object. That will let you edit the main mesh you selected as the root, meanwhile the other mesh will be edited as well.
But please be mindful that it likely has to have the same topology.

and apply the object data to the mesh and it should allow you to edit both meshes.


Anyway to get rid of an image in blender?

You can delete any object in blend file if you open this section of the outliner

There you will find all inside of the blend file and then delete it


Render camera is different from the viewport camera

Your camera settings might be off, make sure to in the sidebar under view that you are using the same camera in the view properties and the scene properties. Images to help you find where they are.

Make sure that the local camera (One you want to use for preview in viewport) has the same name as the one in the scene properties.


Ok, after some more digging, I found this:

The scene tab does change the FPS, but there is some lock at 30 fps preview rate (at least on my setup) because the FPS indicator goes "red" at exactly 29.97 fps or so. It's most probably not due to scene complexity and the value is too close to 30 fps exactly to be a coincidence. Some kind of vertical sync issue?

To increase the rate anyway, the "Time Remapping" box just underneath the Frame rate box can be used, for example setting it to 100:50 will in effect make the animation twice the speed.

HOWEVER there is a bug (in 2.72) it seems that makes this time remapping not work completely smooth - the "remapped" frame numbers are shown inside the Timeline and Action editor, but the "unmapped" frame numbers are (of course) used for the keyframes (since these are not actually changed by the setting).

So, for example, if you have a 100 frames long animation setup, and you set the remapping to 100:50, you will need to change the start and end frame in the timeline to 0 and 50, or it will not loop correctly. This will show only half the range of your keyframes, since the "display frames" are now remapped compared to the "animation frames"... :/

I can post a screenshot of this if needed but it works for me (don't know if there are any hidden problems other than a display issue).


Extruding faces along normals to do a roll

You can easily CtrlLMB  to extrude towards the mouse. (if you are talking about making the curved back)

If you are just trying to make the edge rounded (a Subsurf modifier will help will the smooth roundness) add an edge loop on the out side edge. The pink line in the image below is the new edge loop.

Then switch the Transform Orientation to Normal and move the new edge along the normal Z.


Ugly Armature Mesh Deformation in Edit Mode

Okay!  I found the answer!

The problem was that I had a subdivision surface modifier on the mesh but I didn't apply it yet.  The armature was using the subdivision modifier to make it curve smoothly, but I was unable to edit those vertices that were making those weird curves because I didn't apply it to the mesh yet, all I was able to edit were the small amount of vertices that were there.  So I applied the modifier to my mesh and now it doesn't curve anymore because I have control of those vertices in edit mode.

Unfortunately I had some shape keys to the mesh already and I had to delete them in order to apply the modifier.  Oh well!


Blender 2.8 dosen't recognizing my graphics card

Cycles in Blender 2.8x requires a CUDA compute capability of 3.0 or higher. The Nvidia GeForce GT 610 has a CUDA compute capability of 2.1 which is below the minimum requirements for GPU rendering. This is documented in Blender's manual.

CUDA
CUDA requires graphics cards with compute capability 3.0 and higher. To make sure your GPU is supported, see the list of Nvidia graphics cards with the compute capabilities and supported graphics cards. CUDA GPU rendering is supported on Windows, macOS, and Linux.


Fastest way (if a little inacurate) is probably using a single text object, with every single dial text as a word (separated by a space character)
Add a Curve modifier to said text object, and point it to a Bezier Curve Circle matching the desired dial radius.
Adjust the vertical positioning of text as desired, the control its radial positioning through the Word Spacing property.

For more precise positioning you are probably better off making each dial text a separate text object, then manually place it radially by using the 3D cursor positioned at the dial center as rotation pivot.
You may also use an arrayed plane, then have numbers placed inside a single group/collection used as particle system, this also allows non rotated text.


You can do this by calling bpy.ops.import_scene.rip() as shown below:

import os
import bpy

path_to_rip_dir = os.path.join('C:\\', 'rips') #where C:\\rips\\ has the list of rip files

file_list = sorted(os.listdir(path_to_rip_dir))

rip_list = [item for item in file_list if item.endswith('.rip')]

for item in rip_list:
    path_to_file = os.path.join(path_to_rip_dir, item)
    bpy.ops.import_scene.rip(filepath = path_to_file)

You will need to install the addon first as mentioned in the readme file of the addon:

Blender 32 Bit:
   On 32 bit Blender installations, extract the downloaded ZIP file to
   C:\Program Files (x86)\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.77\scripts\addon
Blender 64 Bit:
      On 64 bit Blender installations, extract the downloaded ZIP file to
      C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.77\scripts\addons
After you extract the Add-on, it will NOT show up in your
import/export list by default!
After extracting the Add-on, start Blender. Once Blender is
started, open up File->User Preferences, and navigate over to the
Add-ons tab. Find the add-on or search "NinjaRipper", and enable it.
Click "Save User Preferences" on the bottom of the dialog, and close
the dialog.
Now you will be able to use the Add-on.


Visualise texture based on direction a surface is pointing using Cycles

You can do something like this by plugging the "True Normal" output of the Geometry node into a Diffuse/Emission shader.

Although it is a vector output, it will give you a colour for each face depending upon its normal.


adding surface (F) adds vertices, massing up subdivision surface

Unfortunately, using subdivision on a mesh like that one, wont usually work if you work off edges and vertices, blender doesn't like that.

start from the top and work to the base, that's the way I like to work, and it allows me to scale things better.
work off what you have though, perhaps don't subdivide, but use the cut tool in editor mode and smooth it yourself, to make it look more human.

also the dot is the center of the entire thing? if it's yellow and you've selected the mesh.

using F to make faces and subdivision aren't good friends!

( i'm not a pro, take what I say with a grain of salt, it might not work! )


Can I colour the same text in two different colours?

Create two materials, set their colors.
Then enter edit mode in your text.
Select the wanted letters Shiftkeyboard arrows, and assign them to the wanted material.

General indications to do that using Python:
import bpy

# Get the text
o = bpy.data.objects['Text']

# Get all the characters descriptions
characters = [c for c in o.data.body_format.items()]

# Look at it:
for character in characters:
    # The index of the char
    print(character[0])
    # The format to the char
    print(character[1])

# Get the third char (for instance)
my_char = characters[2]

# Get its format
my_char_format = my_char[1]

# Assign it a (existing) material index
my_char_format.material_index = 1


I don't think there is a build in way, but you can run this script to select meshes with no UN layers:

import bpy

for obj in (o for o in bpy.data.objects if o.type == 'MESH'):
    obj.select_set( len(obj.data.uv_layers) == 0 )


I don't want to render from the Video Sequence Editor

If you have any kind of strip in the Sequencer and don't want it to be rendered, then:
In the Properties' Render panel > Post processing > uncheck Sequencer


Here are the things you need to change to make it work.

Your fluid domain needs to be a box.
Your spherical inflow object vectors are all set to zero. Give it some value.

NOTE With vector of Zero on (X,Y,Z) your inflow will be manifested as slow drips of water.

Here are my tests.

Download here for your reference.


Body part recognition inside of blender using a neural net

Consider this to your approach:

feeding your net just a 2d image is limiting (and more work to set it up) when you could feed it whole 3d mesh. You could even build an octree and know what is where in space and feed this to the neural net, basically voxel data instead of pixels
probably the whole neural net thing is not even necessary. There is a popular method of extracting skeletons from meshes by Laplacian smoothing the mesh: Skeleton Extraction by Mesh Contraction:

  Our method extracts a 1D skeletal shape by performing geometry contraction using constrained Laplacian smoothing.

You will find this in open source C++ CGAL library here. This is probably enough to know where the neck and crotch is and where limbs end.
other method is: Mean Curvature Skeletons:

Code here.


Is there a way to remove all weight paint on an object/armature?

I had the same problem, only way I was able to re-rig with all the old armature removed and start from scratch was to delete the bones that get created on the object itself, one at a time:


Edit Mode buttons for selecting vertices and edges vanished

This is because you are in Edit Mode for a Lattice Object. Lattice Objects have one very specific type of Edit Mode and a user can only select vertices.

  A lattice consists of a three-dimensional non-renderable grid of vertices.

Read more on the Manual.


Hair particles flicker in and out on length influence animation

Just as i post i figure it out. It was one particle instance texture that was still influencing density, If All of them influence only scale it works a treat.


Ahhh, figured it out, orientation was set to global and needed to be set to normal

In object mode, select transformation from global to local to normal etc at the bottom of the screen


Turn off gravity  for both methods.
Using a curve force
Use multiple emitters on multiple layers. Add a curve force to each layer shaping the path of the particles as desired.
Using physical forces
Force this setup I used Wind forces (for the up and down movement), a point force (to disperse the particles at the bottom and a vortex force on the bottom to stop them from drifting away on the horizontal plane.

The wind forces
Use a smaller wind force to push the particles downward (strength -20) with a narrow falloff (0.8, 1.2).
Use a larger wind force to push the particles upward (strength 10). It will also act in the center (where the particles are supposed to go down), which is why the smaller down force has a larger strength to counteract the upward force.
Outward movement at the bottom
A simple point force at the bottom with a radius of 1 - 2 can push the particles away from the center. Since the continue to drift away from the center, a vortex force can pull them back towards it. Here you need to fine tune the value to stop the particles from not following the desired path.
You can use drag forces to remove the XZ velocities. A drag force in combination with a strong wind force will give you good control and can remove some problematic velocity which has built up.


Put the Limit Rotation after the Damped Track and it will work fine: