Best approach for a random terrain rolling ball animation?

I would manage all your keyframes as you have been doing, set the ball to be a Rigid Object with Dynamic property, and the terrain to be a Rigid modifier, too - but the collision type set to mesh, and then bake it.
Once you've done that, you could then convert the bake to keyframes, and tweak it to your liking.


Blender bge camera edge clipping aproach help

here are some ideas google doped ive found useful

https://blenderartists.org/t/update-object-origin/553245

https://github.com/UPBGE/blender/issues/211

the best way seems to be adding other camera.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgXAv9csJu0&index=3&list=PLBF3FB2A571A6BB7C

dont know if i have to delete the questions...??? close thread..??
thanks for the help


This is expected behavior with the mirror modifier.

You have the clipping checkbox selected on the modifier, which means that any vertices that are on the mirror plane get stuck to that plane, and can only move along it, not off of it. To disable this sticking behaviour, you can just uncheck the clipping box.

However, scaling /moving etc will still only move the actual vertices you are editing, not the virtual ones created by the modifier.


How to avoid objects intersecting eachother

To summarize all this chat into a single answer:

Crate the tile pieces you need:

Add an array modifier and make the relative offset a bit smaller than the size of the tiles, so they overlap (I used 0.8 in this example) Use the "end tiles" as Start Cap:

Using the selected object press Shift S and select "Cursor to Selected" so that the cursor goes to the origin of your object.

Add a curve.

IT IS IMPORTANT THAT THE OBJECT AND THE CURVE HAVE THEIR ORIGIN IN THE SAME PLACE

Edit the curve to the shape you need.

Add a curve modifier after the array modifier, and select your curve as object and choose the deformation axis you want to use (in this example it follows the X axis).

The tiles array should bend now following the curve like this:

By alternating different arrays you get an idea of what the rooftop might look like.

By changing the count number on the array you should be able to follow the overall structure of the pagoda.

Getting the right number of tiles to fill the shape might take some trial and error. You might need to go back and re-shape the length original tiles to fit an exact count you need to fill the rooftop.

The edges of the tiles you can just hide on the overall structure of the roof. Like in the photo on this link.

or this image:

But for those purists who don't like shortcuts. You can do a bit of extra work and prepare a tile that is cut in an angle that follows the shape of the rooftop.


When performing any action (such grabbing) that has a number input during the modal operator; you must first press = or NumPad * to enable advanced input for the units.
By default the number input for the modal operators is set to simple, that is why typing in any units after the value does not work.

I would highly suggest everybody reads the release notes for the number input feature


Sections of 'Glass' object show black when in front of PNG

This is because your bottle material is black to everything except the camera:

Long story short, when you see the material through the glass you see it as the glass "sees" it; i.e. 0 strength emission (black).

See the manual for more information about ray types.

If what you want to do is prevent the material from illuminating the diffuse floor, then instead you could make the material black only to diffuse rays:

Unrelated, but you also seem to have a couple extra bottle objects occupying the same space. Not sure if that was intentional or not.


How can I get a .MTL file to show on an .OBJ model I imported in Cycles?

If you are using the Blender Internal render engine your model will import with the texture already applied.

If you are using Cycles you will not get any textures applied to the mesh whatsoever. In this case you will need to manually assign the textures to your shader.


Floating rigid bodies not affected by wind (2.92)

just change the strength of your force field from 14 to 5000 and you WILL see a difference ;)


Fill a hole with a new vertex and then triangulate

Fill and Poke

Select the perimeter vertices (or edges) of the hole.
Fill with an ngon F
Poke the ngon ⎇ Alt P


Scripting - How to create a game property?

There's the object.game.properties collection, but it doesn't seem to have a new method. You can use an operator to create the property, though, and then modify the value:

for ob in bpy.context.scene.objects:
    if ob.name.find("someName") >= 0:
        # Set active object first so operator works on the right one
        bpy.context.scene.objects.active = ob
        bpy.ops.object.game_property_new(type='STRING', name='foo')
        prop = ob.game.properties['foo']
        prop.value = 'bar'

I'm pretty sure the items in the list are kept in the order they are created, so you can also access the most recently-created property with ob.game.properties[-1].


How to scale without deforming / extend shape

One can simply use Edge Slide (with necessary geometry selected press G, G) with Clamp toggled off (press C or hold Alt while tool is active).


Particle color distance to empty in Eeevee?

The distance node is part of the (kinda-deprecated) texture node editor, which is different from the shader node editor. To get the distance between two locations, use a vector Math node set to Distance.

Result :

Note : The shader should go on the particle object, not on the instancer.


Make Gradient between two gradient spheres

You can deduce the scales, and therefore the radii, of your Empties, by dividing the shaded object's Object-Space length to the shading-point, by the same length, in the Empty's spaces. (The Empties are set to display at 1 unit, and are at the object's origin in XY):

..The range between the radii can be mapped to (1->0), and clamped, using a Map Range node.
Here illustrated by putting the range through a color-ramp, and scaling the Empties:

.. Sorry, I can't get the Empties to show up very well in the .gif, but they are at the bounds of the gradation.


blender "Align selected light to view"? Similar to Maya

Ctrl+Num0 let you do that (kinda) :

Ctrl+Num0 set the active object (may it be a light, a mesh or whatever) as the active camera, then automatically switch to camera view. So, it do what you want to do.

But, don't forget that this object is now considered the active camera! So you need to select the preexisting camera and press Ctrl+Num0 again to come back to normal.


You can use the Auto Smooth feature, found under object data properties panel > normals rollout.  Auto smooth produces the same smoothing result as the edge split modifier (i.e. smooths across shallow-angled edges, not whole faces) but without actually ripping the geometry.

From the docs:

  [With auto smooth] Angles on the model that are smaller than the angle specified in the Angle button will be smoothed during rendering...

Auto smooth also splits edges marked sharp as well.


Make objects reflect from separate view layer 2.8

Is it possible you're on Eevee (doesn't look like it from the noise),  but that hasn't been removed:

For much more control I would suggest the Input -> Light Path node


This paper details the solutions and challenges, as well as some technical information to how we completed the project.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1deBHSbWQEG0gIO_ZPd8jKtOnZp0k2a_F


you did mirror your object(circle) on the x-Axis.
Therefore you moved the vertices on the x-Axis while your origin of the object is still in the world center.
so you get this:

you will get this, if you move slightly the x slider to the right (hold Shift while dragging)

to "solve" your problem, you can:

apply the mirror modifier

select the small circle and press tab

separate by loose parts

tab -> object mode

select each circle and set origin -> to geometry

set the x value in the shader back to 0

and you get:


Trying to understand rotation of parented objects (relative rotation?)

A simple way is to just use Clear and Keep Transformation (Alt P) on the child to visualize the final rotation (global/world). As soon as you check the value, just press Ctrl Z to UNDO the Clear Parent.
The numbers of Top (child object) do not change because they exhibit rotation without the influence of the parent. To update the values, make sure the child inherits the rotation from the parent with Alt P.


COLLADA scene shows different rotation axis when imported in ScenKit

Sometimes you just have to make allowances in your workflow. The images in your question seem to suggest to me that the issue is that the axis Blender labels as "X" is being named by your target environment "Y"; so when you're making your object, mentally swap the x and y axes as you build your model.


Script Only working when running and selecting object

You defined ob and mat in global scope.  If the script was run without a context object, ie context.active_object is None then you will get errors.

Added a poll method. If there is not context object the operator wont poll.  Set C.scene.objects.active = None in the python console and the button will be disabled.

Made a small change to your script to define within the operator and to list callbacks to use self, since this is the scene as it is defined as  a property on the Scene type object.

import bpy

def item_type_lst(self, context):
    types = {obj.type: obj.type for obj in self.objects}
    return [(obj, obj, "") for obj in types]

def item_type_obj(self, context):
    return[(obj.name, obj.name, "") for obj in self.objects if obj.type == self.myEnumitem]

class SimpleOperator(bpy.types.Operator):
    bl_idname = "dh.simple_opt"
    bl_label = "Simple Operator"

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

    def execute(self, context):

        mat = bpy.data.materials.new(name="Hologram")
        mat.diffuse_color = (0, 0.519, 0.800)
        mat.specular_intensity = 0
        mat.emit = 1
        mat.use_transparency = True
        mat.alpha = 0.503
        ob = context.active_object
        data = ob.data
        if len(ob.data.materials):
            ob.data.materials[0] = mat
        else:
            ob.data.materials.append(mat)
        ob.modifiers.new("part", type='PARTICLE_SYSTEM')
        part = ob.particle_systems[0]
        settings = part.settings
        settings.frame_start = 4
        settings.name = "Hologram"
        settings.frame_end = 34
        settings.lifetime = 250
        settings.count = len(data.polygons)
        settings.normal_factor = 0
        settings.physics_type = 'NO'
        settings.render_type = 'NONE'
        settings.effector_weights.gravity = 0
        settings.effector_weights.force = 0
        D = bpy.data
        test = "Hologram"
        bpy.ops.texture.new()
        text = bpy.data.textures[-1]
        part = bpy.data.particles[test]
        tex = bpy.data.textures.new(test, 'BLEND')
        bpy.data.textures[test].use_flip_axis = 'VERTICAL'
        slot = part.texture_slots.add()
        slot.texture = tex

        return{'FINISHED'}

class View3dPanel():
    bl_space_type = "VIEW_3D"
    bl_region_type = "TOOLS"
    bl_category = "Tech"

class PanelA(View3dPanel, bpy.types.Panel):
    bl_label = "Holograms"

    def draw(self, context):
        layout = self.layout
        layout.operator(operator="dh.simple_opt", text="Hologram", icon='OUTLINER_DATA_LAMP')
        self.layout.split()
        self.layout.split()
        self.layout.split()

        col = layout.column(align=True)

        col.label(text="Mesh Objects")
        col.operator(operator="mesh.primitive_cube_add", text="Cube", icon="MESH_CUBE")
        col.operator(operator="mesh.primitive_cone_add", text="Cone", icon='MESH_CONE')
        row = col.row(align=True)
        row.operator(operator="mesh.primitive_monkey_add", text="Monkey", icon='MESH_MONKEY')
        row.operator(operator="mesh.primitive_torus_add", text="Torus", icon="MESH_TORUS")
        col.operator(operator="mesh.primitive_cylinder_add", text="Cylinder", icon="MESH_CYLINDER")

class PanelB(View3dPanel, bpy.types.Panel):
    bl_label = "Panel B"

    def draw(self, context):
        layout = self.layout
        layout = layout.box()
        layout.label(text="object list", icon='SORTALPHA')
        col = layout.column(align=False)
        col.prop(data=context.scene, property="myEnumitem")
        col.prop(data=context.scene, property="myEnumitem_obj")

def register():
    bpy.types.Scene.myEnumitem = bpy.props.EnumProperty(name="Obj Type", items=item_type_lst)
    bpy.types.Scene.myEnumitem_obj = bpy.props.EnumProperty(name="Object", items=item_type_obj)
    bpy.utils.register_module(__name__)

def unregister():
    bpy.utils.unregister_module(__name__)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    register()


How big is your "proportional editing" brush. I find the Brush can get so big you can't see it in the viewport and it is affecting more than you want. Hold down "S" to "S"cale and scroll your mouse wheel to adjust the brush size


No environment texture but there is one in the reflections

You can see the built in HDRI by going to Material Preview, and turning up "World Opacity" under viewport shading options.

If you want to use one of the "preview" HDRI's that came with blender as a render-able HDRI, you can find them (.exr files) in the blender folder at ../2.82/datafiles/studiolights/world. The default (likely the one you saw) is forest.exr. Connect it to your world shader as an environment texture.
If you want other options, there are many free places to obtain them online. One of the most popular is HDRI Haven (https://hdrihaven.com/hdris/).


From your blend file:

Select the curve and Apply All Transforms
Create a new cylinder at the origin
Scale it to desire shape
Apply All Transforms on the cylinder
Add Array and Curve Modifier to cylinder
Select the curve, and in Edit Mode do Ctrl T to adjust the tilt


Can I perform an action when a file is saved or loaded?

We can register handlers that will be executed before, or after, specific operations. The handler lists are all in bpy.app.handlers, and looking at your requirement, the handler list to use is save_pre (executed before saving) and load_post (executed after loading).

The function needs to be persistent, so they won't disappear every time a new file is loaded. Here's an example of how to register it, edited from my own addon needing such feature:

import bpy
from bpy.app.handlers import persistent

@persistent
def hair_reduce(dummy):
    print('hair_reduce')

@persistent
def hair_apply(dummy):
    print('hair_apply')

def register():
    if not hair_apply in bpy.app.handlers.load_post:
        bpy.app.handlers.load_post.append(hair_apply)
    if not hair_reduce in bpy.app.handlers.save_pre:
        bpy.app.handlers.save_pre.append(hair_reduce)

def unregister():
    if hair_apply in bpy.app.handlers.load_post:
        bpy.app.handlers.load_post.remove(hair_apply)
    if hair_reduce in bpy.app.handlers.save_pre:
        bpy.app.handlers.save_pre.remove(hair_reduce)


If two add-ons use the same application handler, is there a way to see (or force) which add-on executes first?

The callable is been called in sequence where in bpy.app.handlers.frame_change_pre
As a easy snippet here:
import bpy
#pre and post running seq are same direction
fcp = bpy.app.handlers.frame_change_pre
fcp.clear() #clear the list for testing only

def myfunction(*args):
    print("My first func")

fcp.append(myfunction)
fcp.append(lambda *args:print("Second lambda"))

print(fcp)

After excute, change 1 frame and the console output:
[<function myfunction at 0x000002A5E4C37A68>, <function <lambda> at 0x000002A5E4BF4F78>]
My first func
Second lambda

So you can some how insert your code at the begin of list:

bpy.app.handlers.frame_change_pre.insert(0, your_function)

Or determine where your function is in the right position:
my_index = fcp.index(myfunction)
fcp.pop(index = my_index)
fcp.insert(0, myfunction)


Create a box.
*Create a new shader for the box
*Unplug material from material output.
*Create a new principled volume shader
*Connect it to VOLUME on material output
*turn density to 0.02
*Play with absorption.

Put the box enclosing the monkey.

Volume shading will capture light by the absorption and density parameter.
Hope this helps.


How to split material for separate meshes

You can apply different materials to different Objects (meshes) AND different faces within the same mesh. A material is not a texture; A material (oof, don't quote me) is shader that has inputs driving its properties, some of which can be image textures.
You need to be more specific about 'saving materials as PNG's' because that isn't a thing (for the reason I stated above). However, you can unwrap the mesh's UV coordinates and export the texture projected on those unwrapped faces from the UV window.
I would recommend you Mark the border edges of each mesh as Seams, Join them all into one mesh, Unwrap the whole thing at once, and separate the meshes again (select the faces in edit mode and hit the "P" key to put the selection in a new mesh Object).


How to get bone location on each frame and print it 2.8

scene.frame_set(f)

is very performance-hungry to do in the script for each frame. I'd suggest reading the data of evaluated FCurves for bones directly.

E.g. this will evaluate the FCurve Y value at frame 7. For exporting animation, you only need to evaluate keyframes.

object.animation_data.action.fcurves[1].evaluate(7)


Unable to align extruded text to grid bottom

You could set a driver to Z Location:

However, this can cause glitching in Edit Mode:

You could therefore use a Python script to align objects whenever you need - go to scripting tab, create a new file, paste the below and press the Play  button to realign:
import bpy

aligned_objects = ['Cube']

for name in aligned_objects:
    aligned_object = bpy.data.objects[name]
    aligned_object.location.z = - aligned_object.bound_box[0][2]


there is maybe reason you offed in prefs:


Shadow Catcher object causing brightness issues in scene

I went back and looked at one of cegaton's solutions to a similar question and figured out how to fix it.  I simplified my compositing nodes and the problem seems to be gone.


This usually happens on lower end machines. One fix is to open the preferences view in an already open window (such as the 3d view or timeline) instead of creating one via the File menu.


How to have 2 Mats w/alpha each and a base Mat on the same object?

Use decals to place textures over the main texture. See other answers: Setup a decal material in cycles


Just to add to Moonboot's nice answer.
ColorRamp can actually create the whole HSV spectrum for you :).

Set both sliders to Red
Set ColorRamp to HSV > Far
Done


How do I fix this issue with my model's texture

The reason parts of the mesh appear black, is because two vertices are in the same location, and blender renders them as black.

Deleting the vertices:
Select the vertices you don't need, and press Delete, and select Dissolve Vertices. This will remove the vertices and remove the black overlapping mesh int he Rendered view.

EDIT:

Merging the vertices
Instead of deleting them, it may be better to merge them. Select two vertices in a similar location, and press Alt+M and select At Center, if you want to merge the vertices in the middle of both vertices. This will make them into one vertical, without removing any other lines the deleting method would.


Blender 2.79 Windows 64Bit - Web-Cam starts on Start-up

I found the issue. It's really somewhat amusing:

I got and installed a new Graphics-Card on my system. (Geforce GTX 970)
The set-up also installed NVIDIA GeForce Experience (V. 3.10.0.95) and during install it set-up also "Game internal overlay", which basically opens the possibility for gamers to record videos of their game, the gamer himself, via WebCam and voices/sound.

The strange behavior is, that the Nvidia software recognizes Blender as a "Game" and switches on all the stuff. (I am not a gamer, so I never realized, that this is available at all)

After setting off this feature, everything turns back to normal.


How to connect parts of a model to the rig?

There are two ways:
If a piece is a stand alone object:
select the object, shift select the rig, enter pose mode, select the relevant bone, press Ctrl P - Bone).
Repeat for all the objects.
If some different pieces are contained in the same object, you can separate them (Press P in edit mode) and use the first method, OR you can use the armature deform: Select the mesh, shift select the rig, press Ctrl P - "With empty groups".
Then in edit mode select all vertices of a piece (use L and Ctrl L for fast selections), select the relevant vertex group and click assign under the vertex groups list.
As soon as some vertices are assigned to one vertex group only, they will move with the relevant bone exactly, undeformed, no matter which is the value of the weight.


Align object to camera
This will give same result as adding an object in camera view, and using ALIGN to VIEW
By default a blender object faces -Y and has Z up. The camera on the other hand looks down -Z with Y up.
Can decompose an objects matrix into its location, rotation and scale, and then recompose.
In this case get the rotation part of the camera matrix world, transformed to -Y forward and Z up then recomposed into the object with its original scale and translation.
import bpy
from mathutils import Vector, Matrix
from bpy import context
from bpy_extras.io_utils import axis_conversion

scene = context.scene
cam_ob = scene.camera
ob = context.object

A = axis_conversion(
        from_forward='Z',
        from_up='-Y',
        to_forward='Y',
        to_up='Z').to_4x4()

loc, rot, scale = cam_ob.matrix_world.decompose()

ob.matrix_world = (
    Matrix.Translation(ob.matrix_world.to_translation()) @
   (rot.to_matrix().to_4x4() @ A) @
    Matrix.Diagonal(ob.matrix_world.to_scale()).to_4x4()
    )


Driver solution

Looking at the equations for Uniform Acceleration in the wiki, and assuming we start with zero velocity and displacement. The frame number is our time part, convered using fps to seconds, which will make it far easier to visualise.

frame = scene.frame_current
fps = 24
v = 1.0
a = 3.0
t = frame / fps

s = min(v, a * t / 2) * t

Calculated velocity will accelerate at a until it reaches velocity v. The displacement s is the calculated velocity times how many seconds t.

Setting up a driver expression

A simple case where fps is hard-coded as 24 ( 24 squared is 576), our maximum velocity is 1.0 blender units per second, and our acceleration is 3.0 blender units per second squared.

min(1.0 , (0.5 * 3.0 * frame / 24 )) * frame / 24

Upon re-reading your q, noticed I'd used location as an example, whereas you were asking about rotation.  The same concept works for rotation as every revolution will travel 2*Pi*r where r is the radius.  Change the equations accordingly for revolutions per second.

The scripted expression  can be pasted directly into a property (appending a # to start tells blender it's a driver) which on which should turn purple. [Editors find me a link]

This can be applied to x, y, z locations and having a terminal velocity of (vx, vy, vz) and acceleration of (ax, ay, az), and use the values in the relevant driver.

To further the approach a custom property for v and a could be added to the driven object, and variables used to put that value into the expression.

Note the fps from the render settings could also be used a var in a driver to make it changing render fps proof.


Heightmap on sphere gives a weird equator

Sorry this answer only the "is there another way to do this". Check out @Cegaton comments for pointers to ways to fix your problem.

Since your texture seems to be Equirectangular (tell me if I am wrong), you can use Environment texture node which can be used directly on an sphere or icosphere without manual UV mapping.

The example below uses cycles adaptive subdiv modifier (requires experimental features enabled). This works also with regular bump displacement with Cycles and Eevee.


Custom inteface: Two 3D views with a different header (toolbar)

The only way to truly hide portions of the interface from users is to create a custom build of Blender. This would allow you to restrict interface components as well as providing very specific views and screens for your application functions.

There are a number of projects that have done this:

Fluid Designer (by Microvellum) - http://www.microvellum.com/products/fluid-designer/

Interactive Pizza Designer by Daniele De Luca - https://vimeo.com/68119398


How to paint with the clone option in Texture Paint?

When the render is set to Cycles you can add two textures to the material and they should both show up as slots in texture paint.  Be sure to add a UV Map node for each texture and set the appropriate UV Map.

Enter Texture Paint mode and activate "Clone From Paint Slot".

The texture that is being painted to should be selected in the section named "Available Paint Slots"

The texture that is being painted from should be selected in the section named "Source Clone Slot".

All the settings I used are shown in the following animation.

Update in response to a comment requesting more information.

Textures can be drag 'N dropped from the hard drive file system.  They can be added in as texture nodes by looking through the menu that is called up when the keyboard shortcut Shifts is used.  They can also be added by drag 'N dropping the image icon from the UV Image Editor.

Using Blender Render you can add images to the texture slots.  I think the limit is 18 slots per material for BI.  I'm not sure if the BI node editor has the same limit, probably not.


Is it possible to animate alpha of a dupligroup?

No. There's not.  I ended up building two scenes, one with the objects, one without, and using a transition between them.  It isn't exactly what I was looking to do, but it works well enough.


Create keyboard shortcut for an operator using python?

Minimal add-on example using keymap_items.new() to register a new hotkey CtrlW in 3d View:
import bpy

bl_info = {
    "name": "Your Addon Name",
    "author": "Author Name",
    "version": (0, 1),
    "blender" : (2, 80, 0),
    "location": "",
    "warning": "",
    "wiki_url": "",
    "tracker_url": "",
    "category": ""
}

class OBJECT_OT_CustomOp(bpy.types.Operator):
    """Tooltip"""
    bl_idname = "object.simple_operator"
    bl_label = "Simple Object Operator"

    def execute(self, context):
        print (self.bl_idname)
        return {'FINISHED'}

addon_keymaps = []

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

    # Add the hotkey
    wm = bpy.context.window_manager
    kc = wm.keyconfigs.addon
    if kc:
        km = wm.keyconfigs.addon.keymaps.new(name='3D View', space_type='VIEW_3D')
        kmi = km.keymap_items.new(OBJECT_OT_CustomOp.bl_idname, type='W', value='PRESS', ctrl=True)
        addon_keymaps.append((km, kmi))

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

    # Remove the hotkey
    for km, kmi in addon_keymaps:
        km.keymap_items.remove(kmi)
    addon_keymaps.clear()

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()

    # test call
    #bpy.ops.object.simple_operator()


It's possible to let it start in a certain directory from script:
bpy.ops.wm.link_append('INVOKE_AREA', directory="C:\\tmp")

Hence, it's possible to bind a key combination for that as well. You can simply edit the existing Shift+F1 binding:

Set search type to Key-Binding, search for "Shift F1", expand the entry and pick a directory.


just go into user preferences and change shift key to something else or get a new keyboard.


Trying to learn basic animation using curve and array modifier and get this to loop

Create a cylinder and a curve, give you cylinder an Array modifier (with Merge option enabled) and a Curve modifier, apply the Array modifier, unwrap with the Follow Active Quads mode, give it a material with Texture Coordinate (UV output) > Mapping > Wave Texture > ColorRamp > Diffuse > Output, keyframe the Mapping location value to animate the flow:

file : https://pasteall.org/blend/1fcbf941ca724e03a017d3af9291a4d0


One of my object changes color after animation rendering

Usually blender uses the color fuchsia for indicating that textures are missing, if I remember correctly he uses a texture to the doughnut. Your texture of the doughnut must be saved in a directory and added as a image texture for your doughnut in the shader editor.


How can I make the materials for this toon fluid simulation?

This material is actually very easy to setup with cycles. Blender has a layer weight node which has a facing output. This output will give a material that ranges from black to white, based on how much the point on the object is facing the camera. Black is facing the camera, white is facing away (at least perpendicular to the camera). The default output is a significant gradient though, but you can add a colorramp after to make it just black and white by using the constant interpolation mode. Then you just have to adjust the white slider until it looks right. Once you have that you can use it as the factor for a mix node that mixes two emission shaders.

Here is the node setup for reference:

I didn't have any good fluid simulations on hand to test the material on, but on a subdivided Suzanne model it looks like this:


You need to go in the Properties panel > Render > Post Processing, and deactivate Sequencer. I quote the Blender manual: "Sequencer
Renders the output of the Video Sequence editor, instead of the view from the 3D scene’s active camera."


How could I duplicate these keyframes...?

You need to choose whether you're creating a walk cycle or just a non-cycle walk animation.

If you want to make your character move along a long path, like he's following a road, crossing a room, etc... use a walk cycle.

When you'll create your cycle in Pose mode, the character must not move forward, you'll create the animation as if he's walking on a treadmill.

It's once back in Object mode that you'll move the whole armature through your scene with a  Follow Curve constraint or just 2 keyframes if it's just a straight move.

The second kind of animation will be useful if your character makes only small moves, like walking 2 meters and then doing something else. In that case no need to create a walk cycle.

When you create this animation in Pose mode your character doesn't need to stay still like on a treadmill, you can move his left feet forward then stay at its position and move the right foot forward, etc...

In the second case though, if you want to copy some previous poses, for example the pose with the left foot forward if it's the same or about the same as the previous one with the left foot forward, make a copy paste, then, as it will make your character move back, make it move forward at the right position, select all the bones and press i to create the new pose. So it will be a copy of the one before but one meter forward.

Does it answer?


i was doing Blender guru`s tutorial when out of the flash this happen, how do i solve it?:

This is Quad View; it's toggled on and off using Ctrl + Alt + Q


Animate a spheres system as a camera diaphragm

If you don't need the circles to morph so they never intersect, you can quickly fake it using a few dupligroup instances.

Create a singe circle, use an array modifier over it with the option Object Offset and Relative offset. Exactly over it add an empty object and scale it down as desired (in my example by a factor of $0.8$).

Create a group from the arrayed circle, and add a instance of it in a separate scene. Place the 3D Cursor at the desired position for the center of the iris, press . (Period Key) to use it as pivot for transforms, then duplicate-rotate the circle instance around it several times to fill a circle with the desired number of times.

Animate them by keyframing the rotation property, rotating around individual centers with Ctrl + .

Have in mind that this technique will cause intersections at more extreme angles. If you wish to compensate for those you will probably also have to animate the scale property of either the circles or the array empty. You may also look into Animation Nodes addon for a node based procedural setup.


Why are there rectangle shaped glitches when using motion blur problem in Cycles?

This is a bug, not a settings issue or user error. Go ahead and report it in the bugtracker. (Though it's probably been fixed since 2.75)


How can we move meshes for dental occlusion?

I don't believe this can be done with precision having only the open-jaw position. For the future, you may try CT scanning both the open and closed positions - then you can overlay the open jaw mesh onto the rest position.

Also it doesn't help that we only have the left side of the jaw to work with in this scan.

But those issues aside, let's try to work with what we have for the sake of this test.

Techniques that may help:

Use the Mask Modifier to hide all of the mesh except the teeth. Get everything else out of the way. Use Grow Selection to select the verts in hard-to-reach places, then add them to the Vertex Group that is to be masked in.
Set the Origin Point of each object to be on the tooth with the largest surface area, which we know makes contact. That's a good starting point to start making adjustments to location and rotation of the object.
Turn on Backface Culling so that you can see (from behind) when teeth are intersecting.
Familiarize yourself with all of the rotation and location transform operations in Blender, because you will need to use them to get this even close to being correct.
Split your viewport to look at this from at least two different views at once. It will help you assess the position.

How enabling Back-face Culling can help:

Since I advised learning more about rotation, here are some quick rotation/transform tips:

Hitting R twice (RR) will give you a free-orbiting rotation that is often very helpful.
Familiarize yourself with the different Pivot types.
Knowing all of the Snap methods (ShiftS) will help you get your 3D Cursor wherever you want.
Anywhere your 3D Cursor can be, you can set your object's Origin Point to be there using ShiftCtrlAltC) or the button in your Tools Panel.
In addition to the standard Global orientation, at least learn Local and Normal as well if you haven't already.
ShiftCtrl + Num1, Num3, or Num7 will align your view to the Normal of a selected face.

Here's a .blend with some changes I made. I wouldn't call it accurate, just better than before. I'm not liable for how this is used. Please don't go building anyone's dental implants based on it. ;-)


You can get the material node tree from bpy.data.materials['MyMaterial'].node_tree

Then add the nodes with node_tree.nodes.new()

For example, to add a diffuse shader node to MyMaterial and create MyMaterial if it doesn't exist:

import bpy
mat_name = "MyMaterial"
# Test if material exists
# If it does not exist, create it:
mat = (bpy.data.materials.get(mat_name) or
       bpy.data.materials.new(mat_name))

# Enable 'Use nodes':
mat.use_nodes = True
nodes = mat.node_tree.nodes

# Add a diffuse shader and set its location:
node = nodes.new('ShaderNodeBsdfDiffuse')
node.location = (100,100)


Images as Planes - Error/Blank - Blender 2.8

Press 'z' and choose LookDev or change viewport shading to Lighting: Studio/Flat and Color: Texture.


Save/Export image from compositing tab in Blender 2.81

One way is to connect the Viewer Node.
Then just open your Image Editor, select Viewer Node and save the image.

You can save to any format you need .jpg/.EXR are all supported.

Note:
If the Viewer node doesn't show any image, just toggle one of your nodes off/on.
Viewer/Composite nodes refresh only when there's a change in the compositor.


Rotate camera around animation with separate motion blur?

Bullet Time-without time

You can make a fake blur by distorting you key moving object. In this example I have used a lattice to bend the ball

Then modify your material with a graduated blend texture, to make the ball transparent at the end of its fake motion.

Then your blur will cast the right shadow in 3D space, while a vector blur would not.

In order to 'fill in' the centre of the blurred ball you can add a Volumetric shader - similar to rendering smoke - using the same 'Factor' used to mix between the Diffuse and Transparent shaders to drive the Density.

Maths nodes are used to manipulate the 'mix' factor to generate the Density and an RGB node can be used to ensure the same color us used for the Diffuse and the Volumetrics.

Increase the Render properties Light Path Volume bounces to 3 or 4 and this should produce the following results :


I get a "Width not divisible by 2" error when I render

You actually do have your render set to 1171 px wide.
Look at the "Percentage Scale" value directly below the width and height under the Dimensions category of the Render tab of the properties window. It is set to 61%, and 1920 x 0.61 = 1171.2.

Simply set the "Percentage Scale" to 100% and you will be rendering at the expected 1920 by 1080.


why does fur after combing act unpredictably?

When setting up particle hair we normally configure a small number of hairs, then use children hairs that get created around each existing hair to fill out for the render.

The children hair settings have options that make them curl up or clump together around the parent hair. I think the bending and clumping you see is the children hairs being deformed by these settings after they are shown. Most likely this is because in particle edit mode you aren't showing any children, so when they show up in object mode they look much different. While in particle edit mode you can turn on the option to display children hairs. This is in the toolbar T under Options.

For performance we normally only display a portion of the children hairs while grooming the hair, and use more hairs for a better final image. These options are found in the Children panel of the particle settings. Display is how many children we see in the 3dview, while Render is how many are used at final render stage. If you set these the same while grooming the hair you will see less change at render time. Once finished grooming you may want to turn Display back down to keep the 3dview responding.


How do I make text wibbly wobbly with animation nodes?

The characters follow the path of a sine-like function, so we should position and animate on a sine wave. We will be using the same technique described in this answer. The y position of each character should be the sine of its x position, which is trivial to do. To orient the characters along the sine wave, we will compute the angle that that the curve makes with the x axis by computing the arctangent of the derivative of the sine function $\arctan(\frac{d \sin(t)}{dt}) = \arctan(\cos(t))$:

We can change the frequency by multiplying by $f$ and the amplitude by multiplying by $\alpha$ to have the function $\alpha\sin(ft)$ which has an angle $\arctan(\frac{d(\alpha\sin(ft))}{dt}) = \arctan(\alpha f \cos(ft))$:

Lets animate the scale and the start value of the progression to get:

Finally, lets animate the y position of the characters such that it becomes zero at the end of the animation. We can do this by multiplying by the inverse of a sharp exponential interpolation:

This concludes the first effect. To achieve the second effect, try adding a noise vector to the locations of the characters:

Fine tune the amplitude and speed to get the feel you are after.


how to make viewport display diffuse maps in full color? (2.8)

Managed to experiment the solution out. Here's how:

Rendering tab (evee rendering selected) -> color management -> display device (set to REC709)


Select your objects and go into Edit Mode (Tab) and press A once or twice so your whole mesh is selected. Then press Ctrl+F and select Flip Normals. What this does it flips the the direction of what Blender thinks is the outside layer.


Visual aid to show IK Rotation Limitations

Two years and no answer, damn, I've been trying to find the answer to this for a while now and just decided to click on everything i could find and eventually found the answer.

In the properties panel, hot key is N, under the display sub heading, tick "Relationship Lines" and those visual aids should appear yet again.

Hope this helps anyone still looking for the answer.


BGE MakeHuman character hair disappears when close to edge of camera frame

Background

The deformed mesh leaves the original bounding box. This let the renderer assume there is nothing to render, so it can save processing time.

On armature action playing the bounding box does not change with the mesh deformation. When you move the hair away from that box it can quickly be skipped from render.

Solution

Keep your deformed mesh within the original bounding box.

two basic ways to get that

ensure the animation stays within the limits
ensure the original bounding box is big enough the fit the deformations you want to play

The last point can be achieved by adding some isolated vertices to the mesh. (isolated vertices are not rendered).

Alternative

update the bounding box with python ... not recommended as it eats a lot of processing time.

Glossar

Bounding Box a box that fit tightly around a mesh (on global X,Y,Z coordinates)
Original Bounding Box the bounding box around the mesh with the pose when the object was loaded (the scene was loaded)

Reference

objects disappearing at edge of camera?


How can I get a tinted highlight without tinting the entire piece?

First you can check Color Management, by default its set to Filmic that has a flat look (but for a good reason). You can switch to Standard, but probably better is to add a few nodes in Compositor - like Glare node.

Yeah ... separate effect for gem you can use ID mask of object or newly Cryptomatte feature.


Appended layer not rendering any objects

Your material is set up for cycles rendering but you have it set to blender render at the top. Then the object in layer 1 is set up for blender internal rendering.


toon material from blender internal rendered in cycles render engine?

Blender internal and cycles are completely separate rendering engines, only the object surface data can be shared between them. Each render engine uses incompatible material data.

To combine the two render engines you can render an image from each engine and composite the two results together. You can either do this manually by saving one or both of the results to file and inputting the files in the compositor or 2d graphics application. Or you can have two scenes, one using blender internal and one using cycles that can both be input into the compositor.

BlenderCookie has a tutorial explaining this in more detail.


You probably distort UVs by image shape. This is why your texture is distorted diagonally from left top to right bottom corner.

Use some 2D editor to fix texture perspective and use rectangular shape for UVs to mach shape of plane. Never distort UVs. In best case, they should have exact the same shape as faces in 3D object.

EDIT: "never" is too strong expression, sometimes is helpful or
 necessary, but definitely not in your case.


Using array and fit to curve changes orientation of object

If I'm not mistaking, Blender uses the world's Y axis as reference to align your object to the curve. Something like that.
So theoretically, you would only need to rotate your object at a 90° angle (or -90°) on the world's Z axis. Maybe also apply the object's rotation via CtrlA.
Nice demo picture by the way!


The window to set the textures is missing

You don't have the properties window opened, where you will find the 'Textures' tab. If you look in the bottom right corner. There's a small cube with two arrows, next to the 'View' menu. Click that cube, and select 'Properties' to display that window.


Displacement not working properly - following Blender Guru rope tutorial

You might have to set your displacement map to non color data in the node editor.

Here is an example of microdisplacement with the map set to color data:

And this is the same image, set to non color data:


How to scale only one side of a mesh/scale unevenly?

You can use Proportional Editing for that. Go into Edit mode and enable Proportional Editing (the button in the toolbar at the bottom - click it and set 'Enabled') and set it to Linear mode (the selection will appear once you've enabled Proportional Editing). It should look like this :

Then select the vertices at the end of the mesh that you want to scale. Press S to scale. Drag them to the size you want and then scroll the mouse wheel (or equivalent) to change the range of the proportional edit tool until you have the desired influence.

I've purposefully used a cylinder with a number of loop cuts in the image above to demonstrate how the rest of the mesh is affected by the proportional edit.


Using Python, how can I preset points in ShaderNode RGB Curves?

I spent the day looking for the same answer and had given up already because it's nowhere to be found, may it be in the documentation, StackExchange or specialized forums.

It was when I decided to replace the RGB Curves node with a ColorRamp that I figured it out, and it's ridiculously simple! If only it were documented anywhere.

You add points to a RGB Curve with the same method used to add points to a ColorRamp: new()

In your case, I'd leave point 1 alone and add this at the end, removing the redundant update() line:

rgbC.mapping.curves[2].new(0.48,0.675)

curves.new() explained

When you add a point update() is trigged, resetting the points' index based on their x location.

Example Issue: You always start with curve[n].points[0] at (0,0) and curve[n].points[1] at (1,1). If you create a point at (.5,.5) it won't be curve[n].points[2] because it'll be situated between [0] and [1]. The new point will become [1], and the previous point[1] becomes [2].

It makes easy to lose track of your points when you're also manipulating them. To avoid this, you can add all new points at (1,1), reposition them and do whatever you need; then execute update() at the end so they're reindexed in the new order.

This way your new points will always have a higher index than your existing points while you're working on them.

Here follows a sample script to add an RGB Curve node to the active material, add three new points and reposition them:

import bpy
NODES = bpy.context.active_object.active_material.node_tree.nodes
# Create node
rgbC = NODES.new("ShaderNodeRGBCurve")
# Select "C" curve
curve_c = rgbC.mapping.curves[3]

# Add three points at (1,1) so they're created with [2],[3] and [4] indexes
curve_c.points.new(1,1)
curve_c.points.new(1,1)
curve_c.points.new(1,1)

# Move the new points to desired (x,y) locations
curve_c.points[2].location = (.2, .1)
curve_c.points[3].location = (.44, .44)
curve_c.points[4].location = (.6, .9)

# Update curve. Now new points are [1],[2],[3] and last one is [4]
rgbC.mapping.update()

And the short version if you're sure you don't need to preserve indexes:

import bpy
NODES = bpy.context.active_object.active_material.node_tree.nodes
rgbC = NODES.new("ShaderNodeRGBCurve")
curve_c = rgbC.mapping.curves[3]

# Add new points at (x,y). No need to update() at the end
curve_c.points.new(.2,.1)
curve_c.points.new(.44,.44)
curve_c.points.new(.6,.9)

Result:


How to animate cvt belt as pulleys change size

The changes in a CVT belt ratio can be simulated using softbodies in Blender.

Details

Create a new blend file.
Add geometry for the pulleys and belt as shown in the animation.
Set the pulleys physics to act as collision.
Set the belt as a softbody.
Turn off gravity to prevent the belt from slipping.

It take 2 steps to animate the belt size change. First the belt needs to be fit to the pulleys. Then the pulley size can be animated with the belt keeping fit.

Animate the pulleys moving apart to the final location. The belt will stretch to fit the pulleys as they pull apart.
Animate the change in pulley size. The tension on the belt will ensure it stays close the pulleys as they change size.

The blend file is available here -


How to modify Blender data from vector/arrays in Python?

The issue here is that its not always clear when values are wrapped or not, that is to say, when modifying a value will apply changes back to the Blender data the values originally came from.
The rule of thumb here is that array/vector/matrix/quaternion/euler/color types wrap blender internal data, but when you get a single number from any of these types, changes to it won't be applied back to the original data.
Taking Object.scale as an example...

This will modifiy the objects scale:
obj.scale[0] = obj.scale[0] * 2.0

# or...
obj.scale[0] *= 2.0

# or...
scale = obj.scale
scale[0] *= 2.0

This won't modify the objects scale:
# s is a float and holds no reference to the original data
s = obj.scale[0]
s *= 2.0

# or...
# this does nothing other then to do a multiplication and ignore the result
obj.scale[0] * 2.0

# or...
# by making a copy of the scale, the reference to blender data is dropped,
# this is often useful when you *want* to get some data and manipulate it
# without touching your data in Blender.
scale = obj.scale.copy()
scale[0] *= 2.0

# or...
# by decomposing the scale value by axis,
# we get a list of floats which won't wrap original data,
# this is like '.copy()' but gives us a list rather then a Vector.
scale = [obj.scale[0], obj.scale[1], obj.scale[2]]
scale[0] *= 2.0

# or...
# this also has the effect of returning a new, modified copy.
scale = [s * 2.0 for s in obj.scale]

Note:
While this is a Vector, the same thing applies to color, eulers... etc as mentioned before.
In the example given in the question, its looping over numbers, so you would have to do something like this...
for i, s in enumerate(obj.scale):
    obj.scale[i] = s * 2.0

Note that in this case Vectors can be multiplied by numbers so its best to do:
obj.scale *= 2.0

Note:
if you have a mathutils class - Vector/Matrix/Color/Quaternion/Euler, you can check to see if they reference some other data with the readonly is_wrapped attribute. You can even get the data they came from using owner


How can I quickly move/translate an object to the center location/position of another object in a static scene?

Assuming that you have two distinct objects (rather than two unlinked meshes in the same object) and each object's origin is at the "true" center of the object (however you prefer to determine that), you would use the following process (in Object mode):

Select object B
Snap the 3D Cursor to object B's origin (Shift+S > Cursor to Selected)
Select object A
Snap object A to the 3D Cursor's location (Shift+S > Selection to Cursor)

You can also use Blender's snapping tools to do some of this interactively, but the 3D Cursor is the most reliable way.


While this is a duplicate question, I see no answer that deals with using the operator settings to do this in one step. So, one way would be to just add a cone primitive to the scene. Add > Mesh > Cone and increase the Radius 2 slider.


How to create a good cage for baking in cycles?

Cage baking should follow more of less the same principles in any baking system. It is only really necessary to have a custom cage when trying to capture hard edges, smooth organic models shouldn't need one, as the ray distance parameter will effectively create on for you. The purpose of a custom cage is to modify the direction that the rays are cast when determining where to draw the normal info from, which is particularly important form split normals, as otherwise you may miss some directions in the bake (see here).

The best starting point for creating a cage is to just inflate the low poly (this effectively is what the ray distance parameter is doing internally). From there you need to look at you high poly and low poly together and look for problematic hard edges and tweak the cage around these errors. Until you get more experienced, some trial and error will be required. Be aware that Cycles requires that the cage has the same topology as the low poly.

The blender manual covers cages briefly at the bottom of this page.


The problem are the ngons with 124 vertices/edges on the high res cube.

Adding a triangulate modifier to the cube solves that issue.

Also, the front and bottom faces of the low res cube are overlapped in the UV, so you should unwrap it again.


where should i mark a seam onto my mesh?

You need to put the seams on a part that won't be visible on rendering. You can't avoid discontinuity with this kind of object, unless you give corrections afterwards and recreate continuity with a Clone brush for example, but it will depend on the nature of your pattern, if it's a big pattern (like big flowers) it seems hard to achieve.
As you can see here I put the seam along the back of the cube, so that it will be hidden in render. For this kind of pattern it would be very hard to create a continuous texture:


Here is the solution.

Go into the properties panel

Under the resolution (defaults to your screen resolution) you should see a percentage bar that ranges from 1% to 100%.

I think when you change the proxy settings blender automatically change that percentage to whatever proxy you chose.

Drag the bar back to 100%. make sure that your view properties are on without the proxy, full render and check your strips to make sure proxy/timecode is unchecked.

Configure your settings and you are ready to go!


Trying to create a simple add-on but Python keeps throwing errors

You cannot access Blender from a different thread. To create a periodically called function, use a modal operator with a timer.


Expanding plane size while keeping existing vertices

Here's an alternate method that might be useful in some circumstances. In edit mode, select one of the vertices of the plane, and from the context menu of the snap tool (SHFT - S), select "Cursor to selected". Next, invert the selection (CTRL - I), to deselect the original vertex, and select the other three. Then set the pivot point to 3D cursor, extrude the selected vertices, and scale to the desired size.


Export multi-pass .exr image sequence from cycles?

To save all the passes for each frame into a multilayer OpenEXR:

Add an Input>Image Sequence node and use that to import the OpenEXR sequence

Add an Output>File Output Node and set it to Use OpenEXR multilayer and plug the outputs of the Image sequence to it.

You still need a valid output for the render. So create a dummy file, a jpeg file will do. You can erase those later.

Then just set your frame range and render as animation (ctrl F12)

(and remember to erase the jpeg dummy files)


Is Blender 2.8 Cryptomatte samples dependent?

Crypto matte seems sample dependent, but I successfully use a matte generated from a low sample render scene: I than re-render in high resolution this scene using the same matte previously picked, without noise or artifacts.


Cycles doesn't support true displacement yet in Supported feature set. The displacement input of Material Node will only do bump mapping in that case.

With Experimental feature set the True displacement option is available under Material settings in versions 2.78 and up (for older Blender versions see edits of this answer):

This will not change the number of vertices or polygons in the scene and will not raise memory much (only the extra displacement texture). From left to right on 20k polycount sphere - No displacement, Bump, True:

For adaptive displacement you need to use a Subdivision modifier for each object and set the Adaptive tag and set the micro-polygon pixel size under render settings:

This will subdivide all the polygons of the whole object adaptively to meet the desired micro-polygon pixel-size. Each object can be adjusted differently with the Dicing Scale ratio.

Objects/polygons further away from camera will be subdivided less and objects/polygons closer will be subdivided more.

This will increase the memory size of the scene while rendering significantly (based how much you need to subdivide). The sphere above with 20k polys took 201MB of VRAM with no adaptive and 2271MB for adaptive micro-polygons of 1px size (the default render setting).

  I was wondering whether subdividing an object or using sub surf modifier makes any difference

Subdividing with subdivision modifier and subdividing in edit-mode take the same amount of render memory.

But the adaptive subdivision will save memory, because objects in distance will be less subdivided.

Now you will get true displacement effect with both subdivision methods (material or displacement + subdivision modifiers).

It is worth noting that the experimental render kernel takes more VRAM than Supported kernel.


How can I select the faces that haven't been UV mapped yet in a model?

Selection in the UV origin

Each UV map always contains the UV island relative to each face: if they hasn't been unwrapped yet the way I imagine, you'll find them collapsed in a point in the origin of the UV space (0;0).

In the example above only the upper part of the head has been unwrapped. The black dot in the center of the 2D cursor are the island of all the other faces.

You just have to take advantage of any of the selection tool (e.g. Box-Selection) while keeping UV and edit mode mesh selection in sync.


Obj exported from blender is split along the UV seams when opened in maya

Unclick Include Edges in export settings:


I had the same problem and found in the top left drop down menu "sculpt" there is a check box for show mask. The hotkey is CTRL M


Sequence from another scene imported into current scene causes only audio to render

In the VSE preview window (where the video should appear) check the display properties (N) and make sure that the OpenGL render is switched off. As it shows only the 3D view in place of the rendered output or that of the compositor.

While there check the proxy display value, it should be No Proxy 100%.


Strange normal map behavior in Cycles (Blender 2.80)

I had to save the output normal map image (with Save As in the Image editor). This made baking work correctly.


The boolean modifier has two modes, 'Carve' and 'BMesh' (under the box for the second object)
A quick test shows for me that if I use 'BMesh', internal edges and faces are preserved, while with 'Carve', they are removed.


From the Blender Bug Tracker:

  This feature was disabled in the code but not in the interface.


Force emissive material to not participate in volume scattering?

Ahh, it seems with Lamps it works just fine.  Apparently emissive meshes can't opt out of volume scattering right now, but lamps can.

Perhaps this'll help someone in the future


Just make sure you are constraining the scale to the X/Y axis. For that, hit Shift+Z after s.


Positioning sun light to get drop shadow or an object in orthographic view

Things to note, probably including ones you already know:

The location of a Sun lamp makes no difference - it's infinitely far away, and its rays are parallel. Put it somewhere convenient, and adjust only its orientation
The 'angle' setting in the lamp's Data tab > Light panel will harden or soften the shadow
If your World has an HDRI, or is making a contribution through its color, the   the sun's shadow will be somewhat filled by the ambient light.
Shadow Catcher is a Cycles-only feature, and only useful on transparent film.. Corrected! See edit.

EDIT:Thanks to  @blenderbreath, who tells me there's a shadow-catcher for EEVEE, which I've never used ..  Here it is:

I would suggest giving the plane an ordinary diffuse white material during adjustment, to make sure it can be seen at all, before switching its setting to Shadow Catcher


This is because your Origin Point is mis-placed. Press Shift+C and your Origin Point will be reset to Default place.

  i've tried Clip -> start : 0 but that is not that good to view bc some
  things get transparent

Pressing 0 gives you the Camera Perspective.

  Also this may be because you are too close to your mesh, as your friend's
  view is quite far.


How to have an object's scale be affected by proximity to empty?

You can either use Object controller falloff or Point Distance falloff to get proximity effect.
In your case you have animated cubes outside Animation Nodes. So we only care about scales of cube inside Animation nodes. Then here is how to do:

Or we can also build entire setup inside Animation nodes:


How to convert frames between keyfames into keyframes?

Make sure object is selected
Hit Spacebar
Type Bake Action
Set first and last frame and frame_step
Hit Ok
Enjoy


How to add multiple cubes in a collection?

The script fails at two steps:

  bpy.context.scene.collection.children.link(collection) #add new coll to the scene

is done inside of the loop, so it fails the second time.

  cube.remove(cube["cube"], True)

does not exist: no remove method in cube.

That's why it stops before moving the second object to the new collection.

So this works:

import bpy

collection = bpy.data.collections.new(name="COLLECTION GOOD") #create new coll in data

bpy.context.scene.collection.children.link(collection) #add new coll to the scene

for i in range(0,2):
  bpy.ops.mesh.primitive_cube_add(location=(i, i, i))
  bpy.context.active_object.name = 'cube'
  cube = bpy.context.object

  obj_old_coll = cube.users_collection #list of all collection the obj is in
  collection.objects.link(cube) #link obj to scene

  #cube.remove(cube["cube"], True)
  for ob in obj_old_coll: #unlink from all  precedent obj collections
     ob.objects.unlink(cube)

And you can simplify a bit:

import bpy

collection = bpy.data.collections.new(name="COLLECTION GOOD") #create new coll in data

bpy.context.scene.collection.children.link(collection) #add new coll to the scene

for i in range(0,2):
  bpy.ops.mesh.primitive_cube_add(location=(i, i, i))
  bpy.context.active_object.name = 'cube'
  cube = bpy.context.object

  for ob in cube.users_collection[:]: #unlink from all  precedent obj collections
     ob.objects.unlink(cube)

  collection.objects.link(cube) #link obj to scene


Mixing materials using textures in nodes

You only need one difuse shader and the rest is combining colors using the existing masks.

The result of one RGB mix is concatenated to another RGB mix and those become the color for the shader.

(Click on the images to expand to full screen)

If you must use shaders then the masks are used in a similar way to concatenate the mixes one over the other.


Shrinkwrap is doing its best, with the provided vertices.. it can't bend an edge defined by only two points.

Subdivide the edges you want to conform to the curvature
Adjust the offset

And.. if you want a less destructive way (fussy clients, etc.), assign a lattice deform modifier to some or all of the vertices of the square, text, etc. and Shrinkwrap the lattice. This allows an extrusion without applying the Shrinkwrap.


why do objects appear to be emitting light?

Mystery solved.  You have a lamp object called "sol kon" whose viewport visibility was turned off, but the render was left on.  That's what the light is coming from when you render.


To answer your question more fully, I switched from comments to an answer.

The first thing I did was created and rigged a very rough estimate of your model:

I then added a square-ish wheel underneath it (visible in above picture). I parented this wheel to the armature via Object (Keep Transform), not any of the Armature Deform settings. This means that when you move the armature, the wheel will move with it (assuming the transformation is in object mode). While the wheel moves in conjunction with the rest of the model, you are free to rotate it on the appropriate axis. Here is what I achieved (glitch is in gif alone):


is "Sound Bake" node here in 2.1.4 Animation node

You can't bake sound anymore, bc. you don't have to. Sound input is now live. It's a bit tricky, bc. it's not directly a node.
Go to the VSE, drop a sound file wherever you want (meaning the start frame).
Back in the AN SHIFT A -> sound -> sound from sequence.
From there it gets processed in realtime, no more baking required.


Button or menu entry to clear the sculpting mask?

AFAIK there is no proper button, the way to clear the mask without a keyboard shortcut is the menu entry Hide/Mask>Clear Mask.


Getting rid of unnecessary loopcuts is always a good idea, no matter for which platform you aim (mobile devices, PC?). If you can reduce the polycount significantly by using submeshes that's the way you want to go.

When using overlapping submeshes you also might want to delete hidden faces.

One other thing that is even more important than reducing a model's polycount by maybe a dozen polygons is the use of materials. If you have an asset that contains several submeshes you still want to use the lowest possible amount of materials (which is normally one). Having only one material per asset reduces the draw calls in a scene significantly. You might want to look up the terms "draw call" and "texture atlas".

Lightning errors in UE4 are mostly the result of missing or wrong lightmaps.


How to bend the bendy bones found in Blender Builds recent to 2.78

I guess they bend already. Can you please verify that you are displaying them correctly? They only show up in BBone display mode:


The rest position of the knees have a slight backwards bend to them, but they should instead have a forward bend.  Once the bend was added, zero-out the rolls on each bone to 0 degrees, and in the IK constraint settings, change the Pole Target angle on leg bottom.R to 0 degrees, and the leg bottom.L to 90 degrees.


Distribute nodes of different sizes without overlaps in Node Editor (Python)

Because nodes are not necessarily in the order we want in the node tree, I made a list of the nodes in their proper order (listing them from left to right). I then loop through that list and get the nodes by name in the node tree, moving them accordingly.

import bpy

nodes = bpy.data.materials['Material'].node_tree.nodes
list = ['Texture Coordinate', 'Mapping', 'Checker Texture','Diffuse BSDF', 'Material Output']
loc = 0
for i in list:
    nodes[i].location.x = loc
    loc += nodes[i].width + 50
    nodes[i].location.y = 0

The script is rather simple. I loop through my list of node names; then simply set the node's x location to the loc variable.
The next line loc += nodes[i].width + 50 is adding the width of the node, plus 50 (the margin around the nodes) to the already tallied widths.
Then next time around the next node will get moved over that amount.

The only important part is that you add the width of the node to the loc variable after the node has been moved.


The easiest way to change "bone" during weight paint is to select the corresponding vertex group.


You can use the bpy_prop_collection.get method which acts like pythons dict.get.

import bpy

mat = bpy.data.materials["MyMaterial"]
if mat.use_nodes:
    ntree = mat.node_tree
    node = ntree.nodes.get("Diffuse BSDF", None)
    if node is not None:
        print("We Found:", node)

This is similar to using:

node = ntree.nodes["Diffuse BSDF"]

However if the node isn't found you'll get an exception.


How can I replicate this raised letter effect?

You can use displacement.

Open a movie or image file.

Create a cuboid, stretched along its X-Axis and add an array modifier, duplicating it along the Y-Axis. I choose a relative offset off 2 in the array modifier, this creates gaps between the stripes. In edit mode add a lot of loopcuts along the longest axis, in my case X.

Apply the modifier.
Unwrap it from the top view by pressing U (Unwrap) and choosing Project From View (Bounds). This will unwrap the image exactly as you are currently seeing it in the 3D View. Go to the UV editor and select all. Press . and choose Individual Origins as the Pivot Point. The scale SY the individual islands along Y towards 0. During the scale operation you can type 0 and confirm with ⏎ Enter.

Finally, add a displacement modifier to the arrayed cuboids. Choose Z as the displacement axis and UV for the coordinates.

This results in the displaced geometry.

Consider blurring the movie or image file as a preprocessing step to create smoother transitions.


Ctrl P isn't working when connecting my armature to my mesh!

Based on your question it might be very simple:
If you really tried connecting an armature to a mesh, then it can't work, because it has to be the other way around.

First select the Mesh, then hold Shift while selecting the Armature, then CtrlP and you should get this menu:


How can I calculate the pixel size for each direction of my rendered image?

Here is an illustrative code fragment to show how to compute the pixel sizes in each direction (u is horizontal, v is vertical):

scale = scene.render.resolution_percentage / 100
pixels_in_u_per_mm = resolution_x_in_px * scale / sensor_width_in_mm
pixels_in_v_per_mm = resolution_y_in_px * scale * aspect_ratio / sensor_height_in_mm
pixel_size_in_u_direction = 1/pixels_in_u_per_mm
pixel_size_in_v_direction = 1/pixels_in_v_per_mm

By experimenting with blender, I found out that by default (camera sensor fit set to "auto") the sensor width is fixed, the sensor height is effectively changed with the aspect ratio settings.

The current Blender GUI only specifies the sensor width by default, but there is a variable for sensor height in the internal camera data. It is used if the camera's sensor fit is set to something other than "Auto", which I don't currently cover in this answer (see next paragraph for another answer where I cover these).

The above code is based on the Python code in my answer to What is blender's camera projection matrix model?. You can find details on how to get the relevant parameters there, and also how to deal with other sensor fit settings.


I accidentally hid the lamp.

That's why all of the objects turned black.


How can I keep Blender from duplicating LODs when I copy/paste objects that have LODs?

In Blender, if you want to have multiple copies of same object, you may use the Array modifier and can have as much copies as you like.

Or you may Use the duplicate function, Using menu Object -> Duplicate Object or use a short key Shift + D to duplicate it

Best of luck :)


Main concept:

To 'merge' these textures you will need PBR shader as stated by @Craig D Jones in comments section, then setup it properly with simple unwrapped Plane, add some lights (or HDRI), empty texture and finally Bake it.

PBR Shader:

There are numerous free and paid PBR node setups, it's up to you which one you will choose. You can even build one for yourself.

I'm gonna use for this answer the one from Jason Clarke - Simple PBR v5

Note:
This is a valid solution until Blender 2.79 will come out. There will be new shader, Principled BSDF which will do the same for you. I've tested it with newset bleeding edge build.

Object and Material:

Object:

First of all we need some object to bake our materials. Taking that most textures are square shaped we need to add a Plane - Shift+A > Mesh > Plane and check Generate UV's in Tools Panel or hit F6 right after Plane is added to the scene.

Material:

Now go to Node Editor, add Appended (How to append material) Simple PBR Node Group. Connect to it Image Textures accordingly to their names. Remember to set Roughness and Normal to Non-color Data. Also add Normal Map node.

As images I've used free PBR texture set from: http://www.3d-wolf.com/wall.html - Wall 2.

Lights:

This is pretty important step. Final texture look highly depends on it. Here is a little comparison between Albedo, Diffuse (both from texture set), Diffuse RGB (color as a background), Diffuse HDRI (HDRI map as lightning) - both from baking:

As you can see only HDRI map gives pretty neat result. You can also add set of lamps; it's really subjective topic so it depends on you.

How to add HDRI

Note: Go to Top Orthographic View (Num5 > Num7) and enable Rendered Preview (Shift+Z) to see changes, they will be nearly the same as final bake.

Empty texture:

Now when everything is good looking we can prepare texture for baking.

Go to Image Editor, click Image > New Image or Alt+N, set size of new texture to be the same or smaller then original textures, name it as you want (Diffuse in this example).

In Node Editor add another Image Texture node and choose newly created texture. Don't connect it anywhere and keep it selected (important!).

Baking:

Now go to Render tab and scroll to Baking, everything should look like this:

Hit Bake.

When it's done go again to Image Editor, you should have there result of baking. To save it - Image > Save as Image.

Blend file:


Select all the vertices on the edge and do Grid fill

Then select a few vertices on the center, enable proportional editing and pull them to create the shape you need.

In your case there is a big ugly n-gon that you need to delete in order to make grid fill work.

Now the grid fill operation also makes another issue evident in your model: the subdivisions and number of vertices are not the same on both sides of your model. Undo the grid fill, add loop cuts to fix the assymmetry making both side of the model have the same number of loop cuts. Now  select the edges and do the grid fill.  Your model should work just fine now.

Then just enable proportional editing to create the bulge you are after.


As the timer property provides a float value, you need to check if the value is "equal or above zero". Since Blender 2.74 the property sensor has according modes. If you use an older version, you can use the interval mode

The value to check against is -> 0 or 0.0 it does not matter which one.


Is it possible to use the output of a Renderlayer in the material nodes of another RenderLayer?

Yes, this is possible.

You can achieve this with an Image Sequence Texture node:

Set up two render layers with each layer excluding the other:

Set up compositing nodes so the render layer that is being used to influence the materials renders out to a separate directory.
This is possible with the File Path node:

Render only the influencing layer once to that directory by Pinning  that render layer.
The file will be named something like Image0001.png. Rename it to Image0000.png
Set up the material you want to be influenced.
You can pull in the result of the other render layer by adding an Image Texture node, setting the image to Image0000.png, setting the Source to Image Sequence, and setting the Offset to -1

This is the result of the other render layer.
Render the animation. (CtrlF12, or Info > Render > Render Animation

Here is a simple test with two spheres (one on each layer) and a moving light source:

Keep in mind that with this technique, the two layers are one frame apart.
This could be fixed by rendering the influencing layer completely beforehand, and adjusting the offset accordingly.


How to properly rotate bevel object on a fractured beziercurve

Apply Rotation

Object Transformations are the latest thing that affect your mesh appereance, even after modifiers.

All the curve related options (including the Twisting type) consider the un-rotated mesh, that in your case look like this:

only after that the rigid rotation of the object occours, so the benches will not result having the Twisting type you expected.

Applying the rotation (Crtl+A) will let use the curve's options directly upon the final mesh orientation.


How can I put a modifier at the top of the modifier stack?

Suppose you have two modifiers like this:

Note that the second modifier is named "Subsurf".  You can move it up like this:

bpy.ops.object.modifier_move_up(modifier="Subsurf")

You may need to set the active object first, as described in this answer:

my_object = bpy.context.scene.objects['Cube']
bpy.context.scene.objects.active = my_object

If your modifier is in an unknown position in the stack, you can use a loop like this to bring it to the top:

while my_object.modifiers[0].name != "Subsurf":
    bpy.ops.object.modifier_move_up(modifier="Subsurf")


Reducing vert/triangle/whatever else count before exporting into Unity?

In my experience you should not pay too much account on the number of vertices  in a mesh. What really slows down unity is the number of draw calls caused by using too many materials in a scene.

When you have more than 10K vertices of an object you might want to consider creating less detailed objects and use them with level of detail.


How to change Chain Lenght in Inverse Kinematics?

You can tell from the yellow dotted line that runs from the IK bone (the yellow one) that there is indeed a difference in the IK chain length (the dotted line runs to a different bone for each leg). If you go to the IK constraint options, there is an option for chain length. Make sure that this option is set to the same number for both legs (it looks like it should be set to 2). Leaving it at the default value of 0 will give a limitless chain, and any number over 2 will include the hip bone, both of which will cause the problems you are seeing.

This is the value you will need to change:


Wrong X coordinate with the local coordinate system?

In object mode, do Object/Apply/Scale. The local coordinates will now match the global coordinates.

Scaling an object in Object mode isn't a good habit, especially with non uniform scale (ie, not the same scale on each axis). You should avoid this, except if you have a good reason. Instead, you should scale your object in Edit mode.


How can I apply a different material during / after using "Solidify" modifier?

Your question is not clear enough, but if you want to keep the Solidify modifier (and not Apply it) and give the inner faces a different material, you need to go in the Solidify modifier and use the Material Index Offset, left value to set the color of the outer surface, right value for the color of the inner faces, 0 will mean it will use the first material of your material stack, 1 for the second material of your material stack, and so on.


Clothes don't collide to its parent : a rigid body

I think your problem has to do with the fact that the meshes of your cable objects consist of edges and vertices only. I believe for Physics to work between an object with Collision and an Cloth Object, the Cloth object needs to have faces. Otherwise it will not interact with Collision objects.
Also: Visible geometry created by a Skin modifier is in this regard cosmetic only. Even if an object with faces has an Skin modifier, the geometry created by the modifiers also does not interact with Collision objects.
Here is also an image to clarify:

Selected on this image is a cloth plane with zero thickness, that fell onto a larger collision plane, and then stopped moving. The thickness made by the Skin modifier clips trough the collision plane, and was not directly influenced by physics.
Under it is the same cloth object, but with all the faces removed (so vertices and edges only). If fell right though the collision plane.
Next to it is a similar cloth object but the mesh is a single vertex (it looks like a cube). It did not move or fall at all.
(On a related note: If a Cloth object has faces but still moves through a Collision object, it might help to move the Cloth object, or alter it, so its geometry won't clip (or stick through) the Collision object, since that can cause further clipping or other undesired physics results.)


switching timeline frames in logic editor (help)

Use a mouse sensor to run an action. In the action actuator you can specify the start and end frame to play. You will need a property to track where you are and run a different part of the action for each value.

Personally I wouldn't use the action keyframes, I would use a simple motion for the camera.

When a mouse wheel up event happens and the location property is less than 4, the camera is moved 10 units on X and adds 1 to the location property. Simply repeat for the opposite direction.


Cycles - Adding an object with emission shader makes part of my scene darker?

What's happening here, is you have your light inside. Cycles is throwing a lot of samples there because there aren't any other lights. Then, you added your other light and it had multiple importance enabled.

Cycles will of coarse have to throw some samples at that light, so that in it's self will make it noisier, but in addition to that, having multiple importance on, tells Cycles that that light is more important than the other light, so it throws even more samples at it.

So basically what you're seeing, is your render getting noisier, and therefore appearing darker, because of the extra lights.


Import a .XYZ file as Displacement modifier?

It's an option. According to the document Using L3DT with Blender, you can export files in the OBJ format.

Played around with your file. Be carefully) a heavy construction. My computer freezes :

    import bpy
    import math
    import bmesh

    file_path = "D:\\terrain.xyz"

    def read_verts(file_path):
        verts = []
        with open(file_path) as myfile:
            for line in myfile:
                verts.append([float(x) / 500 for x in line.split()])
        return verts

    def create_faces(num_wid, num_heigh):
        faces = []
        j = 0
        for i in range(0, num_heigh * (num_wid - 1)):
            if j < num_heigh - 1:
                face = (i, i + 1,  i + num_heigh + 1, i + num_heigh)
                faces.append(face)
                j = j + 1
            else:
                j = 0
        return faces

    verts = read_verts(file_path)
    num_width = int(math.sqrt(len(verts)))
    faces = create_faces(num_width, num_width)

    # mesh
    mesh = bpy.data.meshes.new("terrain")
    mesh.from_pydata(verts,[],faces)
    mesh.update(calc_edges=True)

    # object
    object = bpy.data.objects.new("terrain",mesh)
    object.location = (-10, -10, 0)
    bpy.context.scene.objects.link(object)
    bpy.context.scene.objects.active = object
    object.select = True


How to detect if a modifier key is pressed when the value of a custom property is changed?

Oki, I eventually found how to get the modifier keys status and how to use the Event structure in a non-modal operator, this thanks to this post:
Python: Ctrl+Click for buttons (capture invocation event)

The answer is pretty straightforward and easy to use once we know it: the invoke function of an operator has an even argument that can easily be queried.

Quick example from the above link:

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

    ev = []
    if event.ctrl:
        ev.append("Ctrl")
    if event.shift:
        ev.append("Shift")
    if event.alt:
        ev.append("Alt")
    if event.oskey:
        ev.append("OS")
    ev.append("Click")

    self.report({'INFO'}, "+".join(ev))

    return wm.invoke_props_dialog(self)


When should I use different tracker motion models when motion tracking?

The Motion Model switch tells the motion solver for which motion it should look (Blender Documentation). You kind of need to think backwards here. For every camera movement you want to track - which transformation does this cause to the projected image on the sensor which the tracker actualy sees.
Each additional dimension you tell the tracker to look for, the longer it needs to compute
Depending on the implementation (sorry I didn't test it) the more markers you need in theory. For translation you only need 1 for rotation and scale at least 2.

If you enable "Location only" it will only look for changes in translation. For example if you dolly your camera parallel to a wall and want to track something on the wall, you don't need to look for any rotation or scale changes.

For each of the settings you enable different dimensions of movement for the tracker to look for.

Loc, Rot are pretty self explanatory. Use them when your camera keeps exactly parallel to the surface you want to track. Or other way around if you only move and scale things on a surface relative to your Camera.

If your camera is parallel to the surface and you also want to track for zoom you need to enable Scale.

"Affine"-transformation results in shearing of the image. So this settings enables the tracker to approximate perspective.

Lastly Perspective tracking enables the tracker to properly track in all dimensions. Use this for free camera movement.


How can I edge slide to an accurate value on one axis?

I solved the problem by creating a plane, moving it to the desired Z-coordinate and intersecting the meshes, but I am still very much interested in alternative solutions, as this is obviously not always a feasible solution.


Is there any way to use instances using Array modifier?

Try using a Simplify option. Check the Simplify box in Scene header and reduce the subdivisions to 2, 1 or 0. It may help you.


How much is the upper limit of video capacity when we use Video Editing?

Blender has the frame number limit.

Working Limits : Time

  "The maximum number of frames for each scene is currently 1,048,574,
  and allows for continuous shots for durations of:

  24 fps:   12 hours, 8 seconds.

  25 fps:   11 hours, 39 seconds.

  30 fps:   9 hours, 42 seconds.

  60 fps:   4 hours, 51 seconds."

But in your case this could be insufficient RAM as well.


Disable "Extrude region together along the average normal" dragable UI element

in the tools menu on the left side of your 3D viewport press on this icon

Or just press W to select the same tool "Select Box".


That edge is joined to the mesh, but there are three ways that it might look the way it does.

1) It's not part of a FACE. To make it part of a face, select the (at least 3) vertices that you want it to be part of, and press F. That will make a polygon out of those vertices. If you've chosen correctly, that edge will be part of the polygon as well

2) It's a 2-sided polygon. This is a really strange case, but the solution is usually just to delete it. You can switch to Edge Select mode, select that edge and delete it. You might have to do that multiple times to delete all of the edges that are on top of each other.

3) It IS part of a face, but you're looking at the backside of the face. Polygons only have one face. This is defined by the direction that the normal is facing for that polygon. The normal is a vector that points out from the surface of the face, perfectly perpendicular to it. If you're looking at the polygon from the same side as the normal, then you can see it. If you're looking from the other side, the polygon will disappear, and seem transparent. To solve this problem, confirm that it's a face and which direction it's pointing. In the viewport, TAB into edit mode. Then press N to open the view properties pane if it's not already open. Somewhere in that pane, you'll see a trio of buttons. One of them will be a box with a face highlighted. Click that box to turn on "Draw Face Normals." This will draw a little (or not so little, if the size is set too high) blue line that indicates the normal. The line starts ON the face of the polygon, and points outward. Look at the polygon from the same side as the normal (the normal should be pointing more-or-less at you) and the face should be visible.

Hope that helps!


Multiple materials on one exported model in UE4?

If I understand you correctly, you want a mesh that has 2 different materials applied to it?
Then just model 1 mesh in blender. Select the faces that you want and assign them to "Material 1". Then select the other faces and assign them to "Material 2".

Export as an .fbx and import in UE4. UE4 will automatically make 2 material slots on your mesh. (They are called "elements")
Then you can just drag and drop one material into one slot and another material onto the other slot.


Help with marking keyframes for the timeline

Grease Pencil keyframes are separate from the scene keyframes so they don't show on the timeline nor on the general dopesheet. To see them you have to set a viewport to Dope Sheet then set that dope sheet's mode to Grease Pencil.


According to the v2.92 manual (emphasis added):

The Sharp mark is used by the split normals and the Edge Split modifier, which are part of the smoothing or customized shading techniques.

So, anything that uses split normals can also use the sharp data.  This applies to the Auto Smooth feature of meshes.
Per the manual:

By default in Blender . . . a sharp edge is always defined as an edge being either non-manifold, or having at least one of its faces defined as flat.
Enabling the Auto Smooth setting adds an extra parameter to define a sharp edge, the Angle threshold between two neighbor faces, above which the edge will always be considered as sharp.

So, for example, you could apply Auto Smooth, say at 30°.  Then you could mark an edge as sharp, say an edge that was only 20°.  That edge would stay sharp thus overriding the Auto Smooth.


How I can export complete scene from blender to json file to use it with three. Js

The Blender exporter might still support this, but you'd need to switch from THREE.ObjectLoader to THREE.JSONLoader to import your model into three.js. I'm not sure how well-supported that is overall.

The other option, possibly more reliable, would be to use another of Blender's export formats that three.js also supports. I'd suggest trying FBX and glTF (addon) to get started. These work with THREE.FBXLoader and THREE.GLTFLoader respectively.


How to create good topology without changing the flow

I think you should consider applying subdivision modifier to the sphere so you have more vertices to work with and then extrude to top bit, it will make your model a bit higher on the vertex count but it let you manipulate the model more easily.

besides that check some tutorials about edge flow (there are a lot not blender related but when it comes to topology it doesn't matter what software you are using), I recommend Arrimus 3D he is amazing (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSLLdTBwLMfTKWS56tOiQpw)

and the most important video on the subject .. https://vimeo.com/10941211 by Grant Warwick

hope it helps


How do I combine three rendered animated layers?

First make sure that you enable transparency for the background (so that all of the layers have an alpha channel.

Then combine the layers in the compositor using Alpha Over

For a more detailed explanation Read:
My objects are semi-transparent, and not one behind the other in the compositor
and Can someone explain the layer system?


How to do a rigged character that supports different anatomy types with morphs?

Click the + button twice. Then go into edit mode and start moving vertices. Or go into or sculpt mode and move the vertices until you have a shape you like, repeat this until you're happy. Make sure while editing that only the key you are working on has a value of 1 and all others are 0, otherwise it might mess up your preview.


What I usually do if I can't seem to get things right in this case, is delete all the vertex groups and armature/mirror modifiers (or any other mods that might affect things) from the shirt and try again. If you have existing vert groups on the shirt it may cause problems. With a "blank" shirt, add the data transfer modifier again, apply it, then add the armature modifier back on.


Alpha channel is white, not transparent, in Texture mode

In cycles the transparency will not show on texture view. In Material view it will:

In blender render it is possible to display the transparency in texture mode or material mode:


I have resolved the problem. I realized that I had "Axis" checked under "Display" while looking at the properties of the object.


I would think you could use a principled shader with the transmission level set to 1.  Here's a demo scene:

There's a cylinder inside the first sphere and it acts as the filament:

The plane and the back sphere have simple principled shaders.  The only changed setting on either is the color.
The front sphere has a principled shader with roughness well down and transmission set to 1:

Note: if you look at this scene in Lookdev/Viewport shading you won't see the filament because EEVEE is used in lookdev:

My world emits no light and there are no other lights in the scene but the filament:

and the filament is just an emitter:

The blackbody simply sets the color to daylight.
Here's the render view with that setup:

or you can set the color to reddish by changing the temperature to 1500:

or lower the intensity of the bulb:

note that the yellow outline of the cylinder is because it's selected.  Here's an actual render:


Shadow in transparent background in blender 2.77 cycles

Try going in "Film" and check "Transparent" and make it Gaussian.


How can I list all the matcaps and studio lights via python?

What you are seeing is the string representation of a blender class instance, for example the context scene object.

>> str(C.scene)
'<bpy_struct, Scene("Scene")>'

In this case an object of type bpy.types.StudioLight
Of particular interest the  name and type property.

>>> for sl in C.preferences.studio_lights:
...     sl.name, sl.type
...
('Default', 'STUDIO')
('basic_1.exr', 'MATCAP')
('basic_2.exr', 'MATCAP')
('basic_dark.exr', 'MATCAP')
('basic_side.exr', 'MATCAP')

For example to make a dictionary with the type as the key to a list of the names of all of that type:

>>> from collections import defaultdict
>>> studio_lights = defaultdict(list)
>>> for sl in C.preferences.studio_lights:
...     studio_lights[sl.type].append(sl.name)
...

What types are there?

>>> studio_lights.keys()
dict_keys(['STUDIO', 'MATCAP', 'WORLD'])

All those of type 'MATCAP'

>>> studio_lights['MATCAP']
['basic_1.exr', 'basic_2.exr', 'basic_dark.exr', 'basic_side.exr', 'ceramic_dark.exr', 'ceramic_lightbulb.exr', 'check_normal+y.exr', 'check_reflection.exr', 'check_rim_dark.exr', 'check_rim_light.exr', 'clay_brown.exr', 'clay_muddy.exr', 'clay_studio.exr', 'jade.exr', 'metal_anisotropic.exr', 'metal_carpaint.exr', 'metal_lead.exr', 'metal_shiny.exr', 'pearl.exr', 'resin.exr', 'skin.exr', 'toon.exr']


how do i fix these distortions on my mesh that do not stem from misaligned vertices

You've created some creases (the purple edges), probably to get sharp edges, and didn't delete them, it messes with your topology. So select all in Edit mode and, in the N panel on the top right of your 3D view > Item tab, bring back the Mean Crease value to 0.


Everything in Blender is artificial. (lighting, shading, ...)

Blender Cycles has the rolling shutter functionality. Go to the scene settings and enable motion blur. In the Shutter Type, select Top To Bottom. Make sure to choose a relatively large shutter time and a small rolling shutter duration.


You need set up only one sun lamp.

(Asuming all objects are deselect)RigthMouseButton to select the sun lamp and while pressing Shit + RigthMouseButton select your player:

While both selected press Ctrl + P and select Vertex:

select, deselect all pressing A.
Select the sun lamp RigthMouseButton.
in property > data, active the shadow and show shadow check box.

In Quality you can edit the shadow size (higher value more impact)
In Quality you can edit the 'Bias' value, set to 0.1 and then go up to see what happens :P.
In Clipping the clip end value define the distance, beyond which objects will no generate shadows

In Clipping the frustum size value define the box size

Note HIGHER VALUES MAY HAVE PERFORMACE IMPACT

EDIT

You will notice bad light:

Then add a Hemi lamp and point it oposite to the sun lamp

ANSWER ANSWER!

The problem is with the camera.

I have reproduced the problem in 2 ways.

Positioning the camera closer or inside of an object with camera physics static
Positioning the camera inside of an object with camera physics no collision

Also found that your camera was tiny and the cylinder(character) too.
take a look to the blender manual> render>camera

To solve it:

1.Delete the camera and add a new camera (and dont scale it)

2.Move the camera To Position (dont put it inside of an object.) Make sure that the camera physics are no collision.

Yo can change the size of the camera:

And then you can parent the camera to object, and the sun to the  vertex object (better with vertex make parent in edition mode).


Can't fix this color glitch when joining objects

Apply the scale at both objects: in Object mode Ctrl+A then Scale
join them Ctrl+J
if the issue persists: go to edit mode Tab, select all A and hit Normals Recalculate in the Shading/UV tab of the toolbox (Shortcut would be Ctrl+N)


As you pointed out, a normal vector is a vector perpendicular to a surface. Because a surface (more specifically, a point in a surface) is considered to be 2D, there will allways be two vectors that are perpendicular to it (actually more than two, but we are only accounting unit vectors and from these there are only two).
You can consider one of them to be positive and the other to be negative; being the positive the one to point outwards, and the negative to point inwards.
Vertices alone, by definition, don't have normals. Their normal vectors are an interpolation of the normals of the faces the vertex is connected to. Even so, Blender uses loop normals, which means a vertex has one normal vector for each loop it belongs to.

Now the inner works is quite simple, and your answer to the thread question is here: A normal vector of a triangle is calculated by normalizing the cross product of two edges from the triangle. If you understand a bit of math, you'd know the result is a vector perpendicular to those edges, and therefore perpendicular to the whole triangle. If you change the order of those edges in the cross product, you'll get the negative 'version' of the normal (using the right hand rule). This is done so, by carefully setting the order the triangle vertices are stored and used.

Now, the main reason a flipped normal will look different from the others, has to do with Normal-Light calculations. These are dependent of the dot product, and it becomes negative if the angle between the light source and the normal is greater than PI/2.


Let's take some math.

12m with some seconds it is about 720 sec. Lets take this length.

First video size =
bitrate * Length = 15112 Kb/s * 720s = 10880640 kb = 1360080 kB ~ 1.36 GB

Second video size =
bitrate * Length = 26500 Kb/s * 720s = 19080000 kb = 2385000 kB ~ 2.38 GB

2.38GB - 1.36GB = 1.02GB!


Extrude tool is set to Region by default. Just set it to Extrude Individual:


I'm Trying to inset circles on the corner of the mouth but I can't quite figure it out

I figured it out, I just need to create a cylinder of the right size and position it properly. Then apply a boolean modifier to the mask object with the cylinder as the picked object.