Is there a way to fracture part of an object using the fracture modifier?

I guess you are still asking about how to fracture your cartridge/crowbar scene ?
I tried now with prefracture and one particle helper object and the fracture addon "timing" feature, where you basically can delay the FM simulation by x frames. This just simulates the intact object and records keyframes, then it plays it back as animated rigidbody. After Frame X is reached, the animated checkbox will be disabled by keyframe and simulation takes over.
The helper object was carefully placed near the supposed impact point of the crowbar, and additionally some weak constraints were created to hold the shards farther away from impact together. In this blend's case X was Frame 85.

Edit: in this case i even could disable the constraints entirely. Looked even a bit better :)

Looks like this:

But take a look into the blend I prepared here.

Edit: Reworked version of the new question blend:

I did the following:

Removed all modifiers from the cartridge
Removed solidify from ground, extruded it properly
Set origin to geometry on ground
Made the ground a Box shape, with 0.0 margin
Moved the helper into the cartridge, so its particles "intersect" it
Since the crowbar impacts 2 times, I duplicated the helper and moved it
added FM with Voronoi+Bisect and Extra Particles and Helper group
disabled Uniform in FM, executed fracture again
constraint settings: "vertex" (set the radius to a low value before switching to vertex !!!)
breaking angle to 5 degrees

Then I played a bit around with different angles, constraint settings (centroid vs. vertex, limits, search radius, breaking angles) but it turned out those were the best settings imho. You get 2 impacts with them without the cartridge sliding away too quickly. But it breaks a bit more than just making a hole into the surface. Note: the animated crowbar acts as if it had infinite mass (i assume) so changing its mass while being animated should have no effect in theory.

Edit: final attempt of mine, couldnt get much closer... although tweaking for a while. Converted the keyframe animation into deltas and rotated the cartridge... so it gets a better hit pattern according to the crowbar anim.
Not sure if there are still too many shards, note some variation in shard size adds up some detail (imho). If still too many, feel free to reduce particle amount in helpers or alternatively the shard count in FM (applies to uniform)
Tried hard so the top is smashed and the bottom stays relatively intact.


Just a guess, but it looks as if the light in your scene may be set with too high a strength, washing out the results. Check to see what the strength setting is on your light by selecting it in Object Mode and looking at the Object Data tab in the Properties Panel. You can also turn on the rendering viewport setting by holding the z key and choosing Rendering from the pie menu popup. Changing this setting will allow you to see what you can expect visually from your adjustments to this light before committing to an actual render. Hope this helps.


Make object follow a path from a specific frame (not frame 0)

Edit: Ok, actually you should rather unparent and give your object a Follow Path constraint with the curve as Target.

Then, when you press Animate Path, it moves your object.

You can ether play with the constraint Offset value to move it the way you want. In your case keep it at 0 at Frame 50.

Or you can select the curve, go in the Graph Editor, unfold the Bezier Curve track on the left, select the Evaluation Time, display the N panel, select the Modifiers tab, close the Generator.

Now keep the curve selected, go in the Properties editor > Data > Path Animation, play with the Evaluation Time value and create some keyframes to make the object move along the curve. In your case, keep the Evaluation Time at 0 until frame 50.


It's the displacement modifier that is causing the issue. The output of the displacement modifier is not visible in edit mode, but when you switch back to object mode the mesh looks weird. Just delete the displacement modifier if you are not using it.
Some Screenshots:


How Should I refocus camera on an object while editing?

I'm not entirely sure what you mean, but you can always center your view to a specific object, face, vertex, ... by selecting it and pressing , on your NumPad.

The view now orbits around that point.

If you want to aim your active camera to the same view, press ctrl+alt+NumPad 0

To look around you, hit shift+f


You will have to use bmesh.

A bmesh object provides a much more advanced way of interrogating a mesh than as merely a set of vert/edge/face sequences.  Given only raw vert/edge/face data, consisting of indices and lists of indices, you could of course build your own model of the inter-relations between elements of the mesh, making several passes over the mesh, noting various states such as selection, deducing which vertex is 'neighbor' to which others, and so forth.  Thank Joe, you don't have to do all that.

All you have to do is bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(mesh), and that bm will have topological-relationship information already figured out.  For examples of what I mean by topological-relationship information:  You are able to ask a vertex for it's link_edges, and subsequently ask one of those edges for it's other_vert(vert) given the one you already have, to find the other, and then if it's selected, that is your next group.

There is even a selection history for you: BMesh.select_history, such that bm.select_history.active will be your group zero vertex. (If you are in vertex mode.)

While I can't write your script for you – only you know the particulars – I'd hate to leave you hanging without some code example, so here's a template I had from a while ago, from when I was testing some things in bmesh.  It's just a bunch of boilerplate, but it puts you at a convenient place to test bmesh things:

import bpy
import bmesh

class BMOPEX_OT_bmop(bpy.types.Operator):

    bl_idname = "bmopex.bmop"
    bl_label = "Bmopex:Bmop"

    def execute(self,context):
        ob = context.active_object
        mesh = ob.data
        bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(mesh)
        print("self,context,ob,mesh,bm:",self,context,ob,mesh,bm)
        return {"FINISHED"}

    @classmethod
    def poll(self,context):
        return context.active_object and \
        context.active_object.type == 'MESH' and \
        context.active_object.mode == 'EDIT' and \
        context.scene.tool_settings.mesh_select_mode[0]
        #                                vertex mode ^


Why is my cycles render still grainy on 1000 cycles?

I see a few things you can improve:

You can use much less polygons. The higher the polygon count, the longer the render will take. Try searching for tutorials that use subdivision ("subdiv") modifiers.
Use a cube instead of a collection of planes. There are gaps between the planes, which makes it harder for Blender to analyze the scene. Using a gapless cube will improve the rendering.
Reduce the number of light bounces; this is what I used in the render below:
Use GPU rendering if you have an NVidia or AMD video card:

Reduce the number of samples (because by now you don't need that many).  I used 100 samples instead of 1000 in the render below.

This is the result (except the polygon count, I kept the lamp model the same), which was rendered in just under a minute on an NVidia Geforce GTX 970.


Blender and Linux, Which Linux distrubution is best for Blender 2.81

If you are new to Linux then go for one with the best support.  That would, without doubt, be Ubuntu ... the user base is so large that it is really easy to find help.
There is a dedicated Stack Exchange site at https://askubuntu.com/ if you like to search these Q&A sites.
I believe they use(d) Ubuntu at the blender institute, certainly I have have seen it in some of their videos.
It is also popular among blender users.  This screenshot comes from https://snapcraft.io ( Snaps are an app package format, which is officially supported by Blender).

While these stats may be biased (more Ubuntu users will use Snap than other distros), it does show that you would at least have some company.
Once you are comfortable with it, you will find it easier to migrate to other variants many of which are based on Ubuntu, so it is hard to avoid.
Reading this article on best linux distributions for everyone, all but one are based on Ubuntu.
DISCLAIMER: I don't currently use Ubuntu
... but then again I have 20+ yrs experience with linux and like to edit text files.  I have used Ubuntu for long periods, over the years.  It is probably your best start point.


Your object is scaled to a factor of 0.003 and it is messing up with operator values and property scaling. In object mode apply the scale to your object by pressing Ctrl+A > Scale.

Also your scene seems to have Unit Scale is at 0.001, which might also be messing up with scaling factors. See if you need to adjust it at the Properties Window > Scene > Units tab


Objects shows through other objects when compositing

My example was made in Blender Render, but it doesn't matter in this case.
First of all enable Object Index pass in Render Passes tab, then give index 1 to your hose (note, that objects with same index will produce combined mask, and to keep them separate use different numbers).

Edit: Material index pass is usefull when your object can't be physically separated in parts, so apply different materials for these parts.

This is overall setup:


How can I transition between two shapes?

I would recommend using shape keys. Shape keys will warp between one shape to another.

To use shape keys. Create the default mesh, then go to edit mode and scroll down to the shape keys section. Click the plus and model the blade(make sure to use the same vertices as the hand model). Exit edit mode, and drag the influence slider to change the shape.


Its a viewport render preview at 32 samples.
No wonder its grainy.
Increase the samples.
With glass materials try at least 1000.


Working around Blender's color management problems & General Confusion

Blender has incorporated some of Filmic Blender but...

Information on this topic can be found here:

Are there significant differences between filmic shipped with blender and its development version?

  Guru says "Do this simple thing and all your stuff will look better forever"

Instead of relying on dogma, edicts and magic formulas from gurus or priests, it's laudable that you want to take the time to understand how the tools work, and how you can use them for your own purposes. That way you'll get the results you are after, and don't have to settle for whatever you get using unknown parameters.

Read:
Render with a wider dynamic range in cycles to produce photorealistic looking images

  So I'm trying to figure out how to make due with standard blender at least for now.

A quick and painless solution is to render your images as EXRs. When you render as EXRs, the final result does not have any color transforms applied to it. That way you can keep all of your scene referred information as linear and undistorted, and then you can import the images into blender (or other apps) and apply the display transforms that you want (including the filmic transforms) before saving them to display referred images (tif, jpg, png or video endoding).

  Why we can't just simulate photons around, record their wavelengths, and call it a day

Because image making requires interpretation. There is no universal or "correct" way of determining what should be black or what should be white, or how to interpret all of the tones in between. The same scene can look totally different if you choose to prioritize different brightness levels, or if the scene is visualized through a filter. It all depends on the intentions of the person making the image.

A render engine determines the values for each pixel based on the light reaching the object and the qualities of the materials that make the object. But how those values are represented in the final image, depends on the view transforms through which the image is processed.

In other words: The render engine generates scene referred data, and the values can be in a scale that is linear and infinite, as in real life. In order to represent those values in an image they have to be converted to the limited values that a monitor or projector or paper can display. The values are usually modified in a way that is no longer linear and looks "correct" or "pleasing" (as our brain does not perceive brightess linearly). The data is converted thus to display referred. The tools to convert from scene referred to display referred are the display transforms, which are a series of rules based on LUTs (Look Up Tables) and other algorithms to convert values.

  how do the Display Device, Render View, Look, and Color Space even interact?

The way to combine or compound different transforms is by using the Display, View and Looks options in the color management settings.

Display Device will be sRGB If you are using a regular monitor. No need to use any other option (and if you are using a monitor with a wider color space, like a DCIP3 retina display or a HDR monitor you are in for a new set of problems...) The rule of thumb is not to use any setting that you do not know how to use... Do you have a compelling reason to display XYZ? If you don't, then don't use it.

Render View Select Filmic or sRGB to render finished images, Non-Colour data for normal maps or bump maps.

Looks Are meant as additional transforms to control contrast within the log encoded images created by filmic blender.

  What are the dozens of film types listed in look for?

They come from configurations for other software that somehow made its way to blender. They are largely useless and can safely be ignored. Read: What is the actual film manufacturer reference for the film response data?

How to learn more? There are plenty of posts on this site. And if you get stuck ask for help in a concise way.


[Final Edit now I think I understand the problem better]

OK, so I have the same behavior as you if I use your AN setup. Blender expects the passive to not be moving, or you to be explicit about it if it's moving.

So my solution:

Select cube, go to physics, add rigid body, select type active.
Select plane, go to physics, add rigid body, select type passive. Under settings, tick Animated.
Play animation.

It should work.


If the cube is black make sure the Anisotropic value is set to 0 (zero). To make the fog a consistent colour, add an 'Add Shader' and a 'Volume Absorption Shader' with the same colour as the Volume scatter node.


A panel disappears if poll() returns False:

    @classmethod
    def poll(cls, context):
        return context.scene.name == 'B'

If Scene.name is equal to 'B', it will show.


Need help rendering a panoramic equirectangular movie of a computer game recorded in box projection mode in cycles

It is hard to say for sure without the video file, but based on what you provided the answer is pretty simple: your camera is not actually positioned inside the cube.  It is positioned outside the cube, and therefore it's just rendering the face of the cube that's visible to it.

I made a few minor changes to your file: I repositioned the camera to inside the cube; rotated it 180 degrees to face the "middle" of the image; played with your cube's UV map to get it to fit the still you provided; and changed the material to an emission shader for visibility.  This was my render:

Is this the type of thing you had in mind?

Edit: since the cockpit still was not posted in the question I am including it here for reference.

with some further tweaking, I got the render to look like this:

It is important that the camera be centered within the cube, you can align the objects by using the Object-->Transform-->Align Objects command.

There are some discontinuities in the image, a few may have to do with my lack of precision in adjusting the UVs, but I think most of them come from the fact that your sample image does not wrap perfectly.  The panel to the top of the center is screwed up somehow, for example it includes additional images of those windshield seams.  Also the seam where the leftmost and rightmost edges join doesn't seem to be a perfect fit.


Why Geometry's Tangent are difference from Tangent node?

Per your link:

Direction Type
The tangent direction can be derived from a cylindrical projection
around the X, Y, or Z axis (radial), or from a manually created UV
Map for full control.

Geometry -> Tangent is giving you the same output as the Tangent node set to Radial Z.


I realised that if the lattice encloses the objects completely and if the options are changed from bspline to linear, it does the job.


I am not sure if animated gifs are supported, but videos can be used as color inputs.
You can see more about video textures here:
https://www.blender.org/manual/render/blender_render/textures/types/video.html

in order to make the video appear on only one face of the box the best way would be to add one more material slot and assign a new material to that particular face.


does more processors and cores help performance?

When it come to rendering, the key is the number of cores : two core are twice faster than one core. The frequency of each core is to be considered too.

The bad news is processors are expensive. Sure, a 1,000$ i9 will render faster than your i3 ; but not that fast. And motherboards with 2 sockets aren't cheap either.

The good news is, graphic cards have a lot of cores and are relatively cheap (thanks to the gaming industry). Each core is less powerful than a CPU one, but there are literally hundreds of cores. And nearly every motherboard allows to use two or more graphic cards. There are chances that you already own a compatible graphic card.

A good way to know which cards are best is to compare them using this benchmark : http://blenchmark.com/gpu-benchmarks

To use GPU instead of CPU for rendering, you need to set it in the User Preferences. In System/Cycles Compute Device, choose CUDA (for a NVidia card) or OpenCL (for AMD cards). This question has a really detailed answer about that topic.


Normals configuration shortcuts

Ctrl+N Calculates the Normals to face outside

Ctrl+Shift+N Calculates the Normals to face inside

The shortcuts can be used in Edit Mode on selected faces.

Alternatively you can use Flip Direction button within the Shading/UVs tab in Tools panel


Use the Fac output of the magic texture, which will give you  black and white image that contains the basic pattern created by the Texture node.

You can then feed that information to a color ramp and create your own swirly pallete.


How to control a procedural texture with an empty?

As @moonboots has commented, you've already got it.. and just done a bit too much?
This setup puts the texture into the Empty's object space, so transforms on the Empty will transform the texture.


The pixels are tearing after rendering. What to do?

I think you may have the shading for that object set to 'Flat'.  In the 3D view press t to bring up the Tool Shelf and find shading (under tools).  Click on 'Smooth'.  See if that changes the render.

eh five


You will need only one collision box for the entire set of stairs, don't bother with bounds for each step, it just makes stuff complicated.

The black line symbolizes the collision mesh. Set it to invisible. When the character goes up the stairs, there won't be any issues, and it looks real enough that no-one should notice this standard FPS nuance.
Also, if you use BGE there is a setting for step height under the character physics type.


Copy Rotation causes rigged foot to rotate the wrong way

Axis were mismatching. Rotated the bone with wrong axis to match the rest and it works now.


After quite some research, I am pretty sure it is not possible to directly extract the curve's normals from Blender, but it is possible to extract the control point's TILT values with a Python script. However, I found a solution to recalculate the normals in OpenGL which I will present here in case someone has the same issue in the future.

I realised that blender calculates the normals using an algorithm which minimises the twisting of the normals compared to the previous values (called "Minimum"). Since I didn't find a way to export these normals from Blender, nor a complete explanation of the algorithm, what I did first was to change the normals' calculation to "Z-UP" in Blender (which is simply another way of calculating normals). Then I imported the curve's control points and handles with a Python script and recalculated the normals in OpenGL as for a standard Bezier curve. Finally, I still had some issues with the twisting and especially where the end meets the beginning of the curve. This problem was solved by calculating the normals using the previous point's normal and adding a low and constant value to the latter's y component.


Try to make the topology a bit cleaner. Maybe this will help. I retopologized your mesh and gave it the modifier's settings from your screenshot. As you can see the beveled edge of the object on the right looks better.


If you are sure that there is no edge separation in that part just press 'smooth' button in tools panel.

If your surface is flat, your model would be cleaner if you check that in that broken part, all of the vertices are placed in the same plane.


Unwanted black frames around fog material

The problem and the solution to it is mentioned in the video you are linking to (appr. 20:10).

You have to increase the max bounces for Transparency under Render Properties / Light Paths / Max Bounces until the "black boxes" doesn't show up anymore.


How to create a 3D figure with turtle graphic style commands

The Blender User Interface is written in Python, and Python 3.4 is included in the most recent (2.76b as of this writing) distribution of Blender. I see from this page that Python has up through release 3.5 included an implementation of Turtle graphics, so the answer to your question is a qualified "Yes", though it might be that you have to do some fiddling around with the Python implemented in Blender to obtain this capability.


How to create an edge loop including an existing edge?

That wouldn't be an edge loop, also by doing so you create triangular faces. To do that, you make an edge loop cut like you usually do. And then you merge vertices of your unwanted edge to the existing edge. By properly selecting "merge to last" or "merge to first", your existing edge will stay where it was.


You can use the node setup at the bottom of the following images and keyframe the Mix Shader's Fac: value from 0-1. Obviously load one image into one node and another into the other node.

Fac: at 0, notepad showing:

Fac: at 1, bricks showing:

If you wish, the pictured .blend file with the nodes can be downloaded right here:

If you want to fade into a Diffuse BSDF, just don't include one of the Image Textures and still keyframe the same value.

Fac: at 0, notepad showing:

Fac: at 1, Diffuse BSDF showing:


What's the best way to deal with zero-area faces that break normals

There is a tool specifically for this.

First select all faces (typically selecting the entire mesh is fine).
Access this menu item from the 3D View: Mesh -> Cleanup -> Degenerate Dissolve to remove zero area faces, zero length edges.

Using dissolve is useful because it won't make holes where the faces used to be, it simply removes the face and merges surrounding edges.

you can change the threshold as a tool option.


I figured it out, I must measure the distance between one frame and multiply it by (scene fps)*60*60/1000, the result is in km\h (one scene unit is one meter).

An automatic solution would be better though.


That would be an area that could be improved.

If you change theme settings, and then press the + button next to the theme list you can give your new theme a name. By using an existing custom theme name, you can overwrite your existing theme settings. If you use an existing name of a theme that is included with blender then you get two themes with the same name.

Custom themes are saved into scripts/presets/interface_theme along with your startup and userpref files.

You could make a suggestion at Right Click Select to see if someone wants to work on making this more intuitive.


Strange, indescribable color glitching near edges when using viewport shading in Blender 2.8

Fixed it for me by checking and unchecking Screen Space Reflections in Render Properties.


How to introduce random material offset and rotation to array modifier created objects in 2.81?

This is video what helped me. The Array modifier creates a copy of an object, which behaves exactly as its origin. So you should also see this answer.
Apply the modifier to make the data real.
Enter Edit Mode on the object and press P  > Separate by loose parts.
Select all separated objects and press Shift + Ctrl + Alt + C  > Origin to Geometry.
This will make each piece an individual object with the origin located at the origin of the original object. Now you can manipulate them as you wish.


Dark triangle on shadow edge (cycle mode only)

Try to increase Suzanne's Subdivision levels with Subsurface Modifier.
Try to increase Lamp Angle.
Or you can increase Shadow Terminator Offset for smoother shadow transitions.
Image below: Shadow Terminator offset 0.00 vs 0.1:


How to align bones so their rotations are the same?

You can add a bone Copy Rotation constraint then Apply Visual Transform to Pose then Apply Pose as Rest Pose.

As far as I can remember someone here in BSE had created a script to make this process faster, you may find it with a quick search.


How to switch between two fonts using a decoding animation while the letters rain in from the sky

You can try per character animation using Decompose Text node. I think this node is much more flexible to use.
In this example i used falloff to offset size between two text instead of slicing.

For multiple text we can create text list. To appear each element once in a circular fashion we can use Shift List node. The setup below makes text element appea every 40 frame one by one.

Full node tree with a above setup added:

For back and forth effect we can create switches for matrices. Each switch will have two inputs reversed and non-reversed matrices list and output is altered using modulo function.


How to load models in Realtime from a blend file

By default the BGE loads everything from a scene at scene start. To add more objects to a scene while the game is running you can use bge.logic.LibLoad() to dynamically load all objects from a scene of an external .blend file.

Be aware currently (since 2.78) this is supported:

loading a single mesh (mesh - not object!)
loading all objects of a scene
loading an action

Sample code:

def loadAndMergeScene():
    libraryStatus = bge.logic.LibLoad(
        "//Asset.blend",
        "Scene")
    return libraryStatus.libraryName

To unload the merged data call LibFree(). The library name should match the one from loading.

def removeAndUnloadLibrary(libraryName):
    bge.logic.LibFree(libraryName)


Animation Nodes: Allign object to direction of vector path/Line path

We will get this info by using the atan2() math function. We will use the x and y coordinates of your line starts and end.

In the loop where you initialize your line meshes, add a new parameter of type "Euler List". Disable the input and enable the output. Add a "Reassign" node on the right of your loop.

On the right, set this up :

So, we are getting the y Delta between the two points, then the x Delta. By using arctan2 we can get the angle on the x,y plane in radians.

We combine this angle into an Euler object with an equivalent rotation around Z axis, and add 90 degrees to it so the steps face the right direction.

We then fill a list with the same number of elements as we have steps. We then combine it with the previous list so that each vertex, and consequently each step, is associated with an angle.

Finally change your setup to accept the euler rotations. Don't forget to actually activate the rotations in the "Object Transforms Output" node.

Result (with a solidify modifier) :


Just press Alt + H
It also selects everything that was hidden. Works with hidden parts of your mesh in Edit Mode and Hidden Objects in Object Mode.


How to select two individual points without selecting other edges?

Select Mouse, i.e. the mouse button used for selection (see User Preferences), will call the Activate/Select operator which, by default, selects one vertex while deselecting the rest.

Shift + Select Mouse will call Activate/Select and toggle selection of vertices instead of deselecting other vertices, allowing you to multi-select individual vertices.

If a path of vertices is being selected when you attempt to multi-select, you're using Ctrl + Select Mouse which calls Pick Shortest Path, the operator that selects all vertices in a path between two individual vertices.


How to animate a rig by using a video as a source?

In the 3D viewport, you can add background images to use as reference while modelling or animating. You can also add an image to an empty to get an image floating in the viewport that is always visible as you move around. An image sequence or movie can be used as well as a static image.


How to have Denoiser ignore certain objects?

The Denoiser in Blender version 2.79 can be activated per Render Layer, and as such you can mix denoised and noisy footage as you like. If you ever wondered why the Blender Devs have put that Denoiser into the Render Layers context of the Properties Panel, that's why.

All you need to do is separate your scene into Render Layers with the objects in question on them, and using the little checkbox on the Denoiser activate Denoising only for one of them. The same trick can be used if your objects demand different denoise strength settings, of course, and also to render the layers at different sample counts if you wish.

Here's a demo .blend that shows the approach in action:

The first render layer contains all geometry on Layer 1, and has Denoising activated:

The second Render Layer contains only objects on Layer 2 (monkeyhead), Denoiser is turned off for this one:

When you render this using F12, you should get two Render Layers, which then are combined using the correlated Alpha method described in this question here: Where do the white lines come from in my composite?

That trick is really only needed if both render layers mask out each other, which in this case is useful for performance reasons. The result looks like this (floor and cube denoised, monkey noise as usual):


How to print a graphic on a glass window

To make a proper glass pane:

Use a BW image instead of a transparent one
Use the Mix Shader node
Add some thickness to your glass pane, so it bends light like in reality

Additional notes

It's better to use Principled BSDF if you're going for realism
I used two materials so it looks better. Glass with white stripes for front face, and pure glass for the rest.


particle system with particles that conform to surface

The obvious answer would be to use the hair simulation.

Create a hair emitter object an empty forcefield object and a sphere collision object.
On the hair emitter decrease gravity to 0, enable hair dynamics with a large step size (like 20+).

Place the empty with the forcefield and your sphere with collision enabled within the emitter object.

On the hair emitter hit "bake" in the hair dynamics tab. Like 20 frames should do for the particles to settle around the collision object.

You should get something like this:

Now just tweak the hair length and strand thickness and select a shader.
Done


You are in orthographic view, press 5 on your numpad.


Is there a way to lock camera roll as it tracks along a path?

You can try to edit the "tilt" value of every control point of the curve, even creating new ones if it helps to achieve the desired control.


First, let me explain what the different texture images are:

Diffuse - A normal picture of the material
Albedo - The color of the material (diffuse minus shadows)
Ambient Occlusion (or just AO) - The shadows of the material
Displacement - A depth map of the material (white = high, dark = low)
Normal - Which way the each point on the surface is facing (next to diffuse/albedo, this is probably the most important)
Roughness - How rough each point on the surface is
Glossiness - How glossy each point on the surface is (this is literally just the inverse of roughness.  You only need one)

Here's how you can connect each of them to the Principled Shader:

In that example, I'm using the albedo texture for the base color.  Here's a comparison using the albedo texture, diffuse texture, and albedo along with the ambient occlusion.
Albedo:

Diffuse:

Albedo + Ambient Occlusion:

(Note, you can probably get the colors to match the previous two better if you use something like the color ramp node between the Ambient Occlusion texture and the mix color node)
For the normal texture, you need to use the Normal Map node.  For only the displacement texture, use just the Bump node.  For both textures, use both nodes as I showed in the example.


To add an image as your world background, you need to set that image as a texture input for the world object. To do this, add a texture to the world by selecting the world object in the Outliner, then selecting the 'Textures' tab of the Properties panel and adding a new texture. Go to the Preview submenu and select the world tab, so that you are editing the global texture. Finally, under the type of texture, select 'Image or Movie', and select the image you wish to use.

For a more detailed description of the subject, go to http://pages.uoregon.edu/art3d/composite/composite25.html.


Hair Render looks totally different in RenderViewport and the actual Render

Your amount of children particles is set to 1 for the render, increase it to match the display (viewport).


Decimate Selection down to a specific vertex count

Decimate Geometry

As your question's title - Decimate Geometry is what you're looking for. Both can find in Blender 2.79b and Blender 2.80 beta.

It collapses those selected geometry by the determined parameters, you can always redo this operator in the invoked panel to see which parameter suit for your case.

Select your target geometry in edit mode and with the mesh dropdown > Clean Up > Decimate Geometry

What if I need a beautiful edge loop?

As another answer point out, you could create a circle with desired vertices. Move it to the edge loop you want to decimate, delete the complicated one and join the circle created. And choose both the edge loop of the opened edges, use Bridge Edge Loops operator to connect them.


Blender - move camera each rendered frame for mono font

Implemented it by a script, which generates keyframes for a camera, thousand of them.
Here is the blender file https://yadi.sk/d/6AXRNZDxEwAtDw

And here is the code, note these magic numbers - i was finding them for few hours, and still not sure if they are right, but close

import bpy
from mathutils import Vector

# useful shortcut
scene = bpy.context.scene

# this shows you all objects in scene
scene.objects.keys()
cam = bpy.data.objects["Camera"];
cam.location.x = 0
for frame in range(1073):
    scene.frame_set(frame)
    cam.location.x = frame * 0.35285 - 0.209;
    cam.keyframe_insert(data_path="location", index=-1)


In Python, given x-value on 2D Bezier Curve, return y-value

The following script uses the formula for cubic Bezier curves (which Blender approximates) to first determine t (which is the parametrization of the curve) from x and then gets y from t.

import bpy
import numpy as np

def main():
    '''Here's an example usage of these functions'''
    x = 5.0
    bez_obj = bpy.data.objects['BezierCurve']

    print('The y-value is', getYfromXforBezierObject(bez_obj, x))

def getYfromXforBezierObject(bez_obj, x):
    '''Given a Bezier object which, when projected on to xy-plane, is a
    well-behaved function (i.e. each x-value has only one associated y-value),
    this returns the y-value for a given x-value

    The higher resolution your curve is, the more accurate the resultant y-value
    will be.'''

    #find appropriate segment
    segment_i = determineBezSegment(bez_obj, x)

    if len(bez_obj.data.splines) > 1:
        print("WARNING: your Bezier object has multiple splines!")

    spline = bez_obj.data.splines[0]

    #get the four points that control the cubic bezier segment
    P0 = spline.bezier_points[segment_i].co[:2]
    P1 = spline.bezier_points[segment_i].handle_right[:2]
    P2 = spline.bezier_points[segment_i+1].handle_left[:2]
    P3 = spline.bezier_points[segment_i+1].co[:2]

    y = getYfromXforBezSegment(P0, P1, P2, P3, x)

    return y

def determineBezSegment(bez_obj, x):
    '''Given a Bezier object and an x-value, determine which of the cubic
    segments corresponds to that x-value.
    A return value of 0 would represent the first segment.'''
    print(bez_obj.data)
    bez_points = bez_obj.data.splines[0].bezier_points

    if len(bez_obj.data.splines) > 1:
        print("WARNING: your Bezier object has multiple splines!")

    #loop through all segments and find which one contains x
    for segment_i in range(len(bez_points)-1):
        start_point = bez_points[segment_i]
        end_point = bez_points[segment_i+1]
        #break if this segment contains x
        if start_point.co[0] <= x < end_point.co[0]:
            break
    #check if no segment was found
    else:
        print("WARNING: no segment found for given x-value and Bezier object")
        return None

    return segment_i

def getYfromXforBezSegment(P0, P1, P2, P3, x):
    '''For a cubic Bezier segment described by the 2-tuples P0, ..., P3, return
    the y-value associated with the given x-value.

    Ex: getXfromYforCubicBez((0,0), (1,1), (2,1), (2,2), 3.2)'''

    #First, get the t-value associated with x-value, where t is the
    #parameterization of the Bezier curve and ranges from 0 to 1.
    #We need the coefficients of the polynomial describing cubic Bezier
    #(cubic polynomial in t)
    coefficients = [-P0[0] + 3*P1[0] - 3*P2[0] + P3[0],
                    3*P0[0] - 6*P1[0] + 3*P2[0],
                    -3*P0[0] + 3*P1[0],
                    P0[0] - x]
    #find roots of this polynomial to determine the parameter t
    roots = np.roots(coefficients)
    #find the root which is between 0 and 1, and is also real
    correct_root = None
    for root in roots:
        if np.isreal(root) and 0 <= root <= 1:
            correct_root = root

    #check to make sure a valid root was found
    if correct_root is None:
        print('Error, no valid root found. Are you sure your Bezier curve '
              'represents a valid function when projected into the xy-plane?')
    param_t = correct_root

    #from our value for the t parameter, find the corresponding y-value using formula for
    #cubic Bezier curves
    y = (1-param_t)**3*P0[1] + 3*(1-param_t)**2*param_t*P1[1] + 3*(1-param_t)*param_t**2*P2[1] + param_t**3*P3[1]
    assert np.isreal(y)
    # typecast y from np.complex128 to float64
    y = y.real
    return y

if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

This script will work only if your Bezier curve is a function when projected into the xy-plane (hit NUM7 and make sure it passes the "vertical line test").


What's the difference between the Subdivision Surface modifier and the edit mode->RMB->Subdivide option?

"Modifiers are automatic operations that affect an object’s geometry in a non-destructive way. With modifiers, you can perform many effects automatically that would otherwise be too tedious to do manually (such as subdivision surfaces) and without affecting the base geometry of your object."
https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/modeling/modifiers/introduction.html

If you want to preserve the mesh for ease of use, Modifiers are the way to go. if you don't care about it they are not that different except more options before applying the modifier


After searching in blender manual I find out that the problem was the shading mode. Basically edge was clearly visible because I applied flat shading to my model and then exported it.

The changes I made to my gltf exporter didn't affect my model at all.

to change you can change shading mode in transform tab in object mode


Quick and dirty:
bpy.context.scene['MyProperty'] = 5 # or 'yay' or whatever

You do not have to declare anything when using this method.But this is adding to the struct "scene", more practical:
bpy.types.Scene.MyProperty = 5 # registers a new variable to the scene
print(bpy.context.scene.MyProperty) # prints 5

Cleanest way I know of:
bpy.types.Scene.MyProperty = bpy.props.FloatProperty()

If you want to use it as part of an addon, you may want to check if MyProperty registered already, otherwise you risk overwriting settings from the previous session.
More information: https://docs.blender.org/api/current/bpy.props.html
To display your value, you can use any field with information, e.g.
def draw(self, context):
    self.layout.label(text=str(bpy.context.scene.MyProperty))

More info about panels here: https://docs.blender.org/api/current/bpy.types.Panel.html


it works perfectly fine for me but I would suggest reinstalling blender. The macbook i use also has laggy animations sometimes so i restarted the computer and it turned out that my ram was full


How do I work with User Ops Nicely? How do I manage selection state?

I'm not certain there is a 'most correct' way, answers rarely exist in a vacuum. Settle for 'optimal' approach given a scenario.

A few take-aways:

The "Active object" is always selected, its .select attribute will return True.
Only one object can be Active in the scene at any given time.
it is possible that no object is active, yet several are selected.
A call to bpy.ops.object.shade_smooth() will shade all selected objects, not just active. (bpy.ops.object isn't a reference to an object, like bpy.context.active_object is )
bpy.ops.object.shade_smooth() doesn't take parameters, so it operates blindly on the current data.objects in your scene.
Adding objects using ops.mesh places that object in the active state
bpy.context.scene.objects.active = None, will remove the active state of an object, and it will become just 'selected'
bpy.context.scene.objects.active = bpy.data.objects[your_object], will set that object active. (it will not clear the select state of any previously active object)
bpy.context.scene.objects.link() does not place the object in an active or selected state, you must set that explicitly yourself.

A solution to the potential chaos?

Most flexible is probably an ID property, each object can have several  ID properties. You can pool objects by giving them each the same ID prop.

my_obj = bpy.data.objects['some_object']
my_obj['UHOH_ID'] = 'DONTSHADEME'  # attaches this ID property

A fast way to 1) un-select all objects, and 2) make sure none are active is the following two lines:

bpy.context.scene.objects.active = None  # turns active object to selected
bpy.ops.object.select_all(action='DESELECT') # properly unselects all.

Once you get your head around adding ID properties to objects, here's a list comprehension that returns the list of object references that have MY_ID.

objects = bpy.data.objects
objs = [o for o in objects if o.get('MY_ID') == 'SOME_VALUE']

Then to select just those objects with MY_ID

for o in objs:
    o.select = True

Why worry about selecting and deselecting and what is or isn't active?

In essence because the kinds of function you are calling are wrapped functionality intended to be triggered by the UI, and therefore don't need to supply return values, but do assume some state of the scene.

You've already encountered from_pydata, there is also bm.to_mesh(obj.data) which lets you assign the content of a bm into the mesh of an object. Getting away from the bpy.ops is a natural progression for someone who is learning bpy, they are great first steps.. but as soon as you need more control and complexity -- well.. a different approach is needed, and is available.

for instance, to make a uv sphere without bpy.ops

import bpy
import bmesh

bm = bmesh.new()
bmesh.ops.create_uvsphere(bm, u_segments=20, v_segments=20, diameter=1.2)
my_mesh = bpy.data.meshes.new("my_mesh")
bm.to_mesh(my_mesh)
bm.free()
ob = bpy.data.objects.new("mySphere", my_mesh)
bpy.context.scene.objects.link(ob)

You could wrap that in a function that returns the reference of the new object..


In Cycles this is quite easy.
Let's say you have a scene that uses volume scatter . But want to have the red light not have any volumetric effect.

All you have to do is turn off the Ray Visibility for Volume Scatter for that light:


How to write a script that executes a list of commands only if a specific object is already inside the scene: Easy question I think!

Don't recommend addressing by name.

Using name as a sole variable to lookup objects in blender is fraught with danger.

If you really do only want to test  for the original, and named "Cube" cube object there are two conditions to look at

cube_in_blend = bpy.data.objects.get("Cube") is not None
cube_in_scene = context.scene.objects.get("Cube") is not None

If cube not in blend then

if not cube_in_blend:
    bpy.ops.mesh.primitive_cube_add()
    cube = context.object

will result in both being true. If the cube is in file and not in scene

if cube_in_blend and not cube_in_scene:
    cube = bpy.data.objects.get("Cube")
    context.scene.objects.link(cube)

links the object named "Cube" to that scene.  There is no guarantee that it has 8 equal length edges, 4 equal area faces and other props expected of a cube.

Alternatively

Just like a scene has a camera, context.scene.camera can set it up to "have a cube"

bpy.types.Scene.cube = bpy.props.PointerProperty(type=bpy.types.Object)

And in scene with cube can be set via

scene.cube = scene.objects.get("Cube")

Using method outlined in answer to Limit "prop_search" to Specific Types of Objects and modified to associate a particular cube with a scene. The cube is chosen from file objects that have a name beginning with "Cube". The cube is linked to the scene if not already.  For the case where there is no cube in the scene could add the add primitive operator in the markup.

import bpy

class OBJECT_PT_HelloWorldPanel(bpy.types.Panel):
    """Creates a Panel in the Object properties window"""
    bl_label = "Hello World Panel"
    bl_idname = "OBJECT_PT_hello"
    bl_space_type = 'PROPERTIES'
    bl_region_type = 'WINDOW'
    bl_context = "object"

    def draw(self, context):
        layout = self.layout
        scene = context.scene
        layout.prop(scene, "cube")

def scene_mychosenobject_poll(self, object):
    return object.name.startswith("Cube")

def link_to_scene(self, context):
    if self.cube and self.cube.name not in self.objects:
        self.objects.link(self.cube)

def register():
    bpy.utils.register_module(__name__)
    bpy.types.Scene.cube = bpy.props.PointerProperty(
        type=bpy.types.Object,
        poll=scene_mychosenobject_poll,
        update=link_to_scene
    )

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

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()


This seems like part of the mesh has inverted normals. In blender 2.8, run shift+N(Recalculate Normals) to make normals consistent.


Bump map node giving mesh blocky shadows and no lighting

As cegaton said, connect your Image texture node to Height socket instead of Normal.
Also change the first dropdown from Color to Non-color data.


You cannot mix a color(or a texture) with a shader in Cycles. You are currently mixing a texture with a Diffuse BSDF shader - that's the problem. It will be enough to disconnect it and set the color directly in the MixRGB node to fix this.

If you wanted to have a separate node for the color for some reason(for example if you want to connect it to multiple inputs so you can change them all at once), you can use RGB node that you can find among Input nodes.


I have found the issue, it seems to be a bug, I reduceed the particle ammount to 2000 from 20000 and it all worked out. As you intended.

I tried to figure out how many the maximum ammount of particles there can be, by gradually increasing the particle ammount, 19999 is fine, then at 20000 it gliches out and is normal at 20001 again, I have absolutely no clue how this is possible and why this can happen but my guess is it being a bug.


Turn off brush overlay in Texture Paint mode?

Im not sure if this will help, but i think its the answer your looking for..

In Texture Paint, on the tools tab on the Left (shown in your picture)
underneath radius and strength, is a blend option.. you have it set to "Mix" you can change this to lighten, Darken, Multiply, Subtract, etc..

try messing around with these options and see if that helps


when i draw on my object, it only shows up on the net

Actually it shows up on the other side of your object, it's because your normals are flipped, go in Edit mode, select all and AltN > Recalculate Outside


Glowing transparent shader, Eevee and Cycle render different result

The closest I've been able to manage to getting EEVEE and Cycles to appear the same:

I've removed the emission shader but enabled emission directly from the cycle shader and then moved the transparent shader to where you had the emission shader.
This doesn't give exactly the effect you were after but it at least matches cycles and EEVEE as closely as possible.  Perhaps it will give you a starting point for what you did want?
EEVEE:

Cycles (viewport):

For cycles I enabled noise reduction in the viewport render mode:


You must enable the blender game engine, there you will find the navigation mesh


I need to move one side of a rod along a path but anchor the other side still

Blend file below...

The circular path -
Add the circle path and scale it to suit.  APPLY the scale with Ctrl+A
Bevel it when it has to be rendered.
In it's curve properties at right, set it's "Frames" to (e.g.) 20.
Set the timeline to frame 1 and in the curve's "Evaluation" slot, set that to zero and keyframe. (I)
Move the timeline to frame 20 and again in the path's evaluation slot, set that to 20 and keyframe.
Goto the Dopesheet and with the circle-path still selected, select both keyframes and press T --> "Linear".
-==========-
The path object - (empty)
Using the path's origin point, make sure the cursor is still set to that with SH-S.
Add an Empty.  Scale it to suit and 'APPLY' the scale with Ctrl+A .
Give it a "Follow Path" constraint.  Name the Curve-path as the 'Target'.
Play the animation and check the empty's travel is constant and is traveling around the curve properly.
Add a cube somewhere distant.
In Edit mode, select the vertical edge (corner edge) that's nearest the path.  Subdivide that with 'W'.
This will be the 'anchor point' for the rod.
-================-
The rod -
Add a cylinder and scale it to suit. APPLY the scale with Ctrl+A.  Locate and rotate it roughly so it's pointing to both the path and cube.
Set it's origin point to the circle-path end so it will pivot from that end.
Give the rod a "Track To" constraint and name the cube as the target.
Enter the start & end frames for the timeline as 1 to 20.
Play the animation and the rod should 'crank' around the circle, always pointing to the cube.
-================-
When the rod must always be connected to the cube...
Add a hook at the rod's cube end and parent that to the cube.  (child = hook)  Drag the hook so they're connected.


This will work for mesh with planar surfaces aligned to the world axis.
That can be this kind of settings, based on world coordinates as input:

It adds the object location to object coordinates so that the result is sensible to the mesh location. Then, it takes a cross product with the normal, in order to avoid limit values to appear when calculating the grid (you'll can test the difference, using it or not).
The grid itself is just a comparison to some value, of the fraction part of the scaled coordinates. More precisely, if the value is around 0.5 (again to avoid limit cases we may encounter if comparing to 0 or 1).

Edit

If you want the grid to be stable from the object position, change the input like that (the object location is substrated from the surface location in world coordinates):

Is you want the grid to be aligned to the object (if its origin is in a corner), change the node group shifting it 0.5/scale (see below on left).
And to avoid limit cases, keep only one positive test (below on right).

Updated blend file:


Snap scaling doesn't behave like expected

Don’t worry, it works.

1) Enable snapping to vertex
2) When using a scale tool grab a vertex of your circle to scale it. Grabbing the scale tool ring won’t work.
3) The vertex you’re holding is now snapping to other vertices.

Enable snapping to vertex

Grab a vertex, not the scale tool ring

Moving the vertex now scales the object and snaps to other vertices

Hope this helps.
If you need any clarification, let me know.


How can I change the frame range in an alembic file?

If I got what you ask, here is a way that seems to work: I created a simple blender cloth sim, a cube with hooked vertices, 50 frames long. Then, exported that as alembic.

After I opened a new default blender file, deleted the default cube, and imported the above .abc file.

I got the object in my new file, and the animation worked thanks to a "Mesh Sequence Cache" modifier I found for my object; also my new file frame range has become 1-50 (it was, as default, 1-250).

Now, while my blender frame was 1, I checked the modifier's "override frame" option, and set a keyframe for frame "1". Then I moved to blender frame 50, and set a keyframe for the modifier's "frame" option to "50".

Now, in the NLA editor I have a new "action"

that can be converted ("pushed") to a "strip" using the double arrow button.

After that, you get a strip, which can be moved anywhere in the timeline...

here it is starting at frame 40, and last until frame 90... (of course before I extended the blender frame range to somewhat higer...)


How to refer to an image by it's label name (Python)

If that is going to be the only texture coordinate node in the tree something like this might be adequate:

import bpy

mat = bpy.data.materials[0]

tcs = [ node for node in mat.node_tree.nodes if node.bl_idname=="ShaderNodeTexCoord"]
# python list comprehension filters the list of nodes down to the ones that match the right bl_idname

tcnode = tcs[0]
# grab the first node of the one(s) that match the bl_idname


You'll need to provide a proper UV map to make this work. The reason why it looks like this is that currently your UV map is stretching just horribly, check this screenshot:

When I select the bottom of the vase, I can see that those faces cover a very small area of the UV editor, causing the texture to stretch like it does:

In essence, 75% of the surface of the vase are mapped to something like 4% of the UV space. This just cannot work. Try unwrapping the vase by placing seams down the side on two opposite sides, and also around the n-gon on the bottom, then the unwrap function will give you something like this:

The vase then will receive the texture like this:

Check the Blender manual on UV unwrapping techniques for further information:
https://www.blender.org/manual/editors/uv_image/uv_editing/unwrapping/index.html


As a lazy solution which also needs some clearing work, use Offset Edges addon. See how to install addon to access its functionality.

First, for it to work properly, apply scale for the object (Ctrl+A > Scale) and remove doubles (W > Remove Doubles).

With that, run Ctrl+E > Offset Edges > Offset (or Extrude, depending on whether you want the extruded edges to be connected to original ones or not).
It won't work well in the corners because of big amount of vertices there. You might need to edit that by using e.g. Vertex Slide tool to grab vertices along the edges to get rid of distorted corners.

Repeat the same for yet one more concentric iteration.

This will be easier if you dissolve that big amount of vertices before using the addon with Limited Dissolve (not an option if those vertices are needed as details).


How do I remove modifiers from the modifier stack if they don't have an 'x' button?

Particle systems are controlled in the Particle systems tab.
Where you can add or remove different systems.
Click on the icon to open the tab here

Or click on the tab for particles directly

To delete a particle system click on the minus sign in the upper right.


FBX export: object pivot is set to center of the scene

So I found the correct answer myself: if you use File -> Import Into Level instead of the expected normal Import function, then the import process is a bit different.
It will automatically create Blueprint for you with the root pivot still at the bottom center at 0,0,0 but now every object in there will have its own original pivot as seen in Blender...and that's it!


How do I import a Blend file from another project without losing its materials,shapekeys in the imported version etc.

Probably you've appended a mesh, which relates to vertices edges and faces only.

If you append an object instead, you will have all the textures and others attributes.

If your object is maden of different spare parts, select all objects you need (meshes, armatures, texts, curves, ....) make a group (Ctrl+G) and append the whole group.


The problem is due to the mesh having been resized without applyig the new scale and the solution is to Apply Scale. This can be achieved by selecting the object (in Object mode), pressing Ctrl-A and selecting Scale.


This may be beause the physics simulation are too rough in comparison to your glass movement speed. You can adjust that by going to Properties Panel -> Scene (3rd icon in the rop row) -> scroll down to "Rigid Body World" -> Increase the values of "Steps per Second" and maybe also "Solver Iterations"

It's also always a good idea to enable "Split Impulse" on that panel.

Comment if this has solved your issue


Image as Plane no longer shows texture in object mode

It's possible that the way you've been doing it is no longer supported. This should work:


On the top of the outliner, there is a drop down that says all scenes, click it, and set it to Groups.

If you are trying to manipulate all of the individual meshes at one time (as in Edit Mode), then you should use Join (Highlight all desired objects to Join & Ctrl + J


Inset not even, even with object scaled in object mode

After scaling in object mode.

press ctrla and select scale

notice the scale resets to 1.000


It appears you've set it to start up on the Image Editor window.

In the bottom left, there's a small box that allows you to change the current editor type.

Select the box Highlighted with red

Then click on 3D view.

Afterwards, before touching anything at all, press CTRL + U and select the option that appears, to set this as the new startup scene. it should be fixed now.


Can't find smoke and color mapping options for Fluid Simulation Blender 2.9

I believe this was renamed to "Grid Display" after blender 2.90. See here for some usage info. Compare the docs between versions 2.83 and 2.91.
The Smoke settings Buoyancy Density, Buoyancy Heat and Vorticity are now labeled Gas, you can see them in your screenshot.


Cycles not producing alpha transparency color change

So I fixed my problem, turns out using a diffuse BSDF rather than a transparent one works


The axis of symmetry used by the mirror modifier is the object's origin (orange dot).

If  your object has the origin at the center of the object the mirror modifier's effect will not be visible.

Go into edit mode, displace the geometry on the desired axis to one side of the origin, and the mirror modifier's effect will be noticeable.

Pay attention also to the which axis the modifier is acting on.


Why does my action not play after another action?

First method (but dont know if that'll work):

Second method (more complicated but works defenitely):

Add a game-property to your enemy. ( + Add Game Property )
Set it to boolean and checked (= true). (See red boxes in the image)
Connect the collision-sensor to a property-actuator.
This actuator has to set the property to "false".
Add a property-sensor for each action-actuator. While the property is true (enemy alive) the walk-animation will be played, when the property is false (enemy dead) the die-animation will be played.


Blender 2.65 .blend file is not loading correctly in Blender 2.76b

That's to be expected. Blender 2.7 has broken some backwards compatibility (which is part of the reason why it took so long to be released).

  For 2.7x projects we will allow forward and (minor) backward compatibility breakage. That means that by default, the 2.7x .blend files don”t have to read reliably in 2.6x or older. Backward compatibility stays crucial though, and should only be acceptable for big and important improvements.

From the Blender Roadmap for version 2.7.

If it is essential to be able to open this file, I recommend using version 2.69.


Blender 2.8 Mac OS , modifiers tab missing?

Just realised that they will appear when I have a mesh in my scene. Thanks


Edge slide, same as tangential translation?

Yes, they do work differently. If you look at the vertices from the top down, you can see that with Edge Slide the vertices move in the direction of the connecting edges. In Normal mode, moving on the vertex tangent does not stay true to the edge path necessarily.


Rope modelling issue - curve modifier breaks up if object moved from origin

If you move the object away from the curve, on some axis, it may mess up the array, so put the origin of the curve at its beginning point, put the object at the same position, give it the Array and the Curve modifiers, and if you want your object to be somewhere else, select BOTH the object and the curve. As Metaphor said, to make it easier you can parent the curve to the object.


how to configure facility wide configuration files

You can do such a multi-leveled setup using scripting and automatically run script on each startup. Just in scripting panel you can create a new text block, name it with 'auto-config.py' (the extension have to be py), and in that script check whether or not proper blend files, addons, and custom presets are accessible.

In order to run the script with each Blender start, you have to mark 'register' checkbox in Text Editor. Then, save your blender startup file with this script. Next time, when Blender will be run, it will automatically run the script too, and what this script will do depends entirely on you. So, you can open any text files with custom configurations, import data from blend files and so on, using your multi-level path configuration or even cascading blender files setups. This will require some further coding.


Is possible to keyframe a mask textures as a factor for two other textures in realtime?

You must be doing something wrong. If you make 2 material and a mask texture, then make a third material that blends the 2 materials using the Mix Color node with the texture as the Fac input the mask should be applied correctly.
Between the UV output of the Geometry node and the Vector input of the Texture node add a Mapping node. That node has support for adding keyframes to any value.
What you want is to add keyframes to the location value and animate the value over multiple frames.
I tested it and it work, here is the file:


Selection of 'Backface Culling' in Edit mode

I think it is not possible..
I found a workaraound: duplicated the original mesh and flipped its normals. Thats how I get a continous surface on both sides.


You may need to enable experimental features in the render tab for Cycles to render hair.

If you have an older version of blender and want to render hair on the GPU, you'll need to get a newer build from builder.blender.org or graphicall.org


How do I rotate and scale edges in Edit Mode?

The Transform panel in the Properties tab is only for moving mesh elements.
In Edit mode, you can transform the mesh using the Properties tab. In the top right of the Properties tab, you can see a Transform panel.

With mesh elements selected you can move them by Transform tab. Like you said, they only allow you to move them.

If you want to scale and rotate you use transform menu in the tool tab. Press T to open the tool tab. On the top left you will see the Transform panel.

You can click on this to interactively move mesh elements. After that, you can revise it in the Operator tab at the bottom of the tool tab.

The most popular method of doing these transforms is with the keyboard shortcuts. Using the keyboard shortcuts instead of the GUI is a lot faster and will speed up your workflow. With your cursor in the 3d view you can do:

G: grab, aka. move or translate

R: rotate

S: scale

You can also specify an axis for the transform by pressing X or Y or Z once you are in one of the transform modes. You can exclude an axis from the transform by pressing Shift+axis.
You can specify the exact amount of transform by pressing the numbers once in transform mode.

Some examples:

G, X, 2 move 2 units along x axis

R,Shift+Z,90 rotate 90 degrees along the x and y axis

S, 2 scale by a factor of 2


"Use UV for mapping" on curve object in Blender 2.82

Already default Curve can be UV textured ...

... converted to Mesh - UV map is generated.

I never used it, so sorry if I misunderstood the reason you asked for.


Make sure you have light in your scene, and that the number of volume bounces is greater than 0.

Also try reducing the amount of absorption or eliminating the absorption entirely. Density*40 will pretty much make the absorption node give solid black unless you have very thin smoke to begin with.


Rectangular shapes in cylinders with subdivision surface

Adding the rectangles separately is probably easiest. If you are stuck on adding it into the topology, here is what I got by using mark sharp, edge creases, and the cast modifier with a vertex group. (the base topology is simple enough to be self-explanatory)

If you want to remove all n-gons, you can add two loops and line them up with the top and bottom of the box. Then knife cut between them to get this:

One more trick...use the data transfer modifier to fix normals:


Disable "film > transparent" in the output settings.


Use a higher resolution background image in an animation render

Add a Scale node ("Distort -> Scale") to your background image. Then set the space to "Render Size". Then select "Fit".


I think you were along exactly the right track in using the 'space' command of the loop tools add-on; even spacing really is the best way to get the smoothest curve.

The reason that the 'space' command is distorting some of the edges is that there are more edges on one side of the arch than the other, so some edges have to be moved a long way before the arch is evenly spaced. Having a similar number of edges going into each side of the arch will help with this.

I would try to either add a few extra loops into one side of the arch (marked in green in the screenshot below) or remove some loops, if possible, from the right side (marked in red):

Ideally, you would do a mixture of the two to even up the arch. Once this is done the 'space' command will not have such an extreme effect on the surrounding edges. I understand that adding more loops in will not seem ideal as you are probably (and rightly) keeping the topology as simple as possible, but in my experience, this is the right way to go.


Ok I think I sorted it! The usb power for my sound card had decided to turn off but I wasn't to know as the volume was down at the time so thought it was something more complex! Turned the interface off and on again and sorted it! Hope this solution helps anyone else with the same or similar issue


Cloth Simulation with Mesh Deform Modifier causes parts of mesh to stick?

I found the reason: It was because the mesh i used as the deform cage wasn't completely surrounding my complex mesh before i clicked bind. The vertices i left out were the ones that were sticking.


Object Disappears in Camera View Even After Clipping Distance Adjusted

The clip' you are editing is referring to the world.

This does not influence the final rendering.

What is affecting your scene is the clipping of the camera. This is where you should increase your camera to crawl further.


hotkeys for blend settings? (overdrop, alpha under, cross, etc)?

See this answer for how to create custom shortcuts. You can also use this method for looking up obsure keyboard shortcuts.

For performing transform operations on strips in the VSE, I recommend my fork of the VSE_Transform_Tools addon. For a lot of extra functions for the timeline area, I recommend the Blender Power Sequencer addon by GDquest.


How can I organize the outliner with groups?

Basically you can use Groups and Parenting to organize your scene.

Grouped objects are displayed hierarchically in the group view.

Parented objects would be displayed hierarchically in the outliner's default view.

See the Outliner Documentation for more detailed information.


Hide Object or Collection using Keyframe

Hiding a collection

None of the hide properties of the collection are animatable. That is cannot drive or keyframe them.

Can however use a frame change handler to set.

Here is a trivial example that sets the visibility of all immediate children of the scene collection to un hide when frame is in on list, and hide when frame in off list.

import bpy

on = [1, 44, 66]
off = [10, 55, 77]

def frame_change(self):
    frame = int(self.frame_current)
    for c in self.collection.children:
        if frame in on:
            c.hide_render = c.hide_viewport = False
        elif frame in off:
            c.hide_render = c.hide_viewport = True

#bpy.app.handlers.frame_change_pre.clear()
bpy.app.handlers.frame_change_pre.append(frame_change)

Using a keyframed prop

Alternatively can give the scene a custom property. Make it an integer by giving it a value and default that is an integer.

In the graph editor make the extrapolation constant.

Now we have a keyframable switch to turn on off collection switches.

import bpy

def frame_change(self):
    frame = int(self.frame_current)
    print(frame, self["prop"])
    for c in self.collection.children:
        c.hide_viewport = c.hide_render = self["prop"]

#bpy.app.handlers.frame_change_pre.clear()
bpy.app.handlers.frame_change_pre.append(frame_change)

Uncommenting (removing hash #) from second last line cleans the previous handlers

See also

How can I exclude a collection from rendering with Python?

How to get all collections of the current scene?

disable all collections with python in blender 2.8

Sorting Collections Alphabetically in the Outliner


Fixed by clicking the generate button again in the separate rig. It seemed to update the rig but you have to set the ik/fk again manually.


I know there's a better way to do this, but I only took a few minutes.  Hopefully it gets you started.


Change Blender Render Save Default to RGB from RGBA

You need to save your preferences as a startup blend-file.

Create new default blend-file
Change the image format settings in Output Properties > Output
Save the blend-file
State the blend-file as the default startup blend-file Info Editor > File> Defaults > Save Startup File

Make sure you're in the saved blend-file when you state the blend as the startup default!
Note: I'm not sure if this overwrites previously saved blend-file defaults.
Unfortunately I think not. But it should for all future saved blends.


How to flip the view from the camera horizontally?

You can scale the camera negatively along it's local 'x' axis to acheive a flipped view (while looking through the camera).

Select the camera and press S,X,X,-,1

Pressing X twice will scale along the 'local' axis instead of the 'global' axis.

Alternatively just enter '-1' into the 'x' scale in the object panel:


You can disable gravity for Rigid Bodys in the "Scene" settings.


Hair particle system rotation is not working

I have come across a work-around for this issue. When experimenting, I placed hairs particles on other objects in the scene and notice that they lacked this issue (their orientation axis could be fully manipulated and were properly aligned to begin with), so I concluded that the issue was in the object itself. Thus, my solution was to replace the object.

I separated the "vines" from the "log" by selecting everything in edit mode with A and then using P followed by selecting loose parts.
Then I created two large half-pipe cylinders around the log object (one above and one below) and used the shrinkwrap modifier with the target being the log. I had to select the project option because any other option resulted in issues stemming from the (presumably corrupted) normal data. This is also the reason for making them be half-pipes instead of full cylinders, as I could not get a full cylinder to work correctly with the project option.
After applying the shrinkwrap modifier, I had a replacement object with proper behavior, and was able to produce the images below.

Note that if you find this question because you have a similar issue, this might not work for complex models. I am lucky because my object was essentially just a deformed cylinder.


It is difficult to say for sure without the file, but it looks like the join did not work correctly for some reason. Select the object and go into edit mode. Do the pieces that are not moving go into edit mode as well (you can see the vertices) or do they remain in object mode? If they remain in object mode, they are not connected to the mesh. Try re-joining them.

The other most likely possibility is that those pieces are weighted with a weight of 0 with regards to the armature. This could have happened if the pieces were joined after you parented the armature. If it was an automatic parent, try parenting again. If it was done manually, set the weights for the new vertices.

I hope one of these solves your problem.


How to turn a mesh into tiny spheres in blender?

You can use an object and instantiate each vertex of its mesh or face with a child object then just scale the child object to the desired size.

If you want a more uniform coverage, use the remesh modifier or the quadriflow remesh function on the parent mesh:


The backface culling settings in the viewport don't affect how the model is exported, their effect is limited to how the model is displayed in the viewport in Blender. The normal of a face can be used to decide if a face is drawn or not, faces pointing away from view can be skipped. I suspect that's what's happening in those programs which are displaying the model in an unexpected way.

Most likely you want to recalculate the normals of your model and make then all outward facing (in editmode, select all faces, then Ctrl+N), then save, then export.

If they are all pointing inwards, press Ctrl+F to get the Faces menu, and select Flip normals, then save, then export.

The mesh display panel has an option to show you the normals (here  displayed as light blue lines, the size of which is defined in the Size slider):


I would do it by object name

def is_deleted(o):
    return not (o.name in bpy.data.objects)

# or instead of a function,
# obj will be None if the object isn't found,
# else it returns the obj reference
obj = bpy.data.objects.get(o.name)


I'll give it a shot, although this is pretty basic!  If it works, great, but you'll have to play around with it for complex trees etc.  (This is an enhancement/refinement of an idea by Sardi Pax.)

EDIT: works just fine with curve object trees as well as meshes . . . see the very bottom for additional info.

Duplicate your tree mesh (in place) and give the duplicate your snow material.  But, you'll add some stuff to the snow material so it only shows more or less upward-facing faces.

The gist is to create a mix factor between your snow shader and a transparent shader.  The mix factor takes the "Normal" output from the Geometry node, separates it into XYZ components via a "Separate RGB" node, then tests the B value (facing Z axis) and keeps it as long as it's slightly greater than zero.  Then the backfacing surfaces are removed, otherwise you get the undersides of the downward-facing faces.

Then move the snow mesh up on the Z axis just a bit--enough so the snow is sitting on top of your branches to the depth you require.

Finally, to give the snow a more irregular/natural look, you can displace the snow mesh with a noise texture, e.g. a cloud texture.  You'll need to tweak it so the displacement looks the way you want.  I used a "Displace" modifier after a subsurf, using a displacement texture of type "Clouds".  I found that displacement along the Z axis of the "Local" texture coordinates was better than displacing along normals.  My midlevel was quite low (.2) and strength also low (.1).

If it's going to be viewed from a distance this may be unnecessary.

EDIT: haha, the displacement has some kinks to work out, you can see some sky between the snow and the branch on the right hand side of the render.  You'll have to tweak the displacment values if you want to use them - it may be preferable to displace from the object normals, but then you run into other kinds of oddities.  I don't see gaps like that when I turn the displacement off and maybe that's good enough for your purposes.

EDIT 2: what is now the top image uses a more complex curve tree object that was not converted to a mesh.  The snow material concept works here, although I had to change the Z-value factor to "Greater than 0.3" to remove snow from some of the not vertical but still fairly steep trunk angles on this different type of tree.  As far as I know the displace modifier cannot be used with curve objects, but there may be another solution if adding texture noise is desired.


How do I use quick data entry to Scale to the 3D Cursor when using Normal Transformation Orientation?

You simply have to press the axis key (X, Y or Z) twice when performing the transformation.

For example, pressing S, Z, Z, 0 will scale everything to 0 along the 'Z' normal axis if 'Normal' transformation type is selected in the 3D view header:

Basically whatever transformation is selected in the header will be switched to when pressing the axis key twice.


make sure your name is set to right value, not just the label.
"


Weird shading on a bonnet of a car model

You need to dissolve these 2 edges, they tend to flatten your faces:


Make child object go along the same curve as parent

A possibility is to parent the cylinder to vertices of the curved object:

Before adding the curve modifier:

in edit mode select 3 vertices of the object
come back to object mode,
select the cylinder
Shift select the object
then CtrlP and choose "Vertex triangle"


All u need to do is to enable rendered in the outliner:


Make multiple Bezier curves manifold and free of intersections, for 3D printing

I don't know what kind of mesh is needed for 3d printing, but I assume you want to remove the protruding faces from inside the face mesh. This should be possible with a script that would select the vertices of a mesh lying on one side of another mesh. Maybe someone can suggest a way to write such a script.

Here is a (rather tedious) workaround.

In side view you do a cross section select by alt-b to select the upper part of the skull
you then box (or circle) select the vertices from inside
Turn the part round and deselect any vertices that might have got selected
Do a delete face on all the selected vertices
Repeat this process to remove all the protruding faces of the hair mesh
Apply union modifier to create a single mesh out of the two parts

I guess (and I may be wrong), the hair part is already manifold, since the curve is converted to a surface.

Not sure if this would help you. But I am hoping to learn something myself by sharing my thoughts :)


Is there an addon for renaming an object with a keyboard shortcut?

I just found one ;)

With the following Add-on enabled, you can press CtrlR to enter a 'new name' for the active object as well as rename its data block (optional). In order to speed up the process you can hit Return followed by O to confirm, after typing the 'new name':

Click to enlarge

viewport-rename.py

# ##### BEGIN GPL LICENSE BLOCK #####
#
#  This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
#  modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
#  as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
#  of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
#
#  This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
#  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
#  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
#  GNU General Public License for more details.
#
#  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
#  along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
#  Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
#
# ##### END GPL LICENSE BLOCK #####
# <pep8 compliant>

import bpy
import re

bl_info = {
    "name": "Viewport Rename",
    "author": "p2or",
    "version": (0, 5),
    "blender" : (2, 80, 0),
    "location": "3D View > Ctrl+R",
    "warning": "", # used for warning icon and text in addons panel
    "wiki_url": "",
    "tracker_url": "",
    "category": "3D View"
}

class ViewportRenameOperator(bpy.types.Operator):
    """Rename selected object(s) in 3D View"""
    bl_idname = "view3d.viewport_rename"
    bl_label = "Viewport Rename"
    bl_options = {'REGISTER', 'UNDO'}
    bl_property = "new_name"

    new_name : bpy.props.StringProperty(name="New Name")
    data_flag : bpy.props.BoolProperty(name="Rename Data-Block", default=False)

    @classmethod
    def poll(cls, context):
        return bool(context.selected_objects)

    def execute(self, context):
        user_input = self.new_name
        reverse = False
        if user_input.endswith("#r"):
            reverse = True
            user_input = user_input[:-1]

        suff = re.findall("#+$", user_input)
        if user_input and suff:
            number = ('%0'+str(len(suff[0]))+'d', len(suff[0]))
            real_name = re.sub("#", '', user_input)

            objs = context.selected_objects[::-1] if reverse else context.selected_objects
            names_before = [n.name for n in objs]
            for c, o in enumerate(objs, start=1):
                o.name = (real_name + (number[0] % c))
                if self.data_flag and o.data is not None:
                    o.data.name = (real_name + (number[0] % c))
            self.report({'INFO'}, "Renamed {}".format(", ".join(names_before)))
            return {'FINISHED'}

        elif user_input:
            old_name = context.active_object.name
            context.active_object.name = user_input
            if self.data_flag and context.active_object.data is not None:
                context.active_object.data.name = user_input
            self.report({'INFO'}, "{} renamed to {}".format(old_name, user_input))
            return {'FINISHED'}

        else:
            self.report({'INFO'}, "No input, operation cancelled")
            return {'CANCELLED'}

    def invoke(self, context, event):
        wm = context.window_manager
        dpi = context.preferences.system.pixel_size
        ui_size = context.preferences.system.ui_scale
        dialog_size = 450 * dpi * ui_size
        if context.active_object:
            self.new_name = context.active_object.name
        return wm.invoke_props_dialog(self, width=dialog_size)

    def draw(self, context):
        row = self.layout
        row.row()
        row.prop(self, "new_name")
        row.prop(self, "data_flag")
        row.row()

# ------------------------------------------------------------------------
#    register, unregister and hotkey
# ------------------------------------------------------------------------

addon_keymaps = []

def register():
    from bpy.utils import register_class

    addon_keymaps.clear()
    register_class(ViewportRenameOperator)

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

def unregister():
    from bpy.utils import unregister_class

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

    unregister_class(ViewportRenameOperator)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()

The Add-on also allows to batch rename all objects in the current selection. The suffix is determined by the given number of hash characters at the end of the string. You can simply type Cube-### to get 'Cube-001', 'Cube-002' and 'Cube-003' as well as Cube-###r to get a reversed list:

Repository: https://github.com/p2or/blender-viewport-rename


Place Image in Front of a Grease Pencil Layer

In Blender 2.8, to get the image plane to appear in front of grease pencil objects:

Select the image plane
Change the Blend Mode in the material settings to "Alpha Clip"


Non Manifold geometry preventing loop cuts

Downloaded the file, here one solution:

This is only one possible solution but can be applied to both sides of the geometry, you can do other ways, but that depends on what you prefer. That said, it's important to remember that "Face Orientation", picture below lower part, helps to find the problems.

Faces shown as blue represent the outside of the volume of the geometry, red though should only be seen if you literally go between the walls. Can be seen at the end of the gif, showing "one" solution.


How to make the Glossy material in Blender not too dark?

You need the change your background. It is currently reflecting the sky, wich is that dark grey color. I would recommend adding an HDR image To add reflections etc.
Without HDR:

With HDR:

No lights or materials were changed in the setup.
Adding A HDR Background:

Set the works "color" to environment texture. You may need to raise the strength to make it bright enough.
You can still have the grey background with a little hack if you need it:
Simply add these nodes to your world material.

Not-Ideal HDR work around
In the case you don't have an HDR, you can use this workaround. The reflections will be less realistic, but it still works well.
Add these nodes to your world material:

Result:


Use your image as Environment texture for the world.

Instead of color you can choose a texture. Select Environment.

Then select the image.


you can write a script to separate every object into loose parts.
Then for every object do a unit_test_compare with the data of the other object if the result it's "Same" then make it a linked duplicate, but before copy the world matrix to not loose the position scaling and rotation and apply it to the newly linked duplicate
ie.

print(firstObj.data.unit_test_compare(secondObj.data))

will yield to the string "Same" if they are the same and "Number of verts don't match" for different objects

Let me know if this is not enough

edit : possible duplicate answer


How do I scale vertices evenly among a selection?

I have found the solution to my problem. As it turns out, I was using the wrong tool for the job. The proper way to scale something evenly across all sides is to use "Shrink/Fatten" by pressing Alt+S. Once I begin shrinking or fattening my object, I only need to press S to make all the edges even, and I can adjust it to my liking.


Parenting armature to mesh with automatic weights

It looks like your images didn't show up correctly. Generally when this happens to me I make sure modifiers are applied, the origin is centered to the mesh, and check my work using weight-painting.


How to use a video as a reference on a plane?

A different approach involves not using a plane at all but an empty as an image:

Select the image in the properties->Empty->Display tab

Click on match movie length and enable Auto Refresh
You should see the number change in the Frames box on the left.

You'll get your image (or video) in an empty. The advantage of this method is that your image will be visible even in when the 3D viewport shading is set to wireframe or bounding box. Note that empties will not be rendered on the final render...


How to assign freestyle attributes to different objects for rendering?

If there's no  'in camera' discriminator between your Line-Sets, you may have to render them into different View Layers, and combine the layers in the Compositor.
But you can probably just link the meshes into distinct collections, and associate each Line-Set, (along with its style and its edge-selection method), with those collections:

It would depend on your case. Maybe you can illustrate it.


Could I use BGE, Python, and sockets to make a multiplayer game?

Yes, you can.

Game aspect

You can use any Python network library (such as socket) to send and receive data. The BGE itself does not have a build-in network system.

Access method

I suggest to use a non-blocking polling operation. This means your python code asks the connection for the data received since the last run and applies it to the scene. When no data was received ... do not wait for data as this will block your game.

Threading

Avoid the usage of threads (as you often see in examples). This can cause conflicts inside the BGE game loop. Just Implement the inner code of the thread loop as a script.

Network business

The sole transfer of data (connecting, reading and writing) is pretty simple. The most work needs the business around that.

When to connect?

When to send what?

When to expect what kind of data in what format?

This strongly depends on your game.

Be aware you should think about:

Where to get the servers IP address?
How to authenticate a client?
How to create a lobby to bring the players together?
How to start a game session with known clients?
How do the participants of a game session communicate with each other?


I had this problem and managed to fix it by doing this:

First you need to scale your model correctly to the size you want in Blender. Then while in object mode press A to select all and then press Ctrl+A and apply scale, rotation and location.
After that, export your model as an .obj.

Import it into Mixamo, animate it and then export it as a .dae.

Now, import the .dae into blender. Re-scale the model to what you had it as before and then it should work.


what is the best way to patch a hole in a spherical mesh

Select the edges around the hole and do "Grid Fill".

(Press CtrlF and select Grid Fill or use the menu: Mesh->Faces->Grid Fill)

Then set the span and offset to get the desired result.


Help me understand why my cycles render is so slow

I'm not too sure about the implementation of volumetrics in Cycles, but roughly speaking:

without volumetrics, a ray direction must be evaluated only once every time it hits a surface. So the ray virtually travels freely (no computations) through the empty space, then it hits a surface and (if it hasn't bounced back and forth too many times, depending on your "Bounces" settings), it triggers a single new calculation to decide where the ray should move next. Repeat a few times (up to a dozen) until it finally hits a light or the sky.
with volumetrics, every little interval of space the ray travels, the path tracer has to flip a coin to decide whether it will be scattered or not (until it finally gets scattered enough times to reach the "Volumetric bounces" cap). So along its trip there's a LOT of calculations involved.

If your scene is covered for the most part by volumetric regions, this will require a lot of extra calculation per each single ray (and you are casting 20 BILLION rays in your setup!).

Subsurface scattering is also very computationally intense.

So the reason why your render takes so long is that, even if your geometry and your shaders are "simple" (meaning: it took not too long for you to set them up), they are all over the place and are requiring a ton of calculations per ray (meaning: it takes a lot for the renderer to evaluate them)!


You're using cycles so you'll need a node setup, similar to this

where you see that there are two materials. The "gradient" one is "assigned" to the single face, while all the rest uses the default grey one.

The material needs a factor that rules the Colorramp transition, provided by a Gradient Texture, which needs the coordinates to be mapped to that face only: for this you need a UVmap: in edit mode select only the face, press U and select "unwrap". Done.


How to texture paint low poly model with normal applied

I was facing exactly the same problem as you and fortunately I found the solution.
What you need to do is to apply the texture you're painting to the low poly model.
To apply the texture to the model, just go to the shading tab and create a 'Image Texture' node. Select the texture you're painting and finally plug the color to the base color of Principal Node.
In the end, you will get something like this:

Don't forget to select 'lookdev' mode in order you can see the texture and the normal map while painting.


When i try to move my object it teleports to the location it was originally placed. I am really new to blender

Does your object have animation keyframes? If so, blender won't 'let' you change it's location unless you have auto-keying turned on (the button with the little circle next to the 'play' buttons in the timeline panel), or if you manually insert a keyframe after moving, rotating or scaling your object.
As for the yellow line, it's probably because you have snapping turned on (the little magnet button on top of the viewport), but I don't think that has anything to do with what's preventing you from moving the object. Can you post a screenshot?


You still need to see the snow in order to tell that it is snow. Otherwise you could simply follow the tutorial and then turn off the lights. Boom! Now that's what snow looks like at night (all black). If your aim is to make a cinematic nighttime snow storm then you want to follow the same idea from a particle and physics perspective and instead tweak your lighting.

When we light rain or snow in night time, we use backlighting. This means that the source of light should be coming from the opposite side of the subject, relative to the camera. This creates an outline or 'edge' effect on the subject while leaving the front of it dark. This allows you to see the snow itself but maintain the impression of night time. Making the light a deep blue also helps simulate 'moon light'.


If you have different parts/part groups that you would like to switch out, then group those parts, and reference them from empty objects:

This forms a good basis for using drivers in the future to automate the switching by mixing drivers with the use of Custom Properties:


How to subdivide a mesh where it intersects another mesh

One way is to use the Knife Project tool.

Make the arches one object and the square a separate one.
If necessary, scale up the arches so they are definitely crossing the border of the square object
In object mode, shift select the arches object and then the square object
Tab into edit mode (you should now be in edit mode for the square)
From the toolbar (T) choose Knife Project. The arches will be projected onto the square, sometimes creating n-gons (although by the appearance it looks like the objects have just been merged, the faces have in fact been subdivided)
You can now delete the original arches mesh in object mode.

Alternatively, another way you could do it would be to remove all but 2 sides of the original square resulting in 3 sets of edges, the edges of the square and the two arches:

With the arches and the square as a single object select them all and then press W> Bridge Edge Loops:

Both methods require some form of clean up afterwards, the bridge edges method needing slightly less. With the bridge method the clean up will also be less if the number of vertices in the arches are the same as the number of vertices in the square's sides.


Select the Armature in Object Mode and switch to Pose Mode by pressing  Ctrl + Tab [0]
[0] https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro/Bones


The reason why your knife tool is not working is due to the fact that you have multiple polygons on top the same surface area. What I did was ... I made sure I "removed doubles" by hitting the W key and chose "remove doubles". After which the knife tool works.

As for your screencast, the site blender.stackexchange will only accept .gif files. You can use Screen 2 Gif software to capture the gif but it has to be below 2mb , if you want to upload via stackexchange's internal upload interface. Or else you would have to upload your gif to an external site and add the link to your post.


How do you create procedural bubbles on a surface?

Here's a setup for both large and tiny bubbles :-)

Create a plane or a subdivided circle
Enable Adaptive Subdivision to use microdisplacement
Set Material Displacement > Displacement (only works in Cycles)


File Path Problem - Open with file linked (duplicate) - Python

PROBLEM FIX

I just changed an line, I'm noob haha

bpy.ops.image.open(filepath=self.properties.filepath, relative_path=True)

TO:

bpy.data.images.load(filepath=self.properties.filepath, check_existing=True)


(Animation nodes) Is there a way to instance objects inside a subprogram?

You can use a script as workaround, so that AN cannot see that you create object instances in a subprogram:

Using scripts is the same way as all subprograms in AN. For script:

Add a text
Write the script, identifying the variables that will be inputs and output
Set these parameters adequately in the script node

But, a big warning: be careful about the frame changes as it could generate a lot of objects.

If this is happening, you can use some script to apply in Python console, like:

for m in [m for m in bpy.data.meshes if m.users == 0]: bpy.data.meshes.remove(m)


Movie is not playing properly blender 2.8

(I'm using Blender 2.79)
Did you set the number of frames, in the texture panel of the Properties Editor, to however many frames you want to have playing? By default it's set to 1 and will just show as a still picture.


The easiest way would be to use the subprocess module to start Blender.

import subprocess

subprocess.run(["/path/to/blender", "somefile.blend"])

  Since python can be called from inside blender so it has to be possible vice versa.

This is not a very logical statement. Just because Blender embeds Python doesn't mean anything when it comes to starting Blender from Python.