Create a screencast with exactly one image per animation frame

My preferred method would be to use a frame_change handler and an update method on a bool to turn it on off.

import bpy
import os

from bpy.props import BoolProperty

def remove_handler_function(handler, name):
    ''' Removes all functions with name starting with name '''
    fns = [f for f in handler
                   if f.__name__.startswith(name)]
    for f in fns:
        handler.remove(f)

def screenshot(scene):
    frame = scene.frame_current
    in_frame =  scene.frame_start <= frame <= scene.frame_end
    if not in_frame:
        return None

    folder = scene.render.filepath
    format = scene.render.image_settings.file_format.lower()
    filepath = os.path.join(folder,"%04d.%s" % (frame, format))
    print("render %d" % frame)
    bpy.ops.screen.screenshot(
        filepath=filepath,
        check_existing=False)

def capture_screen(self, context):
    # turn on the handler
    handler = bpy.app.handlers.frame_change_post
    if self.render_screencast:
        handler.append(screenshot)
    else:
        remove_handler_function(handler, "screenshot")

bpy.types.Scene.render_screencast = BoolProperty(default=False,
                                                 name="Screen Shot Cast",
                                                 update=capture_screen)

#testing
bpy.context.scene.render_screencast = False

My testing shows that the operator will do as desired with

        bpy.ops.screen.screenshot(
            filepath=filepath,
            check_existing=False)
        for area in context.screen.areas:
            area.tag_redraw()

but it will lock up blender until finished.  Pretty sure there is no need to call scene.update() after scene.frame_set(f), and not sure how much this effects performance, if at all.

Another is a modal timer operator, which enables the chance to cancel. (The handler is much better).  The link of @ideasman42 I mentioned is here How to handle modal operator events in a single loop?  Which may make handling canceling easier.

class ModalTimerOperator(bpy.types.Operator):
    """Operator which runs its self from a timer"""
    bl_idname = "wm.modal_timer_operator"
    bl_label = "Modal Timer Operator"
    wait = 10
    _timer = None
    renderframe = -1
    def modal(self, context, event):
        scene = context.scene
        rendering = self.renderframe == scene.frame_current
        folder = scene.render.filepath
        format = scene.render.image_settings.file_format.lower()

        if event.type in {'RIGHTMOUSE', 'ESC'} or scene.frame_current > scene.frame_end:
            self.cancel(context)
            return {'CANCELLED'}
        if event.type == 'TIMER' and self.wait:
            self.wait -= 1
            return {'PASS_THROUGH'}

        if rendering:
            return {'PASS_THROUGH'}

        else:
            self.renderframe = scene.frame_current

            print("render %d" % scene.frame_current)
            self.report({'INFO'}, "Render: %4d" % scene.frame_current)
            filepath = os.path.join(folder,"%04d.%s" % (scene.frame_current, format))
            bpy.ops.screen.screenshot(
                filepath=filepath,
                check_existing=False)

            scene.frame_set(scene.frame_current + 1)
            self.wait = 10
            for area in context.screen.areas:
                area.tag_redraw()

        return {'PASS_THROUGH'}

    def execute(self, context):
        scene = context.scene
        wm = context.window_manager
        self._timer = wm.event_timer_add(0.1, context.window)
        wm.modal_handler_add(self)
        scene.frame_set(scene.frame_start)
        return {'RUNNING_MODAL'}


Because you are using an actual video, Blender doesn't know when it's finished. At least not if you use a plane and a video texture. In that case, as soon as the scene where that video is located gets activated, the video starts playing.

I program all everything that's scene-related to the camera, since that is an easy object to find and it isn't used to program so it's a clean space. Here I connected a 'scene' actuator to whatever setup you use to click the 'play'button. It should be set to 'set scene' and include the scene you want to activate (which in this case is your video scene).

So now, once we click 'play', we should get into the video scene and the video begins. Since Blender doesn't know when it ends, we should know. Therefore you should take a look at how long the video is (in seconds). Then keep in mind that the refresh rate of your game is by default set to 60. This means ever 'tick' in your game is a refresh. We can use this to let Blender know exactly when to switch over to the next scene.

Here I used an always sensor with a positive pulse trigger set at a skip of 0. This means that every time when the game refreshes (60 times per second) the always sensor sends a true signal to the controller. Now we add a game Property. Give it a name and set it to 'integer' mode. Make sure it's set to 0. On the always sensor we added, add an 'and' controller and after that, a 'Property' actuator. Set the mode of the actuator to 'Add' and set the value to 1. We also need to insert the recently created property in the actuator.
What we're doing here is adding 1 to the property 60 times per second. So when one second has passed, the property is 60. If your video is let's say 10 seconds exact, we know that we have 10 x 60 = 600 refreshes till the end of the video.
Add a 'property' sensor and set the mode to 'more than' (equal could work too, but anything causing blender to skip a refresh could make it fail). The value should be set to 600 in the case of 10 seconds and of course we are going to use the same property again. Onto this sensor we need to add an 'and' controller and a 'Scene' actuator. Set the mode to 'Set scene' and insert the scene that you use for your game. Now, once the video has ended, your game will start.


Microdisplacement "on" in the middle of a large project

I haven't played around too much myself with microdisplacement, but it sound like what you want to do should work. You will want to make sure you also have adaptive subdivision set to get the best performance. You may still want some of the displacement to come from the displace modifier though, this will require a bit of testing to see what works best.

With remeshing, you may instead want to look at the unsubivide setting on the decimate modifier if the scene was created with applied subdivision modifiers, you will end up with better topology for subdivision.

If viewport performance is the main consideration, you may also want to take a look at the simplify settings under scene properties. It give you the option to control the maximum viewport subdivision for all subdivision modifiers.


how to attach spot lamp to camera and make lamp always face out from camera like headlamp?

Select the light and add a child of Constraint, then select the camera as target. If you move the camera the light will do the same thing.


How to extrude faces in the form of triangles depending on their position?

Create a UV Sphere, select all and press CtrlE > Un-Subdivide, in the Operator box choose Iterations > 1:

Cut the top:

Select all and press i twice to inset individual faces:

Scale up:

Transform a bit, give it a Bevel modifier:


How could I run a Rigid Body simulation backwards after it is baked?

Option 1
For Rigid Body sim you can try  ... Bake simulation and with object selected search for Bake Action > enable Visual Keying ... it converts cache into keyframed animation.

Now if yo go to Graph editor and move timeline into a middle frame of your anim, you can Mirror curves Ctrl+M Over Current Frame ... results as reverted animation.

Option 2
Another option can be Export as Alembic (.abc) and Import back ... under Constraints Properties you can animate Override frame value backwards - at frame 1 set value of end frame and on last frame keyframe value of 1 ...

Mentioned here


It is quite easy to do what you want, just learn how to use the Frames, Start Frame**, Offset and Cyclic controls on the Image Sequence node used as the texture of the plane's material.

Read: Same Video on each face, but with different time delay?

Then to change to another sequence of repetitions use a mix color node to start the next iteration and animate the Mix Factor

Read: How do you animate image texture materials in blender cycles with keyframes?


How to see python symbolic names of objects on cursor hover of menu items in Blender 2.8

Python Tooltips needs to be enabled in Edit > Preferences > Interface.


How can I add an 'IK Solver' constraint?

What you're looking for is the Inverse Kinematics (IK) Constraint you find it in the properties while in Pose Mode.

You might also be interested in a more recent version of this tutorial: http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:2.6/Manual/Your_First_Animation

Constraints
IK


OK, Solved by Duarte... Thank you!

It was a solidify modifier.  The glossy geometry seems to be the solidify being pushed out of a subdivision in the middle of the rectagular cubes.  The other piece of "mysterious" uninvited geometry just behind the silver, vertical cylinders was a plane in the now joined object...


You can measure the frames with a delay sensor:


How to find the point coordinates on the object's surface for simulate effect like hit on wall from laser beam

Using BVH tree and raycasting, as suggested by lemon, in Animation Nodes.


Shows a cached image when I try to render

Cegaton's link held the answer:

Came back to a blender file, now not rendering

  The Compositor and Sequence settings are enabled by default, so if there is any data in the compositor or the sequencer blender will
  render from that instead of the scene.

  Disable Sequence in Render Settings > Post processing or remove the
  sequencer strips and it will render the scene instead.


I solved the problem with the following algorithm

Create N horizontal planes of appropriate size
For each plane

Apply the boolean modifier (intersect the plane with the target object)
Extrude the plane in the z direction, giving it some height
Apply the convex hull operator
Remove the extra plane created in step 2
Remove any vertices inside triangles

Merge planes into one object
Bridge the edge loops
Remove interior faces (they were left from the convex hull operator)

Here is the Python script with room for some improvements: https://gist.github.com/milasudril/960f5c2c4c3735f3fdea566cfdc003d9


To select a single "curve" in the graph editor, select a point and hover over it and hit L to select all the points, hit A. To select an area of points, hit B and use the box select tool.


The object becomes blur when entered into rendered view mode

The pixels can be artefacts of a GPU driver issue. Make sure you have the latest official driver installed from the hardware vendor. Some OEMs (dell or HP for example) install their own drivers which aren’t updated as often as the official drivers. If that is the case make sure you uninstall them before installing the official drivers.


You have diagonal edges coming down from the top and entering the mesh. I wouldn't be surprised if that was the origin of your problem.


Game object disappears after a dozen seconds.

Ensure to have a ground within the cameras viewing frustum. Or better look from the side to see the cube falling


One way is to go to the World node editor, then add a Volume Scatter node and plug it into the Volume parameter in the World Output node.


I think I'm starting to understand what is going on. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you parented the meta-ball to the cube to change it to the desired shape.
A mesh with this shape is inside the weird thing with the seams.
I converted your meta-ball in the file to a mesh. Then selected it and removed it as a child from the cube. 3D viewport > Object > Parent > Clear Parent (or press Alt+P). The thing with the seams disappears, and then i'm left with the mesh I believe you want.
Since this was, as you described it, a simple test, I hope (but am unable to tell if) it also works in a more complicated scenario.


Solution below, and no you are not, a little explanation first:

Regarding the menus you had there, the material index might be possible to copy to other objects, but i'm honestly not sure what that would do. The menu from the name, well the other objects would not accept the string value, as objects can not have the same name.

While right clicking on the Material in the list or the name underneath gives the option to "Copy to Selected", you missed another place that does the trick.

Solution:

The little "v" under the "-" on the right side opens the menu concerning the material with the function you want "Copy Material to Selected".


How to combine faces of an array (roof)?

Delete the curve parts on the sides and keep the middle section (that is perpendicular to the "columns") then do bridge edge loops. You will be able to control the number of cuts and the curvature (smoothness)

Here's an example on how to connect two cylinder segments that have the same number of vertices, select the end edges and use Bridge Edge Loops, and adjust number of cut and smoothness.


You can use an unapplied  Array Modifier.


how to display Horizon line on camera view image?

I am not at all sure if that's what you're searching, but if you want to display the middle of the camera, that's done in the camera settings. Just select it and go to the following place:

If however you need a custom guide like this:

or this:

...then there's at least 3 things you can do:

Bribe a dev or become one
Do serious Python work and write an Addon
Make a mesh consisting of edges and place it inside the camera.

Options one and two are fascinating yet option 3 is fast and easy.

Just model whatever guide you need out of edges and place the object into your camera. Make sure it's visible from camera view. Put the guide's object origin at the camera origin to avoid relationship lines. Parent the object to the camera. And in the outliner, disable rendering and selection.

If you want colors, just use a grease pencil line instead. You can edit them similar to a mesh.

The stroke can be parented to the camera as well.

For rendering, I'd probably just create an image of the line with transparent background in Gimp or Blender and then composite it on top of the rest with the Node Editor and an Alpha Over node.

Images usually render faster than most scenes that recalculate stuff for every frame.


Merging multiple OBJ files into one file with shape keys

You can use this script to accomplish an obj sequence import to shapekeys.
Paste the script into the text editor in blender, and click the Run Script button.

This will add a new command in the file menu called File>Import>OBJ as Shapekey. Select your target object, and then run the new command.

bl_info = {
    'name': 'Load Obj Sequence as Shape Keys',
    'author': 'cmomoney',
    'version': (0, 2),
    'blender': (2, 6, 7),
    'category': 'Import-Export',
    'location': 'File > Import/Export',
    'wiki_url': ''}

# ##### 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 #####

import bpy, os
from bpy.props import *

class LoadObjAsShapekey(bpy.types.Operator):
    bl_idname = 'load.obj_as_shapekey'
    bl_label = 'Import OBJ as Shape Keys'
    bl_options = {'REGISTER', 'UNDO'}
    bl_description = "Import Obj sequence as shape key(s)"

    filepath = StringProperty(name="File path", description="File filepath of Obj", maxlen=4096, default="")
    filter_folder = BoolProperty(name="Filter folders", description="", default=True, options={'HIDDEN'})
    filter_glob = StringProperty(default="*.obj", options={'HIDDEN'})
    files = CollectionProperty(name='File path', type=bpy.types.OperatorFileListElement)
    filename_ext = '.obj'

    @classmethod
    def poll(cls, context):
        return context.active_object is not None and context.active_object.type == 'MESH'

    def execute(self, context):
        #get file names, sort, and set target mesh
        spath = os.path.split(self.filepath)
        files = [file.name for file in self.files]
        files.sort()
        target = bpy.context.scene.objects.active
        #add all ojs in sequence as shape  keys
        for f in files:
            fp = os.path.join(spath[0], f)
            self.load_obj(fp)
        #now delete objs
        sknames = [sk.name for sk in target.data.shape_keys.key_blocks]
        bpy.ops.object.select_all(action='DESELECT')
        for obj in sknames:
            if obj != 'Basis':
                target.data.shape_keys.key_blocks[obj].interpolation = 'KEY_LINEAR'
                bpy.context.scene.objects.active = bpy.data.objects[obj]
                bpy.data.objects[obj].select = True
                bpy.ops.object.delete()
            bpy.ops.object.select_all(action='DESELECT')
        #reselect target mesh and make active
        bpy.context.scene.objects.active = target
        target.select = True
        return{'FINISHED'}

    def invoke(self, context, event):
        wm = context.window_manager.fileselect_add(self)
        return {'RUNNING_MODAL'}

    def load_obj(self, fp):
        bpy.ops.import_scene.obj(filepath=fp,split_mode='OFF')
        bpy.ops.object.join_shapes()
        return

def menu_func_import(self, context):
    self.layout.operator(LoadObjAsShapekey.bl_idname, text="Obj As Shapekey(.obj)")

def register():
    bpy.utils.register_class(LoadObjAsShapekey)
    bpy.types.INFO_MT_file_import.append(menu_func_import)

def unregister():
    bpy.utils.unregister_class(LoadObjAsShapekey)
    bpy.types.INFO_MT_file_import.remove(menu_func_import)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()

Please note this is not my script, I'm just posting it here for convenience.


It sounds like you could just use Remove Doubles, and adjust your merge distance.
The only thing here is they don't meet half way. That may be dependent on Mesh origin though. I'll do a little checking and get back.

  Nope this is not based on origin, I think it is more based on vertex indices based on how it acts.

Shrinkwrap with a pass of limited disolve seems to work pretty good just be sure to use it on a closed mesh that has enough topology do bend at the right places.


How can I add a scale reference to the Z axis

Easiest option

Orthographic views tend to be useful for this. Even if you're eyeballing there will be less distortion in the perception of location. Orthographic views will show a grid in all three orientations. -- font, left, top ... and their reverse: back, right, bottom. See the Blender manual for all options, and menus relating to this

Here Front, Top and Left are visible.

possibly interesting option

An addon called 'Chromoly Ruler' or just 'Ruler', is included in the addons_contrib. If you get blender from somewhere like builder.blender.org. It looks like this


All you need to do is move the mirror modifier up. It must be first in the modifier stack. Also make sure you have clipping ON (like it is in your pictures).


I guess I really am out of Memory then, kinda sucks. I just ran another render on my cpu and it hit like 12 Gb. I'm gonna get two 1080's in SLI at some point, so that should solve it


Creating/saving a shape key from moving a bone (Rig)

Select your mesh, go to the properties window, modifiers tab, in the armature modifier you'll find a button named "apply as shape key" wich does exactly what you're asking for.


I made my viewport background black and dont know how to change it back

Not sure what you did, but a good place to check is in the World Properties Tab. The settings I have highlighted are the defaults - make sure yours match.


How to remove (unlink) all the grease pencil layers?

Short answer:
Yes!

Press N, go to Grease Pencil and uncheck the checkbox:

This will hide all grease pencil sketches, while retaining the information in case you want your sketches back at a later time.

Long answer:
In the Viewport press N and go to the Grease Pencil portion of the menu on the right.

There are several ways to remove a grease pencil sketch, you can just hide the grease pencil (the checkbox), you can delete a frame, you can delete a layer (the "X"), or you can hide a layer (the eye).
You can use the RMB or use Shift+D to get the grease eraser. Use the LMB (or RMB depending on the method) to erase, and the MMB to change the size of the brush.


How do I fix this discoloration in my model?

There were multiple faces partially overlapping each other.  By removing the extra layers, the model returned to a smooth looking surface.

Thanks all for the assistance.


How can i edit an image to make it shake in the video editor?

You can do it by keyframing object location and giving it a noise F-curve modifier. I chose my camera to add some shake into it.

Select the object you want to shake. Press i and choose Location to keyframe the object location.

Keep your object selected and go to Graph editor. Shortcut is Shift+F6.

Select the dimension you want to shake your object to. I chose Z but you can do this to all dimensions if you want to. Select Key and under Add F-Curve Modifier you find Noise.

From Modifiers panel you can adjust the strength. If the panel is not visible you can press n key. You can play with other settings if you want to.

Just play the animation and you have some shaking.
Video editor
In Video editor you can keyframe the offset location of your image or image sequence as can be seen in image below. Everything else is the same.


You need to unwrap UVs again.

Select the top faces, got to top orthogonal view, press U to unwrap and select project form view.


Moving objects away from 3D cursor equally like scale, without actually scaling

Turn on Center Only option in the 3D View header button with three dots.

For 2.8+ this toggle can be found inside the Pivot Point popover at the top of the 3D View header.


how can I make a 3D object appear behind an object in a video

There are a couple of ways you can do this, off the top of my head:

1: MASKING - you can setup a simple box mask to remove/hide the part of the 3D object so that it appears to be "hidden" partially behind the wall in the video even though it is a layer sitting on top of the video.

2: PROJECTION MAPPING - this way is more complicated. You recreate the video scene in the 3D viewport, apply the video as textures to each object, set lighting, then position your 3D object and animate as necessary. This gives more accurate results in terms of shadows from the 3D animated object moving within the actual/recreated scene.

Depending on the end result that you're looking for, these are just a couple of ways to get there.


You were pretty close.

I've used Voronoi for the bubbles and mixed it with some Noise.
First Color Ramps are for tweaking "contrast" of the textures and the last one is to give proper colours to the bubbles.


What is it that makes some cycles materials not display in the "Textured" view?

Textured view will only display the texture if the texture is an image node.

Noise is a procedural texture and will not be displayed. You need to change to 'Rendered' view to see procedural textures in the viewport.


"save as image" no confirmation when overwriting

There does not seem to be a way to enable any settings to cause a pop up confirmation dialog to appear.

If you are not concentrated on what you are doing during the saving process, you can still automatically click through the dialog and save over if you save files a lot and get used to the process so some conscious effort is still needed in any case. If you find it hard to know, when you are going to override a file look out for red color. That is very easy to spot if you are looking out for it. The file name field turns red if the same file name exists:


You have accidentally manage to enable Proportional Editing.
Toggle it with "O" key or click this button.


Where to find custom created Grease P. Brushes? (2.80)

Thank you for trying Yash, but I can tell you were only guessing. Why? Because both guesses are wrong. And because I found where it really is.

This is how it is really done:

It's easy to overlook because the icons representing the brushes look the same, and have almost the same name. Although the complete name of the last brush is "Draw Pencil.001" but it would only show in the upper left corner of the image above, where it says "Draw Pencil" now.


First I did a quick Google image search using the key words "map of Earth" then copied one that was in square format.

Second, I added a UV Sphere then unwrapped it with the following settings.

I then drag and dropped the image from the hard drive folder into the UV image Editor and scaled the UV Islands up along the Y-axis to get the image to fit better.

I have Blender Rendering set to Blender Internal and there are some settings on the right that will help you to see the image under the Shading Tab

Now I went back to Object Mode, then clicked over the sphere model to position the cursor onto the surface and added a plane.  In edit mode, I merged the vertices into 1 by using the keyboard shortcut Alt+M and selecting At Center.

In the image that follows, you can see one little orange point hovering near the surface of the textured sphere.

Now look at the bottom of the 3D View and activate the magnet Tool

You can use Ctrl + mouse click to quickly extrude out new vertices all along the continents on the reference model.  (I wrote 'mouse-Click' instead of left-mouse or right-mouse because people use different defaults for the right and left click)

After you have the outlines done you can start manually choosing sections and adding in faces using f Make Face.
You'll have to be careful about this part because the model is curved and making one big face will cause problems because it will be a flat surface trying to fit a curved profile.  Try and make the faces in smaller chunks.

After the continents are filled in, you can use e Extrude to give thickness to the model.  Or you can use the Solidify Modifier.

Now you can delete the reference model with the map on it and replace it with the model that has the Wireframe Modifier on it that is shown in one of the other answers.

If there are any steps that you have problems with then come back to this site and start a new Question for that specific area.

//============================================================================
Update based on comments.
//-----------------------

To make a height map, I used the downloaded picture of Earth mentioned above and loaded it into GIMP and used the Color/Area Select tool that most programs have and selected the ocean color which selected all the ocean area using default settings.  I then flood filled this area with black.  Then I used color contrast to get the following image.

Now I added a second set of UV Coordinates using the following panel,

I did this because the coordinates for the Spheres poles did not fit into the image area properly and I wanted to paint the poles black to hide the errors that were showing up there form bad mapping.

Then I added the height map made in GIMP as a material texture and baked it to the new coordinates.

Then I added this in as the material texture and used texture Paint mode to paint out some of the other problems.

Now I added this texture in as a height map for a Displace Modifier which came after a Sub-D Modifier and at the end I added a Decimate Modifier with the settings in the following image.(You can right-click the image and choose 'View Image' if you can't see the settings from the preview)

Now I applied the modifiers and and used Circle Select to select all the ocean faces.  Once they were all deleted I was left with the following.

Next I added another Decimate Modifier to clean up the mess and reduce the poly count down to something easily manageable.  I was mostly concerned with cleaning the jagged edges at this point, this produced the following.

Next came the Shrink Wrap Modifier with the following settings.

And with a simple lighting setup, the final render.

You could use Texture Paint to paint in dividing lines then bake a normal map from this to get a bit more detail.  That would be far more straight forward than actually creating geometry to divide various countries, states, provinces, etc...


make sure to sort it, by clicking this button on blender's file viewer.
selecting it to Name will sort it by name


First, import the mesh by pressing File > Import > FBX and navigating to the .fbx file.

Once you have your object imported, ensure that it is the active object (orange outline). If it's not active, right click on it.

Then press Tab to enter Edit Mode where you can edit the underlying mesh.

In your case, you can select the parts of the mesh you want to delete by:

Selecting a vertex on the head with  RMB
Press CtrlL to select linked geometry
Press CtrlI to invert selection

Once you have the vertices you want to delete selected, press Delete > Vertices to delete them.


This might be helpful. UV Project where an empty can move and control the UV texture. You can either animate the empty directly, or parent it to another bone, or object, or...

p.s. if you press RR with the empty selected you can rotate the texture like an orbit.

Update: In response to extra blink question.

Above the initial shape I added a duplicate which floats just above the surface and repeated the process of adding a UV project - the difference is the second UV had a strip of alpha transparency.

My guess is more layers can be added for extra effect. Here I added some movement to the new UV alpha layer...

...and then added some scaling to origin UV eye texture.


Let's have some selection, from which we want to deselect non-manifold geometry:

Invert selection CtrlI:

Select non-manifold ShiftCtrlAltM:

Invert selection CtrlI:

Tadaa!


From what I'm seeing, you need to add a texture paint slot, found under the tools tab at the very top. Just click the part that says "add texture paint slot" pick "base color" set the resolution and I ASSUME that will fix your problem.


How to have the head of a bone move freely?

This rig works normally. The bones of the spine are point to the wrong way. Unfortunatelly you have to remake those 3 bones, because now the pelvis is the children of the chest.


How to apply a driver to rotate an object around a custom orientation?

You can use Constraints to animate the axle. Constraints are like commonly used drivers that have a gui configuration.

In the following example I have two empties that define the position of the universal joints. The rear one is a child of the diff to follow it around and it has it's rotation animated. The rear tailshaft has a constraint to copy the location of the rear empty, a TrackTo constraint to have the opposite end always point at the front universal joint and a Transformation constraint to amplify the rotation.

Note that the TrackTo constraint will pivot the object on it's origin so you want to place the object origin at the center of the universal joint.

Where a Copy Rotation constraint will do a straight copy of the rotation, a Transformation constraint can alter the end rotation. It can also be used to turn a rotation of one object into movement of another, but in this case I am using it to have a different rotation value than the source. For the source rotation I have min at 0 and max at 360 while the destination has a min of 0 and a max of 1440, that means that a full rotation of the source will rotate the tailshaft 4 times (1440 = 360 x 4)

The front tailshaft is setup similar but uses a simple copy rotation for comparison.

The end result -


How to deselect origin center/ cursor blender with python?

I don't know a huge amount about scripting for Blender, but I have a small amount of development experience and this is what I found after some digging.
Overlay attributes are accessed through bpy.types.SpaceView3D
You can then access bpy.types.View3DOverlay
What you're looking for is:
show_object_origins
(Show object center dots)
show_object_origins_all
(Show the object origin center dot for all selected and unselected objects)
There is a similar question about how to access Viewport Overlay options, and it's recommended that you first iterate over the areas of the current screen and find the 3D View before attempting to set the overlay option you are looking to change.
There is appropriate code in the question I linked above.
I hope this helps!


How do you select the interior faces of a cylinder with an array modifier?

Since you can only select interior faces with wireframe view, make sure you are on solid view and select outside; hit ctrl-I to select inverse (the inside), then delete them. hope this helps :)


Material rendering fuzzy on some objects and not others

Your problem is that several of your petals are duplicated exactly on top of themselves.  Since the petals are super high poly the z-fighting is not quite as obvious as usual.

This probably happened because you pressed Shift(or Alt)+D and then exited the operator with a right click (or by pressing Esc).  This does not cancel the entire duplication operation, it just cancels the translation and drops the duplicate directly on top of the old one.

To fix this just select and delete all the unintentional duplicates.  I would do this by selecting each problematic petal and checking if it has a material assigned to it, if not delete it; if so right click it again to select its duplicate, then delete it.


You enabled duplication (Frames) just click None and your object will be rendered.


Light spectrum dispersion effect in Blender?

It is fake-able to some extent in cycles, see some of these results:
http://www.blendernation.com/2012/04/05/cycles-diamond-dispersion/
http://www.blendernation.com/2012/09/04/cycles-dispersion-glass-shader/
One technique I know of is to use multiple Glass shaders with different IOR values
A quick setup:

Low sample result:

(Not that great, but the closest method I know of..)
Luxrender is an open source unbiased bi-directional rendering engine with blender integration (and GPU rendering support via OpenCL) and is capable of this.
Some examples:
http://mitsuma.deviantart.com/art/LuxRender-Prism-198927185
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=kIX5WL07Uss#t=15s
Luxrender (technically SmallLuxGPU, an early version of luxrender with GPU support)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=jk-N4f9ze4k#t=82s
Yafaray is another open source render engine with blender integration that supports both biased and unbiased techniques, and also seems to handle this well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVHYMq8NEEs


How to curve my subdivided mesh along it's y axis

Use the [curve modifier].

See a video tutorial on the famous video website or search here at BSE.

You can also use [Simple Deform] modifier.

You can also use proportional edit.

You can also use an armature modifier.


Frames Shown in Movie Editor>Mask Mode does not Match Frames Shown in Compositor

I figured it out, and I figured I'd put it on here in case anyone else is having the same problem.
After tracking, I was putting my movie clip through an undistortion node to remove lens distortion, which was changing the positions of objects near the edges, which was why the tracking marker near the edge was so off. I just put my markers through the undistort as well, and now it works perfectly.


How to make a material that toggles between 2 colors when object surface overlapping?

I'm pretty sure your example will have been done in compositing.. that leaves much more room for flexibility; you can shoot your basic plates, and then decide how to combine them at a later stage.
But if your shapes are single surfaces, and you don't mind using OSL, which means you can't use your GPU,then this could be enough for a variety of effects:
shader LayersBehind(

 // Number of layers found behind P
 output int LayersBehind = 0
)
{
    point ray0 = P;     //The first of a sequence of ray origins
    int limit = 20;     //Limit on length of ray-chain

    while ((LayersBehind<limit) && trace(ray0,-I,"mindist",0.000001)){
        getmessage("trace", "P", ray0);
        LayersBehind++;
    }
}

The output of this script-node is the number of surfaces hit, behind the shading-point, on the way out from the camera.

I guess the computation for this kind of render isn't too high, so sacrificing your GPU may not be too much of a hit.


How to access coordinates of Bezier curve control point handles?

Here is a Python function to print X, Y, Z values of the points given a curve object reference parameter.
(based on the answer linked in the comment)

import mathutils.geometry

# The parameters can be found by taking the coordinate and
# right handle of a point, and the coordinate and
# left handle of the next point in the Bezier points array.
# For cyclic curves the last point and the first point in the array
# form an extra segment.

def printInterpolatedCurveSegmentPoints(existingCurveObj):

    spline = existingCurveObj.data.splines[0]
    numSegments = len(spline.bezier_points)
    assert(numSegments >= 2)

    r = spline.resolution_u
    if spline.use_cyclic_u:
        numSegments += 1

    points = []
    for i in range(numSegments):
        nextIdx = (i + 1) % numSegments

        knot1 = spline.bezier_points[i].co
        handle1 = spline.bezier_points[i].handle_right
        handle2 = spline.bezier_points[nextIdx].handle_left
        knot2 = spline.bezier_points[nextIdx].co

        _points = mathutils.geometry.interpolate_bezier(knot1, handle1, handle2, knot2, r)
        points.extend(_points)

    assert('3D' == existingCurveObj.data.dimensions)
    for pointVec in points:
        print("Point X:", pointVec[0])
        print("Point Y:", pointVec[1])
        print("Point Z:", pointVec[2])
        print()


ImportError for module installed in scripts/addons/modules

You can convert your single file based addon into to a module by creating a folder with the name of the intended module, ie six and renaming six.py to __init__.py. This folder will be now recognised as a python module and loaded as an add-on because of the bl_info in the __init__.py.

With this setup, you can use it to store and segregate your add-on dependencies from other addons that you have installed.
This also has the added benefit of keeping things as you manage the contents of this folder and should not rely/assume other dependencies exist.

Generally you will want to use ..\scripts\addons\ folder as the root directory for your add-on as the ..\scripts\addons\modules folder can be used to install shared dependencies by authors of modules, which you allured to could have conflicting versions. Also this folder may not exist if you have some custom install scripts and you will have to ensure its created.

If you have the above setup then all you need to do is zip up the folder and it should be installable via Blender's addon installer.

Edit:
Didn't realise six.py was your dependancy. In which case the above will work for your main addon. Assuming that you have your dependency stored in a modules folder the following sample code will add it to the sys path.

# Python dependencies are bundled inside the io_scene_nif/modules folder
_modules_path = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), "modules")
if not _modules_path in sys.path:
    sys.path.append(_modules_path)
del _modules_path


Selecting an edge without vertices and deleting it

You can also use the "Delete Loose" option in Edit Mode >  Mesh > Clean Up > Delete Loose.
It is easier than having to select every floating vertices !
I'm not an expert, but I hope this helps


How do I move my blender models (made from a single model) to the 0.0.0 zone on the axis

Some thing like your problem:

Shift + S and select, Selection to cursor (Be sure to use it in Object mode)

It will moved to center as on your 3d cursor. (if your 3d cursor is not in center already try Shift + S and select, Cursor to center)

Now you may adjust the location of your model along z axis manually, I hope it will not difficult for you.

Best of luck!

Updated:
You may try to hit Ctrl + A and apply location and also please follow the steps as shown below:


No painting strokes showing when Texture painting

Never mind!
It may have been that having the Fill brush, the cursor won't change into that little circle it shows when you use most other brushes, so it must have confused me. Either way, it's all good now :)


Why do i get wrong shading like if there are sharp edges that shouldn't be there?

You need to delete the inner faces that we can see here, they are messing up with the normals:


How can I make particles remain stationary on a surface?

There are two basic ways to approach this problem through particles and collision objects:

First is not very suitable for animations, since the leaves freeze at the moment they hit the collision object. You basically check the "Die on Hit" and "Died" check-boxes in the Particle settings.

Second is more suitable for animations since the leaves move a bit even after hitting the ground and come to a stop smoothly. Here you DON'T check the "Die on Hit" and "Died" check-boxes but you edit the settings for the collision object itself. Namely the Stickiness and Friction Factor values.

Either way, the big problem is keeping leaves not going through the ground thanks to rotation of the particle - the collisions don't take into account the shape of the leaves. I would need more context to choose a solution for this. One solution would probably be to let the leaves rotate only around Z axis (thus not going through XY planes) which would tamper with the animation of their fall though and work only on absolutely flat XY planes.


Lag when viewing meshes in texture shading mode

Ps1 texture for world maps reached a maximum of 1024x1024 pixels and a lot of "sharpening filter applied, from photoshop".
If you're using such an old computer, the maximum texture will be 1280x1280 pixels for Ps1 styles. Your texture is causing the lag, yes. Upgrade to Blender 2.79. Most of texture mip issues have been solved there as well, if you don't want to go to 2.8.


Import FBX - stretched model with animation

Pay attention to the bottom left of your Blender screen on import (you may need to scroll down to see it).

There are options for both the mesh and the armature here, and you need to play around with the axis settings to match your workflow.

If you still have questions/issues with this, please comment to state what they are, and fix up the question to show more specific requests where you are having the issues. That way this post can serve as a decent reference to help others, who may run into similar issues.

If you answer your own question, please detail what you did to solve the problem.


Using knife tool to cut all around a an object

Apologies for my premature question. I should have paid attention to the various options available with the knife tool!
Turns out that pressing Z activates the cut through option which in effect creates a loop cut around the object.


Freestyle "Material Boundary" not working?

This is not an error. Unfortunately, freestyle cannot detect face intersections, even if they have different materials. You can use inset face or a loop cut and slide to try and put an edge there for freestyle to use, but unless there is an edge there or an outline, there will be no freestyle.


You can use the mathutils.Color type to convert HSV to RGB:

from mathutils import Color

c = Color()
c.hsv = 0.0833, 0.4, 0.5

print(c)
# roughly Color((0.5, 0.4, 0.3))

If you want to assign the color to a RGBA property (4 floats), you need to either do:

bpy.context.object.color = c.r, c.g, c.b, 1.0 # 1.0 is alpha

or a bit ugly looking tuple concatenation:

bpy.context.object.color = c[:] + (1.0,)

Alternatively, import the Python standard library module colorsys and use its conversion functions:

import colorsys

colorsys.hsv_to_rgb(0.0833, 0.4, 0.5)
# (0.5, 0.39996, 0.3)


Loopcuts+Cast modifier

Start from adding a regular pentagon to the scene (a circle with 5 vertices).

Inset the ngon (i) and add some loopcuts.

Then add a Cast modifer controlled by an empty which you should put a little below the pentagon (depending on the shape you wauld like to get) to make it bump up. You could also use Proportional editing with "Sphere" influence if you already have an idea of the final silouhette of the tend.

Enable modifier visibility while editing to add further loopcuts in the parts that need a higher polygon resolution.

Set the object shading to smooth, mark sharp edges and add an Edge Split modifier.

You can get a similar result also with Subdivision Subsurface modifier (not suggested, too many faces and it's difficoult to achieve the correct curvature)

Cloth simulation

If you are looking for a realistic definition of the surface (in the middle of each sector the fabric should be a litte more loose), you can let the physic model it for you by running a cloth simulation.

Pin the vertices along the boundary, define the arcs and create seam between the arch and the tissue below. Now fill the field in the cloth sewing panel and start tweaking the settings to find the wanted curvature of the fabric.


Its probably shading. In the properties>data tick a box that says "Auto Smooth" and try an angle like 30.


Assuming you are not texture painting, I think one of the easiest ways would be to use one material for the whole thing, comprised of 2 textures (or full materials) combined together with a mask that would define the "path" area.
If you are looking to mix 2 PBR Materials, use 2 Principled BSDF's (one connected to each texture set), and mix them with a Mix Shader. Whatever you use for the Mix Factor will define how they are mixed. In the below example, I used a scaled down Wave Texture, with it's vectors distorted slightly by adding the influence of a Noise Texture. This gives a relatively straight path with "jagged" edges (shown more clearly in second image). Using it as a Mix Factor, results in a path with realistic looking edges:

You can see how the texture I made for the mix factor looks on its own, and how the light and dark areas represent the placement of the two textures. The pure white and pure black areas are the full "strength" of their respective textures, whereas the shades of grey represent a "blend" of the two, giving that fade-in look you're after (as opposed to a harsh cutoff).

If you are just looking to mix 2 single Image Textures, you can simply mix the images directly by using a MixRGB Node:

Remember these are just examples, you may have to alter some values to make it look right on your mesh (particularly in the first example). This is just to demonstrate a couple of ways different textures can be mixed.


Why does background image disappear, UNCHECKED - when the 3d view is closed, re-opened, or duplicated?

The background image settings are saved to the 3DView that the properties region is attached to. By changing another editor to a 3DView a new set of default values are used, they don't get copied from another 3DView.

If you setup the background images and then split the 3DView, then the background settings will get copied to the new editor.


You're right, a bump map from a noise texture is exactly the right solution for this problem. Add to that the right specular characteristics (high roughness in Cycles, large specular size in BI) and you're well on your way.

After that, just add a colored texture for the diffuse and it'll be pretty close. In fact, the noise texture actually provides RGB colors that you could just use for the color. (Often the noise texture is converted to greyscale because that's more useful than RGB, like with your bump map you're going to create, but it does actually use RGB values).


Why does the texture within the shader viewport look more distorted than the actual texture image?

In addition to the UV map problems, the nodes are illogical. You are connecting a normal map as bump. Normal map should be used with Normal Map node. It can be connected to the Bump node as Normal input, while a bump texture should control the Height of the Bump node. You have a texture named albedo connected to the Bump nodes Normal input - that makes no sense. Albedo textures might not be the best source for bump textures, but I will assume, that is what you wish to use it for.

This would probably make more sense:

You might want to consider lower bump distance values. 0.625 would mean 62.5 cm if you are working with metric units, while bumps on surfaces you might want to use bump maps for in a room sized scene might be somewhere around 1-10mm, so 0.001-0.01 for the value might be more logical. Of course, you might be modelling a surface of a planet - I don't know that. I am guessing the scale of your scene based on a normal map image in your screenshot and the texture name "floortileclean_normal.png".

Problems like you show in the picture might be caused by insufficient detail of a texture as well or insufficient bit depth, but it is hard to tell without testing them properly set up.

There is no red circle in the image, it's a rectangle.


Try setting blend mode to alpha blend
Screenshot:

If it does not work then try this:

Keep the blend mode to alpha blend
Replace translucent BSDF to transparent BSDF


Procedural volumetric texture generated from a script

If the available Maths nodes aren't up to the job of creating your required procedural volumetric you can use OSL to create a new shader node to generate your volume. OSL is based on C/C++ syntax and a wide range of maths functions are available (including vector maths, noise generating functions, etc.).

See Blender Manual - OSL, OSL Github, OSL Language Spec within Github

To demonstrate this in action, ensure you have a version of Blender that has been compiled to support OSL - if so you'll have the option to enable Open Shader Language on the main Render properties panel. Enable Open Shader Language and paste the following code into a new Text Editor block named 'simple_generated_volumetrics.osl' :

shader generated_volume(
    color Color1 = color(0.8,0.2,0.2),
    color Color2 = color(0.2,0.8,0.2),
    color Color3 = color(0.2,0.2,0.8),
    float Frequency = 12,
    float Falloff = 8,
    float Bias = 0.3,
    output closure color BSDF = diffuse(N))
{

    float distFromCentre = pow(P[0]*P[0]+P[1]*P[1],0.5);
    float height = cos(distFromCentre * Frequency)/(distFromCentre+Bias)/Falloff;

    color pointColor = mix(mix(Color2, Color1, min(max(0,height*6),1)), Color3, min(max(0,-height*6),1));
    color invertedColor = color(1-pointColor[0], 1-pointColor[1], 1-pointColor[2]);

    BSDF = (invertedColor*absorption() + Color1*henyey_greenstein(0))*(P[2]<height)*30;
}

In the Node Editor, add a Script node and set the text to the newly created text block. This should automatically compile the OSL and the node should be updated to include new input/output sockets as defined in the OSL code. Connect the BSDF output to the Volume of a Material Output node.

Assign the material to a Cube (or other mesh to act as the volumetric domain) and this should produce a result similar to the following :

The above example is produced by calculating the distance from the origin and generating a Cosine wave based on this distance, scaled by the distance. The colour of each pixel is determined by the height and mixed between the three input colours. Obviously the calculation can be amended to whatever you desire.

Note that in my example I amended some of the render settings to get better results. In particular, I swapped to Branched Path Tracing (with increased Volume samples), reduced the Volume Sampling Step to 0.05 (lower values give sharper results but at the expense of render time), and increased the Volume light path bounces to 4.

The 'surface' itself is created using a combination of Volume Absorption and Volume Scatter (henyey_greenstein) to simulate a rough diffuse surface - similar to that used in Give this mesh a uniform thickness on all the tubes and unions

Note also that the ‘30’ at the end of the ‘BSDF =...’ line represents the ‘solid’ density and this could be similarly varied throughout the volume, depending on your requirements (for this I just used it to demonstrate a generated solid volume).


What is the equivalent of sweep on a rail in Rhino? Bevel is not working for me

Final:

Steps:

Bevel object.

This will be our shape (profile) needed for beveling main neckles.

You can create it from Add > Curve > Circle and:

Rotate it on X axis by 90 degrees.
Go to Front Ortho view.
Select half of it.
Press V and select Vector.
Move middle point to be even with top/bottom ones (you can use Snap to Vertices).
Go to Object Mode.
Scale it down a little.

  Note: It's important to have this shape properly rotated before
  Beveling another Curve.

Main object.

Create another Curve > Circle.
Go to Object Data tab.
Choose Bevel Object we have created earlier.
Check Fill Caps.
Uncheck Cyclic.
Position Bezier Points as you need.


Importing OBJ File to the center with correct orientation

If the object is already in the scene, select it. In the 3D viewport, open the transform panel (little cross on the right). You will see the location. Click on X, Y and Z and change their values to 0, this should put the object at the center of the scene.

Here is a picture where you can see which fields you need to change. You can then change the Rotation to give it the desired orientation.

For the orientation, you can also choose it when you import the OBJ file. When you do File -> Import -> Wavefront, you will be given the choice for the forward and up axes of the object :


How to remove part of a model and create a handle?

Not a direct answer, but I propose this approach :

Upper left, the base shape (only extruded cube)
Lower left, the same with a subsurf modifier
Upper right, vertices adjustment in order to fit the shape
Lower right, the same with subsurf

Edit for some explanations as Thefundude said to be new to Blender :

The main idea is to start from a basic shape which as the topology of the bottle. So mainly here, has a hole below the handle and is opened at the top.

The very basic first shape is here for that (defining the topology), but also, as it is very basic (few vertices), its vertices can be used as handles to reshape this starting mesh to the wanted shape.

The subsurface modifier is used to round the shape.

Here is how to set it up :

Select your starting mesh
Go to the modifier panel and select the subsurface modifier
Give it one or two subdivisions

Now the first part to enhance will probably be the handle. We want it curve. We will use the spin tool for that.

Remove the non curve part
Place your cursor at a pivot point (the spin uses the cursor as pivot). Select the location and Shift+S and 'cursor to selected'
Select the vertices to spin
Place the view in the spin axis. Here front view so NumPad1
Then Alt+R to invoke the spin tool
Change the amount of steps to an amount which more or less preserves the proportionalities of the whole model (the same precision everywhere, for now)
Finally, as the spin has created vertices which overlaps already created vertices (these on the bottom right here), select them (or all) and remove doubles.

After that, this is mainly tuning and adjusting matter.

For instance you can scale the handle :

Or add some more geometry to refine the shape :

Or want to add more edge loops, in particular to flatten the base (I used here the 'inset tool' which is invoked by I (then adjust moving the mouse) :

Step by step (but starting from an appropriated topology, adding few vertices as you want to master the shape easily) you can refine your shape without arriving to the complex situation of your question.

Cheers !


How can I control when a camera starts moving along a curve

Just set keyframe where it is still, further in the timeline just before the other keyframes start moving the camera :)
Like, if you want it to be still in half a second, place a keyframe at frame 12, and then have the other frames placed afterwards. If it is in the middle of a move section, then you need to place a keyframe where you want the camera to be still, and then place the same keyframe at the frame of how long you want the still camera to last :)

If this didn't explain your issue, please tell me, and I will try to understand the issue :)


What is this extra face that is appearing after extruding?

I suspect you are seeing the difference between your Modifier and the actual bounds of the mesh.  Try toggling the "Display Modifier in Edit Mode" button.


How do I create a shader that is partially emissive for a particular colour, but diffuse if it's grey?

You need to plug another texture in the Fac port of the Mix Shader node, it will separate the emission and diffuse shaders, like so:


Why can't I drag files from File Explorer in VSE?

You must left-click and drag the ICON in the File Browser. Clicking anywhere else only selects the asset. You should then be able to drag it into the timeline. Bear in mind that you can only add one file at a time this way.


Create Sinosoidal Fringe Projection with blender... not everything by hand possible?

If I understand your requirement correctly, you're looking for a lamp that can project an undistorted (sinusoidal) banded image. This is very similar to Spot light with square shape and, in fact, you could potentially use the example provided there and simply use your image in the Image Texture to generate the required projection.

However, by taking the X coordinate and feeding that into a Sine maths node we can generate the sinusoidal illumination directly using the following nodes on the Point Lamp :

The Mapping node allows you to adjust the direction of the projection while the Value node controls the pitch of the banding. The 'Clip' frame simply limits the projection to the bounds -0.5 to 0.5 in each axis (so you get a clipped square projection) - adjust these values if you require a different aspect ratio or unbound projection. The 'Sine' frame simply generates the banding by multiplying by the 'frequency', adding 1.0 to remove negative values, and then multiplying by a constant for a suitable brightness for the lamp.

As in the linked question, the key to getting an undistorted projection is the Divide by the Z component of the Normal.

Here's the result :

Blend file included


Vertex position for linked object with armature

After ask the question, I had an idea:

import bpy

a = bpy.context.object
if a.type == 'ARMATURE':
    grpname = a.proxy_group.name

    grp = bpy.data.groups[grpname]
    for o in grp.objects:
        if o.type == 'MESH':
            print(o.name)
            for m in o.modifiers:
                print(m.name)

            # Apply modifiers
            me = o.to_mesh(scene=bpy.context.scene, apply_modifiers=True, settings='PREVIEW')
            myvertices = me.vertices
            for v in myvertices:
                print(v.co)

            if me is not None:
                bpy.data.meshes.remove(me)

        print("===================\n")
else:
    print("No armature selected")

You can use the same code that I used in local mode.


It's not possible to have the render region track an object by default, however, I did make an add-on for this exact purpose: 'Animated Render Border',
available on the Blender Market here.

(Gif is from 2.79, but the add-on works with 2.8+.)
The add-on can track an object by looking at the object's bounding box, or more precisely, using its vertices (if it is a mesh, curve, armature (uses bones) or lattice). It can track collections of objects and it also has a mode to allow a more manual fine tuning ('Keyframe' mode).


How can I remesh a curve that has been converted to mesh?

For this kind of work I would use the RobinBetts© method:

Import your svg, convert to mesh, simplify with X > Limited Dissolve.
Create a plane in front of your object, subdivide it vertically (probably more that what I've done in my screenshot). Delete the faces of this plane to keep only the edges.
Use the Knife Tool project to project these vertical edges on your object.
Give some corrections to your object so that it has a non-too messy topology.
Bend it (with Simple Deform / Bend mode or other) it has what it needs in terms of vertical edges to bend nicely.


Yes, multiple GPU's will also be used for the shift+z viewport render.

No, multiple GPU support is not planned for Eevee yet.
https://devtalk.blender.org/t/is-will-eevee-support-multi-gpu/625
It will just use your "display" card.


Click Reset to default theme in User Preferences > Themes:

Then press Save user settings to save it.


The suggested YXZ order from the video does not work in Blender because it uses the Z up axis convention, whereas Maya uses Y as up axis.

If you want to get a setup like the video, where the gimbal lock occurs when looking up or down, you need to parent the camera to an empty and rotate the empty 90° on the X axis, then set the rotation order on the camera to YXZ.

Only changing the rotation order on the camera can't work, the gimbal lock always happens at 90° on some axis and the camera is at (0°, 0°, 0°) when looking down, so this extra parenting is needed.

That being said, I think the standard XYZ rotation order in Blender may actually be better for cameras. It will give you gimbal lock when tilting the camera 90° sideways, which is perhaps even less common than looking down or up.


Is it possible to visualize ray length info as a black and white map?

Connecting the emission shader directly, as you suggested won't work indeed, but how about mix of transparent and emission depending on Geometry->Backfacing? Should work.

Edit:
Works for me:


How do I simulate a rotating, wobbling and falling spinning top...?

The main issue is that in RB sims the center of gravity is assumed to be the origin point of the mesh, in your case you have set this to the lowest point of the mesh (the tip)... therefore perfect balance is achieved..


python: removing vertices from mesh but still can access them from data

You can access all of Blenders mesh data with bpy.data.objects[i].data. However this data can't really be edited as you do in edit mode. When you switch to edit mode, a whole new object (at codelevel) is temporarily created untill you exit edit mode and return to object mode. When you return to object mode, the temporary edit mesh is converted to an object mode mesh.

This means while you are in edit mode, the changes you see are not reflected in yourObject.data. yourObject.data only contains the object mode mesh. It will be updated once we exit edit mode.

You could add the lines to update the object mode mesh, before printing its data.

bpy.ops.object.mode_set(mode='OBJECT')
bpy.ops.object.mode_set(mode='EDIT')

But this only adds unnecessary overhead to your operations. (And you shouldn't be using the bpy.ops functions anyways.)

The solution is to use the bmesh module, it is designed to handle mesh data and has calls to update it.

Import it with import bmesh.
Then get the object data with me = bpy.context.object.data

Getting and setting the object data is dependant on which mode we are in.

Edit Mode

bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(me)

# manipulate the mesh data with the bmesh reference here

bmesh.update_edit_mesh(me, False, False)

Object Mode

bm = bmesh.new()
bm.from_mesh(me)

# manipulate the mesh data with the bmesh reference here

bm.to_mesh(me)
me.update()

If you don't know, wether you are in edit or object mode, when your script executes, use this answers code (last block). It will check if the object is in edit mode and use the according functions.


Geometry Nodes and Exporting (Creating a mesh) in Blender 2.92

Ok, after filing a bug report with Blender, I got a partial answer from HQ.

To get the instance geometry from the modifier, use the "Make Instances Real" operator. Applying modifiers on point clouds isn't supported yet.  For the other parts, we have this task: T85281.

This doesn't seem to directly address the export issue, but it's a start. For more info, head over to Task T85281 : Support piping legacy modifiers with the geometry nodes modifiers.


Get a list of all mesh vertices that have a non-zero vertex group value in Animation Nodes

Vertex Group Input node can be used as a mask in the Mask List Node to only return vertices locations of those vertices that have non zero vertex group values:


The falloff is actually correct - as can be seen if you replace the point force with a plane force - in which case the soft body does not distort until it reaches the plane of force.

The apparent issue is actually caused by a combination of the differing direction of travel of the soft body points and how they interact with each other. ie, the top and bottom rim of the torus is being pulled diagonally towards the centre of the force - this pulls the torus into an oval shape, reducing the force keeping the front and back edges together and allowing the front to pull away (and get pushed away from the other soft body vertices) faster than the back (which is also pushed away from the middle as it's pulled together).

Note how the sides of the torus are pulled together as well as towards the point force. This deforms the soft body allowing the front and back to separate (they are actively pushed apart by the 'push' springs).

The uniformity of the force can actually be demonstrated by using particle emission instead of the soft body - this results in the 'particle body' being pulled directly towards the centre and the front-back distance remains constant until it reaches the point force (although the sides are still drawn together).

As a final proof that the effect is due to the soft body 'push' force between vertices, reducing the Soft Body Edge 'Push' spring to 0.000 produces the following result :

ie, the 'sides' are still pulled together - squashing the torus - but since there is no 'push' spring this doesn't result in the torus being elongated along the Y axis (highlighted torus (orange) shows the distorted soft body the same length as the undistorted (black) one).


How do the new light probes in Eevee work?

There are three types of Light Probes

Reflection Cube Map
Reflection Plane
Irradiance Volume

Reflection Probes
The two first are, as the name suggests, to calculate reflection maps for reflective surfaces. They may seem useless at first because you can enable Screen Space Reflections in EEVEE render panel, however screen space reflections have limitations. They are very fast to generate, but can only really capture objects that are inside the view frustum, that is currently visible from the active point of view and directly displayed in the viewport, and the sampling quality is not always enough.
These probes provide calculations for more complex and accurate types of reflection through use of a helper object (the probe).
Reflection Plane
As the name suggests Reflection Plane are the most simple ones, suitable for mostly flat surfaces like mirrors, glass panes, floor reflections, or rainy pavements. On more irregular surfaces they will likely generate weird results.
It has a clipping distance that will limit the reach of which objects are visible in its reflections. They are relatively cheap in terms of computation and work in real time, not requiring any baking.
Objects with reflective materials that reside withing its range (the bounding box around it) will be influenced by what this plane "sees", benefiting from the probe reflection map.

Reflection Cube Map
Similar to the Reflection Plane this will generate a more complex reflection map suited for curving shapes. Unlike the plane though this is not a real time process and requires baking, specifically the Bake Cubemap Only option from the Render Panel in the Properties Editor.
It also has clipping distances which affect the range of what is reflected and what gets clipped away. Moving a reflective object away from its influence radius also excludes it from it's "effect".

Irradiance Volume
Irradiance Volume is a different kind of probe, it calculates indirect lighting and shadows rather than reflections. Real time rasterization engines like EEVEE although very advanced can't really calculate indirect lighting by themselves, thus needs help generating and displaying this type of lighting interactions.
Irradiance Volume preform both these tasks by pre-calculating and storing the indirect lighting information in a grid-like array of points, the resolution of which can be adjusted from its Resolution XYZ in Object Data Properties.
Once again Clipping affects which objects are included for calculation, and everything inside its bounding box gets automatically influenced by the light calculations.

Likewise, since this is potentially heavy calculation that requires baking from the render panel to actually exert its influence. The higher the XYZ resolution the denser the grid, causing heavier the calculation resulting in a longer process, that conversely provides higher quality effects.

Common workflow:

Add probe object
Adjust position
Scale it so it encompasses all desired parts of the scene
Adjust clipping distances and grid density as desired
Bake (from render panel for Cube Maps and Irrandiance Volumes)

These calculations are stored within the Blend file and should be available next time you load it without further delays, so you aren't required to bake again.
Results
Here are the results of the various bake steps
No Bake

Cube Maps only (no indirect lighting, notice the reflections)

Bake indirect lighting (notice the color bleeding, softer lighting, and proximity shadows)

You may use several probes per scene to get denser details where required, but each one consumes additional memory and resources, incurring in performance penalties both on the viewport and during rendering, so use them wisely.


Why is there a crease in my mesh when I enable subdivision surface?

You have inner faces, delete them and it will work:


It's the Multires modifier. It does not like changes on the underlying mesh and this can result in strange spikes or something like you have.
You can try to fix it with the Multires Displacement Eraser brush in Sculpt mode (requires Blender 2.9+). I am not sure if that helps but it's worth a try.
If it doesn't help, you can fix it with the 'cut-off' method:

In Edit mode, select the bad faces of the low poly mesh and separate them with P, Separate > Selection
Switch to Object mode, select the new object with the bad faces and remove the Multires modifier. The faces should now look clean and 'low-poly'.
Select now both objects (the cut-off object and the original with the hole). Make sure you select the original last (=active object, orange selection color. This way it will keep the Multires modifier.).
Join the objects (Ctrl+J). (If the Multires modifier disappeared then you selected them in the wrong order, Ctrl+Z to undo ;-)
In Edit mode, select everything with A, and merge the loose meshes with M Merge > By Distance

That's it. The mesh should look nice again, except for the "low-poly spot". You just must add the missing details (Sculpt mode) for the spot.


I found the fix.

You have to check the Path Animation in Curve's properties.


Using Python to create a sphere and map a texture onto it

You should follow some beginner tutorials first, like Blender manual, to have an idea how to find yourself around Blender's API.

To get some feedback on comman tasks just pull down Info Panel or change the layout to Scripting like:

Now you will have feedback for all actions you perform like you usually would:


General Workflow

After unwrapping countless models, my current workflow is this.

Select and focus on the portion of the mesh by ShiftH in edit mode. In this way you do not have to separate your meshes into part and then rejoin them later. You can create the seams of the selected part one at a time and uv unwrap them individually to test if they unwrap properly. AltH to unhide the whole mesh in edit mode. Then proceed to another part of the mesh and repeat until you have the whole model seam up.

For the final steps it's pretty straight forward. Just select the whole mesh and hit U and remember to adjust your margins in the tool panel to make sure those margins between the islands are about 8-12 pixel wide. If you want to
make sure your islands are scale correctly use CltA with your mouse.

..

How to seam?
The answer as to how you cut those seams would be to always understand the concept of unwrapping a box into a flat plane. Then learn how to apply the concept to any mesh. The most important of all is to make sure those seams are hidden from view (as much as possible) . So you will want to hide those seams behind , eg. a belt, hair line , watch straps ... etc.

..

Fine Tuning
After you are done with all the steps above. It's time to fine tune those wonky
warped uv unwrap. I like to define the centre line of the mesh if any, and pin them. Turning on the UV editor > UVs menu > Live Unwrap , deselect the previously pinned center line and select those twisted portion you want to adjust, pin them before G move them. You will see live unwrap giving you real time update on how your manipulation to a single point affects the whole mesh. Very intuitive and easy to use!

Good luck.


How can I import an obj sequence into blender?

There is a patch for Blender allowing you to use RealFlow .bin files inside blender.

https://developer.blender.org/T41935

However it looks like the patch is no longer in development, due to alembic support coming very soon.

see: http://lists.blender.org/pipermail/bf-committers/2015-March/045025.html


"Local View Mode" is kind of a fake, selected-objects collection which you can enter which toggles all non-selected objects visibility automatically and the camera zooms-in on the selected-objects.
To get out of that view, click the / key. Or follow the UI steps shown in the screenshot below.


Use the array modifier in the modifiers tab.

Select the object you would like to copy and paste (or rather, make an array of) and then select the array modifier in the modifiers tab. Set the count value to however may copies you would like to make, then set the x, y, and z values under the relative offset check box (make sure it's checked) to however way you would like your object to be transformed.

Play around, experiment a little with the settings, and you will get the
hang of it.

Hope that helps.


You got a Blender Internal render engine setting. It is not for Cycles, they don't use same material system(although they are all using node).

You will not able to directly import this material into Blender 2.80 and further version. Since they've discarded the old BI system and adopt EEVEE, which share the same material system, instead.

You might find out that node setting in 2.81(newest one) could probably do the same effect with more elegant node setting. Keep on keeping on.


thank you metaphor_set and sambler!

a combination all of your suggestions helped. I had tried to download a theme, and I guess it didn't want to work right. Anyhow, I deleted my pycache, restarted, and made sure to select Selection Only on export, and change the type from Batch to Object. After that, things started working again.

thanks again! I hope this helps somebody else!


Texture with UV grid not showing up on 3d object

On the panel to the right click the material tab. add new material. to the right of "color" their is a tiny button. click that button. now click the button that says image texture and then for the image select the one you are already using on your UV mapping.


Why does Mesh Deform modifier stop animating after a number of frames?

user sambler answered my question -
"I expect the clothe cache end frame needs to be increased"


Lattice is useful if you have to deform a solid (like a 3D text on a curved surface). If it's only a plane to shrinkwrap to another curved plane, you can simply subdivide the mesh enough to get the desired resolution, adjust the view for the desired projection, go to edit mode, activate the face snapping and "project individual elements on the surface of other objects"; then select all vertices and slightly move the vertices: they will snap on the surface of any underlying object, with a view-dependent projection.


In essence when you join objects all Blender does is merge their meshes. If you have 4 objects selected, the last object you clicked will be the dominant Object (In Blender we call it 'Active') . This can have interesting (but probably undesired) effects if the dominant Object has a different modifier stack than the objects being added.

When you join two objects that have different Modifier stacks, the dominant object's modifier stack will be used, and the other modifier  stacks are discarded. This is why you will lose the mirror modifier if the dominant object doesn't have a mirror. To remedy this you would need to apply the modifier on the 'joinees' first, or cut the dominant mesh in two and add a mirror modifier  there.

To emphasize you could test this on a small scene, imagine I have 4 objects with all different modifier stacks

object_1 with modifiers (mirror, subsurf(level=2))
object_2 with modifiers (mirror, subsurf(level=4))
object_3 with modifiers (array modifier, subsurf(level=1))
object_4 with no modifiers

If I select in sequence, object(1,2,3,4) , then all associated meshes are added to object 4's mesh, and because object 4 has no modifiers all modifiers are dropped.


Import key configuration error -- simple problem?

This is a change made in blender 2.72.

The select operator in the sequencer used to use a boolean value (True or False) to select before or after the current frame.

Now in 2.72 it can use 'NONE' 'LEFT' 'RIGHT' or 'MOUSE'. While the boolean values can be entered as True and False the enumerated values need to be in a quoted string.

I believe to get the closest match would be -

Find instances of

kmi.properties.left_right = True

and replace them with

kmi.properties.left_right = 'MOUSE'

and replace

kmi.properties.left_right = False

with

kmi.properties.left_right = 'NONE'

Of course you may want to experiment and adjust it as desired.


You can use an array + the simple deform modifier.

Start with a cube, this will be your "brick":

add an array modifier, make it as long as you want bricks. make them go up on the Z axis

add a simple deform modifier.
set the type to bend.
set the angle to 180
Add an empty at the origin of your object

Rotate it by 90 degrees on the Y axis.
Set it to the origin in the bend modifier
Move it away from your object to control the width of your arch, you may have to try multiple axis.

GIF


Is it possible to keyframe visibility of every object in the scene at the exact same time in Blender 2.79?

You can run a small Python script to make all objects visible and insert keyframes:

import bpy

for every_object in bpy.context.scene.objects:
    every_object.hide = False
    every_object.hide_render = False
    every_object.keyframe_insert(data_path="hide")
    every_object.keyframe_insert(data_path="hide_render")

You would need to copy that into a new text block in the text editor in Blender and hit the Run Script button.

However I do not believe this will be of much help to you, unless the 'glitch' where everything becomes invisible to the camera is caused by you accidentally keying visibility of objects.

Glitches in Blender are really not that likely. Usually it is safe to assume that you did something wrong or did not do something right if you observe some glitch-like behavior. It would be logical to try to figure out what that was in order to fix it. That should at least be the first thing to do.


Making a cursor (caret) that leads the typing effect using animation nodes

This is how I did it, first I needed to use windows character map to find the Box character, and also a font that has that character, I chose Ariel. here is the node tree I used and works like I needed. Hopefully others find this usefull.


I do not currently have a Blender here to test my theory, however I am pretty sure, that applying scale would solve your problem. Check the three scale values in the properties panel. If they are not the same on the two objects, that could be the problem. hit ctrl + A and select apply scale so the scale is set to uniform one.


How to install Blender on a Mac so that multiple user accounts have access to it?

Having tried many more things, what finally worked was:

Changing the ACL permissions of the Applications/Blender directory through finder with the 'Get info' option and set use the 'Apply to enclosed items' option in there (cog wheel icon at the bottom, once you've changed a permission setting).

Even though in there I set the specific user to allow read and write (even using 'Apply to enclosed items' before, it did not do the trick. Only when I allowed staff to do this, it worked. Yet that user was not a member of the group 'staff'. So even though this worked, I don't really understand why this worked.


What are my options for automatically filling in a missing vertex weight group?

I managed to put together an add-on script that does what I want. It takes some tabbing between object/edit mode to "bake in" what vertices you want it to operate on (didn't look too deeply into it), and you can only access it through the spacebar menu, but that's fine by me.

bl_info = {
    "name":"Fill In Missing Weights",
    "category":"Object",
}

import bpy
from decimal import *

class FillInWeights(bpy.types.Operator):
    """Fill In Missing Weights"""
    bl_idname = "object.fill_in_weights"
    bl_label = "Fill In Missing Weights"
    bl_options = {"REGISTER","UNDO"}

    missing_group_name = bpy.props.StringProperty(
        name="Missing group name",
        description="Name of the group to fill in.",
        default="",
    )
    print_debug_info = bpy.props.BoolProperty(
        name="Print debug info",
        description="Output specific operations to console.",
        default=False,
    )

    def execute(self,context):
        obj = context.active_object
        if not obj.vertex_groups:
            self.report({"ERROR"},'Object has no vertex groups')
            return {"CANCELLED"}
        missing_group = obj.vertex_groups.get(self.missing_group_name)
        if not missing_group: # group must exist already
            self.report({"ERROR"},'Vertex group "'+self.missing_group_name+'" does not exist')
            return {"CANCELLED"}
        if self.print_debug_info:
            print('Begin weight-fill operation on group "'+self.missing_group_name+'"')
        bpy.ops.object.mode_set(mode="OBJECT")
        for v in obj.data.vertices:
            if not v.select: continue
            if len(v.groups) == 0:
                missing_group.add([v.index],1.0,"REPLACE")
                print("Added group-less vertex to group.")
            elif len(v.groups) == 1:
                g = v.groups[0]
                g_index,g_weight = g.group,Decimal(g.weight).quantize(Decimal("0.001")) # all known cases are 0.01, but just to be safe
                if g_weight >= 1.0: continue
                group = obj.vertex_groups[g_index]
                target_weight = Decimal("1.00")-g_weight
                missing_group.add([v.index],target_weight,"REPLACE")
                print('Vertex in group '+group.name+' with weight '+str(g_weight)+': adding to group '+self.missing_group_name+' with weight '+str(target_weight))
            # len(v.groups) >= 2: continue
        bpy.ops.object.mode_set(mode="EDIT")
        if self.print_debug_info:
            print("Weight-fill complete.")
        return {"FINISHED"}

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

def register():
    bpy.utils.register_class(FillInWeights)
def unregister():
    bpy.utils.unregister_class(FillInWeights)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()


Upon further investigation, I found that Blender's Cycles render engine is not compatible with the Intel HD 3000 (waste of time developing it) graphics "card" on my laptop. I purchased a new (different, used) motherboard with an ATI graphics  card for 25$ cheap...hopefully that will fix this issue.


Trying to add uv project modifier on eye but eye gets stretched up and down

The reason the texture isn't projecting right may be due to the lack of Coordinate and Mapping nodes, like so:

With the Texture Coordinate set to UV, the UV Project and UV Warp modifiers should start functioning properly. You can quickly add these nodes in with the built-in Node Wrangler add-on, using Ctrl+T after selecting the image texture node.
Note that in this example, I have the X and Y scale on the Mapping node set to -1, in order to flip the centered texture along those axis. Those properties can be animated as well, but the eye rig should be able to take over from there.


Use custom properties (variable values) in the node editor

To do this, you need to use your custom property to drive a value node.

EDIT: Added compositor example in addition to the original cycles material example.

This is possible in either the material or compositor node trees. Below is an example demonstrating the process in the compositor, and at the end I'll also include an example from a cycles material node setup.

Add a value node ( ShiftA --> Input --> Value ) to your node tree.
Right click on the number in the input box and add driver.

Open the graph editor window, change the view mode from F-Curve to Drivers, then open the properties panel (N).
Change the driver Type to Scripted Expression.
Change the variable Type to Single Property.
In the variable's Path box type the name of your custom property delimited by square brackets and double quotes. Example: ["myProp"]
In the Expr (expression) input box, make sure the name of the driver variable (default "var") is present.

That's it. You're value node is now connected to the value of your custom property, and any changes you make to the custom prop will be reflected there.

In the compositor, however, changing the custom property does not immediately trigger a scene update, which means the result will not be shown until you perform some other action that updates the view. In the example below, I simply Ctrl + LMB clicked on the Color node to reconnect the Viewer node, which updated the view.

Cycles material example:


How to render blender hair and skin on the same mesh?

You can assign several materials to a mesh.

To do that :

Go to edit mode (use face select mode Ctrl+Tab then 'face' as materials are applied to faces, but you are already in this mode here)
Select your hair surface using the group you have already created for the particles
Invert your selection Ctrl+I : the non hair part is now selected
Create a new material using the 'plus' sign in the material panel
Then click on 'assign'
You can then check that the assignation is ok : deselect all, then click 'select' in the material panel

Now you simply need to create your material (click on 'new' as this new material slot is selected), mark seams, assign a texture, etc. The same way you probably have already done it for the dress

Note : an alternative is surely to separate the scalp part. If you prefer that :

In edit mode select the scalp (using the group)
Duplicate it Shift+D
Then separate it P then 'selection'

In that way, you can have the hair and the scalp skin also. But here your hair is very dense and the scalp skin is not visible, it seems... so this is as you whish.

Another point. You have a lot of subdivisions with the subsurface modifier. You may lower it a bit and use the 'smooth shading' on your mesh. You will save a lot of calculation time, specially during the rendering. But this advice is totally optional !


'Bake data' button not visible in fluid options

It's because the cache type is set by default to "Replay". Replay does not provide any caching at all; it's used for instant replay. If you want to bake data, you should change cache type to modular or final (for final baking all physics)

And don't forget, that you need to save file before any cache type of simulations.


How to understand how many dB are at different points on the track?

I start using this addon - VSE Quick Functions Addon. it has VU meter and This solved my problem in order to adjust the volume to the values I needed and see the volume in dB.
Thank you, @tintwotin, for the advice to use this addon.


Can I save custom meshes to efficiently be used again and again?

Yes! There are several ways to re-use assets.

Linked Duplicates

One way is to use Linked Duplicates. To create a Linked Duplicate, just press AltD and you will get a new Object that uses the same Mesh data as the original it was duplicated from. With Linked Duplicates you can add a Modifier to one of the objects without it affecting the others. This may be the best-suited solution for your projects, based on what you described.

In the following screen shot we can see in the Mesh Context that the object selected is named "Icosphere.001". There is another object named "Icosphere" that this was created from as a Linked Duplicate. Both objects share the Mesh named "Icosphere", and this Mesh has two users, as is indicated by the "2" displayed to the right of it.

Linking from another .blend file

Another way is to create your assets in another .blend and Link them into your main project using File > Link. This would be done from within your main project.

Group Instances

Yet another way, keeping everything within a single .blend, is to use Group Instances. To do this, simply Group the object(s) you wish to re-use (CtrlG), and you can then Add a Group Instance (ShiftA), which is a linked copy of the original object(s). Group Instances are not directly editable, but you can transform/scale/rotate them. To make changes to their meshes you would edit the original Grouped object(s).

I'd like to give a shout-out to the archiviz tutorial DVD I originally learned this from. It used to be sold on the Blender Store, but it doesn't seem to be offered anymore and I can't remember the title. Anyway, it's a useful technique, so I pass it along to you.


How to mirror this section of hair horizontally, so that it does not flip upside down and can be applied to the other side of the head?

The easiest way would be to select girl mesh. SHIFT+S>Cursor to selected.Switch Pivot point to 3D Cursor and then S, X, -1 to mirror hair on the X axis.


You don't actually need to UV unwrap your sphere at all. Just plug the Generated output of a Texture Coordinate node into your texture's Vector input, and set the projection (probably "Flat") to Sphere (or try Tube).

Edit: Missed the fact that this is for Unity. I will leave this answer here for others who just want to do it in Blender.


Have you tried the last Blender version ? I've seen that it now supports sharp edges with vertex normals, so no more edge splitting needed. That should theoretically works as Max is using something similar (You might have to use FBX export thought).
If that doesn't work you can still collapse the edge split modifier prior to export, it will break your sharp edges in two. It's less practical but gives the same visual result.

If you're doing models for realtime keep in mind that sharp edges splits the uv islands in most game engine, which can very slightly reduce performance (sometime support edges are a better option). Cheers !


How can I make it so that objects only move with widget / text entry?

In order to not to grab / move objects with RMB, you should change tweak behaviour.

1. Increase the tweak threshold

To do that increase the Tweak Threshold in the User Preferences > Input:

Set it to something like 100 px. This means the mouse will need to move being right-clicked at least 100px in order this event to happen.

2. Turn off the tweak event mapping

In the User Preferences search for "tweak". In the results in 3D View section find and turn off Translate item with type of event mapping Tweak (or change keybinding for it):


It seems that applying this solution will work. However, I had to make a global collection for all my pieces (as I had multiple separated walls breaking), so I could make Select Objects from all the pieces and could remove Rigid Body (Object > Rigid Body > Remove) from all at once. Otherwise, only one of the walls would remain and the others would disappear (I don't know if this is an expected behavior).
To sum up:

Select all your pieces in the desired frame (I've done so by grouping them all in a collection, and then Right Click > Select objects)
Press Ctrl + A+ and select Visual transform
With all the pieces still selected, go to Object > Rigid Body > Remove

Now pieces can be moved and no matter what frame you go back to, they will remain the same without alterations.


the animation cursor is playing in a stepped movement. Even if there are no keyframes put the time-cursor is moving the same way. my fps rate is 30is

your fps are very low that could mean a hardware limitation, probably your system does not have the requirements to work at full with blender or could be a bug. check the minimun requirements to run blender HERE

If you wanna see your animation at full speed, render a preview (Go to View > Viewport Render Animation) Here is a video explaining that


First of you should delete the constraint on every second bone. This will give you a pop up behaviour.

In order to make them not intersect by bending to far, I would simply manually rotate the large bone to the point, where the deformation looks fine.
A real popup book would never be able to fully close. Your model also doesn't have proper volume, so cheating is best, as long as it looks good.

Finally, I would suggest adding a root bone. Assign the bottom card to the root bone, and constrain all bones parallel the floor to the root (which will also be parallel to the floor).

This will ensure not only closing downwards, but also closing upwards (if you want that).

In the following I also constrained the large yellow bone to the root.

This is how I would construct the rig.

Step by step instructions how to create the rig

Set up all the bones as they were, add a root bone, which will be used to rotate and move the whole rig.
Parent the first bone (red) of the step chain to the horizontal large bone (green).
Parent the large green and red bones to the root bone.
Make sure all bones' Z-axis are parallel.
Lock the X and Y rotation on all bones, except the root bone.
Create an additional horizontal bone with the same orientation as the horizontal bones of the steps and parent it to the large green bone. This way we can use less confusing world space copy rotation constraints.
Add a Rotation Constraint from the large red bones to the small red bones.
Add a Rotation Constraint from the small (inverted) green bone, to the small green bones controling the steps.
Hide all small bones.

(Long Gif.)


How do I prevent duplicate materials when copy-pasting?

Copy-pasting is a operating system level tool provided as a convenience for quickly transferring data between different environments, not something you would regularly use inside an application as part of its native workflow.
It should be used carefully and exclusively when required between different files, rarely within the same file.
It can lead to all sorts of issues, some of which you already encountered, like material duplication, losing datablock sharing, breaking child/parent relationships, among others.
If you are duplicating objects within a scene the correct workflow is to use Blender builtin operators, like object duplication with ⇧ Shift +  D, object cloning with Alt +  D and linking with Ctrl +  L.
Between different files, the recommended workflow is to either use linking or appending.


Why is material with 'Displacement and Bump' set only showing 'bump' displacement in Cycles?

Does your plane have enough subdivisions? A flat plane with only one face obviously can't be displaced so you need to add some geometry in edit mode or by using a subdivision modifier before the displace modifier


Blender file from Blender 2.49 to 2.79 when rendering changes default screen layout

This is a wild step in the dark since I haven't used 2.49 in quite a while. But there's two things you can try.

Make a new file and append the data you need from the other file with SHIFTF1. That way you should be able to isolate pretty well what is broken and what isn't.
You can disable 'Load UI' when loading the old file.


I've seen this affect when using "smooth" shading on the model. Changing from Smooth to flat will probably fix this, but then your model also look - well - flat. You might want to subdivide your faces around the area a bit more, which should allow for a smoother shading (toggle back & forth between smooth & flat in Object mode to refresh the shading).


You could definitely use Dynamic Topology (Dyntopo) and get something like that with the Snake Hook brush.

Start with a primitive like a cube or sphere.
Switch to Sculpt Mode.
Press CtrlD to toggle on Dyntopo or enable it in: Tool Shelf > Tools > Dyntopo.

If you decide to use Dynamic Topology then there is no need to use a Multiresolution Modifier. As you sculpt, topology will be created or tessellated dynamically where it is needed.
Begin roughing in your shapes with a high Detail size (Maximum Edge Length) and then gradually work towards a smaller Detail pixel setting (Zooming in and out also affects detail size). The hotkey for the Detail size is ShiftD.
In the Detail Refine Method, choose Subdivide Collapse method when using the Snake Hook Brush. Make sure to lower your Detail so that the extrusion doesn't break apart.

Retopology will need to be performed after using this method. Note: Dyntopo will destroy custom data layers such as UVs or Vertex colors attached to the mesh. Also, anytime that you leave sculpt mode (going into Edit Mode for example) will turn off Dyntopo.

Consider the following workflow:

Dyntopo to create the base model
Retopologize mesh
Multiresolution Modifier Sculpting in incremental levels to add in final detail to the mesh.


Is there a way to convert an imported svg into a grease pencil layer?

A workaround is possible i.a. with a script, but your imported .svg needs to be curves in the first place. See the answers to the following question