text:
Why can't I fill?
I selected these vertices-
And hit the F-key to fill. But this happened-
I am trying to get this shape but I can't subdivide it, so I am trying to create a face over it... hope someone can help!

See https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/57534/cant-subdivide-face and https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/50452/why-cant-i-subdivide-this-face

It would look better if you made two quads instead of one ngon. The failure to subdivide is probably that the selected verts are floating above an existing face and not "cut into" what you are trying to subdivide. Did you extrude the verts to where they are or did you use the knife tool?

Faces with more than 4 vertices (ngons) are more likely to give you problems, try to avoid them and use quads. Also it seems to me the vertices are not all on the same plane, so you are dealing with non planar geometry. read: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/35193/how-to-flatten-a-non-planar-face-to-a-targeted-plane and https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/dev/modeling/meshes/editing/cleanup.html


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How to decrease the polygon count on my mesh?
I'm an absolute beginner. I'm trying to reduce the count of polygons in my mesh.
I've looked at some tutorials online and I know what I need to do is go through the decimate process.
I can't locate the decimate function on my interface.
Can someone please show me how to find the "decimate" menu in my interface. The interface is unedited from the stock install.

Relevant questions: How to easily make mesh retopology and How to convert from high poly to low poly

The simple answer is Mesh > Clean up > Decimate Geometry.
Then look in the bottom of the Tools panel to see the Decimate options and reduce the Ratio.

A better, non destructive option is to use the Decimate Modifier
You will find more options there.

There seems to be an option which tries to keep UV maps intact which would be important if your mesh is using those.

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

sort: votes


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1 Bone driver, 4 shape keys
I have a setup where there is a square with a shapekey on each corner and I want to use a bone to drive the shape keys as shown in this animation:

However, I've fiddled with curves and tried a couple of expressions (I'm not good with those), but I cant get it to work.
Any ideas?

you could add a bone set up on the corners which would add 4 additional bones to your current set up. Add a two bones in the middle of the top of the outside square, where one would stay stationary and the other would be restricted to the X-axis & copy the X displacement of the bone that is animated. Then, you could set up a driver to use the displacement difference of those two bones as + or -.

that method seems sound, but I'd rather try another. This will end up adding more bones to an already complex rig (not shown)

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/


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Colt 1911 meshes are different colors

Basically the meshes on my 1911 model are becoming different colors and I have no idea why. It doesn't really seem like a problem to me, but I'd like to know how to fix it if it can be fixed. I'm using Cycles and I've already recalculated and even tried flipping the normals but nothing worked. By the way this model is not complete(clearly).

Either it is a normals issue or the have different materials/no materials assigned to them. Impossible to know without more info

What else do you need to know? I don't have any materials on them yet.

This is probably because some parts of your model have a material and some parts don't. Though if they all do/ don't have a material then one thing you could do is manually set the viewport color for the model as seen in the screenshot.


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M1911 Model material issues

So from the image above(or below) you can see that the slide on my M1911 is grey while the sights and the front area of the slide are still the standard mesh white. I don't know why this is happening. The front and the sights are joined together with the slide and they've all been smart UV unwrapped. The slide has a grey color because that's the color I set for it in the nodes. But it's just the front and the sights that I'm having issues with.

It looks like you have different materials assigned, got to the materials tab in object properties to see your materials.
When in edit mode you should see options to assign selected vertices to materials, you can use this to assign everything to the correct material slot. You can also use the select options here to see which vertices are currently assigned to that material.


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How do I apply a procedural generated scratch overlay across multiple mesh

What is going on

100% procedural texturing is part of the goal
Each board is an individual mesh
Exact same material is used on each mesh
Material's nodes add a random value to Object Texture Coordinates to the z coordinates to generate the variations in the wood grain

Goal

Procedural scratch across multiple mesh
Image texture is not an option

Use the Vector Transform node to transform object coordinates into Scene World coordinates

Using Geometry Node's Position socket you are able to mark surfaces from a global coordinates perspective.  Simply add an overly once you have a desired pattern generating.  Here is an EXAGGERATED example just to show what happens.  Keeping in mind all the boards have exactly the identical material applied. Eliminating the need to apply image textures.

Do not include answers in the question. Add an answer to your own question please.

@Leander, I wish I could but I was blocked from answering because when I was totally noob 3 of my answers were down voted.  I was trying to save time for everyone by posting the answer, and leaving it here for whomever else needs this in the future. If you would like to copy & paste the answer, I will be glad to mark it as accepted.

Using Geometry Node's Position socket you are able to mark surfaces from a global coordinates perspective.  Simply add an overly once you have a desired pattern generating.  Here is an EXAGERATED example just to show what happens.  Kepping in mind all the boards have exactly the identical material applied. Eliminating the need to apply image textures.

Of course the final scratching will be much more refined and detailed. :)


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Why is Bump causing blackout of material
When I plug my Bump Normal to Diffuse Normal my material turns completely black. What should I add &/or change?

You need to feed the bump data (in your case the Grain pattern fed through the Color Ramp to the Multiply) into the Height socket of the Bump node, not the Normal. In your current setup, the Multiply will be producing a scalar vaue rather than the vector that is required - resulting in effectively no surface normal. You should generally ensure you're connecting like for like when connecting sockets.

No worries - glad to help.


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Hairs of particle system on wrong places
I try to model a city. I have a group of buildings that act as the hairs of a particle system. The hairs should grow on the faces of a plane. Now this works for the buildings that were initially added to a Group. But later I added two more buildings to this group and these buildings are not "neatly" positioned on the faces of the plane. Either on two faces instead of one face and also on another plane. So it seems that there is something wrong with those buildings

The origin point of these buildings are not at the center of the building's base.

Place the 3D cursor at this base, for instance snapping it to the selected base
Then in object mode, choose 'object/transform/origin to 3D cursor'

To say it another way, objects as particle instances are moved/placed so that their origins are following the particle.

I am learning something again !!!


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UV map of ripped model won't show up
Today, I've started with ripping some models of Yooka-Laylee.
With the tool 'Unity Studio' I've got the obj files out of Unity's resource files. I've imported the .obj file (a barrel) into blender and wanted to see if everything works fine. The model showed up as it should and everything seemed working. But when I wanted to see the model with textures, the model was just completly white. After I opened the UV-Editor, I realised that the UV map just isn't there.
Does anyone have a solution for this problem? I've been searching on the internet for about 30 minutes but I haven't found an answer.

Personally I've always had problems with OBJ, as far I can see Unity Studio can export to FBX format, try that one.

The problem is that Unity Studio exports the FBX files in the ASCII format which isn't readable for blender. And if I try to convert it into a binary FBX file, the file is just empty.


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Rigging multiple bones to an object shaped for it: How?
Off-topic: https://i.stack.imgur.com/4i5pm.jpg
...Good to know.
On-topic:
I am trying to model (and rig) wings. The problem is that, when I used cylinders, 5 cylinders, duplicated, to represent the skeleton, then add bones to it, I got an error. (I am not sure if I asked this before, I may have forgotten.)
Even worse, I believe part of the cause is that the cylinders were joined, as there were no problems when they were not joined, as I had later checked.
...Is there any way to sculpt or mesh some wings (I will cover the Soft Bodies and clothes later) with multiple bones without it giving me an error? I just want to make it look realistic, which requires it joining, and I am not sure if I will have to resort to Shape Keys.

I think posting a blend file may be helpful. It's hard to follow what you're asking.

"An error". Look in the Console, what error message?

"Bone Heat Weighting"
It tells us that it failed to work for 1 or more bones. Now, I have seen this complaint in plenty of questions across the site, but for this issue in particular, we are dealing with 5 bones, all extruded from the base, trying to be rigged onto a mesh resembling the bones for wings. Using separate bones failed, too. I have no idea what to do.


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How can I add an object to a scene?
I'm a beginner. I just want to add a generic sphere/cube or something to my scene but I can't find the exact menu for this? Literally googled "how to add an object to a scene in Blender" and couldn't find anything.

First of all - be nice. Secondly, literally I have copied and paste "how to add an object to a scene in Blender" in Google and this is third link: http://www.dummies.com/web-design-development/adding-objects-to-a-scene-in-blender/

Even a beginner can still be nice. Lets try this. Welcome to the site. Please try to just ask your question without calling your self stupid, or blender a beginner.

ShiftA Mesh > UV Sphere
3D View header Add > Mesh > UV Sphere
Toolshelf in the 3D View Create tab then the UV Sphere button.

And those are just the normal simple ways to add a sphere.
This question probably could be of some help, at least you'll have a cube...

YES. And the answers to that linked questions absolutely only work on cubes lol :)


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How to add glitter effect in 3D render
How do you get a glittering effect when navigating inside a 3D-view as shown here SketchFab Post ?   As you can see, for some reason the particles around her appear when in motion & almost disappear when stopped. I am just looking for the basics, don't need a highly detailed description.

you need glittering material? or

There are particles that get brighter during motion and all but disappear when the 3D-view is at rest.  Giving it a Japanime magic effect.

Those particles only appear brigther at movement, because the render has not anti aliased them at first.

It's very easy,

Go to the compositor
Make sure you check use nodes
Add a glare node in between "render layers" and "composite"
Set it to "fog glow" and try various settings till you get desired effect(s)
"Threshold" controls pretty much how much glow there is
The lower it is the more glow
"Size" controls how blurry is the glow
I normally use only those two settings

Voila !!! Magic lights.


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Unwanted bumps on rifle
So I'm making a model of a Kar98K and I'm currently working on the stock. And on the stock there are these bumps that really stand out and it's ruining that part of the mesh. Can someone recommend a solution?

It looks like the mesh is more dense there, and that's causing more detail to appear when subsurfed. This is of course a guess, since I can't see your wireframe. Usually artists use denser geometry in places they want more edge detail, and such edge loops are called "holding loops". Examine your geometry and try to space out your mesh density more uniformly and you should be all set.

I've added my wireframe to the post.

Yes, I can confirm, your mesh is too dense. Try dissolving some of those edge loops. Maybe even use a different reference image if that one is confusing. You don't need the subsurf that high while modeling either; it will probably add to your confusion.


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How to Get A Random Value in the Compositor
Now I know there is the Object Info node and from what I hear, you can also do something with the Particle Info and Noise Texture nodes, but those are only in the material nodes, not the compositing nodes.
Anyway, I was wondering, is there any way to get a random value in the compositor without scripting and whatnot?

Use a Cloud texture? This can be translated in any direction to get variation.

There is a relatively easy way to get a random value using a driver and a really short python file...


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What's the best way to avoid ngons and tris in a model?
Basically the question says it all. I'm asking this because I keep getting a lot of ngons and tris with the model I'm working on. And I plan on letting people use this model for whatever they want(whether it be mods or animations) and I don't want it to be filled with ngons and tris.

This is pretty broad and mainly oponion based. There really is no single way to avoid them other than not creating them in the first place. Also knowing good topology may help

suggested reading: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/1684/what-is-the-technical-difference-between-an-ngon-and-a-bunch-of-tris and https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/36270/how-can-tris-be-used-to-an-advantage and https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/2931/why-should-triangle-meshes-be-avoided-for-character-animation/2935#2935 and https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/39791/how-to-retopologize-my-model/39829#39829

What has worked best for me so far is to (A) start with quad-based meshes, such as cubes, UV spheres, and cylinders and then (B) add new geometry by using loop cuts (Ctrl+R) and extruding faces (E) in edit mode.
You can then move vertices manually in edit mode or use sculpt mode (with Dyntopo off) to shape your model without adding vertices or creating ngons.


text:
Can you assign multiple drivers to one bone?
Can you assign multiple drivers to one bone? Is that possible?

Why would you write "The question is in the title. Is it possible?" Why not just rewrite your question? (like I did when I edited your question)

A driver is used to calculate a single value. Only one driver can be assigned to calculate a specific value.
So yes a bone can have several drivers, one for it's x-location, one for it's y-location, one for it's x-rotation and so on.
If you need to use more complex logic to calculate the value, you can define a python function within the driver namespace.
import bpy

def driver_func(val):
    return val * val    # return val squared

# add function to driver_namespace
bpy.app.driver_namespace['driver_func'] = driver_func


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How to make flat spirals
What would be the most efficient way to make a spiral curve for objects shaped as in the photo?

You may do it using Spirals of the Curve Extra Objects add on.

Activate the add on in User Preferences-->Add-ons (Ctrl+Alt+U).

Add a spiral and play with its settings (Spirals panel in a Tool Shelf).

Extend the spiral's lenght extruding the curve's points. Add a Bezier Circle in the same position as the spiral is. Scale it to give a curve a desired thickness. Apply its transformations (Ctrl+A-->Rot&Scale).

Select the spiral in Object Mode, go to the Curve Data header and set the Bezier Circle as a target of the beveled object.

Select the very top point of the curve, enable proportional editing and translate it along Z axis a bit to hide the ugly end of a curve.

You should get something like this:

To make make it gradually thinner in the inside select the very top point of the curve and scale it a bit with Alt+S using the proportional editing. Then scale it with S with a big proportional size falloff.

You may also use the proportional editing to easy change the curve's height.

Do you know how to make it gradually thinner in the inside?

I've edited my answer. Please check it out to see how to do it. Thanks for pointing it out btw.

I'd believe using a curve and a bevel object would yield the expected result.
You may change the radius to make it thinner or thicker

Could you expand your answer? Maybe add some screenshots? How make it thinner in the inside?


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Can we shorten spines on bezier curves?
Is there a way to reduce the size of the spines poking out of bezier curves?

Or is there a way to generate smaller bezier curves with smaller spines?

Those lines that you see are the curve's normals. They can be adjusted, or disabled in the properties panel under Curve Display.


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Moving of an mirrored object does not give the desired outcome
I have this mirrored object (those green beams in the image below). When I move the object to the right I expect the mirrored part to go to the left but it moves also to the right. Why is this ?

In object mode, blender considers objects with mirror modifier a whole/complete object, just like a normal object. Therefore when you move it, you're moving the whole thing. However when you switch into edit mode, your mirror modifier start working as you edit, using the origin of the object as mirroring center pivot. Beware that the modifier will take object rotation into account, meaning it does not uses global axis as its mirroring pivot.


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How to deform UV into a square?
I have a torus that I want to project the earth onto, but the current shape of the UV can't be simply scaled into a square. Is it possible to deform this into a perfect grid-like square (I'm not worried about preserving area).

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/78358/how-to-straighten-curved-uvs-into-straight-belt/78362#78362 This should help you. Don't forget to mark seam.

Related: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/65565/straighten-the-series-of-vertices-in-uv-editor


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(How) can we reset the 3D View?
I am used to being able to reset my perspective/3D views.
In Fusion 360 e.g. you can click the cube's corner to get back "home". And I want the same functionality in Blender. (Not the cube...)
Is that possible in vanilla Blender or is there really just some hackish add-on from 2014 made for Blender 2.69???

None of them does what this script executed in a Python console does. But I'd like to know whether that is now in 2017 possible without using scripting or an add-on...

I guess you already saw this answer https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/822/how-do-you-return-to-the-default-view-the-one-you-see-when-blender-starts. I understand, and may agree, but if you wish to be standard blender feature, you should issue a feature request (see https://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Dev:Doc/Contact#Requesting_Features), this place is to only help with the existing...  another (ugly) workaround is to save the file, open a new one, then reopen the previous file without loading the ui...

Okay, thank you. Just asking, because I thought maybe I am just not seeing this now existing functionality...

Not sure what exactly would you like to do, maybe you can get kind of resetting by pressing Numpad period button and e.g. Numpad 1 to enter front ortho view. Then by clicking MMB to pan the view it will start from that position.


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How can I make vertices on a cylinder create a circle?
How can I make vertices on a cylinder create a circle (like in this tutorial https://youtu.be/cHbOCSkqmo8?t=2m43s) ?

Honestly, I won't do that. I'd rather ask somewhere else. 1. The video describes perfectly well what I want to do. No word could describe it better. 2. This is definitely NOT off-topic. 3. If someone does not understand, well, I suggest to not answer at all. 4. Downvoting this is just so lame. Get a life...

You were actually right about that it wasn't offtopic. As it was then it should've been closed as "unclear what are you asking". If the question is not clear the questioner is advised/asked to add clarification and that's totally fine. The question most likely was downvoted because of one reasons for that "the question doesn't show any research, is unclear". So read the rules of the site. Words can describe what you want; if you can't add 2 images - before and after. Now your quesiton is clearer.

@marcus I like the first idea of your friendly comment.

@marcus asking a question with just a link to a video is "just so lame." Really you cant be bothered to write your question in a way so that it is answerable without going somewhere else? You don't have to get all in a huff over the DVs. This site do not allow link only questions or answers. The post must be self standing. Just reading your question it was unclear. Thus why it got closed (and DVed).

You may use To Sphere operation (as @Dontwalk pointed), but Loop Tool's Circle creates much better result.

Activate the Loop Tools add on in User Preferences (Ctrl+Alt+U). Apply the transformations to the object (Ctrl+A-->Rot&Scale). Select the edges on a cylinder you want to transform to a circle and snap the cursor to it (Shift+S). Press W-->LoopTools-->Circle. Finally uncheck the Flatten checkbox in a Circle panel of a Tool Shelf (T).

You may then extrude the circle inwards as was shown in the tutorial.


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Can I play my animation in full screen without rendering?
I made an animation and I want to see it playing without all these menus, lines etc. Is it possible?

You can start playing the animation and then, in the screen layout menu, you can simply choose "3D View Full" for remove all the menus and display it.

I don't have that option in Blender 2.78c

The 3D View Full screen layout is a default layout provided by blender, it wasn't always there (added in 2.64) so copying settings when upgrading could prevent it being added, it can be created and added to your startup blend if desired. There are also other fullscreen options. There is an Only Render display option to hide widgets, grid and relationship lines.


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Blender 2.78 cycles out of memory problem, in both cpu and gpu
I have a out of memory problem with Blender.
My specs are:
I am using Blender 2.78, Cycles
Intel I5 2400
Nvidia Gtx 750 ti 2GB
8 GB ram
Windows 7 64 bit
I can render simple stuff, but now when I’m starting to render a more complex scene of a couch I created and sculpted, it crashes and stops at 0%. with the error message 'ran out of memory' error.
It happens in both CPU and GPU rendering.
I tried reinstalling Blender, and also tried resetting to  factory settings, but it didn’t help.
Any idea?
Thanks, Daniel.

possible: https://blender.stackexchange.com/q/76068/2217

"Any idea?" Yeah it 'ran out of memory' means you scene is too complex for your hardware. Either too much geometry or too big textures, impossible to know without looking at your scene.

If you sculpted, there's a high chance your face count is extremely high, and 8GB is not really that much ram. You can try to decimate the mesh (decimate modifier) and see if it will stop crashing and render with a lower poly count.
This will probably not be the accepted answer, but might help.
EDIT: If you are using subdivision, check that the view and render division levels are the same, since if you have a higher render number when you see it in the viewport its what you want, but when you render you get an exponential number of faces.

Thank you! Using the Decimate Modifier helped, I really did have alot of faces.

Glad to help :D

For GPU: Dont' use progressive refine in the Render->performance settings. Use the tiles as big as possible but as small as necessary to not get this error.
Anyway if the problem is high poly count you might try a solution given here Cycles memory problem


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Tracking very long shot with no points in common between first and last frame
Is it possible to track an handheld shot (there is already an answer on here about tripod shots: Tracking long panning shots) that doesn't have any visible points in common between the first and the last frame? As an example, imagine a shot of someone driving in a car for thirty minutes. Obviously everything from the first couple of seconds won't be there anymore at minute 15.

related: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/27630/how-to-pick-good-keyframes-for-motion-tracking

Yes, it is possible to track and reconstruct shots where the beginning and end of the movement have no common elements to track.
The important concept here is that there has to be a section of the shot that contains enough (and accurate) tracking points (at least 8 of them), and good parallax information to be able to solve that section. Blender can then reconstruct beyond that point, even on places where there are no "bundled" tracks. Note that you should track a whole bunch of elements as they move through the shot, from the moment they enter frame until they exit.
The trick to pull this off is choosing the section of the shot to be used. That is what the Keyframe A and Keframe B are for. In most cases you'll get good results if you set blender to determine the most usable section of the shot by enabling keyframe

If a tracked element leaves the frame but comes back later in to the shot, it is very important that you track both sections and then join the trackers so that blender understands that is dealing with the same element and not something new.

For more tips on Motion Tracking please read through the following link:
How can I get better results when doing camera motion tracking?

I see, thanks! For some reason I thought Keyframe A and B were start and end of tracking.

If you're looking for a more automated way to track long shots with a constantly evolving environment, I recommend having a look at my answer on this similar question: https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/209119/16265

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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How to add driver to emissive color in Cycles?
I want to add a simple one-line driver to control the emissive color of a material in Cycles.  I had assumed I either hover over the color and press 'D' or right-click and select 'Add Driver' from the context menu.
Neither of these options worked, so I searched around and found some forum posts that suggested finding the emissive color datablock in the outliner, but that did not work either.
Lastly, I tried the same shortcuts in the Node view of my Cycles material network.  That also didn't work.
In all three cases I tried both right clicking the color AND right clicking the RGB values inside the color inspector.
I feel like I must be overlooking something extremely simple here, as driving a color property seems like a common task -- a natural next steap after animating a color property with keyframes.

I am an idiot -- if the value is already keyframed you are not able to add a driver to it.  Once I deleted all the existing keyframes I was able to add a driver.

Maybe accept this as an answer (after removing your personal judgment).


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BGE How to make text appear when winning or losing a game?
I'm creating a game in the BGE. I want to make a message appear when the player reaches an object which is supposed to be the winning way out of the game.
I also want to make another message pop up when the player reaches a plane I've created and loses the game. Should I should use the collision sensor and then the Message actuator? But how do I make the message pop up on the screen?

The Message Actuator works with the Message Sensor to send messages between objects in the game, not to send messages to the player. To show text to the player you need to show a text object or an object that has text as part of it's material, you can also use a scene as an overlay to present the text as part of a HUD.
You could use the messaging system to have an exit sign object become visible by having it change it's visibility when it recieves a message.


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Particle Info Node in a Different Object
So to put it simply, I am trying to create a particle system that emits particles, of course, in a stream and I have a smoke simulation set up so that the particles are on fire. The fire changes color as the particles are "alive" longer. Of course with a smoke sim, you give the domain a material, not the flow object.
My problem is that the flow object has the particle system therefore the particle info node for that system can only be used for that object (if I understand how the particle info node works) but I need to use the particle info from the flow object in my domain material.
Is there any way to do this without any weird scripting stuff or something?

I don't know a exacly soution for your question. But there is a way to do something like that... Instead of using the Particle Livetime you can use the heat Attribute, a Math noder and the ColorRamp.

Rename the Attribute "color" in "heat" (or add a blank Attribute node)
Add a Math node, change to multiply
Enter a colorramp
Connect the Colorramp with the color input of Volume Scatter and Volume Absortion.
Play with the value of the Multiply Node and the Positions inside the Colorramp
If you want thicker Smoke increase the Multiply Value of the density
also play with the temperature settings of the Domain, and Flow

If you know a better way, let me know....


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Efficient placement of haircards?
I have a game character which I want to add fur via haircards. Now, I've already made the haircard with texture and everything, but how can I apply hundreds of cards onto my model without having to do one at a time all the time.
I tried using the particle system but it wouldn't have the correct rotation and it placed them in a very bad way. Is there a hidden tool or feature in blender that I can use to place the hair cards on?
It's a big creature and it's going to require a lot of haircards to look right, and placing one by one could very well take weeks...
So is there a way of simplifying the process?

You could initially use a particle system to place them roughly over the mesh, apply it, then manually tweak what parts aren't good enough

With particles you can change the rotation so that most of them sit right, then straighten out the rest by hand.


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Floor Generator (planks.py), ProWood and Light From a Sun Light
When I use ProWood for planks and a sun every single (planar) plank is showing me where the light is coming from. Is there a way to turn this off??

That looks like shading problem not related with material. Try either using Bevel modifier ot adding EdgeSplit modifier (or Autosmooth option) to the planks.

Great, that's the reason! Floor generator does NOT generate planks using flat shading. Thank you.


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Why is the texture mapped differently in these Two Cuboids?
The left is default cube with one half removed using a Boolean Modifier. The right one I got using a second default cube and moving the bottom 4 vertices up a meter/unit. Both seem to have the "same" origin. Still, when using ProWood, the two give different results.
What am I getting wrong here?

If you changed the scale on a cube in edit mode you should apply the scale with Ctrl+A https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/7298/why-is-it-important-to-apply-transformation-to-an-objects-data

Is that possible? I mean, "Moving", as I said, or scaling vertices in edit mode, so that the object's scale is changed?

If you scaled in edit mode your scale shouldn't have changed, scaling in object mode would.

In your image it looks like the texture mapping is created on the mesh prior to changes made by modifiers (whether it is generate or UV or whatever doesn't matter here). This is causing the texture to appear to be split in half on the one with the boolean.
If you clicked apply on the boolean modifier they should look the same.

Applying the modifier indeed makes the left look like the right. But is there also a simple way to make the right look like the left then?

@marcus that way around is more complex. You could add a mapping node between the texture and the texture coordinates node, and play with the Z-scale and Z-position values until you get the same look.


text:
Issue when baking normals
I baked the normals of a high poly mesh to a low poly mesh using cycles but the result seems somewhat odd.
This is how the low poly mesh looks like with baked normals:

This is the high poly sculpt:

This is the normal map:

The cage is a duplicate of the low poly mesh with a displacement modifier applied. All three objects are in the same location. Low poly does not share UVs. Shading is set to smooth.
How can I get the normals right?
Here is the .blend file:

Update: Since it was suggested that this issue occurs because of the difference between high and low poly I made a new subtle sculpt but the error still is present:

What is the setup for the normal map? Is there only one object on the first screenshot but not two overlapping? The objects also look quite different which can be a problem for normal map but probably not related exactly for this problem.

If you refer to the node setup it is: Image Texture > Normal Map > Diffuse BSDF > Output. It is just one single object. I've tested it with a more subtle sculpt and it still shows those brightened faces.

I meant more details like screenshot, I know how to setup normal map in Cycles. Then let it be this: is your setup the same as in this answer? Ignore the bump map texture plugged in the Height socket, I'm asking about Image Texture and Normal map nodes (and specifically about Non-Color data option in the former).

Yeah, they are exactly the same. I've imported it into the unreal engine, and it shows the same issues.

In the case shown probably it's caused by too big difference between high poly and lowpoly, generally rough forms should be preserved. Hard to say more without the file (if it's possible you can upload it and edit the question with link)

Had to decimate the high poly, since the file was ~300mb and you can only upload 30mb files, but here it is.

I think that's the difference between high and low polys. After subdividing lowpoly brick and shrinkwrapping it onto the highpoly the former is more resembling the original. I also increased Extrusion in the Bake settings and scaled down the cage  but maybe it doesn't matter here

I've updated my question.

Previously I pointed it out that you didn't smooth the object.  That's not the case, see update.
Update:
Your normal map is baked correctly.
I brought it to Blender Internal Render and this is the result.
Cycle has shading problem on lowpoly models.  Whether you smooth it or not, it will be rendered as if not smoothed.
I previously missed that point, too.  Your process isn't the problem.  Cycle is.

"Shading is set to smooth." - Quote from question.

I forgot to mention.  Cycle always 'render' lowpoly model like that.  Smoothed or not smoothed.

Initially I didn't realize it.  Cycle doesn't like lowpoly objects, and render them always as somewhat flat shaded.  And I thought he didn't smooth it, which he did, it's cycle that tricked everyone.  Apply a normal on those lowpoly under cycle render doesn't make them shade correctly.  Had to bring the normal map into BI to realize the actual problem.  LOL

Thank you. It is indeed working now. In the Unreal Engine if you forget to flip the green channel you get similar results, so I guess maybe Blender Cycles interprets normal maps differently.

That could be the issue.

But since the normal map was rendered in cycles this seems to be a bug.

Let us continue this discussion in chat.


text:
File much larger than expected
I have a file that has 25 MB, but in the scene I just see a mesh with 6000 vertices. How can I find out where all those MB are coming from?
Edit: It turned out there were several textures packed. One surprisingly had a size of 23 MB. Surprisingly, because the texture unpacked didn't look like 23 MB. So, the question remains, how could I find out FAST where those MBs come from? Digging through materials (unpacking each) certainly wasn't fast. Using blender --debug and Memory Statistics didn't expose what I was looking for at all...

You can run Blender from command line and use memory statistics from spacebar search for one. Outliner opened in blender file view is useful also.

Possible duplicate of Blender 2.78 file size grows and does never shrink

No, not a duplicate at all...


text:
How can I get "borders" in Transparent BSDF?
I would like to get "borders" using the Transparent BSDF function of the Cycles Render engine.
I would like to get something like this:
(see EDIT below)
which is from the blender documentation. If I simply take the start up cube and add Transparent BSDF with some color I get this:

I've tried to add planes in the background, but than I saw some weird effects. Is it possible to add the borders (or edges) of the cube?
Thank you very much in advance!
EDIT: I found something which is exactly what I would like to replicate:

I would like the transparent cube being sandwiched by something transparent as shown in the image. I've tried using solidify as suggested, but that doesn't give me the edge which is closest to the viewer. I am happy for any suggestions.

The example in the docs looks that way in part because it has thickness. Try adding a solidify modifier to your cube, and see if that produces the effect you are looking for

I believe you are correct in using a simple Transparent shader to get the effect from your sample image - but the simple model of a Cube doesn't have any overlapping geometry to show the effect. A more complicated (overlapping) model would produce this result :

As suggested by @gandalf3, adding a Solidify modifier to the cube might add the underlying geometry to get you the result you're looking for.

Thank you very much for your answer. I've tried solidify, but it still doesn't look like the front 3 edges are missing. I have found an image more closer to what I was looking for. Can you give another suggestion how I can achieve it (see EDIT in original question).

@PhysX Ah. I think I understand now. You need something that is partially transparent but also partially diffuse. Try usingg a Mix node to mix between a Transparent and a Diffuse shader. Vary the Factor to change how transparent it is. I'll update my answer later when I can showing an example if that helps.

Like this : https://i.stack.imgur.com/G4Bz1.jpg - vary the Mix node to affect the amount of transparancy.

Thank you very much, this was basically what I was looking for. I still ended up adding planes in the back to enhance the effect. Also I was hoping to get both a little stronger. The more transparency I add, the less borders I get (and vice versa), but I guess that's how I'll get it...

@PhysX I've added an alternative answer. I hope this helps. I'll leave this answer in case anyone finds it useful.

The simplest solution is to use a Mix node to mix between a Diffuse and a Transparent shader. Set the Diffuse shader Color as required. For a less "washed out" look, tone down the Transparent color from the default white to a lightish shade of grey.

I notice that the sample provided in the question does not cast shadows on each subsequent layer. This can be achieved by adding a Light Path node to use the Is Shadow Ray to mix in an additional Transparent shader (set to pure white) so that it is invisible when determining shadows.

Taking this a stage further, we can use a single color to control the Diffuse/Transparent shaders with a Mix node to control the 'whiteness' of the transparency - this seems to give good control of the appearance without having to manually adjust the color of both shaders. Adjust the Fac of the two Mix nodes to get the desired result.

Combining multiple materials with different colors and levels of transparency (and using a Sun lamp positioned to give good contrast between adjacent faces) can produce the following result :

To further highlight the edges you can enable Freestyle (in the Render properties) and control the Freestyle Line Style in the Render Layers properties (here set to 1.5 pixel width in dark grey).

I think the image you are basing your effect off of is using a "Volume" shader. This approach may be a bit easier. You have the right idea with the "Transparent" shader, but we are going to utilize the different render layers.
First, make two cubes, and scale the second one to the size you want the border to be. Add an "Emission" material to the Outline cube, and set the color to what you want. Then, move that cube to layer two, by pressing M and selecting the second box. In the bar at the bottom of the screen, you should see the same set of boxes. Hold shift, and click both the first and second box, so you are able to view layer 1 and 2 simultaneously. Now, navigate to the "Render Layers" panel. Name the current one "Base Cube," and check the first box under "Layer" and the second box under "Exclude". It should look like this:
Now, make a second Render Layer by clicking the plus icon. Name it "Outline," and check the second box under "Layer" and the first box under "Exclude." This new setup should look like this:
Next, under "Passes," check the "Object Index" box. Select the Outline, go to the "Object" panel, and set the "Pass Index" to 1.  Do the same thing to the Base Cube, but set the "Pass Index" to 2. Now what we have are two cubes on two separate layers, so we will be able to lay the Base Cube over the Outline.
To do this, select the "Node Editor" menu, and select "Compositor." Check the "Use Nodes" box, and duplicate the "Render Layer" node using Shift+D. In the new "Render Layer" node, select "Outline" as the layer. Add an "ID Mask" and connect the Base Cube node's IndexOB output to the ID value input of the ID Mask node. Set the "Index" to 1, and add a new Mix node. Connect the Outline to the first image input, the Base Cube to the second image input, and the Base Cube ID Mask to the FAC input. What this does is add the Base Cube on top of the Outline wherever the Base Cube is. Finally, connect this "Mix" node to the composite image input. The nodes should be laid out like this in the end:
Time to Render!!!  Select "Image > Save As Image" to save the outcome. This is the final result:
I hope this is the effect you are looking for. This is a versatile method for a number of things, and it should work fine with planes as well. Let me know if you have any questions. Happy Blendering!
Cheers,
Graves Broderick

It appears that I misunderstood what you were trying to achieve, but I spent like 45 minutes on my answer! Sorry about that, though, it may still be useful to you at some point.

I still appreciate your effort ;) I've clarified what I'm exactly looking for, maybe you have another useful suggestion for me. And don't worry, you didn't totally wasted your time, I am new to blender so I still tried it to learn something new.

Blender is a wonderful tool, and there are tons of different ways to create different effects, so thanks for being so open minded! I'm new to the idea of forums, so I'm still learning how to better interpret peoples' questions. Good luck!


text:
How to stack multiple materials onto arbitrary shape
I have an object of this form:

It is just the standard cube and standard sphere put together with the boolean modifier (union). I would like to add materials on top which follows the shape of the object, meaning adding a given thickness parallel to the z axis. My first guess was using the solidify modifier, but it should only go in one direction, and I also want to change to a different material for the solidified material and finally I would like to stack multiple materials like this.
In the ideal case those additional materials are only covering half of the top plane, indicated by the green area here:

But if that's too complicated I can also cut the cube/sphere in half and only apply it to one side.
Is solidify the right direction or is there a different, better suited modifier and how would I achieve the desired result?
Thank you very much in advance!

If I understand correctly, why don't you just use another cube and boolean modifier on top of your existing shape?

The top materials will be transparent, so I need the layers to actually follow the shape of the sphere.

Then just select all the vertices on the top and extrude them out vertically.  You can then apply whatever material you want.  Or, if you want it to be a separate object, simply duplicate your cube/sphere and delete what you don't need.

I thought about the latter option, but I was hoping for a more elegant solution... But as it will do the trick I guess it will be fine! Thank you very much for your help!


text:
Noise of a translucent object when aligned with a plane with the method of alignment tool "snap"
I have found that by having translucent objects and using the snaping tool (edge mode) in a plane that serves as the floor of the scene, there is an overlap in the center of the object.

How could you avoid this overlap of faces in cycles without having to move the plane?
Edit mode

Is the bottom surface (the one aligned with the plane) totally flat?

The object has a bit of bevel at the edges.

@Corrado_M please show at least the back face mesh structure along with the rendered view, to spot what is causing that


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Blender Rigging: Mesh's arm won't bend despite changing weight
I made a fairly low-poly humanoid model, and I've succeeded in rigging one side of the model, but when I tried to rig the opposite side, the mesh wouldn't move with the armature's bones (at least not that much).
I've attached the blender file, and also attached an image displaying the problem. Does anyone know how I could fix this?

.blend file: https://www.dropbox.com/s/uc5km8amd5p2201/thingyrigged2backup.blend?dl=0

The arm has some bad weight painting. If you look at the vertex weights panel you will find that eight bones effect the mesh movement for the arm, the most effect comes from Bone.005 which is the clavicle - between the neck and shoulder, and even a leg bone on the opposite side of the character is in the list. Bone.007 at the end of the arm only contributes 0.118 to the movement.

Use the panel to remove the effect from the unwanted groups. The copy button at the bottom will copy the weights from the active vertex to the other selected vertices. Note that it only copies the weights, any zero weighted bones will remain in the list and not be removed completely.


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How to create a glowing fog effect
I would like to replicate something like this:

I've started with a layer of graphene from a tutorial (here is the corresponding blender file: blender.freemovies.co.uk/blenderfiles/modelling/chemistry/graphTut24.blend)
The right way to go is probably something like How to create a strong halo light effect?
However, I don't know how to apply that to my problem, as I'm fairly new to blender. Thank you very much for any help!
EDIT: So I managed to get the desired effect using halo+lines (because I like it with the lines, see the blender manual under Halo Rendering. However, that only works using the Blender Render, but I have to use the Cycles Render. I've tried to achieve a similar effect using that render engine (there are lots of ways here on stackexchange), but I cannot get the lines and it doesn't look as nice as using the blender render + halo. What's the best way to start to achieve the same as in halo+lines?

The Halo Rendering I am referring to: https://docs.blender.org/manual/de/dev/render/blender_render/materials/special_effects/halo.html

Which "lines" are you referring to?

If you open the link I posted in the comments and scroll down to Halo Variations. It is a built in feature of the Halo Rendering. I already tried some Blender Render to Cycles Render Material convertes, but they all don't capture that effect.

Here is a direct link to the image with the different Halo functions: https://docs.blender.org/manual/de/dev/_images/render_blender-render_materials_special-effects_halo02.jpg

If you want a glare with lines it is easy to do in the compositor.
In your scene add an object and give it an emission shader and use a strength that is more than 1.
Then in the compositor add a glare node in streaks mode. Use the threshold value to determine what values get affected by the glare node (in this example any value larger than 1 will be affected by the glare, darker values will remain unaffected). You can also choose the number of streaks you want:

(click on the image to enlarge)
Now, if what you want is to have is a more realistic "fog" effect, you need an environment (or a domain) with volume scatter. If you use volume scatter as volume for the world, then you can create real volumetrics, in which the suspended particles get lit by the light source and the mesh will create shadows (be ready to increase the strength of your light sources). Think of volume scatter as filling the scene with dust or smoke, the density for volume scatter will determine how hazy it is, usually the default value of 1 is way too high.

(click on the image to enlarge)
And don't forget that you can combine volume scatter with a glare node in the compositor as well:

related: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/31599/how-can-i-make-a-simple-volumetric-light-on-cycles/31613#31613

For the purpose of this answer I will be assuming that what you are trying to achieve is not a post processing effect but a physical fog that glows (in cycles).
To create fog you need to essentially create a smoke simulation, fortunately there is a quick way to do this with the inbuilt cloud generator (blender v2.78).
Create a mesh roughly the size and shape of what the fog will be and then while having it selected press Space -> search -> Generate Cloud
Once you have a point cloud, select its material, delete the bottom part of the nodes except for point density and replace them with a simple Volume Scatter node mixed with an Emission node with the factor being the point density connector.
Tweak the values and nodes to your liking/scene.
Please ee aware that the fog will now realistically emit light and illuminate your mesh, as it is a "real" volumetric object, not a 2D effect.
PS: This works as well with animated particle systems, just switch the point density node to particle system in the material of the particle system that you want to use.


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How to make a mobius strip?
I am very new to Blender, so perhaps my question is so elementary.
My background is mathematics and so as my first experimentation I would like to make a Mobius Strip. In mathematics we start with a square (rectangle ) and rotate one edge and attach it to its opposite edge. I tried to do the same (by merging the vertices) in Blender and I noticed that Blender respects the orientation (or maybe I am wrong), that is it defers between front and back sides of a plane.
So I was wondering if there is another way to start from a plane and make a Mobius Strip?

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/14822/how-can-i-create-a-mobius-ring/14825#14825

@cegaton Mobius Strip is a 2D object, but Mobius Ring is 3D. I am not sure making a Mobius Ring is the same as Mobius Strip. In fact, I am trying  to change the orientation of a surface . And I was wondering if it is possible in Blender.

How can I create a Mobius ring? and How to bridge edge loops with a twist of .5?

I tried to use Bob's script on Blender 2.80, but since a lot of stuff in the Python API changed the script doesn't work anymore.
I adapted it to the new version, you may check it here:
https://github.com/ArthurHDRodrigues/collection_blender_script/blob/master/mobius.py
'''
This is a adaptation(to run in Blender 2.80) of Bob's
script to generate a mobius strip

You may find the original one here:
https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/82480/how-to-make-a-mobius-strip
'''
import bpy
from math import *
from mathutils import *

def mobius_mesh(resolution, major_radius, minor_radius, thick):

    verts = []
    faces = []

    for i in range(resolution):

        theta = 2*pi * i/resolution
        phi = pi * i/resolution

        rot1 = Matrix.Rotation(phi, 3, [0,1,0])
        rot2 = Matrix.Rotation(theta, 3, [0,0,1])
        c1 = Vector([major_radius, 0, 0])

        V_0 = Vector((-thick / 2, 0, minor_radius)) @ rot1[0]
        print(V_0)
        v1 = apply(rot2,c1 +  apply(rot1,Vector((-thick / 2, 0, minor_radius))))
        v2 = apply(rot2,(c1 + apply(rot1,Vector((thick / 2, 0, minor_radius)))))
        v3 = apply(rot2,(c1 + apply(rot1,Vector((thick / 2, 0, -minor_radius)))))
        v4 = apply(rot2,(c1 + apply(rot1,Vector((-thick / 2, 0, -minor_radius)))))

        i1 = len(verts)
        verts.extend([v1,v2,v3,v4])

        if i+1<resolution:
            ia = i1+4
            ib = i1+5
            ic = i1+6
            id = i1+7
        else:
            ia = 2
            ib = 3
            ic = 0
            id = 1

        # faces.append( [i1+j for j in range(4) ])
        faces.append( [i1,i1+1,ib,ia])
        faces.append( [i1+1,i1+2,ic,ib])
        faces.append( [i1+2,i1+3,id,ic])
        faces.append( [i1+3,i1,ia,id])

    mesh = bpy.data.meshes.new("mobius")
    mesh.from_pydata(verts, [], faces)

    for p in mesh.polygons:
        p.use_smooth=True

    return mesh

def apply(matrix,vector):
    '''
    matrix,vector -> vector

    this function receives a matrix and a vector and returns
    the vector obtained by multipling both of them
    '''
    V_0 = vector @ matrix[0]
    V_1 = vector @ matrix[1]
    V_2 = vector @ matrix[2]

    return Vector((V_0,V_1,V_2))

def mission1(scn, resolution, major_radius, minor_radius, thick):

    me = mobius_mesh(resolution, major_radius, minor_radius, thick)

    ob = bpy.data.objects.new("Mesh", me)

    #me.from_pydata(vertex_list, edge_list, [])
    #me.update()
    bpy.context.collection.objects.link(ob)

mission1(bpy.context.scene, 36, 5, 3, 0.1)

This works nice, but I get some weird artifacts on it.

Hi, can you post the parameters that resulted the artifacts, please? Or maybe a screenshot? So I can see the artifects.

The Mobius strip as a 2D object will run into the conflict with normals, and while it can be achieved geometry it will restrict usage. In the example below the solidify modifier 'breaks' at the connection.

Depending on what your final output is, it seems it is more flexible to have a ring, essentially creating an inner and outer surface.

In the comments to your original post there are some examples as to how to create both rings and strips, but for simplicity I have added another which involves rotating one split edge 180 degrees with proportional editing set to connected.

From your answer, I understand that we can merge two vertices only if their normals have the same direction. In other words, two vertices with opposite direction can't be merged. Is this a valid conclusion? So, mathematically speaking, we can only produce orientable 2D manifolds in Blender.

As far as I know a vertex cannot be bi-directional. Vertices can be merged, but only one direction is chosen.

Since I like blender's embedded python interpreter I use python code to construct any mathematical thing I dream up.
For a möbius strip I wrote http://web.purplefrog.com/~thoth/blender/python-cookbook/mobius-strip.html which I include here (for version 2.79):
import bpy
from math import *
from mathutils import *

def mobius_mesh(resolution, major_radius, minor_radius, thick):

    verts = []
    faces = []

    for i in range(resolution):

        theta = 2*pi * i/resolution
        phi = pi * i/resolution

        rot1 = Matrix.Rotation(phi, 3, [0,1,0])
        rot2 = Matrix.Rotation(theta, 3, [0,0,1])
        c1 = Vector([major_radius, 0, 0])
        v1 = rot2*(c1 + rot1 * Vector([-thick / 2, 0, minor_radius]) )
        v2 = rot2*(c1 + rot1 * Vector([thick / 2, 0, minor_radius]) )
        v3 = rot2*(c1 + rot1 * Vector([thick / 2, 0, -minor_radius]) )
        v4 = rot2*(c1 + rot1 * Vector([-thick / 2, 0, -minor_radius]) )

        i1 = len(verts)
        verts.extend([v1,v2,v3,v4])

        if i+1<resolution:
            ia = i1+4
            ib = i1+5
            ic = i1+6
            id = i1+7
        else:
            ia = 2
            ib = 3
            ic = 0
            id = 1

        # faces.append( [i1+j for j in range(4) ])
        faces.append( [i1,i1+1,ib,ia])
        faces.append( [i1+1,i1+2,ic,ib])
        faces.append( [i1+2,i1+3,id,ic])
        faces.append( [i1+3,i1,ia,id])

    #print (verts)
    #print (faces)
    mesh = bpy.data.meshes.new("mobius")
    mesh.from_pydata(verts, [], faces)
    mesh.validate(True)

    for p in mesh.polygons:
        p.use_smooth=True

    return mesh

def mission1(scn, resolution, major_radius, minor_radius, thick):

    mesh = mobius_mesh(resolution, major_radius, minor_radius, thick)

    obj = bpy.data.objects.new("mobius strip", mesh)
    scn.objects.link(obj)

    mod = obj.modifiers.new("edge split", 'EDGE_SPLIT')

mission1(bpy.context.scene, 36, 5, 1, 0.1)

For blender 2.8 you will have to replace scn.objects.link with scn.collection.objects.link.  For blender 2.9 you will have to replace the rotn * with rotn @ because of (TypeError: Element-wise multiplication: not supported between 'Matrix' and 'Vector')
You will notice that the special case where ! (i+1<resolution) which binds the end of the strip to the start has a little twist to cope with the möbiusness.  This twist would not be necessary for a torus.

With some practice you can write python to construct any mesh you like out of whatever mathematical structure you want.

For some reason I´m getting an error in line 21. I´m using the latest Blender version.

This is an old question-- which makes it pretty surprising that during this time nobody ever gave a curve-based solution?
I think that curves are the easiest way to do this:

Careful: that's not a cyclic curve.  That's a non-cylic curve with 5 different control points, two of which have the exact same location (and handles), but which have a twist that is offset by 180 degrees.  That lets us interpolate the curve smoothly across the entire structure.  In order, the tilts of the controls are 0, 45, 90, 135, 180 degrees.
I've added a weld modifier to the curve to join the end and the beginning.  And I'm showing it with face orientation overlay so that you can see the normals are all pointing outwards (after giving the curve object a bevel and extrusion.)
The simplest way to make this particular object: make a bezier circle.  Enter edit.  Change all handles to free.  Duplicate one segment of the curve.  Toggle cyclic on the curve.  Fill the hole created by toggling cyclic with the duplicated segment: rotate as needed; connect two coincident controls; dissolve the segment between those coincident controls.  Enter tilts manually for all controls.  Edit curve geometry settings as desired.
This is not a one-sided 'thin' mesh.  The bevel property, generated by curve, makes it a solidified mesh, solidified about the center of the curve.  Just as there is no such thing as a one-sided surface in reality (even a paper moebius strip is a volume, not a surface), one-sided surfaces in Blender or almost any other rendering engine are going to give you undesirable results (but if you want, just disable the bevel on the curve and play with it!)


text:
Combining two renders with different seeds
So I've been dinking around with the NetRender function in Blender, using an addon I found to enable GPU NetRender functionality, I'm looking to render single images across multiple slaves
My first idea being to set a render border and send two jobs with different borders to two different machines, but the NetRender doesn't support Borders.
So I fell back on Image Stacking, rendering two shots with different seeds, but due to my idiocy, I can't find a way to merge two pictures of different sample seeds, I have both rendered shots, but can't for the life of me find a way to combine them, in Blender, or in my photo editor of choice, GIMP.
What would be the most optimal way to go about this?

Related https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/38410/overlaying-images-with-different-seed-values and https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/7126/why-is-render-stacking-less-efficient-noisier-than-rendering-normally

I wasn't necessarily asking for something strictly related to what the best way to go about it was, more how to do it, at all. Through image editors or Blender's compositor, or anything. As of now I'm just overlaying a 50% layer on a 100% layer in GIMP.
Although the focus was more on split network rendering.

Feel free to revert or disapprove my edit if you fell it altered the meaning of your question, or consider rephrasing your question to focus more closely on what your doubts are.

You could try using or writing a program that calculates the average of the pixels and outputs to an image format.


text:
What's the fastest way to turn a triangular face into three quads?
What's the fastest way to turn a triangular face into three quads?

Subdivide triangle. Select face of middle triangle. Repeat. Select inner vertices and use AltM to merge at centre.
My 5 cents. What's yours?

p.s. no need to go into vertex mode. Face select and AltM is enough.

It is also possible to: Select triangle in middle -> Poke Face -> Select All -> Tris to Quads

Subdivision Surface modifier with Simple mode
Just add to your object a subdivision surface modifier from the list and choose the Simple option.

This method is obviously not good if you would like to subdivide only a subset of faces of your object as the modifier is being applied to the whole object (in this case made of a single face).

Still a nice one...

This is actually the best solution I have seen so far, only requires like three button presses

I guess you could always use the shortcut and not model it all. :)
The Add Mesh Extra Objects Add-On has been updated in version 2.79 and now includes a triangle object. It is found under Add Mesh>Math Function>Triangle. There are options for 3 and 6 quad faces, and 3 tri faces.
If you do not have it enabled already, just enable it in user preferences with Ctrl+Alt+U and search for 'extra'.

Here is an example gif:

@Carlo presented the perfect solution IMO- the fastest one indeed. Here are my 5 cents though:
Subdivide the triangle with W-->Subdivide, then inset faces with I and input the proper scale value to place all the vertices in the center of the object. Press W-->Remove Doubles. Finally select some edges and get rid of them with X-->Limited Dissolve.

That's also nice. Tris to Quads also works as last step, btw.

Bmesh script

Checks selected element is tri.
Removes tri face.
Bisects the edges.
Make edges from bisect verts to tri's median centre.
Fill new edges and bisect edges  with contextual create (akin to F)

Select triangle face in edit mode run script.
import bpy
import bmesh

context = bpy.context
ob = context.edit_object
me = ob.data
bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(me)

tri = bm.select_history.active
# poll .. do we have a tri
if isinstance(tri, bmesh.types.BMFace) and len(tri.verts) == 3:
    edges = tri.edges[:]

    c = tri.calc_center_median()
    bm.faces.remove(tri)
    ret = bmesh.ops.bisect_edges(bm, edges=edges, cuts=1)
    verts = ret['geom_split'][:3]
    c = bm.verts.new(c)
    geom = ret['geom_split'][3:] +  [bm.edges.new([c, v]) for v in verts]
    bmesh.ops.contextual_create(bm, geom=geom)
    bmesh.update_edit_mesh(me)


text:
A Fold-like Brush in Sculpting?
There's something I'm struggling to pull off in Sculpt Mode, I'm trying to create a type of, heavy fold, if you will. It's less like the folds or creases in clothing, and more of the type of fold you'd get if you, well, I don't know how to explain it, but this picture on Dictonary.com kind of is similar to what I'm trying to hit.

Those sharp, deep, weighed over folds in E, with the top of the mesh folding over the bottom part of it, still keeping an opening, but being, more like what's in the picture.

I've given three types of sculpting a shot, the left is thumb, with a smooth afterwards, the middle is grab with smooth, and the right is Snake Hook with smooth. None of them are, what I'm going for. The inward fold is non-existent, it's more like the top of the is melting over the bottom instead of creating a fold like the picture.

Perhaps you could play with the Gravity factor in the Options tab, and that might enable you to get the kind of fold you want - I also suggest maybe using the Crease brush in opposite direction to raise the fold out of the mesh with the ctrl key and pressure stroke.

Wow! Never heard about this setting before. Thanks for your answer!


text:
Freestyle not working in Blender 2.78c
I understand that this type of question has been asked at least 50x, but please read me out.
This is as simple as it gets: Freestyle is not rendering in the final render. It simply does not work. Yes, I know this question already exists, but despite checking to make sure no settings were touched, despite trying this with a simple cube, it does not work. The "Include" option is running, not "Exclude".

I understand this is really ridiculous, but may I ask just what I am missing? I have previously used 2.79 builds, but I am not sure if that affects 2.78c, if that means anything. Please note that I am currently attempting this with Cycles, in case this ruins the whole thing.

Here are the current settings:
http://imgur.com/41k8LWM
http://imgur.com/4tV43dF
What do you mean, enabled in Rendering? I turned on the checkmark, if that is what you mean.
...If I sound like an idiot, I would completely understand, I just feel so blind, right now.

http://imgur.com/UNm6mGe No modifiers until this: http://imgur.com/RrTm6Ei How do I find out about the mesh being used for lines? I tried it with the cube, nothing worked, no settings changed. http://imgur.com/mJelp21

If you tried with default cube then the mesh is suitable for freestyle. As I get it seems to not work if default file is opened and rendered default cube (pressing F12 to render) with default freestyle settings. In that case this might be a bug in this Blender version, check if there are newer versions available and try them.

I have tried today's Blender build. Nothing. It did not work. I have no idea if this is related to my computer or it's settings, or even that I used 2.8 builds, causing problems in the process...

Can you upload the file? The last step would be to file a bug report at bug tracker as you tried the latest build and didn't get freestyle.

https://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/b/3517/ Here it is. ...Oh, and I got a notice telling me to avoid extended discussions in  comments. Shall we move this to a chat? ...You know, before I get punished in some way?

I don't think it's needed, I'm not really going to go any further (neither do I think you will be that punished). The freestyle from the file you uploaded renders for me, the only thing I changed was enabling freestyle in Render rollout > Freestyle tab (was unchecked for some reason). It's likely not a problem as without it you won't have freestyle line styles available. So it's likely a bug in recent Blender version somehow (I use 2.78a now).

Alright, I will add this as an answer. Thanks.
For some strange reason, even though I had it checked, proven in the Imgur screenshots, it as unchecked when I reopened the file, which I do not understand.

I am not sure if this is a bug, though it likely could be, as I had recently discussed with user "Mr Zak". The idea is to save the file, even though "Freestyle" is checked in the Render tab, then reopen the file. You may notice "Freestyle", in the Render tab, is now unchecked. ...Strange, huh? Check Freestyle again, then render it. Confused? So am I. However, this is the current working solution, and while Mr Zak pointed out he was using 2.78a, I am currently using 2.78c, at the time of this post.
Edit 6 days 55 minutes later:
I feel like an idiot, but I needed a minute in Blender's Discord to find out the fatal mistake: ...Pressing the wrong render button.
...You read me correctly, I was pressing the wrong render button, this entire time!

This is the button I have been using to render, this entire time. As the locals in Blender's Discord have informed me, a detail I have been overlooking for too long, much less to begin with, this renders OpenGL. That means you will be given a render of exactly what you see in the viewport, completely different from when you look in rendered view.

The buttons circles in this picture here, are the buttons you should be using for final renders, as opposed to OpenGL giving simply previews. That means that the button circles in the top-left section and the button circles on the right-hand side act as final render buttons, the equivalent of pressing F12 on your connected keyboard. Meanwhile, pressing the button underlined in this picture, and pressing the button depicted in the previous picture, will render only what you see in your viewport. If you want to see Freestyle lines, as I have been seeking, you want to use F12 render.
In case anyone is wondering, I have been asked if I had messed with the keybinds. I am not sure if this has anything relevant to do with it, but no, I did not mess with the keybinds. I have simply been blindly using the OpenGL render instead of F12's render, believing to have achieved the same results. I hope this proves educational and informational to anyone else who would ever make the same mistake I have made.


text:
keyboard strokes are coming in Hindi(asian language)
in spite of having qwerty keyboard , while searching using space bar string what i'm typing is displayed in hindi language , so thats why it is not able to search item for me.

I think the keyboard is activated to hindi (asian language) screenshot plz

While blender can use translated UI text, I think the text input you refer to is coming from a system keyboard setting.


text:
Do samples affect Normal map baking?
I was wondering if the samples matter at all when you're baking a normal map. I don't think so, but I just want to make sure.

No, samples have no effect.
A sample is a measurement done by shooting a ray into the scene. These rays scatter randomly inside the scene, so the more samples the more accurate information about the scene.
Normal map needs only 1 sample because there is no scattering. From every pixel of the normal map mapped on your lowpoly in the scene you need to send only 1 ray till it hits the highpoly, and store the surface direction into the normal map pixel. There is no additional random scattering after that, you get the exact finite value just there.

This seams right, but if increase the sampling the baking time increases accordingly, I don't know why, as well as the Denoising

Samples do affect baking -- but ONLY the anti-aliasing to a small extent. However, if you are baking things like Ambient Occlusion or the Direct/Indirect lighting options in the Diffuse pass, the sample count does matter. Observe this example below, a close-up section of a 1024 x 1024 baked image. While there is an appreciable difference between baking with 1 sample and baking with 16 samples, there is very little difference between 16 and 128, and (not shown in this example) almost no change whatsoever between a bake at 128 samples and a bake at 2048 samples. (Click the image to view at a larger size to see the anti-aliasing better. Depending on your web-browser, you may need to download the image to see the true difference, because Google Chrome adds heavy anti-aliasing of its own on top of the image).
However, if you oversample the image by baking at a larger size and then scaling it down later, you will get MUCH BETTER anti-aliasing results. In the lower right of the image below, notice how the image rendered with 32 samples at 2048 x 2048 and then scaled to 1024 x 1024 in GIMP using the "No Halo" setting has far superior anti-aliasing.


text:
Thumbnails in Blender's file menu
Although I have checked thumbnails in preferences:

I do not get thumbnails in Blender's file menu:

So, I still always have to manually select thumbnails when opening/appending files. (How) Can I change this?
Edit:
I'd like to see thumbnails for .blend files each time I use Ctrl+O without having to select them manually over and over again:

Show thumbnails will show them for images and movies (which is written on its tooltip). What are you trying to preview with thumbnail?

@marcus what Mr Zak means is that setting is not meant to rule the generali "file open" window, but only the one you get when opening images/movies in dedicated editors (liek UV/image editor)

I got what Mr. Zak meant and have edited my question. I'd like to always see files' thumbnails everywhere in Blender.

you could file a feature request, (https://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Dev:Doc/Contact#Requesting_Features). It could be in 2.8 perhaps.

Okay, perhaps I am suggesting it. (Mailing lists and IRC are not things I am usually using...)

This is not currently supported and is a known limiation. Please don't use developer mailing lists for  feature requests, use https://rightclickselect.com instead if you must.

"Known limitation" sounds good... Seeing thumbnails is definitely very useful.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
Is it possible to have smooth shading on only for rendering?
I'm tired of switching back and forth smooth shading for all my objects in the viewport before rendering. Is there a way to have it only turned on for rendering similar to the buttons in modifier for example?
Alternatively is there a way (possibly a script) with which I can set all meshes to smooth/flat with one button only?
Thank you!

imho not, but one (complicated) way would be to create a script that enables it, renders, then disables it... then you could create a custom button to render in that way,,,

We can create an operator that will set the shading for all objects. This can be added to the render panel so you have buttons to set smooth and flat shading right above the render button. I have created an addon here to do this, which you can download and install. If you enable the addon and click Save User Settings you can have it enabled every time you run blender.
Keyboard shortcuts can also be setup for quick access, in the addon I setup ⎇ AltF12 to set smooth shading and ⇧ Shift⎇ AltF12 to set flat shading.

Wow this is pretty much what I asked for and seem to work, thank you very much!


text:
Trying to generate a naturally hairy plane
i am a total amateur so apologies if this is easy.
I am trying to generate a planar surface that is covered with a "spaghetti-like" polymer.  I have tried to use a lower plane and hair emitters (too straight) and have looked at hair dynamics (but this doesnt seem to do much on a planar surface for me).  Any steer in the right direction hugely appreciated

I suggest adding an image of what you consider a 'spaghetti-like polymer' so people know what you are trying to recreate.

Hi - sorry, i dont know how to do that on this forum.  In essence, something that looks like long entangled grass emanating from a plane

Can you post a reference image? It's possible the community can recommend a solution that doesn't involve hair particles at all.

Hi - sorry, i havent the faintest idea how to do that on here.

I can more or less get this to work using emissive hairs from a lower plane and hair dynamics but the latter is behaving really weirdly for me.  If i play the animation nothing at all happens until i change the "seed" number at the top either during playback or just before playback.  Not sure if this is a glitch or i am being utterly stupid

@DireWolf https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/75491/how-to-upload-an-image-to-a-post


text:
Lock an Axis - Curve Modifier
So I have a curve and an object moving along the curve using the curve modifier. My question is can I lock an axis so the object will, for example, only move back and forth on the x axis, or y axis, or the z axis?

You can add another constraint to the stack, like Limit Location and enable its checkbox "Minimum.." by some axis. The downside is that you will need to enter global coordinates for minimum and that limiting won't be quite flexible.

Thank you! that's exactly what I needed!
Edit: if you want to, it'd be great if you could answer the question so I can accept the answer and people can see it for future reference. Otherwise, I'll just answer it.

actually now that I check again, this only works with the follow path constraint but still good!

I think answer it with what worked for you, but please include some screenshots and short description of what you did and how.

alright, I'll do that

Okay so with some help from Mr Zak, I found the solution to this problem.
So for anyone wondering, I was needing this for a 3D printing type animation.
Anyway, start with your curve and some objects.

Add the "Follow Path" constraint and in select your curve for the target.
To animate, go to your first frame and keyframe the "Offset:" to -100 (this may be different for some curves but this works for most). Then go to the last frame and keyframe the "Offset:" to 0 (if these values don't work, just drag the offset value until it looks right).
The cubish object in the picture just follows around the curve (for you 3D printers, it's the extruder).
The two cylinders just move forward and back with the cube (this just achieves the look of the cube moving left and right and the bars moving forward and back).
For the object you want moving only on one axis, do the same as before but add a "Limit Location" constraint after the "Follow Path" constraint.

If you want it on one axis, check the "Minimum" and "Maximum" boxes for the desired axis. If you follow the instructions up to this point, then it won't change it's position on that axis while it moves. Here's a gif showing what mine looks like


text:
Blender not recognizing 1060 gpu, even with latest drivers
I am using Blender 2.78a with a gtx 1060 with latest drivers installed on Windows, and for a few days I haven't been able to render using the gpu, as Blender doesn't seem to recognize it

I've already tried reinstalling the drivers, but it doesn't seem to solve the problem, and the card works with every other software

Was the GPU working before? If so, it is possible that some auto-update on the OS has changed your configuration. Try do downgrade the driver of the GPU to an earlier one.

Also try using the latest version of Blender, 2.78c, or a daily build from builder.blender.org.


text:
Which kind of geometry is needed for 3D printing (metals)?
Generally I have more or less 3 questions when it comes to 3D printing (metals) and I am not finding the answers using Google. So, I am just asking here as I am using Blender.
It's always easy to create one mesh that has a million vertices and having all those vertices you probably make such an object (e.g. a ring) even look like it has a Class A surface.
But let's say I want to print a simple cylinder with a radius of 1 mm(!). How many vertices do I really need here to make this thing look round when printed?

Also, even a perfect cube will automatically be somewhat filleted when printed. The cubes here e.g. are 2*2*2 cm and the right one is beveled with an offset of 0.0001 m. Is that approximately the filleting the printer gives me for free? Or am I getting sth. smaller/larger?

Several watertight, but intersecting meshes can be uploaded as one object when using online 3D printing services. Here, all the selected faces are coplanar. This is, of course, pretty ugly geometry, but can I still assume that this will finally, when printed, give one planar surface?

This question is not Blender releated and you'll have more chance to find an answer on a specialised group.
To give you the beginning of an answer, I'm working with 3D printer and depending of the material, layer thickeness laser temperature, the result can be different. The only way to really now what result you will have is to print a test piece with different resolutions, sizes, printer settings to understand what fit your needs.
You could theoricaly compute the minimal number of vertices to obtain the same result from the slicer point of view, but you'll need to define what your tolerence is (because, since i'ts not the same mesh, you'll have a small difference between slices of different resolutions mesh. This tolerence can be define with the printer characteristics, but there is a lot of parameters, and it is difficult to say when the difference between two difference piece will be as low as the difference between 2 identical pieces.
So, experiments is usually the easiest way to find your needs.


text:
Adding deactivated modifier?
Is it possible to add a modifier that is not active? I mean, when having a few stacked modifiers already, adding e.g. a Bevel modifier, Blender always calculates for some seconds before that modifier is finally showing up.

You're asking if it's possible to add a object modifier with the activation checkbox unchecked? Like when you add a modifier, and toggle it to deactivate it, just automatically when you add it to an object?

No, not in the box. What are you doing that Blender need a few seconds for a modifier. Explain what you want and why it is that slow, someone may come up with a different solution.

Let's say you have a mesh with a Subdivision Modifier applied and realize you forgot a Bevel Modifier. Just adding it, this takes time, because the Bevel modifier now calculates geometry for every edge in the subdivided mesh. (I can turn off things, sure, but if adding deactivated modifiers is possible, learning that shortcut would be my preferred solution...)

imho if you apply a subdiv, you know that real and permanent geometry is added, and all subsequent actions/modifiers have to deal with it (maybe see this https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/86813/how-to-undo-applied-subsurf/86835#86835). If your bevel is added deactivated, how do you know it's working well?

Okay, sorry "applied" is the wrong word here. So, it should be "mesh with Subdivision Modifier already added and you realize..."

"If your bevel is added deactivated, how do you know it's working well?" This is not an extremely good argument because a lot of modifiers when being added need to be "configured" first. So, not seeing a result immediately when adding a modifier is happening most of the time...

Somewhat related - https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/71569/how-to-add-modifiers-using-python-script-and-set-parameters. You can add modifier with script and write there modifier.show_viewport=False, but it will first add modifier and then set it visibility to false. Or you can add one object with such modifier hidden and link it to new object


text:
How can I make a dark and scratched metal material?
I am shaping this watch as a training. I did materials for needles and branchs but i'm stuck for the core watch's material.
I'd like to reflect the light like this :

I use Blender Render for now.
If you can help me, it would be nice ^^
Btw if you have any good tutorial for materials especially those with specular shaders and mirrors. Sry if my english is bad, i'm french :s
Actual rendered view (not full render) :

Please show images of what you have tried so far and specify the render engine you are using.

i only use blender render for now, but i'll try cycles soon so if u can specify for both ;)

Nodes is your friend here. Look up some tutorials on metal materials, they produce some very realistic results.

https://blender.stackexchange.com/search?q=scratches

Metal is hard to do in Blender Render... I think cycles will make things a lot easier for you


text:
Using own.hit Object List? with ["Near"] sensor
When using  own.hit Object  List  how  do  you  print  out  the  chosen  item.  I mean  how  do  you  go  thought  the  list  with  the  python  system. Is  it print(own.hit Object List[0],[10])
or  something   like  that?......., and  then  receive  a  print  out . I  could use  the  info. i need for the a.i to chose the farthest object and track_to it trying to use Near sensor.

You can do it this way.
from bge import logic

if logic.getCurrentController.sensors['Near'].positive:
    for obj in controller.sensors['Near'].hitObjectList:
        print(obj)

KX_NearSensor
KX_TouchSensor


text:
Equivalent of Set Inverse in ChildOf constraint
I have an object, A, with ChildOf constraint whose target is B, Set Inverse is applied to keep A's transformation. In the middle of the animation, I needed to disable this constraint( B is transformed without affecting A) and enable it again much later. When enabling the constraint again, A's transform should be also be kept but Set Inverse is not an option because it would ruin the initial setup. So I guess I have to set the object's matrix via console but don't know how, any help?

Use more than one Child Of constraint - with each set to a different 'inverse'. Then use the Influence to blend in each at the appropriate point in the animation - rather than re-using the same one.

This is exactly what I'm doing but the more actions I make, the more childof constraints I need. That is why I'm looking for a workaround without needing redundant constraints.

You could potentially trigger the Set Inverse via Python and trigger it from a handler on change of frame - but that would likely be more complicated than simply using multiple constraints. Multiple constraints have very little overhead - the only downside would be how cumbersome it could be to manage many, but careful naming of the constraints and possibly using Drivers to automatically adjust the influence could help there.


text:
Video editing workflow - VSE and compositor slows down framerate when previewing?
Inside the VSE timeline, when applying a movie clip no matter the size of the video, it would play normally and its FPS will play smoothly, even if edited or modified.
However, when inside the compositor, connecting the movie clip node with the same footage to the composite node and using it as a scene strip, previewing the VSE reduces the frame rate, ranging around 6 or 1fps in previewing. This makes previewing the video nearly impossible, especially trying to utilize blender as a video editor.
List of things i've attempted to fix this:
1.) Inside the VSE, i tried adding a proxy to the scene clip in the VSE timeline and especially in the preview window. I selected the scene clip, checked proxy, selected 25% and rebuild proxy and timecode indices. In the preview window, I unchecked openGL preview and selected proxy render size to 25%.
Though, Even at 25% of the proxy size, it seems to only effect the movie clip but not the scene clip.
2.) I've tried to change the dimension of the render inside the properties panel. Even at 1% of the dimension, the FPS barely gets adjusted, generally staying at 6FPS or lower.
In most cases, The the fps may somewhat run smooth when generally changing the dimension by 17% , but the preview window in the VSE is too pixelated to see my results.
3.)I've tried to change the alpha of the scene strip, nothing change.
4.)I went to the system in user preferences and made the sequence/clip editor's memory cache and adjusted it all the way to reach its limit, nothing has changed.
5.) I've tried to add the movie clip as a plane, but nothing worked.
My laptop is able to play 4K videos so I am quite confused why Blender cannot handle a simple clip no matter the size that is outside the VSE.
One or the other, a movie clip node and even a render layer node of the movie clip as a plane when applied as a scene strip does not change anything.
Thanks.

Don't use overs; there is no cache in the VSE
Don't use heavy codecs. Try AVI-JPEGs or the like.
Use precisely the resolution of the input; don't set the resolution percentage via the render resolution or you will force resampling per frame.


text:
How do we move subdivided things "correctly"?
Is there a nice way to move my edges, so that the active vertex' position is exactly (0,0,0) when SubsurfModifier is active?

If you enabled Adjust Cage to modifier's result in modifier's properties then the vertices won't be displayed in their original places, rather than where they will be once the modifier is applied. Disable that setting and you will see actual vertices' positions

I have edited my question. Guess that part was misleading...

How is Subsurf related here then? Local coordinates depend on origin point. If you really want to see 0,00000 in the X field then toggle Global coordinates below the fields panel. And vertex position will differ anyway if Subsurf is enabled for previewing in Edit mode like on the 2-nd screenshot.

How far to the right do I need to move my edges so that the active vertex in 2nd image is coincident with the origin and the 3D cursor? (I could duplicate the object, apply modifiers, draw edge from that point to the origin and measure it. But that's tedious and not really a nice solution...)

To do this computationally would be a headache. Every surface point is influenced by multiple control points, there is infinite number of solutions and without some constraints (a 2d plane, some symmetry constraints, etc) it's non-trivial.
The trivial solution is:

The objective is to place the marked surface vertex at (0,0,0):

Copy the object and apply the subd modifier. Measure how far the point is from (0,0,0):

Delete the duplicate and move the original object inverse of what you measured. If you don't want to move the whole object, you have to move the control geometry surrounding the point in question (all vertices that influence the location of that point)

But Blender probably knows where that active vertex is when the modifier is active. That at least would make some sense, wouldn't it?

@marcus Sure, but how will you specify such vertex when the modifier is not applied? You can only click on control points. Without some custom opengl drawing into the viewport to let you highlight normally unselectable points it is not imho doable. Such script is possible, but the answer I made is much easier.

Okay, thanks. Guess it's a useful feature request then.


text:
How can I get "Plane.000" instead of "Plane"?
Obviously it doesn't seem to be a problem for too many people, but to me it is simply looking wrong each time I see it.
In my opinion the first object should be called Plane.000 here automatically when every subsequent item is Plane.00x anyway.

And here the next plane should obviously be Plane.002 and not Plane.

Can I somewhere change Blender's behavior here?? (It is really looking very wrong to me...)

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because this sounds like a feature request, not a question.

"Can I somewhere change Blender's behavior here?"

@DuarteFarrajotaRamos it is however a pretty simply implemented "feature" with python.  Maybe editing q to make it sound like less of a feature request.... or less critical of blender to avoid DV's.

I don't recommend doing this, BUT here is a way to change blenders default naming behaviour.  The following needs to be "tightened up" for other names eg will make mistakes with names like "Planet", but will do as a simple example.
Open a new blender file, run the script below, then add or duplicate planes.  The scene_update_pre handler runs alot.  Any added plane, cube or sphere will be renamed to start at 000.
import bpy
prim_names = ["Plane", "Cube", "Sphere"]

def name_prims(scene):
    for name in prim_names:
        prims = [o for o in bpy.data.objects
                 if o.name.startswith(name)]
        newprim = scene.objects.get(name)
        if newprim:
            newprim.name = "%s.%03d" % (name, len(prims) - 1)

# make it a handler
bpy.app.handlers.scene_update_pre.append(name_prims)

Remove all scene update pre handlers with: (Note this will remove all handlers, this one and those added by addons, etc)
# remove all handlers
bpy.app.handlers.scene_update_pre.clear()

Otherwise remove it by name
my_handlers = [h for h in bpy.app.handlers.scene_update_pre
               if h.__name__.startswith("name_prims")]

for h in my_handlers:
    bpy.app.handlers.scene_update_pre.remove(h)

That's great. I will have a look at it. Thanks. What's your reason to not recommend it?

It's ok I suppose to run while adding lots of planes (etc) and to get the different naming convention.  The handler runs a lot of time.  to make code foolproof would have to add more tests, and more overhead.  Note I edited a bit, one to look at all prims in data, and to include other prim names.

Blender is smart when it comes to giving objects a name and even this works: https://pastebin.com/005DynYX . Is there something I can do to add such a handler to a Startup file?

Give the file in text editor a .py extension and click the register checkbox and it will run when file is opened.   Could add to start up file like so... and make handler persistent. Handlers