text:
turning two objects in a collection,one into edit mode and leaving on in object mode
I am watching a particular youtube video by sociamix on modelling a character base mesh. There is a part around the 9th minute where he inserts a UV sphere into the face mesh in object mode, scales and moves it perfectly into the eye socket space and then changes the face mesh back to edit mode while the UV sphere remains in object mode. I have tried several times to do it but it just doesn't seem to work for me.By it doesnt work for me i mean i try to turn the face mesh back to edit mode while leaving the uv sphere in object mode, but rather,when i click on tab to do so,they both go into edit mode,with the uv sphere being selected
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlaMfIgS2ns

Hi. When you say "it just doesn't seem to work for me", what doesn't work for you? What happens instead? Please add more details by using the [edit] link below your question. Thanks.

In 2.8 all mesh objects selected go into edit mode. Deselect the eye before going back to edit mode with face. There is likely  a way to only have active object enter  edit too.

what do you mean by your last statement @batFINGER

Examining this video was an interesting exercise. I was able to get this to work as he shows, but had to watch a few times. What is curious to me is that I was able to get the needed face snapping behavior without any of the checkboxes activated that he recommends in the video, which confuses me. Just to be clear, there is nothing special about the whole Object Mode/Edit Mode situation you describe. It is true, the eye is in Object Mode while the head is in Edit Mode, but the relevant point is that the video demonstrates Face Snapping while using a checkbox called Project Individual Elements. According to the tooltip, this feature allows the snapping elements to interact with other objects. So that explains how he's able to bridge the gap between Edit Mode and Object Mode. Except that it doesn't because as I said, I was able to get it to work without the Project Individual Elements option checked. So this is a mystery to me. Maybe someone else can shed some light.
I thought I would point out that I use a different technique to get eyes and eyelids to meet, and I think it's superior (if only because it requires no vertex tweaking) to the one in the video.
I start by creating a vertex group. In Object Mode, select the eyelid geometry, then go into Edit Mode and select the inner-most edge ring for the eyelid object (highlighted in green in the pic below). This vertex group will contains only the vertices from the edge ring which defines the inner rim of the eye lid.

Next, go to the Object Data tab, and look for the Vertex Group section. Click the "+" sign to add a new group, which will be empty initially. It will be called Group by default, but you can name it whatever you want. Click Assign.

Then create a Shrinkwrap modifier for the eyelid object. In Object Mode, select the eyelid object, then click on the Modifier tab in the Properties Panel and create a new modifer. Make it a Shrinkwrap.

Point the Shrinkwrap modifier to the eye object as its target (left green arrow), and use the  Vertex Group input field to point it also to the vertex group you just created (right green arrow). If you don't use the vertex group option, the entire eyelid mesh will completely collapse against the eyeball. If you do use the vertex group option, only the inner rim will touch the eyeball. And that's exactly what you want.

can you explain the whole shrinkwrap modifier process more

and how do you create a vertex group

@charles I edited my above answer to address your new questions. Hope it helps.


text:
How can I model a snug mesh around a complex object?
I’m quite new to blender and I’d like to model some attachable camouflage like the one shown in this picture on to a vehicle.

Ideally I’d like it to be made from one mesh over the vehicle. In my head it is essentially a tea cosy for a tank.
Could anyone advise me on how to model it?
I will be using a cycles render engine
Edit: given some of the comments, I thought I'd add another picture that shows the 'tea cosy' after some wear and tear. It is close fitting, 'leafy' fabric camouflage that is attached to a tank.

is your computer strong enough to deal with particles / hair?

Why not just use a bump map or, if you must, a displacement map, and simply pretend that the camouflage material is a separate piece? Do you have an animation planned where this material needs to be visibly removed?

Edit: So as Batfinger says I missed the coat thing, so it should probably be done with hair particles on a cloth, I'll try to rework my answer.
The first thing that comes to mind is to use a Particle System > Hair, with a leaf as object. Here is what it could give, with the Particle System settings: In Render, choose Render As > Object, and for Instance Object > choose the leaf object.
Give your leaf the same material as the tank hull, on the bottom of the Texture Coordinate node, don't forget to choose Object > Tank so that the leaves will take the color of the area where they are emitted.

Would you make a netting object eg for body camo netting select faces, dupe faces, separate, extrude skirts (make cloth maybe) and add to that or just camo the tank material?

not sure what you mean, it doesn't look like a net, it rather looks like leaves sticked to the tank surface, no?

Yeah Sorry On close inspection it does look painted stuck on as you say.   Often this stuff is an elastic netting https://warisboring.com/the-u-s-army-is-repainting-its-tanks-green-hint-hint/  When looking at google images this popped up which is IMO is some pretty cool ol school modelling https://www.team-yankee.com/Default.aspx?tabid=909&art_id=5269

oh ok an elastic net makes sense, so I guess it could be done with the new pressure thing in the 2.8 cloth

lol too busy looking at the tank .. on question re-read  " In my head it is essentially a tea cosy for a tank."

yes I need to rework my answer

@moonboots , thanks very much for your suggestions. I'm going to have a go at them just now (even if it is just for some practice). I've added another picture to my question above to show how the fabric seems to look when it isn't brand new - shows a little more why I think it's like a tea cosy!

Hi @moonboots I've still not cracked this completely but am currently trying to do the hair particles on a 4 color camouflage pattern. Could you advise me what I should do with my materials settings to have the 'leaf' hair particles take on the color of the underlying texture?   Thanks!

I think it's only possible in Cycles and if your tank object has an Image Texture, not simple nodes, in that case you need to give your particles this node setup: Texture Coordinate with your tank as Object, enable the From Instancer option, use the UV output socket > plug into the Mapping node > Image Texture with the same image as the tank > Diffuse > Material Output

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
How to create terrain mesh from height points (vertices)
I have contour lines (elevation) of map in form of edges.
How can I easily and fast create terrain mesh from it (or vertices of those edges)?

can you share your blend file https://blend-exchange.com

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


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How to create a .blend file with python
Consider this a continuation of my previous question.  I found the following post in which is the following code:
import bpy
import os

root_directory  = "/home/eriadar/city"
destination_directory = root_directory + "/data/plant_objects/"

for idx, obj in enumerate(bpy.data.objects):
    ctx = bpy.context.copy()
    ctx['selected_objects'] = obj
    filename = 'file_number' + str(idx) + '.blend'
    filepath = os.path.join(destination_directory, filename)
    bpy.data.libraries.write(filepath, set(ctx['selected_objects']), fake_user=True)

I use that code after first creating a single object, and get the following error:
#! Traceback (most recent call last):
#!   File "/usr/lib/python3.8/code.py", line 90, in runcode
#!     exec(code, self.locals)
#!   File "<blender_console>", line 1, in <module>
#! FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'plant_0.blend'
#!

..which makes no sense. No, 'plant_0.blend' is not a file or directory, it doesn't exist yet!  I'm trying to -create- it! :-)
Edit: Indications of solution? Perhaps the whole way I'm thinking about this is wrong?
Edit: I'm gradually coming to the realization, or suspicion/belief that blender stores everything it creates internally. This is very different behavior from what I was expecting. Ordinary operation (say for a word document) is for you to create a file then have to save it. Give it a name, etc. In blender, it seems that's done -automatically-. The challenge becomes to -delete- it. I'm trying to complete my understanding but..  If this is true, then each time a create a new object within a blend file, the -size- of that file should increase.  I have now done that test, and it seems that it does not.  Perhaps the different is so small that my computer approximates it as still being the same thing?
Edit: I won't go so far as to say I have the final answer, but I've learned enough about blender now that this question is mostly obsolete.  I'm cleaning my blend files of sometimes huge amounts of junk that accumulated when I didn't know what blender was doing.  And these files I've been trying to save.. they get saved internally automatically.  getting -rid- of them is the challenge.  I think I have at least partially documented in my other recent questions how I'm doing things.  ..I suppose that technically, the correct answer to this question is simply that when specifying the blend file you want to save to, you have to select one that already exists.  what happens when that blend file already contains a data-block of the same name..  ..don't know.

You may find this useful as a work around link

@Ratt -yes, I've been reading that page.  It's not actually necessary.  I'm gradually coming to the realization, or suspicion/belief that blender stores everything it creates internally.  This is very different behavior from what I was expecting.  Ordinary operation (say for a word document) is for you to create a file then have to save it.  Give it a name, etc.  In blender, it seems that's done -automatically-.  The challenge becomes to -delete- it.  I'm trying to complete my understanding but..

Not really a full answer - but too long for a comment:
When i had a similar problem, i roughly implemented the following workflow:

Decide of objects that you want to store in separate blend files.
For each of that objects, open Blender with no blend file, but a script doing:

for obj in bpy.data.objects: bpy.data.objects.remove(obj)
to get rid of defaut cube, light and camera.

bpy.ops.wm.save_as_mainfile(filepath='pathToNewBlendFile.blend') to allow the use of relative paths (only needed when you link external files like textures).

bpy.ops.wm.append(directory='nameOftheBlendFileWithAllObjects', filename='objectName', link=False, autoselect=False, set_fake=True, use_recursive=True)
to import the object. set_fake=True prevents automatic cleanup of the object when unused (important when just storing a material or action).

bpy.ops.wm.save_as_mainfile(filepath='pathToNewBlendFile.blend')
to save a minimal Blend file with the object.

Thanks for the response!  ..I should have come back here and edited this question once I figured out what I was going to do (which I haven't yet, I suppose, not completely).  I'm cleaning up my blend files now, realizing that the fact that things are automatically stored internally means that there is no need for a separate elaborate saving operation.  So your answer may become relevant again if and when I decide to become more sophisticated again.


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How to save and load Blender objects with Python?
I have written an elaborate python code that creates complex objects from scratch.  [Well, technically I use the numpy functions save and load here and there to fetch integer and float array data I generated previously.] My code generates, say, a hundred or so complex objects.  Now, as part of the artistic methodology I propose, I want people to be able to look at the objects the code has generated, and see if they like them.  If there is something wrong, say one of them is a soccer ball that is just too small, I want them to be able to go into the code and edit the value of the radius of the ball, to make it bigger.  [..I realize that there is probably some part of the api, or an addon, that will allow me to allow them to do this super efficiently, but that isn't what this question is about.  Maybe I'll make a separate question about that later..]
Now, having changed that value, (..they might have changed multiple values of different objects..) I want them to be able to run the code again, to see what the effect is of the new value(s).  Of course, if there wasn't anything wrong with any of the other hundred complex objects, I don't want the code to re-create them all over again from scratch.  So I would like the code to have saved them all the first time around so that the next time it is called, all the parts that haven't been changed will just get re-loaded.  I would have a script to identify which ones had been changed, and which not.
Now, to create an object, you need arrays for vertices, indices, where the loop of a given surface starts, and how many vertices define it.  I know how to save -that- information (which is used to create the object mesh) as a set of arrays, then load it back in.  If there isn't any way of saving objects, I'll just do that.  What I'm wondering is whether I can go the extra step to saving the object.
To be clear about what I mean by object, it's what is produced by the following python line:
bpy.data.objects.new().  That gets followed by things like object.data.materials.append(materials[material_number]) to give it a material, and body_of_object = object.vertex_groups.new( name = material_name ) and body_of_object.add( vertex_group, wanted_weight, 'REPLACE' ) to define vertex groups.
This "object" that has been created, eventually gets linked into a scene, and displayed.
How to save all those other objects and then load them back in again all with Python?
What file format should I use?  I'm reading about .obj files and .blend files.  In my understanding, a .blend file is a whole big whopping thing that includes the workspace itself.  Totally not what I want.  But people are saying that that's the only way of saving all the information.
Still researching. Intuitively .obj is what I want, but I don't know enough about what it actually is, and I've seen places where people explicitly recommend against it, in favour of .blend .  You see my confusion.
Note -> This has been edited.  I would not be surprised if there is need for more edits in the future..
Comment on the comment below:
"I've discussed this with him offline. He's left out quite a bit of critical context: He's running a script. He's changing that script. He wants the script to only run the changed code, which isn't possible."
..I wouldn't say I'm selectively choosing to not run part of the code, which is how I interpret the above.  My code uses loops to generate many variations of a few kinds of objects.  So some of those variations would still be good and not need to be re-calculated, while others -would- need to be re-calculated.  So the code would have to be changed (an if-else statement should do the trick), so that for each iteration of the loop, either it re-calculates, or it loads up the object that was created the last time.
Edit: Note some interesting opinions getting passed through Blender Artists
Edit 2: It's now looking like the answer to this question involves saving the object as a blend.  So the first answer, which mentions blend-libraries, may be on the right track.  I'm now researching how to save and load blend files with python (eta at least a few days).  The question is how to do this while only saving precisely what I want to save so I get everything I need without wasting memory.  ..and doing it quickly and elegantly, etc..
More Edits: The following pages: save to multiple blend files and load libraries seem to contain information of a great deal of interest.  And now: libraries documentation

Eventually, the right answer will be to use the Asset Manager; but the Python interface to it is not ready for prime time.  For now you could export and import from obj files or other mesh storage formats but the reason people recommend against is that none of those formats match Blender's one for one, so you can lose information; especially about materials; when you export.
For now, I would recommend using the Python interface for Data Libraries.  The blend files that you use for data libraries can be fairly small. They don't need the HDRIs, images, and other data that can be read in from an external file, and you can organize them into categories with only related items in a single data file.  They have the advantage that because they are blend files you don't have to worry about data loss when importing and exporting.

..fascinating..  ..this also sounds like a rabbit hole..  thanks!  ..I'm also hesitant about accepting an answer until I've thoroughly researched the suggested course of action and have begun using it.  ..that might be considered "discouraged" behavior?

@juggler you should accept the answer if it solved your problem or answered your question. If it didn't, you shouldn't accept it. If you're not sure at the moment, you can still upvote the answer by clicking on the upward facing arrow in the top left of the post, as a way to thank the person who answered. You can come back at a later point to accept the answer, which is done by using the checkmark under the arrows in the top left. Cheers

@juggler Gorgious is right.  If this isn't enough of an answer, don't accept it yet.  I can add detail abut how to use data libraries; and there are plenty of other questions here on the specific topic you can investigate. You might want to read What should I do when someone answers my question? if you haven't aready.

I'm just going to accept it.  Even if I don't end up using it, which seems unlikely, it's valuable insight!

I've been informed that my question is woefully incomplete, and therefore -can't- be answered properly.  I'll have to come back and edit it.

@juggler If you do accept it, know that you can change that later if a better answer comes along.  Take as long as you need to update your question.  Maybe someone will vote to close it in the meantime.  That's OK, we do that here.  Just nominate it to be reopened when you do get the update done.

I've discussed this with him offline. He's left out quite a bit of critical context: He's running a script. He's changing that script. He wants the script to only run the changed code, which isn't possible.

I think your main issue is that you're confusing the term "object" with "mesh" and how it relates to data in Blender.
"Object" is a term to define a bundle of different concepts, mesh data, vertex groups, animation keyframes, material assignment, modifiers and so on.
"Mesh" is the term for a group of vertices, edges and faces, generated by BMesh, usually with a fair bit of math, to create 3D objects within Blender.
Whenever someone uses a script to generate a mesh it is floating in memory and only gets displayed when the programmer calls bm.to_mesh() to draw the mesh. Until that time it only exists as an array of verts with locations in 3D space.
I'm not sure of your exact end goal in terms of user experience, but using Python, you could easily define a number of variables using user input from a plain old input() function, ask the user "Does this mesh look like what you want?" if they click no, ask for the new values, and then re run the BMesh script with their revised values.
This is literally the simplest possible scenario and could only go upwards in terms of complexity.
beyond that. you could use the blender internal ui modules to make something like:
import bpy
import bmesh

class CreateCylinderMesh(bpy.types.Operator):
    bl_idname = "mesh.create_cylinder_custom"
    bl_label = "Create Cylinder"
    bl_options = {'REGISTER', "BLOCKING", "UNDO"}

    # properties that user will later define in a popup
    radius: bpy.props.FloatProperty(name="radius", default=0.5)
    height: bpy.props.FloatProperty(name="height", default=0.5)

    @classmethod
    def poll(cls, context):
        return True

    def create_cylinder(self):
        # Make a new BMesh
        bm = bmesh.new()
        bmesh.ops.create_circle(
            bm,
            cap_ends=False,
            radius=self.radius,
            segments=8)

        edges = [edge for edge in bm.edges if isinstance(edge, bmesh.types.BMEdge)]

        # Extrude and create geometry for the top of the cylinder
        ret = bmesh.ops.extrude_edge_only(
            bm,
            edges=edges)
        geometry = ret["geom"]
        verts = [
                elem for elem in geometry
                if isinstance(elem, bmesh.types.BMVert)
                ]
        # Use the user input for height
        bmesh.ops.translate(
            bm,
            verts=verts,
            vec=(0.0, 0.0, self.height)
            )

        del ret
        # Done with creating the mesh, simply link it into the scene so we can see it

        me = bpy.data.meshes.new("Mesh")
        bm.to_mesh(me)
        bm.free()
        me.update()

        obj = bpy.data.objects.new("Object", me)
        bpy.context.collection.objects.link(obj)

        # Select and make active
        bpy.context.view_layer.objects.active = obj
        return {'FINISHED'}

    # stuff to create the user interaction etc.
    def execute(self, context):
        return self.create_cylinder()

    def draw(self, context):
        row = self.layout
        row.prop(self, "radius", text="Enter the Radius: ")
        row.prop(self, "height", text="Enter the Height: ")

    # this will call a pop that will recreate the mesh every time until the user
    # moves their mouse away from the dialog
# there are other options that ask for confirmation etc.
    def invoke(self, context, event):
        return context.window_manager.invoke_props_popup(self, event)

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

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

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()
    # test run
    bpy.ops.mesh.create_cylinder_custom('INVOKE_DEFAULT')

Your suggested script with the blender internal ui modules is very interesting and helpful.  I've begun my exploration of them, and your proposed script will accelerate my efforts.  Thank you!  That said, this answer, technically, doesn't answer the question, which is, how to save the "objects" that have been created so they don't have to be re-created.  My suspicion is that the answer has been provided by the dude from blender artists who tells me to save them as blend files.  So my next step is to research that process to see if that's true.  -which might mean data-libraries, a-la-Marty..

"So the code would have to be changed (an if-else statement should do the trick), so that for each iteration of the loop, either it re-calculates, or it loads up the object that was created the last time."
This isn't possible.  When you run a script, the whole thing runs.
You could separate your script into different self-contained pieces and execute each piece separately, and only change/reexecute the pieces you want.


text:
How can i retopologize mesh to fix shading errors
I'm trying to model the object shown in the second picture, and for some reason I can't find a way to get an accurate representation of the object while maintaining good topology. I've tried booleans and fixing the topology later, but that gave weird shading issue's. I've tried to manually cut out the horizontal cylinder out of the vertical one with the knife tool, but that didn't work either. I've watched a whole lot of Youtube video's about merging/joining object together but nothing really seams to work for this model.
At this moment there are a lot of N-gons and i don't know how to get rid of it. Does anybody know a way to fix the topology of this model?

Object I'm trying to model

Welcome to the forum! Please use https://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/ to share .blend files.


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Blender Arm Twists After Applying Automatic Weight Paint
Upon finishing rigging my low poly model in Blender, I decided to parent the rig to the mesh and apply automatic weights. The head, spine, legs, and feet all work fine, however, the arm has an odd twist in it. I also noticed that the default pose position of the armature is different than that of the rest pose or edit mode positions of the armature. I've tried applying Alt G, Alt R, and Alt S but nothing changed, and both the odd position and twist remain. Is this an issue with my rig or topology, or will applying and adjusting weight paint manually solve the problem? This is my first time rigging a model in Blender so any help is highly appreciated.
Edit Mode/Rest Pose Position:

Default Pose Position with no transformations or rotations:

Arm twist in the mesh after applying automatic weights:

Edit: I made a comment of how I fixed this issue but TL;DR
Unparent the mesh and armature. Select all the bones in pose mode. f3 search Apply pose as rest pose. Parent them again and apply automatic weights and the issue was gone.

After searching around some more I found a related post here:
Parenting Armature to Mesh with Automatic Weights deforms Mesh
My issue was that my Pose Position and Rest Position were different, as I showed above, however, I wasn't sure if this was normal or how to go about fixing it. I found from the other post that it's actually the reason for the mesh deforming and the fix is pretty simple. Selecting all of the bones in Pose Mode and pulling up the search bar with f3 you can type "Apply pose as rest pose", hit enter, and then parent the armature to the mesh and apply automatic weights and the issue with arm twisting is gone. I'm pretty new here but I think this post may be classified as a duplicate now but I found a lot of similar posts unanswered so hopefully, this is helpful to other beginners running into similar troubles.


text:
How would I vary the emitted color of a 'window' (face) on a mesh?
I am attempting to create a city-scape. Along the way, I want to create some variation in the Glass material so that, when instanced, aspects of the mesh's appearance will naturally vary. In the current exercise, I am attempting to add further variety to the 'lights' visible in the glass textures found in the two (lower right) buildings in the image below:

You can see that I've included a musgrave texture in order to create the illusion of patchwork-illumination in each of the windows. In fact, here is my current node setup:

What I am trying to do:
You see that constantified-color ramp? Well, what I was starting to develop was an idea that a particular window (not just the musgrave pattern on top of the window), would be a different color (simulating the slightly different light shades used by bulbs). Any ideas how I would actually make this happen?
Clarification based on comment feedback: I am attempting to achieve this for a single mesh, not separate objects.
Many thanks for your attention.
BIG thanks to Jachym for their help. Here is a demo of the finished product:

The final material (below) is a far simpler collection of nodes than I started with:

There is still an outstanding issue (minimized by the current composition) where glass that is not emissive (due to being in the 'black' part of the musgrave texture) renders out some artifacts; I will post a separate thread to address that. When fixed, I will update this thread.

Solution for a single mesh using the White Noise texture (instead of Object > Random output)

Create a new UV map, and scale the UV islands to 0 (use Pivot > Individual Origins)
Add a White Noise texture, UV Map node to drive it, and ColorRamp to control it.
Done.

YOU are awesome. Thank you so much! I'm going to post my final node-array for anyone who wants to replicate this.

No problem, learned something new myself :).

You can use the Random output with a ColorRamp.

Start with the Object Info > Random output
Add a ColorRamp with specified colors (mine is also set to Constant)
Use the result as a window tint color...

When I attempt to do that, by plugging a Color Ramp into the Principled BSDF which serves as the basis for my window color, the whole lot of the colors snaps to one value in that ramp. I cannot replicate the animation that you demo here. Current Node Setup: https://i.ibb.co/JmQz34N/Draft-2-Node-Setup-2020-09-18.png

@DocBadwrench: This method assumes that the windows are all separate objects. If your windows are all part of the same object, then it won’t work.

Hey @DocBadwrench :). As mentioned in your question, it's meant for instanced window objects. Do you want a solution for a single mesh?

I'm building a bunch of buildings using the Building Tools addon and it creates one mesh so I definitely need a solution for a single mesh. Thanks.


text:
Creating a cardboard cut-out OR How do I make my geometry respect my 2d image import?
I'm working on a (fun but needlessly complex) mockup for my wife's work. The idea I've had is that I can use my PBR cardboard texture along with the 2d image that will effectively define the boundaries of the plane.
Here is what it currently looks like in the Shader:

Using my more familiar 2d parlance, I just want to mask the eges out, so the cardboard texture is alpha'd wherever there isn't a pixel, thereby creating edges (which I can hopefully solidify to give depth).
Additional Thoughts:

I have been pointed toward the Mask Node, but that's relegated to the compositor, not the shader.
Regardless of what tack I take, I realize that I need a lot of subdivisions to support the geometry.
I also realize I could do this manually, but I'd prefer to figure out the proper way to generate whatever assets I might want.

Solution or no, thanks for your attention. Blender is super fun. And frustrating. And then fun again. And then infuriating. Then you feel like a god. Then I take a week off and forget half the terms. Blender is a mixed bag. Also life.

Here is a thread from ten years ago: How can I make what looks like a cardboard cutout of a person - But ten years ago might as well be 100 given how fast Blender changes...

Off topic: I just love the poetic ending :). That's how I felt the first few weeks of using blender.

Hello :). To fake it, just plug the Alpha channel of your texture, into the Alpha input of Principled BSDF shader. If you want actual geometry, you can import the illustration as an .svg and simply extrude it.

Thanks. I tried doing that, but the alpha area has turned black rather than clear.

Follow-up: Works in Cycles. I now have a paper-thin cardboard item that omits areas outside the texture area. THANK YOU Jachym. Now, I need to figure out if I can make it have thickness. But that's a separate thread..

Read @RichSedman 's answers to similar (possible duplicate) qustions: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/40997/how-can-i-make-a-hexagonal-grill/78003#78003
and https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/84129/is-there-a-way-to-add-fake-thickness-to-an-alpha-image-texture

If you use alpha to give transparency I'm not sure you'll be able to give it thickness, what you need to do is using your image as a background, drawing a mesh that will have the exact same shape as your star and give it your image as Image Texture

@susu Nice refs, I've always admired those,  but far easier to import as geometry, and better results, in ordinary circumstances.

If you use alpha to give transparency I'm not sure you'll be able to give it thickness properly.
What you need to do is use your image as a background, draw a mesh that will have the exact same shape as your star, extrude, unwrap and give it your image as Image Texture.
Or import the shape as svg, make it a mesh, use X > Limited Dissolve to lighten the topology, and same thing, extrude, unwrap and give it the image as Image Texture. In your case the good news is that you won't need to rework the imported SVG.

Thanks. That's definitely a solution (and accepted as such), but my aim was the create a workflow that didn't require me to draw out a mess of points because that takes too long. Jachym has a good hack-together answer, but my actual solution can be found in this other thread: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/188050/how-do-i-add-thickness-to-my-cardboard-cut-out-image-as-plane

yes it looks like it's what I'm talking about (importing SVG)? It works as well...

Not only that, it's clearly superior because you are building the geometry from Blender's pen rather than the import. I was just hoping there would be a little faster pipeline (some of my items have crazy edges). Thanks again!

from Blender's pen? what do you mean?

Sorry, I'm just using my imprecise 2D terms.

oh ok I understand, yes it really depends on the situation, an SVG import should be the best way in your case, but sometimes you need a clean mesh and it's not always the case with imported SVG  ;)   for some purposes it needs to be clean and needs a lot of rework

You are being so charitable. :) The default import of SVG's is sooo bad right now. But blender continues to evolve at what feels like lightspeed, so who knows..

well actually in your case you just need to make a X > Limited Dissolve

OH MY GOD. Did you just solve this with an offhanded comment long after i gave up? I just did that and I have regular geometry.

Also: I did that, and have regular geometry, but now I appear to have that 'duplicate face' problem...

ah ah ok I can't guess what you already know or don't know, yes dissolve will lighten your file, and in your case you can leave the mesh like that, it won't be enough in other cases

after dissolve you may need to draw some inner edges to bring some corrections (with J to join or with the knife tool)

Okay, here's what I did: I executed that X - Limited Dissolve, but then I was still left with weird 'duplicate faces' problem. So I went into Edit Mode, Chose the (3) Face Select tool, then excuted X - Delete Only Faces and am left with a proper, smooth, flat, SVG geometry. I will practice more and figure this out (and then share). Thanks so much! I'm relatively new (last 4 mos) but there's soooo much to learn.

not sure about the weird faces you're talking about, what you can do is share your svg so that we check the best way to do it

There's just a 'shimmering' but no worries! It doesn't matter. I'm going to execute this workflow on a different piece of artwork. If it works, I'll post an update. :)


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I can't make my armature affect any mesh deformation
I am having an impossible time setting my armature to auto-deform the mesh like I've seen a dozen times in YT tutorials. Every time I attempt to do so, I fail. Here is the workflow:

Select the mesh
Shift+Select the armature
Select Object - Parent - Armature Deform with Automatic Weights (Note: Ctrl + P does not show me any armature parenting options; I don't know why; seems to work for everyone else).

[Here is a link to my .blend file][1]. Just in case you are interested. I'm basically at my wit's end. I've recreated armatures for this stupid thing three times. Every single time, I watch someone in the tut very easily move their mesh around with Pose mode after they parent. But I can't. Ever.
If I need to use weight painting to do this manual, I will. But I would really like to know what I'm doing wrong since the manual way is going to add a lot of time. At this stage in my education, I'm still trying to understand all the basic functionality and this is one of those.

deparent the armature from the mesh, it's the mesh that is supposed to be parented to the armature. Also, before parenting, apply the scale and rotation of both armature and mesh. It looks like your problem has to do with the head bone, if you recreate one it will work fine, I don't know why. And your mesh is very high in polygons, do you need so many? Especially if you give it a Subdivision Surface (and 4 is a very high subdivision)

I downloaded your file and got it to work. I am very out of practice with Blender but the file seems to have issues. seems like a lot of vertices for the bear, there is some strangeness in scales of things too. there was a parent loop in the Teddy and armature , when I cleared the parenting the armature shrank. I ended up deleting the whole armature and just making a new one and then the parenting with automatic weights worked.

Thanks very much! It was simply that I parented in the wrong order.


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Texturing a Toon Environment in Eevee: Height vs. Normal Map
I'm working on a cel-shaded-esque environment in eevee. One of those environs where you plop down a 2d billboard to stand in for a person/creature. Anyway, I have a bunch of textures that are more suited for game-engine use (as they lack that realism that is sort of Blender-default). Those textures have fewer of the other textures I'm used to with PBR's.
I have a Diffuse map, a Height map and a Normal map. However, my experience so far is that Height maps seldom accompany Normal maps (at least in the many tuts I've followed and pages I've read).
Is this a use-one-or-the-other situation or should I be hooking the alpha of this thing into another of the grey plugs? I am pretty used to the basics of PBR's, but haven't really reasoned through the Why of some node setups. And not with regard to these non-realistic materials.
More Follow-Up
After further research, I am pretty sure that this Height map is meant to be used for the Displacement effect (to add height).
Here are the textures:

Here is a look at my nodes:

My hope is to use the appropriate map to create a smooth shape to my cobble. I'm clearly doing something wrong.
More Detail: I understand that EEVEE doesn't support the Bump & Displace setting. So I know I can't just easily do that via nodes. In another thread I found, it was recommended that I use Subdivision (which I have) and Displace, but in this case, with a repeating texture, I'm not sure that's doable.
Thanks for your attention.

If for some reason you need to use both the normal and the bump images, you can plug the Normal Map node into the Normal input of the Bump node, I don't know if that's what you're asking?

I guess I wasn't the most clear person.. I'm wondering, if I were to use both, how would I do it? Is that even wise?

as I say, for some reason you may have a situation where you have both: a normal image texture and a height (bump) image texture, in that case you can mix the two images so that they will be both taken account in the 3D appearance of your object, do you see how to organize the nodes (I can post picture if necessary)?

what do you mean when you say that you have "a Diffuse map, a Height map and a Normal map", did you create those maps? Or did you buy them? You may have been given normal and height to make sure that you have what you prefer, if they have the exact same effect, use only one

Bought 'em. I posted a pic of the textures above. So far I have a very basic node setup with the diff/color & normal map.

yes so your height image and your normal image look similar, you need to use either one or the other, depending on what result you'll prefer, there might be a small difference, just give it a test

Okay. Thanks very much!


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Why has my camera button/icon disappeared?
You know that camera icon that shows up in the right-hand side of the main viewer? Well, it disappeared. I know I can toggle with CTRL-0 but I would really like to know why this happened and what I can do to get it back.
I have looked throughout as many options as I can locate, but no dice.
Here is my viewer:

As you will note, there is no camera button on the right side.
Also: Yes. I have restarted. Would not have posted here without taking a number of steps. No effect. It's like I've toggled something.

Still looking for what button might bring it back, if you haven't put too much work into your scene you can always start a new file and it will be back.

No luck there. I've done a ton of work. And the camera hotkey is behaving all kinds of squirrelly now and I have no idea. I appear to be locked in some kind of camera mode even though no such camera is selected.

Could you post a screenshot of your problem?

Have you tried saving the scene and restarting blender

Updated thread.

Do you mean the outliner?

Gizmos visibility
You have somehow disabled the gizmos visibility, you can simply re-enable it by pressing the button in the bar:

Thanks so much! Still enough of a noob not to see that.


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New 2.9 Feature - Sky Texture (Nishita) is Changing my Sun Elevation and Generally Misbehaving
Yay, a new version. More confounding behavior? You betcha.
I have a scene set with my Sky Texture (in the World Nodes) having a bunch of settings that help me set the scene. Among those, a Sun Elevation of 10 Degrees. However, the second I hit the F12 key to render my scene, the value of Sun Elevation snaps right back to 81.6 Degrees. Every time. I have no idea why it's happening and no idea how to stop it.
In addition, for whatever reason, when I initially set my World with the Nishita texture, the lighting is so completely blown out that I lose all shadows. It's like the sun is exploding. This persists even when the Background strength is 0.100. I've had it down toward the floor and it still looks terrible.
I realize I can wait for some really explanatory tutorial about this, but I've already watched a few from when this was in beta and it all appears quite straightforward. My results, so far, have been disappointing.
Thanks for your attention.
UPDATE
Here is what my Cycles preview of this rando scene looks like.

Note the low values for Sun Elevation & Sun Intensity. I've been aiming at a morning/evening depiction.
For the record, I actually managed to get this working, but then I tried to incorporate an HDRI and ended up back at square 1.
Additional Edit: Now it's resetting to 82 Degrees, not 81.6. In case that matters...

Are you using the "Sun Disc"?

Yes. I am. But it appears not to matter...

You've likely enabled the Sun Position add-on, which is responsible for resetting the position. See ticket T78618.

THANK YOU. That cleanly solves the problem. Adjusting the other settings, I've found my shadows have come back.

This is a common problem caused by the Sun Position add-on, which takes control over these properties. Try to disable it and you should be able to change the values. The issue has been previously report on the bug tracker in ticket T78618.

I was experiencing the same behavior when animating a sunset, the values I entered for keyframes in the Sun Elevation field would automatically switch back to the same seemingly random number.
Then I realized that the Sun Elevation and Sun Rotation values are determined by the coordinates, date, and time that are entered in the Sun Position settings, which makes total sense.
I cleared the keyframes I had entered for the Sun Elevation (in the Shader Editor node or in this tab: World > Surface, under the Sky Texture settings for a Nishita sky model), then animated the Time value instead (World > Sun Position > Time).
Now my sunset works like a charm and this particular behavior does not seem like a bug.


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How do I mirror a collection?
I have a collection of objects that comprise a room. I would like to 'mirror' it on an X or Y axis. While I can accomplish this with an individual object, I cannot figure out how to do it with a collection.
Update: Still haven't figured it out, but I am just going to align my objects individually until I can figure this out.

You could join all the objects together and then mirror one giant object then separate them in edit mode with P. Or alternatively set all of their origins to be in one spot then add individual mirror modifiers.

You can't simply add a modifier to a collection (would be a nice feature though) This is a great way to achieve the result though. It's old but still works: https://b3d.interplanety.org/en/how-to-copy-a-single-modifier-to-multiple-objects/

Thanks all. See, I was hoping to mirror the whole collection and not the constituent parts. Honestly, I would love to just instance the thing and then mirror THAT but am not sure that is a route I can take.

Why is a mirrored instance not an option?

You can mirror an instanced collection. Scale along the Axis by -1

You can select all objects in your collection and add a Mirror modifier to one of them:

Now use Make Links → Modifiers to add the Mirror modifier to all of them:

Afterwards you can use Convert to mesh to apply the modifier to all the objects.
there is an alternative solution:

select collection
right click to "instance collection"
scale the instanced collection -1.0 in the desired axis.

I think this answer needs clarification:

Select collection in the Outliner
Right click on it > Instance To Scene
scale the instanced collection -1.0 in the desired axis

optionally - Object > Apply > Make Instances Real, if you want to "explode / ungroup" the instanced collection to make it editable; otherwise it'll only be "virtual" or non-editable

Also, at the moment of creating your collection instance, 3D cursor must sit in the world origin. Only then the instance will be placed in the exact same place as the original collection, and then you can proceed to mirroring, e.g. by moving 3D cursor to a desired position and setting it as transform pivot point, if you want to mirror by 3D cursor.


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How can I rotate particle instances on the X axis?
So here's a throwaway scene with some particle systems:

And the thing is, I'd love to rotate those little 8-bit bushes. However, I am incapable of doing this under almost every circumstance. I have spent hours working through permutations trying this. I can't wait for particle nodes because I have to say, Blender's particle interface is hot crap on a plate.
I would love if any of you can help me. I'm not going to go into specifics and just offer up my BLEND because I'm basically exhausted by particle systems.
My Blend File
File/other notes:

I have found other similar threads in BSE, but none of the answers worked or were related directly to my problem.
There are separate particle systems for each 'foliage' item because rendering as collection also failed repeatedly every way I tried it.
All particle systems make use of the single weight paint texture for the DENSITY characteristic.

Thanks in advance.
Update on 10/5: Took a week off from this. Returned with no change to underlying issue. Per commenter below, I can create a different particle instance and rotate it, but I thought the point of particle instancing was that you could create controllable variations. That's why I'm doing this exercise.
Update on 10/14: I will let the community determine the appropriate answer. I gave up on this and am on yet another project where I cannot get foliage to populate on a plane. I can't believe how hard it is to get these systems working properly. I'm going to wait for Particle Nodes and until then, I'm going to get really good at manually instancing objects because it is far, far less time consuming compared to constantly failing at this in every subsequent project.

You wanna rotate the bushes so they look random or perhaps just to rotate the objects at the same time ? because rotation can be done by selecting your Main Object (in this case Grass Tuft #1) in edit Mode. You need to explain a bit more about

I just want to rotate the grass instances. So that, while they are 'sitting' on top of the plane, they are 'facing' different directions.

If you want to make the particles stand up and rotate on the Z axis, choose Orientation Axis > Global Z, as the object is probably not oriented the way you want on the surface, select the original object, go in Edit mode and rotate it correctly. Now play with the Rotation > Random Phase value.
Edit: Your question is not clear, either you want to vary the orientation axis, or you want to keep the same orientation but change the rotation values. For case #1, use the Randomize value, for case #2, use the Randomize Phase value:

This changes every single instance of my mesh as one. There is no deviation for each instance.

they all rotate on the X axis with a different angle values. You want a deviation from what? In your initial question you're talking about rotating your objects on the X axis, so do you want their rotation to happen on the X axis with different angle values, or do you want them to vary from the X axis? If you want them to have different rotation axis, play with the Randomize value, above Phase and Randomize Phase. If it's still not what you want, please edit your initial question and make it clearer

You can go to the particle settings of the emitter and check advance and then you can go and check rotation , and then change the phase a little and then Ramp Up the Randomize Phase , and Not the Randomize Orientation.This will make your 8bit grass more jittered

Here you go for the file -
Edit - If your object rotates on the wrong axis or just doesn't go the correct way, you can change the orientation axis in the orientation dropdown

I want the grass to 'stand upright' and just be rotated around. When I do as you suggest, the grass is all offset the exact same (incorrect) way.

can you share the picture of the situation , because then i can analyze the problem

The picture is found in my original post.

Added a Edit in the awnsere

I didn't go into detail on every single setting because I have provided my BLEND. I have used that dropdown and absolutely none of the results render the output I'm looking for. I have tried every one. Multiple times.

now probably , I'm not the correct person to answere but i would have added multiple particle systems in different rotations in the same situation , you can probably re add your particles

I tried this but it still does not work. Randomize Phase makes the whole set of objects change as one. There is no individual variation for each instance.


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How do I add thickness to my cardboard cut-out image-as-plane?
Greetings fellow Blenderers. This is a continuation of the issue first presented here.
I have a very nice 2d plane that has both my PBR cardboard texture as well as the single image with alpha-channel. Now, I'd like to solidify it. Currently, this is the result:

Now, I completely understand why there is no center. It's just a flat plane and there is no geometry to extrude, per se. My question then becomes: How do I do that? Or, if the answer is (it's too complicated), then how do I fake it?
Thanks in advance for your attention. Hang in there. Like that sun. All smiling and happy. What's his con?..
UPDATE
Okay, I have an idea of a workflow that will work, but I have to get over one really big sticking point:

Keep the existing material because that part works
Go into Illustrator and turn the overall shape of the sun into a single SVG
Import the SVG
Object - Convert to Mesh from Curve
Solidify
Marvel at the truly ghastly default geometry that has been created

Become confused as I can't effectively remesh the resulting geometry so that it has nice, square shaped UV maps.

So yeah, List Item #7 is where I am currently stuck on.
Be great.
Here is a link to my source file. I have pain-stakingly broken out my process flow into individual layer/collections. It should be quite self explanatory once you open it. It's basically a time-lapse of my activities with the shape, trying to make the shape do what I need to eventually receive the texture. I am now amazed at how hard this is.
Update on AM of 7/28 / Thank you for the overnight responses. Specific replies:

Susu: I actually did that, but the resulting mesh (using either fill method) was similarly bad looking, though it was still be best result given all the other bad ones I encountered.
Moonboots: That's actually what I want to avoid. I have a number of 2d images I'd like to convert to 'cutouts' and manually drawing points takes far too much time and effort.
Jachym: Sadly, that doesn't work. When it comes time to apply my texture, I encounter all kinds of display problems. Something about the botched geometry is deforming the results.
General Reflection on this: The 2D import behavior is just wretched. I come from a 2D background where SVG's have mostly behave themselves and worked fine in whatever workflow I happen to find them in. But Blender needs to an intervention.
Glorious (7/29 Afternoon): I have definitely decimated. Included above is a link to the source file. Thanks for looking! Also, projection mapping didn't work. There's something wonky in the geometry that caused it to look mangled.

Thank you all very much for your contributions.
Current Key Observation: I'm having the darnedest time removing the side geometry from my little sun shape. I can't figure out a proper way to auto-select it without completely butchering the overall geometry. What kills me is that I know I did it last night, but I can't replicate it.

I have spent most of this evening fighting with this nightmare geometry. I removed both faces and tried grid fill, followed by regular fill (which was better, but still sucks). I have tried dissolving faces, which does literally nothing to the geometry. I am completely stuck as of this comment.

There is no need to convert to mesh, you can keep your object as curve and extrude in the geometry section for the curve. But if you must convert to mesh, delete all of the faces  so that you and fill again with grid fill.

you can also use your image as a blueprint background to draw a mesh with the same shape (star), then project the image as image texture on this mesh

Hello :). This may sound like a herecy, but you can keep it as a big n-gon. For your purposes it shouldn't add problems, and you can still extrude it and bevel the edges.

Thanks all very much. I have embedded responses in the original post because there's no character limit.

Hello, care to share your file ? A big n-gon with project from view should work...  https://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/  Also consider decimating your curve before converting to mesh with Curve > Clean up > Decimate and tweak the ratio in the lower left foldout

Thanks Glorious. I have added notes into my original post along with a link to the source file.

Looks like what you need: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/84129/is-there-a-way-to-add-fake-thickness-to-an-alpha-image-texture

Thank you Serge. That is definitely a solution, but omg the nodes... :) Going to keep that in my back pocket. But I am now posting a SOLUTION based on my recent efforts.

I realized that - once again - I'm overthinking this. With more time away, the solution came to me.
In my above question, I identify Step #7 as the issue, but it doesn't have to be. Instead, I realize I should ignore all that goofy geometry. All that matters is I have my ugly extrude with terrible faces.
What I have is that extruded shape set at 0.009 m Z-depth (thin like cardboard). Then I put my 2D plane on it. As long as the material is close to the color of the cardboard (or dominant 2d image color), it will look just fine.
My Current Understanding of Workflow:

Process image to ensure that it has necessary alpha channel. Export a PNG.
Pull image into Illustrator and use the Image Trace option to create a simple outline around the imagery. Export a SVG.
Import Image as Plane; apply additional textures as necessary (if overlaying texture on top of corrugated cardboard texture as I am).
Import SVG as Curves; extrude to needed depth; turn to a mesh.
Place the flat 2D image 'on top of' the 3D mesh that will become the cardboard's faked-depth.
Enter orthographic mode to look at the model head-on. Make final adjustments to ensure the SVG and PNG 'match' locations, as my tests have shown that it won't perfectly match at first. Simply nudge it in ortho and you get your results.

Final note: For whatever reason, when I do this, the 2D image clips into one side of the mesh geometry. Simply adjust the placement (or flip the model over, as I have). This seems to fix it.
Thanks to all of you on my little mini-rollercoaster ride. I will treasure this moment of feeling like I figured something out... because Blender amirite..

Having  a mesh on top of another is not a good practice. You will run into z-figthing errors (or in your case what you call clipin into one side of the mesh). For situations like this try texturing the object while keeping a single surface.

Thanks. And correct. I have a better solution in the works using single-mesh geometry, but I still see shimmering 'faces'. Going to research z-fighting to see the methods to fix it.

Z-fighting occurs when two surfaces share the same plane, the render engine cannot distinguish which one to render. Even if there is a small gap in between the surfaces, it might turn into an issue depending on the precision of the engine and the clip distances. It is a good practice to avoid having overlapping surfaces.

Yeah, I've encountered this before. And it's an endemic issue when working with SVG's. I can't figure out how to collapse this. Or stop it from happening in the first place. I started with what I thought was a nice, flat, plane. Extruded, turned into nightmare faces.

It doesn't have to be a problem, unless you add objects on top. That additional image as plane will cause problems. Use the image as texture on the curve object directly without any additional geometry. Can you make the original image available (not the blend file)?

I've tried this before and ended up using an array modifier to get the desired look - I needed a really small z offset (using constant and not relative offset as the plane has no thickness) and a count of around 64. It doesn't work for side-on views but gives a decent result otherwise.
I also needed to raise the transparent bounces to 64 (each level of the array adds a 'bounce') in the render > light paths panel


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Camera Align to View - CTRL-ALT-0 - does some really weird stuff
When I click on the Camera button, something really funky happens. Also, at random points, the hood from my lamp will disappear. I have even deleted the camera and added a new one and I can't make the camera align with the view.
My main problem here (aside from those symptoms) is that I can't set up any kind of render shot because the camera (either existing or new) will not behave.
Thanks.
I would love anyone's help. Thanks.

Select the camera and try Crtl + Numpad 0...

Does this answer your question? How can I make a camera the active one?


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How do I render only the particular view layer I want instead of always including a full composite pass?
I have a scene and I'd like to render out PNG layers to make life easier in post-production. I have set up all my layers to render separately. However, Blender is also spending time rendering out a composite of all layers even though I only have the following node setup:

Note that there is no composite setup, but I still get one. It's adding a lot of extra time to my render.
Thanks for your attention.

Does this help ? https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/155633/86891

In the nodes you are showing, you are saving the composite pass, not any other render pass (like diffuse, normals. or other). And if you are looking to "make your life easier" in post production avoid png, use OpenExr Multilayer.

Does this answer your question? Save all render passes to EXR image?

@Gorgious - If my read on that first link is correct, then I need to uncheck Render Single Layer, correct?

@Susu - To clarify, I am going to be in a 2d workflow (Premiere & After Effects). I have been operating under the assumption that PNG is a suitable format for that.

PNG is not a format to transport linear information (which is what you should use for compositing). Plus PNG is not capable of using associated alpha channel

The PNG format utilizes an alpha channel. That's the main reason I selected it. I will look into what EXR is and what benefits it confers.

Alpha on PNG is unassociated, so you won't be able to have pixels that are luminous and transparent at the same time (like fire or reflections on glass). For proper compositing you want to keep the data as linear. EXR will have proper associated alpha, and saves the images as scene referred. Think of it as a way to save the render layers intact, with no distortions created by the color management.

Okay, I figured out the answer:
Under RENDER and VIEW LAYER, make sure that Use for Render is UNCHECKED. This will eliminate that particular layer. In the compositor, plug in the the layers that you want to export per my initial graphic. Or, select the checkbox for Render Single Layer (while making sure you are actually on that layer).


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Snow Simulation Particle Accrual Problem
I'm trying out a winter scene. I figured I'd follow this tutorial by CG Geek.
The aim of the project is to create snowfall and then have that snowfall paint the ground layer as well as apply displacement to simulate snow accrual.
Per my usual experience with particles, they aren't working right. I have set everything up and baked it. And when I view my scene in Rendered View, everything looks great. When I actually render out a frame, however, none of the snow painting or accumulation shows up.
Here is the rather large BLEND file if you'd like to brave this. I'm happy to post pics of particular parts of the blend - or post variables from within it - if there is a need.
Thanks for your attention.
Update: I reloaded the scene and confirmed that all of the following elements have (and had) completed bakes for the full length of the sim:

Dynamic Paint - 01 Surface Hit (when the snow hits the ground and 'paints' the alternate (snow) material.
Dynamic Paint - 02 Surface Pile Up (when the snow accumulates)
Particle System - Snow Emission (snowfall)

And since this  scene is in eevee, I have baked the lighting.
Is there some other thing I need to bake? Because here is the output AFTER I deleted the bakes and then Baked All Dynamics.
First, what I see in Rendered view in my 3d Viewport:

But here is what I see when I actually render out the frame:

And what kills me is that there is accumulation on the 'duck' material, but not on any other material. But that accumulation is just 'more of the first material' and not the snow.
And my materials are set up exactly the same so that everything on the mesh 'responds'. This is the node setup for each mat:

The top shader connector goes to the 'before' material and the bottom connects to the 'after' (snow covered) material with the dynamic paint as the factor.

I can't seem to access the google drive.

It is set to be downloadable by anyone. I just confirmed. Sorry you are encountering difficulty.

Working now, wifi must have been wack.

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/161760/dynamic-paint-displace-not-rendering Found a person with the same problem, apparently, they just forgot to bake it>

Yeah I just did a full bake from the start of the animation and it worked, hopefully it works for you.

Really? Oh, I baked it. I baked the heck out of it. Grrr. I will RE-bake everything. Again. Thanks for checking it out.

Confirmed that everything is baked and... doesn't work. Same problem. I provided more detail in the main post.


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Can't duplicate alpha material setting even though I have all settings in front of me
So, does feeling like a noob in Blender continue for YEARS or something? Because I'm about exhausted by this. Here's a material that is working, from someone's tut example:

Note that the alpha-effect is working so that you can see what's behind the 'water'.
Now, here's mine:

The only difference that I can see is that I'm driving everything from UV Map instead of generated (since I modified the meshes).
I have also confirmed that these Settings (for the Mat) are in effect for both materials: Blend Mode: Alpha Blend / Shadow Mode: Opaque
I'm guessing there must be an errant checkbox that I am missing. I also went in the EEVEE settings to ensure that nothing was weird there. Source has nothing special in that regard. Thoughts?

I've rebuild your material from the screenshot and it works fine for me. Only thing i can think of is that the blackness is maybe the casting of a shadow, although it doesn't seem likely. I'd be happy to look at your file if you'd share it.

You beat me to it with answering your own answer (and I'm glad it works for you), but just to clarify i will share what i found:
I believe your tutorial example uses transparency while you use it to a considerable lesser extent (or not at all).
the Transparency color (blue) you used is on the edge of the color circle (while the blue in the example is probably closer to the white center). In this node setup, the more white the color is, the more transparency it causes. Because your blue is relatively dark, the waterfall became less transparent and, in combination with the brown background, visually black.
If you had changed the blue Transparent BSDF color to a color with more white it would be to more like the tutorial example; more transparent.
And I think if you had kept the color the same but changed the Transparent BSDF node to for instance a Diffuse BSDF node you would get a non-transparent waterfall of that color.
But adjusting the ColorRamp also seems to work : )

Much more comprehensive answer. Thanks so much!

Here is the node-setup that works:

I had things a bit wrong and needed to route my color ramp through the emission. Rookie mistakes man...


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What is the workflow for adding noise modifiers to a node value? (3.5)
I am returning to Blender after more than a year away and I have discovered that I do not know what the (presumably new) workflow is for adding noise modifiers to various values.
In this case, I have a pretty basic emission shader:

Note the presence of a keyframe for the emission value. Over here in my graph editor, I discovered that I can't actually add a noise modifier via the N-Panel.

And it's not just this project. I added a point light in an attempt to add some flickering to that and I had the same issue.
My presumption is that there is something different in the workflow, but I can't be certain. If anyone can help, I would appreciate it.
Thanks.
Note: This is a repost of a woefully inadequate original post created with too much haste.
Follow-up: I'm providing this additional screenshot to illustrate that all needed elements are selected, yet the N Panel gives me no options for affecting those values.

Keep the node selected, open the Graph Editor, on the left select the good track (Shader Nodetree > Default Value (Value)), open the N panel, click on the Modifiers tab, click on Add Modifier, add the Noise modifier, tweak the parameters:

This does not work. The drop-down where I would select "Add modifier" is not present (please see screenshot #2). Can you confirm that you have done the above in 3.5? Because that's the environment I'm in and I'm still dumbfounded by this Thing that was dirt simple to do before today...

You need to open the Graph Editor

Oh DERP DERP. THANK YOU. You are like a beacon of safety. Still years on and you are fixing user error...


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How do I assign groups of meshes to randomly go into collections?

I have constructed a mesh 'bookcase' with many books on many levels. My ultimate aim is to export the bookcase and all books as a single mesh. However, I would like to ensure that my book spines have a healthy amount of color variation (as pictured).
Inside blender this is easy. I ensure that the material has an Object node (Random Object plug) that drives a color-ramp that chooses from appropriate options along the ramp.
But this is ultimately for OBJ export. So I just need standard PBR materials with no tricks.
I would like to take all the little book meshes and divide them into groups. Then I would make a single material for each collection of random books and join them into a single mesh.
I hope this makes sense. I would love to speed the creation of these assets and am sure there is some selection magic that can do it, but I have yet to figure it out.
Thanks in advance for your attention.
Follow-up: So far, my best strat is to hide everything and then do successive 'random selects' until I have manually broken out meshes that way. This is doable, but I'll still hold out hope for a more elegant solution.

One of the easiest ways would be to enable proportional editing in random falloff, $\color{#888}{█}\color{green}⬇\color{#888}{█}$ mouse wheel down to increase range and move on the axis where all books originally share position (at least it seems so in your screenshot), then you can box select some books, press M and move them to a new collection, H to temporarily hide them and repeat for next groups of books. In the end you can restore the positions of books by a tool like Object > Transform > Align objects...

Positions could also be saved and restored by Python scripts, but then the objects could just be added to random collections by a Python script...
import bpy
from bpy import context as C, data as D
from random import choice

new_cols = [D.collections.new(str(i)) for i in range(10)]
for col in new_cols:
    C.collection.children.link(col)

for ob in D.objects:
    for col in ob.users_collection:
        col.objects.unlink(ob)
    choice(new_cols).objects.link(ob)


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Geometry Nodes: "Attribute Randomize" - What are the Attribute Variables?
I am attempting to use geometry nodes to scatter stuff and I have a handle on the basics of the Point Distribute - Point Scale - Point Instance chain that allows for basic scattering.
However, I am attempting to Add an Attribute Randomize to ensure that my scattered objects aren't all pointing in the same direction. However, while every tutorial I have watched puts "scale" in that Attribute field, I would love to know what else can be placed there.
I know that this is in-process, but I'm sure there has to be a running log of variables. I've tried every permutation I can of 'Z-Rotation' but nothing yet.

Thanks for your attention.
Update: Though it was enough, but no... not yet. I was misreading the screen. When I zoomed in, it wasn't correctly rotated.

Change from Float to Vector, then you can just type in rotation as the attribute, from there you can control the XYZ rotations.

Hello and welcome, thanks for the post. This site is not a regular forum, answers should be substantial and thoroughly explain the solution and required workflow. One liners and short tips rarely make for a good answer, low quality posts may be removed at some point. Could you edit your post and provide some more details about the procedure and why it works? Perhaps add a few screenshots illustrating the workflow and final results. See How do I write a good answer? otherwise it may be converted into a comment.

Thanks Duarte. You got me pointed in the right direction. There was just a bit more data that needed to be conveyed to flesh it out. Here is the array:

The keys here, for everyone else that will be inevitably confused by this particular example (rotation variation):

As @simsam noted, ensure that the Attribute is set to: Rotation
Ensure that the Min and Max for X & Y (Values 1 & 2) are set to Zero
Set the Min and Max for Z (Value 3) as the min and max (and thus constitute the degree of variation from the default orientation)

Extrapolating out from that, it looks like standard attribute labels are fine, I just need to remember to also set the appropriate type (in many cases, when dealing with traditional mesh attributes, Vector will be the choice).

The answer is actually from user @simsam, not mine, I just edited it for formatting. Don't reply "Thanks" as an answer or comment, instead upvote the post that helped you. If you feel it completely solved your issue consider marking it as accepted.


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Geometry Nodes: Instance on Points - How to omit a vertex group
I have a simple geo-node array that instances a mesh on the points of my mesh. Object -> Instance on Points -> Translate Instances -> Group Output.
How might I tell this array to omit any vertices found in a given vertex group?
Thanks in advance.
This thread is supposed to address it. But I can't actually divine a solution to my problem within it.

In this array, I just know that I need to put Delete Geometry some place and then plug my vertex group to effectively mask them out.

connect 'Selection' in your 'Instances on Points' node to an empty socket in your 'Group Input' node
check under the modifiers panel you now have a numeric field with a 'spreadsheet' icon, be sure to CLICK that ICON and then type your vertex group name
that should do it, maybe add a Boolean Math if you need to reverse selection

GOT IT! Thanks so much. The key bit was to remember to CLICK on the Boolean symbol. If you just enter the string in (as I have repeatedly been doing), it basically thinks you are putting text in a number field. But if you click the button, that must change the field state or something.

yes that happened to me too, it's not so obvious and also not something you see in other places... will edit answer


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Vertex coordinates of selected vertices not updating, but indices update
I am writing some code that selects the end vertices of an open tube, and then saves the indices and coordinates in a list so I can use these points to bridge edge loops.
bpy.ops.object.mode_set(mode='EDIT')
bpy.context.tool_settings.mesh_select_mode = (
    True, False, False)  # vertex select mode
bpy.ops.mesh.select_all(action='DESELECT')
bpy.ops.mesh.select_non_manifold()
obj = bpy.context.edit_object
me = obj.data
bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(me)
for v in bm.verts:
    if v.select:
        both_ends_A.append([v.index, v.co])
n = int(len(both_ends_A)/2)
print("num of vertices on each end is " + str(n))
print("printing both ends.." + str(both_ends_A))

My problem is that sometimes the list ends up having the same coordinate for every single vertex (even though indices are different).
So it will print something like [[212, Vector((0,0,0))], [312, Vector((0,0,0))] etc
The coordinate is not always repeated and it is not always 0.
Update: here is an example output I get:
num of vertices on each end is 4
printing both ends..[[0, Vector((1.4617953300476074, -1.0000001192092896, 1.0000001192092896))], [1, Vector((1.4617953300476074, -1.0000001192092896, -1.0000001192092896))], [2, Vector((1.4617953300476074, 1.0000001192092896, -1.0000001192092896))], [3, Vector((1.4617953300476074, 1.0000001192092896, 1.0000001192092896))], [192, Vector((2.8763275146484375, -1.0000001192092896, 1.0000001192092896))], [193, Vector((2.8763275146484375, -1.0000001192092896, -1.0000001192092896))], [194, Vector((2.8763275146484375, 1.0000001192092896, -1.0000001192092896))], [195, Vector((2.8763275146484375, 1.0000001192092896, 1.0000001192092896))]]
cursor coord<Vector (1.0000, 0.0000, 0.0000)>
coordinate is <Vector (1.4618, -1.0000, 1.0000)>
[0, Vector((1.4617953300476074, -1.0000001192092896, 1.0000001192092896)), 1.4877013825667318]
coordinate is <Vector (1.4618, -1.0000, -1.0000)>
[1, Vector((1.4617953300476074, -1.0000001192092896, -1.0000001192092896)), 1.4877013825667318]
coordinate is <Vector (1.4618, 1.0000, -1.0000)>
[2, Vector((1.4617953300476074, 1.0000001192092896, -1.0000001192092896)), 1.4877013825667318]
coordinate is <Vector (1.4618, 1.0000, 1.0000)>
[3, Vector((1.4617953300476074, 1.0000001192092896, 1.0000001192092896)), 1.4877013825667318]
coordinate is <Vector (-114974916608.0000, 0.0000, 0.0000)>
[192, Vector((-114974916608.0, 8.96831017167883e-43, 5.605193857299268e-45)), 114974916609.0]
coordinate is <Vector (-114977275904.0000, 0.0000, 0.0000)>
[193, Vector((-114977275904.0, 8.96831017167883e-43, 5.605193857299268e-45)), 114977275905.0]
coordinate is <Vector (-114979635200.0000, 0.0000, 0.0000)>
[194, Vector((-114979635200.0, 8.96831017167883e-43, 5.605193857299268e-45)), 114979635201.0]
coordinate is <Vector (-114981994496.0000, 0.0000, 0.0000)>
[195, Vector((-114981994496.0, 8.96831017167883e-43, 5.605193857299268e-45)), 114981994497.0]
vertices loop for bridging:[0, 1, 2, 3]
loop [[0, Vector((0.0, 1.0, 1.0))], [1, Vector((0.0, -1.0, 1.0))], [2, Vector((0.0, -1.0, -1.0))], [3, Vector((0.0, 1.0, -1.0))]]

Somehow the coordinates of vertices 192 - 195 change and the X value is WAY too high, and they all have the same coordinates.
In this case the original both_ends list was ok but sometimes all the coordinates were 0,0,0 in there as well. It seems to be really inconsistent.
The object is centered at the origin so I don't think the problem has to do with transforming coords from local to global (especially because even in local CS the different points should have different coordinates).
The off thing is that sometimes the coordinates do update and are correct, it is just inconsistent, and the vertex IDs always remain correct

Hello, It's really hard to say without seeing more of your code / project. Might be you actually have double vertices on the same location, or you manipulate both_ends_A beforehand, or the context is incorrect causing desync ? You can try throwing a me.update() after the select manifold operator or going out and in edit mode which normally refreshes the mesh

Thank you very much! I checked and there are no double vertices, and I didn't manipulate the list beforehand, I will try the me.update(), thank you!

I added an example output to the question

@Gorgious could you explain a bit what the me.update() does? adding it after the select manifold wouldn't work because I haven't created the me yet. Should I be creating this before the non manifold operator? Thank you!

Oh Okay I see. This is actually a floating point rounding error, since you seem to have very high coordinates in your mesh. Check the origin point and unhide any meshes with ALT H in edit mode to see if there's something weird. Usually anything farther than say 1-10 km to the world origin will start to cause issues

Thank you! the really large points don't make any sense though, my mesh points are all between 0 and 2, so I am not sure where those large points come from


text:
Why have objects moved from their original positions when I reopen my Blender file and how do I fix it?
I was working on a skull model yesterday and had aligned all of the bones. Today, when I opened the Blender file, the bones were scattered - seemingly randomly rotated and translated.
I think the issue may have been caused because I received this file from a collaborator, who had keyframed some things to create a spinning animation. I wasn't aware of this and just worked on the scene and did not keyframe anything. I also tried deleting the keyframes and also unparenting bones and keeping transforms but nothing worked.
Does anyone know if there is any way to recover the overall scene?

If the objects were keyframed and then moved without setting keyframes once more, the information was not saved with the file and is lost.
You should manually realign the objects this time and in the future if you have animated objects in a similar situation where you don't want the animation, you should select them all, hit F3 and search for Remove Animation function:

Oh no, that is a shame that they cannot be recovered. Thank you for the advice on how to set up the scenes in the future

If you set up autosave, you can try to recover one of the autosaves from the previous session. Go to File>Recover>previous session or File>Recover>Autosave, then choose a file that was autosaved before disaster struck.

Auto-saves will not retain this information either, I am afraid. If whatever value is keyframed and then changed but not keyframed again, only the keyframed value will be saved at that frame...

@MartynasŽiemys indeed, all actions that are not keyframed never existed in the first place. But the user can at least go back to before erasing the keyframes.

Thanks all. Yes, without keyframing the autosave didn't work. However, because I had mirrored objects and centered their local CS on the global CS, I was able to remove the odd transforms Blender put on my non-keyed objects by using ALT + R and ALT+G. I think this only would work in very specific cases though, depending on the locations and pivot points of the objects.


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Why does the mirror tool generate inside faces, and how do I fix this?
I have used and applied a mirror modifier, but when I go into edit mode and select inside faces, the mirrored side is all inside faces. I have selected these and tried shift+N to recalculate normals but it isn't working, the faces are still designated as "inside faces", which as far as I understand it means the normals are pointing inward. Is there a way to fix this?
Thank you!

Hello, could you add a screenshot of your interface ?

I added it. Orange selection is inside faces.

I tried flipping the faces but nothing changed

I think you confused inside faces and inverted normals. Please look up these two terms. In your case, you should delete all the inside faces and then recalculate normals with SHIFT N

Thank you. The problem is that the "interior faces" are forming the shell of my model (they are not inside it) so that if I delete them I get rid of most of one half of the model. You are right, I confused the two terms and thought that Blender must be using normals to determine which faces are "inside" but I guess that is not the case. I am not sure if the "interior faces" is what is causing issues with my mesh in a different program, but maybe it is a different issue

Do you know if boolean intersections of several pieces might create these interior faces?


text:
Why is my texture not appearing?

I'm having a problem with the FBX I downloaded from Sketchfab. I can't seem to see the textures though they align perfectly. I'm new to blender.

hello, could you please show your Shader Editor? Maybe you need to plug some Image Texture nodes into the Principled BSDF

I have just added my Shader Editor. I believe everything is well connected.

you need to plug the top Image Texture into the Base Color input of the Principled BSDF

maybe pack the images (File > External Data > Pack All Into .blend) and share your file: https://pasteall.org/blend/

Well, I see at least 3 reasons.

File name in texture editor is different from in shader (nodes) editor.
You plug in texture in subsurface instead of base color
You get alpha channel (gray dot) from texture.


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Not Rendering Wood Texture on Material
I have been attempting to make a wooden plank. I have expanded it, colored it, and merged it with a Metaball structure. However, when I detach it from all other structures and then attempt to follow the way the WikiBooks (https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro/Procedural_Textures) adds the Wood texture, the texture does not render. I have attempted to do the same with a random cube on a new file, and still, it does not render. I have not assigned the texture any colors yet. What may be happening?

That wikibook is for an old version of blender (2.70) and textures have changed since then.  Could that be your problem?

Ah! I didn't realize. How can you add the texture on 2.9?

If you're using a newer version of Blender, the reason you don't see anything is that you're not actually editing the texture on the object.  This wiki is definitely out of date for newer versions.
In order to use a texture on the object, the "Base Color" of your material would need to point to a texture object of some sort, but if you click on the circle next to Base Color, you can see there is no "Wood" type of texture:

That's what you'd need to be able to follow those instructions.
Or, you'd need a way for Blender to allow you to connect that texture node to the color of the Material.  Unfortunately this doesn't exist in this way in current Blender.  In fact I would assume if you look at your Texture panel, you'll see it says "Brush" at the top, like this:

That's because it's actually a Brush for texture painting, not a texture that can be assigned to a shader.  The 'Texture' panel doesn't actually let you create a Texture as such.  You can create an image by setting your base color to Image Texture, and then choosing 'New' here:

...but it'll be blank. You can't create a 'Wood' texture. In fact, in current Blender there is no 'Wood' type of shader at all so you need to create your own.
I hope this wasn't too confusing; after all the interface definitely is in this case.
There's no simple way to duplicate that tutorial, unfortunately.


text:
Having difficulties with scuplting
If the title or username doesn't say it already, I am totally new to this sort of thing. I recently came across blender guru and decided, let's give it a bash.
I am having quite a lot of fun however, I have come across a rather two frustrating problems.

Within his video, he has a nice "copper" finish on his donut that allows him to see the depth of indentations quite easily. I tried to achieve the same thing but mine is darker and I really struggle to see or gauge the depth of my indentations.

YouTube video for reference: https://youtu.be/6OTX3ZdYvEA?t=212
Blender Guru's View:

My View:

As you can see mine is dull and makes it really difficult for me to judge depth... am I doing something wrong?

In Blender Guru's video, he creates an indentation on the perimeter of the donut using the sculpting brush and it works perfectly on his video.

YouTube video for reference: https://youtu.be/6OTX3ZdYvEA?t=350
Blender Guru's Video:

My Attempt:

My brush seems to be affecting more surface area than his brush. I have my brush set to the same settings found in his video:

Sculpt Tool: Draw Brush
Radius: 115px
Strength: 0.263

I have tried different settings, higher strengths but it really messes up the donut. One observation that I did make is that his tool cursor appears to be very different to mine... does that have anything to do with it?
If anyone could help an absolute noob out I would forever be in your debt... busy pulling my hair out here.

In Sculpt Mode, Blender uses a 'matcap', one of which is this reddish clay material that lets you judge the surface of your sculptures better. The matcap Blender Guru uses appears to be the default sculpting matcap of his version, so if you're using a newer version, chances are you're stuck with the current default until you can find the matcap somewhere online. If you do manage to procure the desired matcap, you'll need to install it, by going to Edit > Preferences > Lights > MatCaps > Install.

You can change the matcap in the Viewport Shading menu, so even if you can't find the desired matcap, you can always use another built in one, because Blender has quite a large choice!

I also noticed that the icing object seems to be a lot darker than your donut object, and this is because you have Fade Inactive Geometry enabled in the Overlays menu. To disable it, just click once on the checkbox or bring the slider to zero.

Finally, the most likely reason why your sculpting seems to affect a larger area, despite having the same settings as Blender Guru's, is that the unit of pixels is not absolute; depending on how close you are to the object, the area affected changes. You seem to be zoomed out further than the tutorial, which is why you seem to be sculpting a larger area.
If you want the brush size to remain absolute, then you can change the Radius Unit by going to Brush > Radius Unit > Scene. This will make the Radius Unit the current Scene Unit (which is m by default).

Thanks @DefaultDucky, I tried following your advice however the brush still affects a much larger area than what I want it to. I tried zooming in closer and applying the Radius scene with correct setting but it still affects a much larger surface.
Not sure what else to do, still trying to figure it out here but it is quite frustrating how the versions change these tools so drastically.

Does your donut seem to be roughly the same size as Blender Guru's? Another thing that might be causing your brush to be incorrectly sized is if you scaled the donut in Object Mode. So, in Object Mode, press Ctrl A > Apply Scale. Also, can't you just decrease the brush size? Lastly, I had recommended the Scene Unit bit in case you found the 'zoom in = smaller area affected' thing annoying, otherwise you are welcome to use the View Unit so that you can just zoom in or out and you won't have to keep on changing brush size.


text:
Radial gradient away from origin
I'm trying to give a specific thickness profile to a 3D surface with cylindrical shape. My goal is to have a structure with a constant thickness up to a certain point from the center, which then increases significantly, and becomes constant again. It's important that the change in thickness is gradual so I can't simply cut 2 different objects and put them together. I can apply a radial thickness gradient using weight paint and solidify, but only in a circle, not in a ring shape, and the gradient is too abrupt (from 0.5 to 2 mm over a short distance) and too far from the center for me to just slap 3 objects together, 2 with constant thickness plus one with the gradient. Does anyone know of a way this can be achieved using blender, or any other software for that matter? I should mention that I'm new to Blender, i started using it for this specific purpose. Thank you

Do you mean something like this? https://imgur.com/E7DZn39 Can you draw a profile (like cut in a middle and show side cut)

The trick with my model is that i'm working with a mathematically generated surface. I generate it via an equation in matlab, then I put it in an .stl format, and i send it to blender.
So what i have is a porous cylinder essentially.
What I want to do now is give the porous cylinders walls a thickness gradient in that middle area shown in the picture. I hope I'm being clear in my explanation

Sorry if no one here ... Please share your blend via https://blend-exchange.com/ given code copy&paste into your question


text:
where I can find materials for shoes?
could someone help me to find out from which websites I can download for free materials for shoes for Blender Cycles?
Many thanks in advance!
Cris

hello, maybe show what kind of texture you're trying to recreate so that someone propose a node setup for a procedural material

Related question: Resources for Blender

many thx for answering to this topic, you could check when you have the time the image I attached!


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Animation nodes custom property can not share value in a loop to another object gives Invalid Network
Preface: I have 4 objects in the scene. Two Controller Objects that each have a custom property "startTime" and two secondary objects that will receive the "startTime" from the Controller objects.
This is a SUUUUPER common pattern in programming and game design, and I would like to keep it like this cause only one object should send a trigger event like a collision to tell its need to know objects to start animations.
In game engines I typically also have a special property array(s) to handle linking objects instead of parenting and traversing as a note about "need to know" objects.
Issue: When I individually select a Controller object and submit its custom property "startTime" to the receiver object I get no errors. But when I perform the same in the loop system Animation Nodes provides I get Invalid Network
Below are screen shots, the loop works if the frame on "Object Action Output" is inputed from the origin object, but Invalid network if I feed it from the controller object. But if I do this outside of the loop it works fine
Question: Am I simply missing a core concept somewhere for data sharing?

here I explain the outline

i think i didn't fully understand what you want...but why can't you just store your starttime in the scene-properties?

The custom property is on each individual Controller object. Each Contoller has its own startTime or delay time or trigger as each controllers point in time to trigger will be different from each.
I would like to solve the "Invalid Network" error

I would check it if you provide your blend file. But I will not try to understand your screenshots…sorry.

I mean sure I can do that but that seems a waste of your time. Its not a complicated concept, ill rephrase it as : Family has Parent, parent has many children. Parent has value to give children. Not allowed(Invalid Network). There are many Families. But i'm calling them Controller and Secondary in my explainer previously since I dont want to tie them together. The screen shot for the more complicated project would be more complex to read. What is posted is Animation Nodes basic loop system nothing fancy extra

I consider this a design limitation and am just submitting it to git

Animation nodes does not like a certain way for loops and even though its visually looking like multiple loops are in tandem, they are not. So you have to nest loops, BUT thats a SUPER mess of more nodes. So I used one loop, and then just wrote a custom script with a code loop instead to parse the parent/controller and sift for names objects and process. MUCH easier to figure out than poking at the various nodes.
g = list(controller.children)

#outText = len(g)
for i in g :
    if i.name.lower().startswith(nameFilter) :
        outText = "GREAT!"
        outObject = i
        break


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Move text between two Objects (even if i will change objects positions)
I New here
I want to Move text between two objects, for example, I want to do animation in a certain second.
An object moves from the location of a particular object to the location of another object regardless of the current location of the object to which it should arrive.
For example I have two cubes in the file (below Moshe and David), and text (hereinafter "Zvika").
I want from 10 to 11 seconds The text "Zvika" will leave the cube Moshe, and will reach the cube David, even if I then arrange the dice in another order.

The Omar Answer worked!!!, now i want to move the circle (in example) to anothe cube location after sec, can someone can help me how to make the nodes PLESE

You can use Animation Nodes for this. A simple linear interpolation between the two position using the Animate Vector node. The Delay node is used to set the frame at which the animation will start.

Thank you i add the animation nodes and do the tree and it's work

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


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How to create faces that have proper material assignment
I'm currently working on project and am very new to Blender. Let me explain my situation here so you aren't confused. I have a map that I imported into blender from the Source Engine, specifically from HL2DM.
In the game it uses a Skybox that blocks the view of imperfections such as missing faces.

In the game I'm using my imported map in I don't have the ability to do such a thing since it uses the Unity engine.

I want to create faces for the areas that are missing them and apply the proper materials for them to look like part of the map. The issue I'm running into is visible in the second image on the roof of the buildings to the left.
Currently it has no material applied to it but when I do apply a material it causes other materials on the map to use the wrong ones.
I'm wondering how I fix this if I have to UV unwrap or UV map them to the proper areas or what. I would also LOVE to know how to edit multiple materials properties similar to unity.

Please use paragraphs walls of text are unfriendly to read. Looks like you have to unwrap your newly created faces.

Thanks and sorry am new to this site. @DuarteFarrajotaRamos

I know HL2 maps and Blender and I think you should have gotten the missing faces the same way you got the other faces. Where are you exporting the geometry, looks like compiled map? Is there occlusion culling that causes you to miss faces? Applying a material (what do you mean by that?) does not affect other faces than the ones you're editing.
And I'm pretty sure you can create a material that clears to skyboxlike in HL2 in Unity as well.

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