text:
Constant error message in console - reinstall and factory settings doesn't fix
I am seeing an error message in my Blender console constantly. Not sure if it is affecting performance of Blender or if recent errors in the software have been for other reasons. I have no idea what any of it means but hoping someone here could give me some advice. I have tried a repair installation and reloading factory settings but doesn't stop the error from occurring, even when just doing simple operations in the default scene. I'm a bit concerned it might be a more serious problem with my computer which has crashed recently and I was forced to manually replace some dlls...
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Program Files\Blender\blender-2.79-windows64\2.79\scripts\startup\RenderStreet\ui.py", line 130, in draw
  File "C:\Program Files\Blender\blender-2.79-rc1-windows64\2.79\scripts\startup\RenderStreet\settings.py", line 27, in __init__
  File "C:\Program Files\Blender\blender-2.79-rc1-windows64\2.79\scripts\startup\RenderStreet\settings.py", line 31, in ParseSettings
  File "C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.79\python\lib\configparser.py", line 696, in read
    self._read(fp, filename)
  File "C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.79\python\lib\configparser.py", line 1077, in _read
    raise MissingSectionHeaderError(fpname, lineno, line)
configparser.MissingSectionHeaderError: File contains no section headers.
file: 'C:\\Users\\JohnMcC/.renderst/RenderStreet.ini', line: 1
'\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00'

location: <unknown location>:-1

Looks to possibly be a corrupt config file for “RenderStreet”. Is that an add-on you are using?

Yep, should have seen that but blinded by all that code! Render Street was an add on I used in the past but not recently. It was no longer showing up in listings of my add ons in user preferences but I was able to just delete the Render Street folder from C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.79\scripts\startup. Thanks Rich!

The problem is due to Render Street trying to read a configuration file. To remove the add-on completely (despite not showing up in User Preferences) remove the Render Street folder from within the (c:\program files\)Blender Foundation\Blender\(version)\scripts\startup directory.


text:
How to convert into a single mesh
With the boolean modifier, I have made a union between two meshes with this result:

.. including this face, where the meshes intersected:

Any suggestion or help to make this into a single solid mesh, with thickness to its walls?

It is a single solid mesh! It's not at all clear what you are expecting to see.

Hi, @atek Do you mean something like this i.e. a manifold mesh with a flat skin on the inside? Please edit your question to make it a bit clearer what you want to wind up with. If this is it, I / others will pop in an answer.

What do you want to see? The edges? You can't see any other edges on the mesh in Object Mode either.

@RobinBetts yes how u did it may i know?

@atek See edit to Gordon's answer.

If you expect to see this in Object Mode,

you have to Tab into Edit Mode and select the inner face:

Then delete it with X > Delete > Faces

Et voilà:

To take it further, and create a single, manifold mesh:

Delete the little flange, which will be surplus to requirements, give the mesh a Solidify modifier, and apply it. But the inside isn't flat..

Alt-Select and delete the connecting loop to make the remaining unwanted inner faces easier to select with hover- L, delete those, too..

Select the boundary of the hole, and F Fill. The result, below, has X > Dissolved Faces to unify the flat inner skin at the back, and then  J reconnected the vertices top and bottom to restore the mirror-line, in case it's needed.

No, not in that way, @robin has given the answer in the comment, plz have a look above

@atek Well, as he also commented: please edit your question to make clearer what you want.

@GordonBrinkmann hope you don't mind the edit.. I didn't want to pull the 'Reopen' trick on you again :)

@RobinBetts Haha :D No, I don't mind... when I thought about doing the solidifcation I also did exactly the same thing after applying the modifier: selecting the edge loop of the bulge, deleting it, then L for the remaining rest to delete it ;)

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Export FBX with full collection hierarchy
I’m trying to export to FBX, but it's only exporting the mesh and not the full heirarchy.
Is this possible?
Thank you…

Just advice, try to simplify your question as much as possible to attract more audience. Also it is not clear to me if you speak about objects in collection or objects parented to an object stored in collection. Thank you

Probably related https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/189856/export-fbx-while-keeping-collections-hierarchy?rq=1

Hi
I need to know If there is a way to Export the groups hierarchy created in blender in the FBX Format file.
i’m trying to export to FBX but it's only exporting the mesh and not the full heirarchy. is this possible to export fbx with full collectios heirarchy?
thank you…

import bpy

sCollection = bpy.context.collection

def parentCol(_colParent, _objParent):
    for col in _colParent.children:
        newObj = bpy.data.objects.new("empty", None)
        bpy.context.scene.collection.objects.link(newObj)
        newObj.name = col.name
        newObj.parent = _objParent

        if len(col.objects) > 0:
            objs = col.objects
            for obj in objs:
                obj.parent = newObj
        else:
            parentCol(col, newObj)

root = bpy.data.objects.new("empty", None)
bpy.context.scene.collection.objects.link(root)
root.name = sCollection.name

parentCol(sCollection, root)

The script is originally from this question. Since I see you spotted the script as working for you I wanted to flag your question as duplication, but system doesn't allowing me to do that. For that I copy&pasted the script here as answer. So you can accept it here if this solved your needs.

Keep seeing this code... IMO there is an issue in that will destroy any existing object parenting. (eg if parent cube to cam in default file, run script will remove)  ... Suggest if not obj.parent: obj.parent = newObj  .... but there is still no hard n fast rule that collections == parenting.

@batFINGER  I don't have a scripting knowledge, if you'r able to help with that I will delete my answer, since I posted it here because I saw OP's reaction - it works. When I tried to run the script it created just an Empty without parenting.

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


text:
How to enter the interior spaces for render
I have imported a 3d model from Archicad to Blender. I want to render interior but I'm not able to enter the interior spaces.

Here is a screenshot of the 3d model.

I don't think we understood your question. Do you want to render interior and you don't know how to place Camera inside your building?

You can place a camera inside your mesh and use the 'Lock Camera to View' in the view tab (N). Then go to camera view (Numpad 0) and navigate with camera locked to view. You can deactivate lock once you get the right view for render.
You can also separate parts of the mesh and then you will be able to hide the parts you want in Object Mode. In Edit Mode, Select all > P > Separate by Loose Parts.
https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/modeling/meshes/editing/mesh/separate.html


text:
Hooking Empty to a Plane
I try to apply these effects shown in this screen. But I couldn't complete it. As far as I can see, Wintermute hooks the Empty to the Plane and do some scale changes on it.

Original article - Bar graph transition
Video tutorial
I tried lots of options to hook and try to change its scale like him but I failed. The closest result I get it with is the Stretch to option of Object Constraints. How can set it properly?

please provide blend file so i can help you

@Chris Sorry, I attach now. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1HKKq_joJ1nqkpmFqoGzP3Qh7AI7BhrjC?usp=sharing

https://blender.stackexchange.com/tour

@Wiredisc external links are not allowed as a main source of informations. Please next time use https://blend-exchange.com to attach blend file Thank you

I don't know where you failed, but according to your blend ...
You created a vertex group "hook", but you didn't Assign two top vertices to this group.

When you Assign two top vertices to Plane, position Empty on top Plane's edge, add Hook modifier, set Object > Empty and Vertex Group > hook

Than Duplicate Plane (so you don't have to set modifier for each) and change Strenght value for each 1 / 0.8 / 0.6 / 0.4 / 0.2
Now when you move Empty along Y axis bars are scaled accordingly ...

isn't this the opposite of your second sentence? ;)

I don't know where you failed, but according to your blend ...
You created a vertex group "hook", but you didn't Assign two top vertices to this group. But i like your nice answer -> upvoted!

Thank you guys so much !

@Chris Yes it sounds probably confusing ... I just wasn't sure if the blend file is at his final state of following tut or base blend with just a steps that was clear for him ... like there wasn't set any modifiers, that was mentioned as something he tried already.

This isn't a direct answer to your question, but it may be an option.. If a bar-graph wipe is what you're looking for, you could do it with a relatively simple shader, rather than geometry and hooks. It might be more flexible.
You would make a node tree which makes a mask by asking whether Y is less than some function of stepped X. Here, the range of X is the 0-1 of the Generated texture-space of a plane, stepped by a Map Range node.

.. which generates a mask something like the one below. In this case, f(X) is the cosine of pi*X, and the animation results from directly messing with the amplitude (Y scale) and Y offset of the function, in the Multiply Add maths node, and keyframing those values. But it could be any function you like, animated in any sense.

If you did want to control the graph using the position of an Empty, you could use a cluster like this, somewhere in f(X):

.. which will return the X of the Empty, in the plane's space, in Blender units. (If the plane is scaled in Object Mode, the units will scale with them).
If you want color, or some other per-bar attribute, you can pipe the noodle labelled  'Color Branch' in the first illustration through a Color Ramp, and multiply with the mask:

Oh ... magician on board !!! Awesome solution, thank you ... I just feel like my brain works in analog way :)

Thank you, I'm looking at now !

what you are trying to achieve is that bar graph look? In the tutorial time skip it skipped to the triangle one which was the last one not the bar graph.
Anyway with the actual blender itself. I saw the end result of the animation and made it myself in blender. Also the thing you missed im pretty sure is the vertex groups.
Make sure you make a vertex group of only the single line otherwise the mesh wont deform like it did in the video. Just make sure you did all the steps correctly. Heres a video of me doing it:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/v7a17ku510z9dm9/asdasdasdasd.mp4/file
i compressed it alot using movie maker. Does anyone know a better method of showing videos like this other then this way?

Thank you so much !

I think you can try google drive for uploading videos


text:
How do I prevent stretching in the image texture here?
I am currently following Blender Guru's Anvil modeling tutorials, however, when marked the part that is at the base of the horn, the image texture became stretched. How do I fix this?

In the Subdivision Surface modifier, under Advanced, switch the UV Smooth to Keep Corners:

Since the textures are not packed in your blend file, i just checked the UV's. I noticed some stretching in the UV's in that area. Ideally, it should be blue indicating that it is not stretched.


text:
How to use vertex waves in dynamic paint as mask
I am trying to achieve the following effect. Stones are falling towards some trees. But before the stones hit the trees, a shield appears and blocks the stones. The stones generate some shockwaves on the shield. At the moment I am using dynamic paint with a sphere (glass material) as the shield. The stones are the brush. The issue: I only want the glass material to be visible where the waves are. The rest of the sphere should not be visible. I was thinking about using the waves as a mask using a vertex color node. The problem is, there is no "wetmap" Output as it is the case when using "surface type: paint". Is there a way to use the waves as a mask? thank you!

Since your model is a Sphere you can use simple Spherical Gradient texture ...
I used Pink for parts stretched up and Green for down to better visualise it ... you should use white instead to result factor properly.

Add this node-tree as Factor for Mix Shader...

Note: This works only for Sphere object or you can use Linear gradient (for Plane object) for any other base shape you would have to use technique based on stretching like Tension Map add-on
Behind the Scene
For an illustration, if you take a Sphere and cut out a quarter to see into the Sphere's centre, you can play with and see what is happening under the hood.

Blender's textures are 3D it means when you are using Spherical Gradient texture it is not a circle, but as name state it is sphere like your shield object, just described by black&white colours (white at zero position (centre) and black at 1 m distance in all directions by default).

What you want to do is isolate (or highlight) waves. On surface a waves appears as vertices moved up/down from original position, it means you are looking for something that change color of geometry that is somewhere else than at zero position. There are several ways to do that. I tried the simplest one.
To colorise sphere's surface by one colour and any geometry moved above or bellow by another colour add Colour Ramp node. I set Black color at a middle (0.5), Green at 0 and Pink colour at 1.

Now you need to move somehow black part of gradient to be at sphere surface distance from centre. There is again many ways, I used here Mapping node and scaled textures coordinates.
Since this default Sphere is 1 m radius (2 m dimension) it is the same as gradient - middle black appears at middle radius distance. Texture Coordinates are set Object so just Scale mapping at 0.5 * it scales whole gradient and moves middle (black) at exact place - sphere's surface.

I added a plane on side to see also a part of colours out of sphere radius. Now just adjust gradient sliders as you need.

Note: Scale (Mapping node) - I know, confusing, but it is how it works. Half scale means -only half of original distance occupy the original distance - it means its bigger, if you set scale 2 it doesn't mean it is twice bigger, but the original spacey occupy by of two original distances - it means it is smaller.

thank you so much! I don't know exactly WHY it works, but it does :D May I ask how you came up with this solution?

really well explained! Thank you very much for bringing some light into that topic for me.


text:
How to cylindrically deform an image by shader?
I want to create a Shader inside of the Blender Shader editor that distorts the image cylinderically which would look something like this:

I tried to do this in blender but I failed...what did I do wrong?

These are the nodes I used:

I tried to use this .hlsl code as a reference.

I think it would be more practical just to render the image literally UV mapped onto a cylinder, and then reuse that render here.

I'm wondering why you're using a shader at all? Cycles will do different panoramic renders in the camera.

Hello and welcome. Please use a title that reflects the content of the question. It should be succinct, unique and identifying, and summarize what the issue is so that users can at a glance broadly understand what your post is about before opening it. Use the [edit] link below your post and avoid any emojis salutations or extraneous text not essential to the question. Remember, your title is the first thing potential visitors will see, and will weight heavily on their decision to open your question, which will directly affect the number of answers you might get.

Your HLSL yields the transformation: y -> y*(1+(intensity*abs(x))), where x and y are measured from the center of the image. This can make quite a sharp transition across x = 0. You can relieve that with some kind of mapping of x.
Here, the transform is elaborated to y -> y*(stretch+(intensity*(abs(x)^shape))). shape can smooth out the transition, adding an adjustable power of x to y.

If you want the HLSL function as posted, set shape and stretch to 1.

(Image not packed in the .blend).
You may want to investigate the compositor's Lens Distortion node, depending on where you need this effect in your workflow.

+1, reminds me on a question about Blenders polynomial lens distortion model I had light years ago... still a mystery to me. If you're interessted and have the time, I'd appreciate an answer: https://computergraphics.stackexchange.com/questions/8260/how-to-match-blenders-polynomial-lens-distortion-model-with-glsl. Can re-ask the question here and add a bounty, just let me know.

@brockmann I'll have a look! Are you looking for an HLSL answer? Because I'm no great shakes at that..

Awesome! Can implement that to GLSL at some later point... main issue was the math, wasn't accurate enough for whatever reason.

@brockmann .. not immediately sure how to produce your test Blender image to calibrate against, and be sure we're looking at the right thing..?

It's a bit cumbersome to set up: https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/181071/31447 Just added a blend file for convenience. Does this help? If you need anything else, please just let me know.

@brockmann  Cheers! I'll have a go when I can. It may not be today.. but your Q has been around for a while :)

Yeah, it is supposed to be fun... no hassle. If you have the time I'd appraciate an answer.


text:
How can I make this grunge texture (Old Cymbal)
I saw a drum cymbal model on Blenderswap,( https://www.blendswap.com/blend/23008 )and wanted to improve the appearance of the cymbal. I have tried 2 methods, one UV mapping an image of a cymbal texture, and the other method making a circle with ridges (But results to lot of geometry).
My texture of the modelled circle, has a bronze texture using BlenderKit. Is there a way to combine some grunge into the texture to make it appear that the cymbal has aged?
Old Cymbal reference image:

Also the image from Blenderswap, has some sculpting applied to it.
I also tried sculpting making holes, but it was a tedious task, and not all sculpting was correctly in place, and the subdivision I added causes my PC to lag very much.

You would like to overlay the image texture onto the metal material, resulting in a more realistic appearance?

Yes, blending 2 textures on my cymbal mesh. Because the texture I used is too generic and clean. And also if my modelling is correct making, and if there's a better way to model a cymbal.

I quickly modelled a cymbal (upper half of sphere scaled along the Z axis, with an additional translation for the dome), and applied a bronze material from BlenderKit:

I then replaced the Roughness map the material shipped with, with the image you provided:

Is this the kind of thing you're after?
Not sure if you know this already, but for completeness' sake: the Roughness texture is responsible for the amount of reflectivity of your material. Scratches and other surface imperfections (like corrosion) will roughen up a surface, and diffuse the light it reflects.
The image you posted is of course not really suitable for this function, as it contains a watermark, has specular reflections (seen in the image above as the brightest and darkest spots), lumps all types of roughness into the same image (for more realism you might want to treat different kinds of imperfection differently), is a picture of a 3-dimensional object, resulting in a warped projection, &c.
For better roughness maps you can search online for "scratch maps" or "surface imperfections maps". To start with, here is a free pack, and you can find a few free ones here and here.

Additionally, since you mention your computer struggling with this model, you could bake the (what I assume are sculpted) curves into a normal map, which can in turn be applied to a simpler mesh with fewer polygons.
This process involves quite a few steps, and goes beyond your main question here, so please see this excellent Blender Guru tutorial to learn how to do that.

Here is a proposition that uses the image texture you provide, use it in the Base Color and in the Roughness input of the Principled BSDF, set the Metallic value to 1:


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How to harden edges using subsurface modifier on corners (Mandalorian helmet)
I'm trying to model a helmet using subsurface modifier, there is a section where the corners are projecting causing a bevel. I have mean crease the entire border section which didn't help. And also tried some perimeter around the mesh to see if that would make the corners more square but its ruining the topology. If I start adding more loops ( vertical & Horizontally) again its deforming the shape of the helmet. How can I get the corners more like the reference image?
I've also included the Blend file.

This topology gives a good result, it just needs a bit of adjustments at the end (like flatten on custom axis) to avoid pinching. I didn't try to fix the rest of the topology (but here is an answer that might help).

Can you please post a closer screen shot from the topology, and share a few angles how the loops are going around the mesh, thank you.

sure, I've edited

Appreciate it!!!

are you following some kind of courses? It looks like there has been a lot of mandalorian helmets these last months  ;)

Good thought, I found a tutorial, so it'll give me a better perspective how its actually modelled. I was trying to freestyle and see how far I could get after 1 year of Blender 3D practice. But since I found this video here, I'm keen to see how its done: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw2fXEpCbHo&list=UU5Xzr_xXz9IoeJU2brDa6LA&index=2

You might want to look into the edge split modifier. Essentially, the modifier splits edges so they are no longer connected, which allows you to keep some of the hard edges. You can merge the vertices later in edit mode.


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Emission is not visible when imported into Photoshop (Emission on Transparency i.e. Alpha 0)
I'm importing a PNG file which has been rendered with Emission shader, but when I import the PNG file into Photoshop  the emission is only very faintly visible, but in Blender render viewport its more apparent.

Which export format are you using?

It looks like you lost your alpha channel somehow.

PNG format RGBA

I opened your image in GIMP and sampled the pixel colors around the blue square in the bottom image. They are hex 393939 the same as everywhere else in your image. Either Blender didn't save an alpha channel or Photoshop didn't load it. Can you share your output PNG?

The problem lies in PNG images themselves, that save alpha channels in straight mode (not premultiplied).
Photoshop (and others softwares) multiplies the emission value with the alpha value (wich can be very close to 0) resulting in attenuating the glow effect.
To solve, use EXR instead of PNG, everywhere you need both emission and transparency.
See this answer (and others from this user) for further details: Why should I never ever use "Convert Premul" on Cycles renders?

So this is a feature only for cycles? I'm using EEVEE for convenient reasons. I did try EXR file, and when I import into PS I get 2 options, One is the image with the emission but it has a black background even I have transparency chosen. And the other option I choose, brings in just a white shape. So I guess even wont get the job done?

Cycles or Eevee doesn't matter, but it's a quite complicated issue. The operation works fine if your exported EXR is composited over your background image with a correct "Alpha over" premultiplied fusion option (which is not what PS does, while others compositing softwares can perform).


text:
Subsurface Modelling method And Advice (PS4 joystick)
I tried to venture into subsurface modelling to start practising and gain more knowledge. My aim
was to try using the tools and methods which I have learnt the past 6 months learning Blender.
So my final result doesn't look the best. So I wanted some advice what would be the proper or correct
method to have had a better result of this PlayStation control.
The initial top sample had less loop cuts which gave a better shape and clean mesh, but the more I was adding loops to get the bevelled circle bumps the more unclean it would look resulting in bad topology.
So what would be a better method to get a better result?
Thank you.

I'm not a hardsurface nerd, and it's hard to judge if you display the subsurf effect, it doesn't seem too bad, but are you sure you need so many edge loops on the side + so many vertices for your tiny holes? Also, for different pieces like buttons you could create different meshes

I tried to use more edge loops to achieve the protruding mesh (circle shape) which has the controls functions in it. I found it a challenge to model it which seems to blend in with the side of the control.
https://ibb.co/WWfB0Mw

ok, so the real object is much rounder than your mesh

Yes its round, but the technical part I guess is how it wraps around from the front to the side. I found it hard to get those round parts which have the controls without adding loops. I was did use the add on tool, adding circle to get a perfect circle, but once I started adding more loop cuts, it started to deform.

Maybe you should begin with the top face as a blueprint (try to follow the shape as much as possible so that you'll easily add edge loops if needed), then extrude up to give its volume, move the edge loops, etc, like that:

But you can also begin directly in 3D, roughly model the whole shape, then use the knife to bring details and additional edge loops:

Did you first trace the perimeter, then added the inner circles joining the vertices?

I first create all the circles for the buttons + button zone. In my opinion for this kind of object it's easier to work this way than beginning with a cube, edge loop + extrude it, etc... but some must feel comfortable with this latter approach

If I began with a cube, once I have the whole shape about good, I would use the knife to draw the button zone

Thanks for your insight, Ill be practising using these initial instructions.

there was a quite similar question here: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/177845/rounded-shapes-with-hard-surface-modeling/177890#177890


text:
how to replicate spline and randomize bevel
I would like to randomize bevel size of the replicated spline.
It look like Curve Object Output - Bevel Depth -  doesn't work with list of numbers.
Is there any other options?
Thanks

I don’t know much about geometry nodes, but I noticed the “get list element“ node has nothing input as an index, and will thus always pick the first element of the list. Is this intentional?

it is animation nodes ;) not geometry nodes.

you can do it like this:

result (i just took an arbitrary curve):

Thanks @Chris, it helped me, I have solved my problem in other question with the Lightnings. [lightnings] (https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/212692/animation-nodes-replicate-splines-random-bevel-size/212977#212977)


text:
How can I place multiple objects on the mesh?
I am trying to make similar shoes and I don't know how to make those extruding objects on the shoe strap/ on its sides (I've thought of particles, but my output is faaaaar from what I want, I don't know how to set the orientation axis so the placement is not off like in my blend file..)

my blend file is here:

For instance: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/147610/how-to-change-x-location-axis-for-particular-system/147618#147618 But as the shoe has few elements, I think placing them manually can be easier (or object scatter addon).

thank you! is is very well explained. also, thank you for the advice of using object scatter, i will look into that, too!

You can also use Face snapping for this.

Enable Face snapping > Median (to snap with origin point)
Check ✓ Allow Rotation to Target (to match face orientation)
Position the rivets

i've retried it but i have a little problem(?). a lot of the cone's surface goes underneath the monkey's head. do i have to set something apart from snapping with median and allowing rotation to target ?

Hello :). All settings you need are described in the answer. But if it doesn't work, feel free to ask a new question with screenshots and perhaps a shared .blend :).

hi, here is a video i did while trying snapping objects to the plane: https://streamable.com/xms204
and a screenshot with the plane in edit mode (to see the faces)
https://imgur.com/a/cjcZaFE

Hey :). This is because the origin in my example is at the base, the origin in your example is at the top :). Move the origin, and it will work.

aaa, cone's origin ? object-> set origin -> origin to geometry. like so ?

Well, you don't want to set the origin to geometry. You need to position it at the base of the cone :). Post a full new question and I'll add some gifs and explanations.

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/207007/how-can-you-move-the-origin-at-the-base-of-object thank you very much! i hope i don't spam


text:
Curve extruded with geometry nodes looks weird (normals wrong?)
I added a Bezier curve to my project and then tried to extrude it into a solid object using geometry nodes like this:

However, the result looks like this. The shape is what I expected, but the shading is all wrong. (It looks similarly weird in a rendered view.)

I guess this is because the normals are not correct, or some similar issue. What is causing this, and how can I fix it within the geometry nodes setup?
I am also happy to learn about alternative ways to achieve a similar result (using geometry nodes).

You need probably Set Shade Smooth node and uncheck?

For smoothing just a curvy part and keep sharp edges you can follow this answer, that is using native Auto Smooth feature, but there are some rules to get it work.
Or you can try a Split Edges node to get the same result (that can work in some scenarios) ...

Ah, great, thanks. I'd tried toggling shade smooth in the GUI but hadn't thought of doing it in geometry nodes.


text:
How do you get to the node editor for a material?
I decided to try my hand at making some procedural materials, as a more or less complete newb.
So: I create an object. I add a material. Now I would like to go into the node editor to edit that material. This seems like it should be simple - it's so simple the documentation doesn't even mention how to do it - but ... how do I do it?
Here's what the documentation says:

Accessing the Node Editor
First lets enter the Node editor and make sure that the Node editor has the material node button (sphere icon) pressed, not the composite or texture node buttons.

That's right! The documentation on how to access the node editor simply tells me that I should access the node editor. I must be a complete idiot for not knowing how. (The link doesn't help, it just tells me how to use the node editor once I have it open.)
Here's what the relevant part of my screen looks like:

The button marked "use nodes" looks promising, but if I press it I just get this:

No nodes, just a different set of widgets.
I imagine there's probably some keyboard shortcut for this, and/or some icon in some random other part of the screen that looks like it couldn't possibly have anything to do with the node editor. Could someone tell me what it is?

Ah yes, a downvote. Because after all, I am a complete idiot for not knowing that a button shaped like a shiny sphere in a completely different part of the screen would have anything to do with a node editor.

This question lacks research effort. There are so many tutorials and guides out there.

@HarryMcKenzie yes, and if you can point me to a single one that actually says this, I will be happy. It's not like I didn't look. I read through the official documentation (which is in the question) and laboriously skimmed through a half dozen or so YouTube videos on double speed before coming here. They always just press a key, so you can't see how they're doing it.

I literally typed your question in google and already got a video that gave the basics of the shader node editor https://snipboard.io/9GUEmO.jpg :)

@HarryMcKenzie I didn't try the exact wording question but I think you already know that I did try googling several permutations of it, and did not get that text in the results.

If you're using Blender 3.0 or later, there's a line of buttons at the top of the screen. Clicking the 'Shading ' one takes you to the shading layout with the shading area at the bottom.

Looking back at the links in your question, you're also looking at the docs for Blender version 2.79 as you can see in the bottom left corner of the docs so it's not surprising that you're confused! Right-click on a widget in Blender and choosing 'Online Manual' should take you to the correct version. This is the Materials section for version 3.6.

@JohnEason thank you, that is very helpful information! I just clicked the first google link and didn't think to check what version I was looking at.

Considering the length of the question and screenshots I don't think it doesn't show research effort, apparently you had some bad luck in your research… Watching youtube videos about Blender is crucial, as without it you will easily miss many techniques that aren't intuitive (like being able to copy a value by hovering your mouse over it, and pressing CTRL+C, without any need to click). For example 'Blenderguru' explains a lot of such stuff in his tutorials.

in every window in Blender, there is a button on the left upper side (it might be on bottom, if your setting is not default) and you can click on that. There you can see and change to any editor/setting you want. What you should choose is shader editor:

To add to Chris' answer, I think since Blender 2.80, there are Workspaces in Blender. The Shading workspace is the prepared setup for working with shaders. You open it simply by clicking its tab in the interface on the very top of the window:

The documentation of Blender has its flaws, sometimes it contains factual errors, is misleading, omits important info, or isn't clear. You can edit it, but it requires using git, committing your changes there and doing the PR - Pull Request, which is harder than e.g. editing Wikipedia and might be one reason why the docs aren't exactly perfect.


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How do you overwrite or delete auto keying?
When I use autokey frames, I can only record an objects movement once and then I'm stuck with it. It doesn't matter what variant of menu choices I select from the auto keyframe dropdown box, nothing will overwrite the keyframes with a new set.
I have to go to collection and individually delete "animation' from each object. Which is especially frustrating when I've animated a series of objects at the same time.

You can delete them from Timeline in a single click (or Dope Sheet, Graph Editor, ...).

How? The timeline shows a blue line and nothing else for multiple objects. No keyframes.

You probably scrolled timeline down ... scroll up or go to View > Frame All


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How to bake texture to vertex colors
I've been trying to bake a texture to vertex colors, with no results. The same procedure has been attempted with 3.2.2, 3.1.2 and 2.93.110 LTS.
I suspect that the reason is Cycles rendering not working properly.
Here'r the details shown under 3.2.2

Create a new project
Import the mesh as .obj
Assign an Image texture to the Base Color in the Material properties
Change viewport shading to Material preview and certify that the texture is displayed
In the Object Data properties add a Color Attribute as Vertex+Color
In the Render properties change render engine to Cycles
In the Render properties expand the Bake section and set Target as Color Attributes
Click Bake
Change viewport shading to solid mode and certify that the vertex colors have not been modified

Why I suspect a problem with Cycles? because if I open the Shading tab and check the Material Output of the selected material it defaults to "All".

If I switch to Cycles the output becomes all black.

Notes:

Under previous versions instead of black I have a purple color. The texture format is not responsible. I tried with .png, .jpg and .bmp
All other setting are the default installation, I have an Nvidia 1070 with latest drivers 516.94

Anyone can suggest a different workflow and/or confirm it's related to Cycles output?
Thanks

Could you try to switch to CPU rendering, there is a chance it is some GPU bug (if a bug report it on Bug Tracker, because here it will be closed). And thank you, I missed this feature (Active Color Attribute) I didn't know it is possible already from 2.93 :)

Works for me in 3.3.0 like that ...
Create a new Color Attribute ... the same can be set under Attribute panel as well.

Set Output > Target > Active Color Attribute (I used bake type Emit since I plugged image directly to output).

Select Attribute node and Bake.

Switch All to Cycles works the same for me.
Rendered with CPU (my GPU - ATI Radeon HD 5750 is not supported anymore).

Ok I found the reason why I didn't see the vertex colors, basically when switching the viewport shading to solid the color defaults to material, and it must be explicity set to "Attribute". Doing so displays the vertex colours.
Sadly I can't find a way to export the baked colors to Unreal, but that's another story.

+1 Great you found solution :) I could mentioned that, I just didn't think it comes from this direction :)

The way to export baked colours to Unreal Engine is simple, just export in FBX format, then on UE import window you need to select Replace at Vertex Color Import option. Only one colour attribute slot works in Unreal currently I see, so you need to clear all other colour attributes before exporting and it works. I made a kind of tutorial video about this workflow yesterday, I needed baked vertex colours for Unreal.
Here is the link to video:
Blender 3.4 Bake UV to Vertex Color - Bake Mixed RGB Diffuse to Vertex Color - UE test


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Sharp edge in the middle of a flat surface with bevel modifier
I'm trying to use a bevel modifier on my mesh, and for some reason a few spots are showing these weird sharp lines in the middle of flat surfaces, where no angle exists. I've attached a bunch of screencaps showing the issues, and demonstrating it doesn't seem to be an issue with the normals. If my bevel settings look a little weird, I have a problem where a lot of my meshes just refuse to show a bevel on anything but the "absolute" setting. Like otherwise all the edges stay sharp. If anyone can help me figure out why this one edge loop is sticking out in this one spot, I'd really appreciate it!

[

have you tried to remove doubled vertices or overlapping faces?

If you select those two co-planar faces and scale to zero in normal direction, does it help?


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Output vs Format vs Codec: what is the right combination?
Context
My problem started with a partial lack of sound in my rendered file. The WAV audio strips were missing from the output, while the AAC audio from a .mp4 video file was present. Everything is audible when editing.
There are some related questions which taught me that it's a problem of codec selection. This one and its answer motivated my further investigation and my question: I can't render audio with my video
I had the following for the output settings because I thought MP3 is a good selection which would work on all computers (I am using Blender 2.77 on a Ubuntu 14.04 derivative (Mint) and I have libmp3lame installed)

I solved my problem by changing the Audio Codec to AAC.

I am looking for:

Explanation of why with MP3 output the WAV sound is missing but the AAC sound is audible
Understanding the differences between selections in Output section: MPEG vs H.264 since these seem to be the most common. Other formats are welcome :) (Frame server, XVid, AVI Raw|JPEG).
Explanation of Encoding > Format and Encoding > Codec options, in relation to point 2. For example, why are you able to choose MPEG output and non-MPEG format and non-MPEG-non-<format> codec? This is VERY confusing.

I hope I won't be closed as being too broad, I tried to be as specific as possible.
I realise this may not be a blender specific question. Please advise where to look for additional information.

Related questions:
Some of these are experiencing problems similar to mine (lack of sound) and usually due to a misconfiguration of Output and Encoding sections. However, even those that are solved give a very specific answer and are of little help when you're problem is slightly different
Sound works in Blender, but no sound in the final render
This one gives one choice that is working, but no explanation: Rendering Sound In Video Sequencer  (duplicate https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/47816/how-do-i-render-intros-in-blender-with-sound )
This one reports a problem when converting FLAC to MP3. It could be related to my initial problem, since both FLAC and WAV are lossless https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/38850/script-for-audio-encoding
Can I incorporate audio into my output avi render?
Why isn't audio rendering?
No audio output in rendered video file
VSE: How to render a video with audio?
Maybe: No sound in VSE

You might probably split your question into three separate linked questions.

thanks, I'll do that. Here is the one related to the first part: http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/52335/no-sound-from-wav-strip-when-encoding-in-mp3-but-ok-from-aac-strip

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


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No sound from WAV strip when encoding in MP3 (but ok from AAC strip)
Breaking down a bigger question: Output vs Format vs Codec: what is the right combination?
In the same project, I have a WAV sound-only strip originating from a recording and an AAC sound strip coming from an MP4 video.
I am overlaying the WAV on top of a picture and then concatenating the video+aac strips.
I am sure both are 'visible' (not muted) and they are audible when previewing in the editor:

When I try to render them into a file containing MP3 audio, only the last part (the AAC sound) is audible. When the sound encoder is AAC, both work correctly and can be heard in the result.
I tried various combinations of containers and codecs, all fail to render the first part to MP3.
I am using Blender 2.77 on Linux Mint 17.2 (Ubuntu Trusty 14.04 derivative) and I have libmp3lame installed. There is no problem with the WAV file, it can successfully be converted to MP3 using ffmpeg or online tools.

Have you tried previous versions of Blender and is this a consistent problem occuring with different source files (cc0-licensed/public domain everyone can use for testing) as well?

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


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Lines come up in rendering after adding hair
I made a few color changes to this model and added hair. Now, there are some strange lines showing up in my render.
The material of the head is a mix of translucent BSDF, glossy BSDF and two subsurface scattering nodes. The hair is using the same material as the head. It is set for 1500 samples and took around two hours to reach 60%. At that point, the lines became a major concern for me and I starting searching for possible reasons though I have not found any yet. So, what are these lines and how can I get rid of them?
I am using CPU rendering but i don't think that could be the cause of it as the problem is with the hair Also I am using blender 2.77
.blend files:

node setup

before

Here is a picture after adding adding the hair

Perhaps you would consider uploading your .blend? It may be helpful to also see your particle and render settings.

In addition to your Blend file, a screenshot of your node setup, hair system settings, and render settings would also be helpful (for those of us checking from work... where we don't use Blender ;-) )

I wonder if this could be a GPU problem. Are you using GPU render? What kind of CPU or GPU are you rendering with? (Please add it to the question).

@Matt I have added the blend file though it won't allow me to add any more pics as I have less reputation but I will put all that in a shared folder in my google drive and put a link here

@AbhishekSaxena, you can combine multiple images with GIMP or similar to add more than one when necessary. This would be preferable so that people don't have to download them or follow links.

@AbhishekSaxena You can just add links to extra images to your question and someone with enough reputation will convert them to images.

@Timaroberts i thought about that but that would make the image more than 2 MB (as it would be a  lot of images ) or reduce the quality of each image still i'll try to combine the images

Try changing the dropdown menu in Hair BSDF from Reflection to Transmition. This helped when I downloaded the .blend file.
You could also try lowering the samples, as you said the problem only appeared when the count got up high. In the image rendering from the .blend file, noticable changes stop around 300-400 samples. More than 250, in general, just makes you feel better without actually changing anything.
Hope this helps and happy Blending!

your answer reduced the lines but they are still there also the sampling was that high because i was trying to get rid of the noise as  subsurface scattering  nodes creates a lot of noise even without the hair


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Is there a way to make slight imperfections on a model? (golden ring)

Im using blender to create jewellery, as you know jewellery is finished with a high polish so that the surfaces are almost mirror like, this is easy in blender but in the jewellery trade nothing is quite perfect, every surface has very slight imperfections and things this is how you separate a render from an actual ring, is there a way to recreate this? I have not yet found any normal maps with the right imperfections or any other method that recreates such a subtle yet important change to the mesh? All ideas welcomed.

You could sculpt a high-poly version and bake the normals, but I guess the easiest way to do it is to fake with a procedural texture. Here is a chain of nodes that works in my opinion: Texture Coordinate (Object output) > Mapping > Vector input of a Noise Texture > Height input of a Bump > Normal input of a Glossy > Material Output. Note that you can play with the Noise Texture node parameters to make the defaults bigger or smaller:

Also, if you want some more or less glossy surface parts, you can plug a Noise Texture node into the factor of a Mix Shader so that it separates 2 different Glossy shaders.

Yet so simple. I have never thought of this before.


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Where is the x-ray option in 2.8? (in Weight Paint mode)
I need to use the x-ray option for weight painting but I can only find the wireframe option using Z. Where can I find the x-ray?

Update:
X-Ray doesn't work in Weight Paint mode. If you want to paint through, in the N panel > Tool > Advanced, deactivate the Front Faces Only option and under Fallof make sure that Front-Face Falloff is deactivated.
Also activate Falloff Shape > Projected (which will make the brush act like a cylinder and not a sphere). In 2.8 it was called 2D Falloff in the Options.

Whoops, somehow missed this comment. That's not quite what I'm looking for. In 2.79 there are two options to view your mesh. One is wireframe where you only see the vertices/edges/faces of your mesh from the angle you are looking. The other option is transparent, where you can view the vertices/edges/faces of the mesh you are facing in addition to those behind it. I'm looking for the transparency option in this case so that I can see what vertices I already have painted in weight paint mode from the front face instead of spinning it around to hit every vertice.

As moonboots said, it is alt-Z

I'm not sure why I was downvoted, actually X Ray doesn't seem to work in Weight Paint mode, and if the goal was to paint through, the option was called 2D Falloff as I said, now it is called Projected (with the Front Faces options disabled). I've edited my answer to make it more clear...


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Can I make a smear frame from the blender?
https://hocuspocus-studio.fr/tools/product/overmorpher-world-space/
The link above is a plug-in of 3dsmax.
I'm an animator. That's why I need a smear frame
I'm about to change my main tool with a blender.
But if it's not possible smear frame, I can't get out of max.
Please help me.

could you please tell a bit about what is a smear frame? If it's mesh deformation, perhaps shapekeys are what you want? or lattice or mesh deform?

http://www.maxidiazblog.com/en/tecnicas-de-animacion-cartoon/ 1
like this! It’s kind of a motionblur.

oh ok it's like a deformation of the mesh between its shape at frame 1 and its shape at frame 3, shapekeys would be a bit tedious

But there's no other way than Shapekey, is there?
Thank you for your answer.

perhaps someone knows, I've edited your question and added a picture from your link

oh! Thank you! :)


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Circle appeared on cursor, not about selection mode, blender 3.1.0
Has anyone encountered this yet? It's really bothering me now, I have to hit esc or RMB every single time before selecting anything. The circle keeps coming back after every single selection. I can't click on any other button with this circle around my cursor, and the radius of the circle changes when I scroll MMB.

And I don't think it's a selection mode problem. Since I can't even switch selection mode by hitting "W" as long as this circle is there.
If I'm in circle selection, then there will be two circles with my cursor.

Here's the screen recording of this problem after I re-download and relaunch an older version, whereas the problem is still there. The cursor change back to normal only after I hit esc, but soon it changes back to this weird situation.

The keyboard shortcut for Circle Select is C. Are you, or a random piece of debris or keyboard damage accidentally holding down or pressing the C key?

Try pressing 'W' a couple of times with the L/H selection icon hilighted. That should cycle through the selection modes in Edit mode and the icon should change on each keypress.

@Onyx Well, I think there's a problem with my C key, but I think it is not stuck instead I need to press it down several times to make it work. A common problem with a macbook's keyboard.

@JohnEason Thx for the reply, I can't use W cycle through selection modes, unless I  hit esc to get rid of this weird circle. And the circle is there all the time no matter what selection mode I'm in. If I'm circle selection, then there will be two circles with my cursor.

did you try downloading the newest version? does this happen in all Blender versions?

@Chris I just downloaded an older version of blender and relaunched it, and this problem is still there, have no idea how to solve it.

That’s really weird

Must be a keyboard problem as you guessed in that case. :^(

try disconnecting the keyboard and see if the problem persists.

@JohnEason But my C key is working properly for when I'm typing, very strange.

Yeah. I don't know anything about Macs, but it sounds as if something else in the operating system must be interfering if you're still getting the problem with a different Blender version.

I just restarted my macbook and problem got solved.

The same problem just occurred to me. I found the solution here: I had accidentally turned on "circle select" mode, presumably by accidentally pressing the w key. The solution is to press w again to turn it off.


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How do I deselect one object between other objects?
I often have a problem with deselecting objects in the scene, for this I use the shift+leftclick key. For example, I have two objects selected, and below them a third object, I try to deselect one of the objects,but instead it attaches to them a third object, which is located below them.
Screenshots are attached.

I've already read this question, it should not do that, there must be an option enabled somewhere...

I`m load factory preferences and load factory settings, but this problem does not disappear.

Shift+Alt+Click brings a selection menu that can select/deselect objects in selection conflict.

Surely this will not be so easy if many objects are in selection conflict, but, ShiftAltClick (the click button here may depend on your configuration), brings a menu that allows to choose the wanted object:

PS: was in hope the object order in the menu was relative to the ray cast distance, but this is not the case.

Yes it works, but you understand that it is wrong, you do three steps to do what you want, And imagine that you need to do this with several objects. I'm not talking about the fact that you need to track the name of the object and it will be problematic with a lot of selected objects. In any case, thank you, I hope that in the future, developers will make a more standard tool of choice.

For this you should deselect your object in the outliner. The deselect option is in the right click menu. And give your objects other names than e.g Cube006 to make it faster. Another way is to hold down SHIFT and 2× right click on the object.

Thank you, but it did not help me very much, I have shift+right mouse moves the 3D cursor, and to look for an object in the outliner when these objects are many, it is quite inconvenient, especially to rename them specifically for this. This should be an easy way, as in 90% of other 3D editors, it is strange that the blender pays so much attention to other areas, but did not implement an easy way to remove the selection in such cases.

@ВладимирТим: give names upon creation of course as later it's not much use.

authors: Владимир Тим


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Modeling - symmetrizing part of a mesh
I am currently working on the column.  When I smooth shaded it to see how smooth it is I noticed that the ring base of the column is not perfectly smooth because the to sphere modifier I used to make the square base round mess this part of the mesh a bit.

Is there a fast way to make blende smooth or symmetrize the part of the mesh highlighted in the photo?
I tried to do it but retouching single vertices but it will never be perfectly smooth.
Thanks in advance for any help.

You can correct this shape manually, using two tools.
01) Scale tool
- correct the height of edge rings, so they're level.
- just scale them to 0 along the Z axis

02) To Sphere Tool
- this tool will make a circle from any shape
- you can use it to correct the roundness of your edge rings
- select the edge ring and go Mesh > To Sphere (click anywhere to activate it)


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Array Objects Around Ellipse
I want to evenly array some squares around an ellipse so that the squares are facing inwards.  I followed the thread here
How to make objects follow a ellipse? (Duplication around ellipse)
This is very close to what I want but I need the squares to be perfectly symmetrical (mine isn't quite perfectly symmetrical).  Here's a screenshot
Is there a way to adjust the squares to be perfectly symmetrical?

So is your problem distributing the squares as your title suggests or is your problem getting a symmetrical ellipse?

I've added an answer to your linked question, because I suppose, strictly speaking, this is a duplicate, and it shouldn't be posted here .. if it works for you, let us know.

Hi.  The problem is getting an even distribution with symmetry.  Your answer on the other thread is incredibly close Robin! I just need a square to be on the top and bottom quadrants but no squares on the left or right quadrants.

@Bedson Honestly, especially the last part of your comment with squares at top and bottom but not left and right does not really come across in your question, not at all. Your question sounds as if you have a non-symmetrical ellipse and want to know how to symmetrically place squares along with it. The problem is, even with the given answer this would not give a symmetrical distribution if the ellipse was not symmetrical so I thought you were looking for a way to symmetrize the ellipse before placing squares. Anyway, since Robin seems to have understood your question correctly, nevermind.

In addition to the question linked in your post, you look for:

Evenly distributed instances, by curve-length
The constraint that the instances are located symmetrically across the major and minor axes of the ellipse
The option to set the implicit polygon of instances 'point up' or 'side up'

Geometry Nodes give you the distribution
The symmetry is provided by the natural construction of a curve ellipse: a Bezier curve-circle with 4 control-points on the axes, scaled along the axes in Edit Mode (or in Geometry Nodes, itself).
The simplest way I can think of to the 'point up' option is to double up the instances, and select every other one, with an optional offset:

With an even count of instances not divisible by 4, that means instances on one axis and gaps on the other:

Oops, I forgot to plug in the 'Rotation'.. between Curve to Points and Instance on Points  see other answer...


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Rigid body simulation - How can I start it from the frame I want not frame 0?
I have made a sphere explode with cell fracture, a rigid body simulation, a force field placed inside it, and not gravity.
I wish to simulate a debris explosion in space.
My only problem is that I would like the explosion to start at frame 233 of a 250 frame scene and not from frame 0.
Is there a way to start the simulation at the frame I want and maybe make it salt a bit longer so that the debris flies further apart in space?
Thanks for the help.

you can keyframe the Dynamic or Animate options, see here: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/26792/how-to-offset-the-start-of-rigid-body-physics-to-a-specific-frame

I managed it by baking the simulation at the Cache option of the Scene world tab thanks.


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Why the color became bright after rendering?
Would you tell me how can I fix it?
The first image is screenshot of render preview and the second one is after rendering. As you can see, it became bright after rendering.

Quite a few possible reasons.. maybe share a stripped-down version of your world, the minimum that shows the effect, on https://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/ ?

Remember, if you have any lights in your scene that you have hidden in viewport view, will still appear in the render. Be sure to check and see if this is the case. I've spent many an hour wondering where the "extra" light is coming from because of this.

Oh yes you're right! It was because hidden light...
Thank you so much!!


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Animate growing an arrow following a curve, for glTF
I am creating some infographics assets. I created the rising bar but how do i create the growing arrow  as attached in the picture to show increase in sales. Whatever resources i found was related to moving along an curve path. I want my arrow to start at A and grow along the path to B, using a method suitable for export  for glTF.

Note: that won't work as we now know this is for gltf export. But I let the answer here, if useful for any other cases.

That can be this kind of geometry node setup:

Use 'trim end' as input. This is what you can animate.
Trim the end of the curve and transform it to a mesh using a curve circle.
Sample the end point of the curve in order to have its position and tangent.
Set a cone at this position and orient it to the tangent.
Join the curve and the cone.
 (Blender 4.0)

is there anyway i can achieve this using basic animations as geomtery nodes arent supported by gltf exports as I have to use these assets on web.

@arjunlokesh, no, I don't think so. You should indicate that in your question, as both answers won't fit in this case.

You could create a curve, a plane object and an arrow tip object, give an Array and a Curve modifier to the plane object (with the curve as Curve Object), in the Array modifier choose the tip as Cap End:

Now you can keyframe the Count value of the curve to make it grow:


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Render out a video of an animation
I have been following a tutorial on YouTube that instructs how to create a wrecking ball that uses a rigid body to smash some cubes. In the video, the person who created the tutorial made an animated video of the wrecking ball. How do I do that? Please help with detailed instructions (in Blender 2.7)!

For several reasons but mostly because of the colour range provided by some of the available image formats, you always want to render your animation to an image sequence (preferably .exr in case you are doing serious work) and compile the images into a video container like .mov, .mp4 or whatever afterwards.
You can even compile the sequence using Blenders Video Sequence Editor or any other video package of your choice (depending on what you got access to) like resolve, ffmpeg or handbrake to only name a few out of hundreds of free options: Comparison of video container formats on Wikipedia.


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search field in geometry nodes
if i search for nodes in geometry nodes, i don't get some nodes as i want, at least not as others do.
e.g. in this tutorial of Cartesian Caramel he gets:

if i put "eq" in the search field, i will get:

Hint: i am working on a Mac
Is there any settings i can change so that i also get the "right" search results?

I'm on Windows. I don't know if that matters. That result will appear if you do as he does in the video and drag to the right from the Vertex Index 1 Node and type equal. Otherwise, as I'm sure you know, you have to set a Math Node to do what you want.

you are right! missed that detail - you can write an answer if you want, i will accept. Although i am still wondering what my result have to do with "eq"....

@Chris I don't know what the results have to do with "eq" either... when you press F3 to search for "eq", the first results are all for something beginning with "sequencer", at least that's something I can comprehend... although I think it is very uncomfortable to have dozens of results shown first that you cannot use in the editor you are currently in.

As Chris said, he missed this in the video.
I have very little experience with Geometry Nodes. In addition to this case, I have seen in other tutorials that clicking and dragging from a node socket will get some search options for nodes that appear to me to be preconfigured for that type of socket in that node and that aren't available in that form using the standard search.
Click and drag from node socket:

Enter search terms:


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Manually Reorder Objects
I would like to manually reorder the objects

It should be:
Obj_1
Obj_2
Obj_3
... but I cannot get those items to change order using straight drag&drop.
I did notice that the orders were initially based on the order in which the items were placed.
I have turned off Sort Alphabetically
Currently using Blender version 3.0.0

so it looks like you want to sort them out alphabetically?

You could linked-duplicate Obj_2, then Obj_3, delete the originals, and rename the dupes to the original names.

@moonboots  On the contrary ,I want to sort them manually.

@scurest That's a way too, but I think Marty Fouts' way is better.

This is a very unpleasant limitation in the Outliner, and there has been discussions about it with the developers, but as of now, the best way to reorganize is, assuming that you have disabled alphabetical sort, as you have:

Move all of the object out of the collection.  You can do this by selecting them all and moving them to a different collection or to the top level Scene Collection
Move them back in one at a time.  Add the one you want on the bottom of the list first and work backwards.

Obviously you can optimize this by leaving objects you want near the end in the collection, but the basic rule is newly added objects go at the head of the list.

Okay.That help me a lot!
By the way, how to solve the sorting of bones?

Like thislink


text:
Particle System scattering in the entire scene when parented in object with path animation
I've parented the particle emitter to the UFO, so far its good it follows the object with path animation. But unfortunately there are few particles that is scattering from the entire scene. Also when I play the animation the parented object sometimes glitches. It moves from the path animation to a different area for a split second. (This only happens when I parent the particle emitter to the object.)

Have you tried to bake to see what it gives?

Yes sir. I tried to bake it but its pretty the same.

@CharlieTan Particle system has a lot of cache "glitches" ... so try increase +/- 1 number of particles and bake ... if that doesn't help, share simplified blend via https://blend-exchange.com ... delete all that doesn't participate on the issue (or attach objects needed to reproduce issue into a new file.


text:
How to cover sphere by hexagonal modules?
I have chosen to make a spherical planet, that is populated by hexagon tiles. As part of a school project, I need them to be fully customizable, and have chosen to do it by realizing them as Instances.
As for the GeoNodes, I am creating an IcoSphere and turning it into a DualMesh, splitting faces, etc... Shortly said, I have exactly what I want, but only in geometry. In my case I need them to be individual Instances. So I generate points on each face, to realize my new "Hexagon Instances" on, and it works, except their individual rotation.
This is what I'm asking for. Is there any way for me to make the tiles/points rotate according to the original mesh, so that they line up nicely?

I don't think you can get there just by distributing hexagon instance since Dual Mesh node generates also pentagon faces (differs not only by edge count, but also by size).

Since no one here is partial answer ... To distribute hexagon and pentagon instances according source face can be solved by Face Area node.
Rotation - Luckily pentagon instances (in blend file below) are rotated OK (except top&bottom one switched 180°) ... but with hexagons I'm not sure if there is a way to define how instances should orient. One Axis is easily taken from Normal direction, but how to set two others? With one more Align Euler to Vector I can get top hexagons loop rotated right, but the rest is 90° off ... I could separate them and rotate after that, but there are still some of them incorrect ...
Anyway there are two main issues with dual mesh topology...

hexagons are not all rotated from top to down same (they are partly pointed up by vertex and partly by edge)
hexagons are not the same size and shape so instances will never match source

Workaround
Probably could be enough to Split Edges and transform elements instead of using instances as base.

Than you can try distribute Trees or Stones on faces by Selection of your choice (here just random) and for the same group of selection used specific material ... but yes, it would not work in all cases.

@quellenform ... any idea at year 23 :)

So far, I haven't found a satisfactory idea in this case, except for the one you suggest here. I'm afraid it won't work on a sphere with hexagonal instances (unless you accept a few pentagons).

Hello! Your answer has proven very helpful, but as you said yourself, it still has some issues when it comes to individual instance rotation. I was aware that there were some pentagons present, but i've just hoped that the hexagons would instance over it anyway. I didn't know it would affect the normals that much :/.
I have chosen to do the planet with instances, because i want to be able to instantiate a collection of objects (hex tiles with forests, rocks and some other objects on it). This would be defined using noise, or some other data...
Do you think there's a different way?

You can find a trillion of topics why it is not possible to cover sphere by hexagons Goldberg_polyhedron ... off topic, just for fun visual illusion

If you are OK with a few pentagons, check my edit ...


text:
Having trouble with panning in 3D view
I was modeling something when suddenly I was unable to pan around using shift + middle mouse.  I tried changing the controls in user preferences, closing and reopening the program, and everything else I could think of, all to no avail.  I'm working with 2.69.  Any help would be much appreciated.
EDIT:  Still not sure what happened, but I copied everything in the file into a new one and now it's working.

restart blender?

Tried that already.  Nothing.

Do the shift key and the middle mouse button work elsewhere?

can you confirm that the buttons still work

I tried switching the controls for rotate and pan in the preferences, and shift + middle mouse worked fine for rotating and middle mouse still did nothing for panning.  I opened a new file and it worked fine as well, so I don't think it's a problem with the buttons.

I do not know whats going on over there. Some witchcraft as far as I know. Anyway I would just copy and paste your model into a new file and take it form there.

That's what I did.

did that work for you?

It sounds like you locked your view to an object (see this post).


text:
Smoke not rendering between a transparent object and another object

So, I've tried everything I can think of on this one...
As you can see in the image the monkey head is close behind the smoke, and the transparent cubes are slightly in front of the smoke.
This is in BI, and the smoke and cubes are both ray-traced. The monkey is just a plain solid colour.
I did notice that only the closer parts of the monkey show through the smoke behind the cubes, and it works perfectly well for the more distant parts.
Also, here's a .blend file.
Thanks!
UPDATE:
Aside from taking the cubes out of the smoke, moving the background object out of the domain also works...
Outside domain,

Inside domain,

Thanks for the help gandalf3. If anyone can figure it out based on this info. that would be much appreciated. And yes, if it is a bug, is there a way to address this issue?
Many thanks!

It seems that where the cubes are intersecting the smoke it renders Suzanne.. I'm not sure if this a bug or a limitation but I have not found any workaround other than moving the cubes out of the smoke.

You could try reporting it. Also note that smoke domains don't have to be cubes, so you could use that to bend it around the suzanne/background objects (a hack, I know)..


text:
Limit Blender RAM usage?
So Blender started crashing whenever I bake fluid for no reason (I mean no reason, discussion here). I'm thinking maybe reducing the amount of RAM it uses could help, but I can't figure out how to reduce it.

First you should find if memory limits are the cause before asking this question.

@ideasman42 I'm almost certain they are because in Task Manager blender uses like 6GB of RAM then it crashes once there isn't any left.

Could you run Blender from a terminal and see what output you get? - https://www.blender.org/manual/render/workflows/command_line.html Typically errors are printed before crashing.

@ideasman42 Already tried it, but no errors show up because blender doesn't just crash, my whole computer does and I have to restart.

@root How do I check?

I think this a good question, although may not be written in the best way. It's interesting to know if it can be limited so instead of crashing because it doesn't have enough memory it tells that the operation can't be done (adding a new node, backing, rendering, etc) but it doesn't crash. However, I suppose it's difficult to implement.

File > User Preferences > System > Middle Column at the Bottom (Sequencer / Clip Editor:) and reduce the Memory Cache Limit: value (I believe it's in Kb, but you would have to check that).

Already tried, apparently that only limits RAM for the sequence and clip editors, my problem is baking fluid


text:
Fluid not falling correctly on an obstacle
I've asked a similar question to this, but the answer for it (which worked back then) doesn't apply to this problem.
I've got a Fluid, a domain, and an plane that has been deformed from a cube into a ramp-thing:

The fluid seems to fall along the midpoint of the object's bounding box instead of the physical points:

Here are my Obstacle settings:

And the fluid settings:

That's quite simple - apply transforms (particulalry scale) for both obstacles (and normals won't behave crazy anymore). This was written in that answer although it wasn't there as important as here,

@MrZak That did not work.

@Josh Silveous, could it be that the simulation is cached/baked? and after applying transform it needs to be recalculated?

@m.ardito after applying the calculation i re-baked it, no changes.

from what I see in the file, it seems that the domain is a cube, but since the simulation cannot trespass the domain... it bounces back when domain (cube) limits are reached... the ramp is an obstacle, but it should be inside the domain (the cube)...

Re make every thing. I did create a new obticel and removed every thing exept the inflow and domain and it don't work

Did you try that ? Could you explain what didn't work when pointing that out ? Look at this result and compare it with your gif. At least they differ.

@m.ardito that was the problem but whenever I move the domain cube and apply the location it just resets it


text:
Shadow Catcher in cycles problem
I've asked around and people have told me that this tutorial should allow me to do what I want to do. I've followed the steps outlined, however I am not getting the result I want.
My first layer looks like this:

The cubic object is what I want to be shown in the render.
My second layer looks like this:

The floor panel is meant to catch shadows, and should not be displayed in the final render. If the cube and the floor were on the same layer, the cube would be intercepting the floor, like this:

Meaning the shadow should be cast like this:

Except the floor layer should not be rendered, but the shadow cast onto the floor layer should be rendered.
Here's how I set up my nodes (Exactly as in the tutorial provided above)

And here's my render layers (Exactly as in the tutorial)

However, my finished product looks like this:

I want the shadow of the cube to catch onto the screen.
I have no prior experience with nodes, so that's probably where I went wrong.

The tutorial has BG Clean in the top render slot and BG with shadows under it - which would be Only Catcher in your case - so not exactly like the tutorial...

@Patdog I guess I overlooked that. Nonetheless, I figured out the problem. It was as simple as Shift-clicking both layers down in the layer switcher then rendering. They both have to be selected for it to render both layers.


text:
Setting up collision for large-scale model in Unreal Engine
I was creating a large scene for use in the Unreal Engine, but I need proper collision physics and since Unreal Engine's collisions aren't suitable for large-scale objects, I have no idea how to go about doing it at this scale.

I think you should just scale the entire scene down, and then continue from there. This should work, because scaling down doesn't affect any of the objects themselves, but will then be able to do collision simulations in unreal. You could also just scale it down in Unreal.

I got every rooms measurements perfect for unreal, So scaling down wont affect it's measurements in anyway?

Not if it is scaled correctly

I tried scaling down in unreal and blender, No luck, While scaling down in blender it messed with measurements and made the rooms way too small plus the doorways

That's weird. You selected everything?

Yeah, everything was selected.

Is there a way to UCX_ everything fairly quick besides doing it to every wall and floor?


text:
Hooking a series of empties along a curve
Right, so:

This is for a game where you can grind rails, and the rails function with waypoints which I generate from Blender empties. So far so good, I've already got a handful of scripts to automatically place them on curves and certain meshes.
Next though is those curved walkways, made up of multiple meshes and multiple curves. I've already figured out a way to combine each connected curve into one and then place my waypoints from there, but it's kind of inefficient and while technically non-destructive to the meshes and curves, it'll require me to delete and re-generate my grinds every time I move the walkways. What's more, the trick relies on superimposing edge-only meshes onto my walkway meshes, which makes tilt unpredictable.
What I'm looking for is a way to automatically place empties in such a way that they'll follow the curves. I don't necessarily mean an arbitrary number, so long as I can get it to roughly correspond to my rails.
Requirements include:

It must be non-destructive.
The waypoints must be real, or at the very least real once exported to FBX.
They must follow along the curve as it's moved.
They must all be children of one empty separate from the curve.

Possible avenues include:

Secondary empties, if real, can be parented to the curve, and then I can get their location into my waypoints via a Copy Location constraint.
The fake curve meshes can be actual curves. Currently looking into that.
Following that, the curves being followed by the waypoints don't necessarily have to be the same as the walkway. I'll be trying secondary curves following the primary ones.

Thanks in advance.
edit: A visual example from another model:

The grind waypoints move with the model, copying the location of empties parented to the model's vertices. This allows them to be parented to a separate object and each to automatically face the next via Damped Track. What I'm looking to do with curves is either this or, even more ideally, directly influencing their positions via curve.

What about dupliframes? https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/104916/how-can-i-add-more-duplicates-to-a-curve/104918#104918 Never mind these were removed in 2.8 if I'm not mistaken

Related https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/138944/how-to-distribute-objects-in-a-constraint-offset-integer-value

There is a workaround to emulate dupliframe.
Add a curve.
Add a plane. In edit mode scale it way down.
Add an "Array" modifier to the plane, set the length to 'fit curve' and select the curve. Deselect "Relative offset" and select "Constant offset", set the value to the spacing you want between each empty.
Add a curve modifier and set it to the curve.

Create an empty object. In object mode, select it then select the arrayed plane (not the curve). Go to Object > Parent (or press  CTRL  + P) and select "Object".
Select the arrayed plane and go to object info > Instancing and select "Faces". Uncheck "Render instancer" so that the plane doesn't get rendered. (Useless in your case since you are only interested in exporting it)

Now when you export your file, for example in fbx, it will contain the individual empties. Just delete the "plane" object to get rid of it. No need to apply the modifiers.

If you want for example your empties to be 2 meters above the curve, just move the original empty 2 meters along the z axis in object mode.

I figured this out around the same time and it's nearly there, but:

it only works for one curve out of several
I can't use the points as targets until they're real, at which point they don't follow the curve anymore

To XY this a bit, a semi-ideal solution would be to apply the original curves to my combined curves, but transform/dimension shenanigans make this hard. I'll try applying transforms and get back.

Alright, I didn't get that information from your description. Could you add a little more "visual" informations in your question because I don't fully understand what your end-product should look like ?

Done, hopefully that explains that better.


text:
What could be causing me to get a "ValueError" when getting the angle of a faces normal?
I have a script that creates seams with coplanar faces (to make lighting maps for UE4)
It works on most objects but some objects give me a ValueError:
ValueError: Vector.angle(other): zero length vectors have no valid angle

At first I thought it was being caused by overlapping faces, but I have some objects with overlapping faces, but I tested that out and didn't get the same error.
Im gonna include my blender file here with some of the objects that give me the error and the test object that has the overlapping faces but doesn't give me the error.
Blender Test File
bm.faces.ensure_lookup_table()
face = bm.faces[index]
faces = [f for f in bm.faces if f.normal.angle(face.normal) < TOL]

That last line is what's giving me the error
Does anyone know what about these objects are giving me the error?

How do you get the angle?

Hi. Please include any relevant code in the question body so people can easily test your code. Thanks.

I edited the question and added the part that's giving me the error.


text:
Script to render one object from different angles
I'm new to Blender. I'm currently working on a 3D reconstruction project using neural networks. I need to create my data set. Therefore I need to render a 3D body scan from different angles and save the images separately. I can render creating cameras manually but once i create a loop for the cameras my output is black images.
this is the code i used:
bpy.ops.object.camera_add(view_align=False, location=[0,10,20], rotation=[0.436,0,pi])
bpy.ops.object.camera_add(view_align=False, location=[10,20,30], rotation=[0.436,0,pi])

for ob in scene.objects:
    if ob.type == 'CAMERA':
        bpy.context.scene.camera = ob
        print('Set camera %s' % ob.name )
        file = os.path.join('/home/fotofinder/Downloads/tryrender/images', ob.name )
        bpy.context.scene.render.filepath = file
        bpy.ops.render.render( write_still=True )

If anyone can help to define the proper parameters for the cameras in order to always have the object in the image I would be grateful.

Would it not be simpler to animate a single camera from viewpoint to viewpoint, (possibly animating its target, too,) and  save out as a sequence of frames?

Yeah you could constrain the camera to target object by position then orbit by constraint. Don't know if you can use a driver to set FOV to object bounding box

As an alternative to animating a single camera, you could even set the coordinates from your Python script and just move that one camera around by setting camera.location.

import bpy
from math import *
from mathutils import *

#set your own target here
target = bpy.data.objects['Cube']
cam = bpy.data.objects['Camera']
t_loc_x = target.location.x
t_loc_y = target.location.y
cam_loc_x = cam.location.x
cam_loc_y = cam.location.y

#dist = sqrt((t_loc_x-cam_loc_x)**2+(t_loc_y-cam_loc_y)**2)
dist = (target.location.xy-cam.location.xy).length
#ugly fix to get the initial angle right
init_angle  = (1-2*bool((cam_loc_y-t_loc_y)<0))*acos((cam_loc_x-t_loc_x)/dist)-2*pi*bool((cam_loc_y-t_loc_y)<0)

num_steps = 36 #how many rotation steps
for x in range(num_steps):
    alpha = init_angle + (x+1)*2*pi/num_steps
    cam.rotation_euler[2] = pi/2+alpha
    cam.location.x = t_loc_x+cos(alpha)*dist
    cam.location.y = t_loc_y+sin(alpha)*dist
    file = os.path.join('/home/fotofinder/Downloads/tryrender/images', x)
    bpy.context.scene.render.filepath = file
    bpy.ops.render.render( write_still=True )

Old answer
I created a new blendfile (with the default cube) changed the render engine to cycles and changed the code as follows:
#Run with "blender -b TARGET.blend -P thisfile.py

#Added imports
import bpy
from mathutils import *
from math import *
import os
scene = bpy.context.scene

bpy.ops.object.camera_add(view_align=False, location=[0,10,20], rotation=[0.436,0,pi])
bpy.ops.object.camera_add(view_align=False, location=[10,20,30], rotation=[0.436,0,pi])

for ob in scene.objects:
    if ob.type == 'CAMERA':
        bpy.context.scene.camera = ob
        print('Set camera %s' % ob.name )
        file = os.path.join('/home/fotofinder/Downloads/tryrender/images', ob.name )
        bpy.context.scene.render.filepath = file
        bpy.ops.render.render( write_still=True )

results were as expected:
Camera.001.png:
[]
Camera.002.png:

Camera.png:

So even if it's not pretty, your script works. I would assume your background is black, and the cameras a missaligned
Some people say it is important to avoid bpy.ops commands. I would assume the best practice for creating new cameras would be
cam = bpy.data.cameras.new("Camera")
cam_ob = bpy.data.objects.new("Camera", cam)
bpy.context.collection.objects.link(cam_ob)
#To set location and rotation:
cam_ob.location = (6,26,14)
cam_ob.rotation_euler = Euler((62.0*pi/180, 0.0*pi/180, 167*pi/180)

Thank you very much for your answer. My script works and gives me images for the cameras I defined manually. I need to either create a lot of cameras via a loop or rotate one camera on the object and create multiple images. I need to render a loooot of images to train my network

Sorry, I focused on the  "I can render creating cameras manually but once i create a loop for the cameras my output is black images".

No worries, I'm still struggling with getting images from different angels. now I'm actually try to make one camera rotate around the object. I don't know how will that work yet but i keep looking :D

updated the answer to kind of help with the problem

Please note, with mathutils.Vector using the Euclidean formula is unnecessary :  dist = (tloc.xy - camloc.xy).length

Thank you very much so far it works. can you help me make it rotate on Z axis also so i can get views from top and bottom?

Essentially it is about finding the new position for the camera and aligning it to the target. What makes my code complicated. is that it takes an offset into account, and doesn't assume a lot about the camera. If you can make sure, the object of interest is at the Origin, and the camera starts on, and is aligned with the y axis, this is a lot easier. Lastly, there needs to be a path for the camera to follow i.e. how do you want to sample the spherical coordinate space.

Could you take an approach something like this?

Create a mesh whose vertices are the desired viewpoint positions, around your body scan. (It's the sphere, in the illustration, named 'Viewpoints')
Create one camera, and assign it a 'Track To' constraint ('To': -Z, 'Up': Y) with the body scan as target

Run a script which keyframes the camera to each of the vertex locations in successive frames
import bpy

vp_obj = bpy.data.objects['Viewpoints']
cam_obj = bpy.data.objects['Camera']
vp_vs = vp_obj.data.vertices

bpy.context.scene.frame_start=1
bpy.context.scene.frame_end=len(vp_vs)

for (f,v) in enumerate(vp_vs,1):
    cam_obj.location = vp_obj.matrix_world * v.co
    cam_obj.keyframe_insert(data_path="location", frame=f)

.. and render the animation?

Cool, ummed and arred whether to go this way.  via a  single subdivided cube for  quadrants.

I created a uvshpere and defined it as viewpoints yet the script fails to give me results similar to yours. I used this to create the sphere:

create a sphere for viewpoints
sphere_statut = bpy.ops.mesh.primitive_uv_sphere_add(segments=32, ring_count=16, size=10, view_align=False, enter_editmode=False, location=(0, 0, 0), rotation=(0, 0, 0), layers=(True, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False))
bpy.context.active_object.show_wire = True
#define sphere as view points
for obj in bpy.context.selected_objects:
if obj.name == 'Sphere':
vp_obj = obj

@wissalsaihi   Why are you generating the sphere by script? I was imagining you would want to create and name the viewpoint object and camera through the UI, since it's quick, and you would want to see the target's scale, the camera's field of view, etc, before shooting 500-odd frames. I can edit to include how to produce the sphere by script.. but do you actually want more than that? Are you, for instance, wanting to run all this from outside Blender altogether?

@RobinBetts I'm trying to do everything outside of blender as this script is a part of my machine learning project. Creating the viewpoints and everything by script would be ideal for me.

@wissalsaihi ..  you mean.. you don't want to open Blender at all? Run it as part of another application?

I need to run it on a terminal (ubuntu terminal) That would be ideal

@wissalsaihi perfectly possible, but involves quite a few steps: orderly import of objects - possibly getting their convex hulls to optimize fov calculation - deciding whether zoom or track to fit image (different distortions, how do you want the frame filled for a good learning set?) many variables, some dependent on the nature of your data-set, not all of which you can give at once in one BSE question,( IMHO?) I think you may have to break this up into sub-tasks...

Make a dolly
There are already a number of answers re rendering from different angles.
How to automatically render from several camera angles?
Here is take that sets up an empty on your object as a dolly.  A camera is parented to the empty, such that when the empty has no rotation the camera is a front view.
Adjusting the empties rotaion x and z is equivalent of latitude and longitude.

Here is a helper script to add the empty camera setup in 2.80
import bpy
from math import radians
context = bpy.context

bpy.ops.object.empty_add(location=(0, 0, 0))
mt = context.object
mt.empty_display_type = 'ARROWS'
mt.empty_display_size = 4
bpy.ops.object.camera_add(location=(0, -1, 0))
cam = context.object
cam.rotation_euler = (radians(90), 0, radians(0))
cam.parent = mt
cam.data.type = 'ORTHO'
context.scene.camera = cam

I have made the camera ORTHO to take advantage of method outlined here
Check if the whole plane is being on a orthographic camera render (or get a proportion of the rendered plane)  to scale the camera to fit mesh.

final result of running script below, after setting up camera above, whoops notice 45 lat is south, needs a minor fix 8^).  The camera is scaled such that the whole object fits
Test script.  Select object to render.  I have hardcoded in two latitude longitude pairs, (0, 0) and (45, 45).
import bpy
from mathutils import Vector
from math import radians
context = bpy.context
dg = context.evaluated_depsgraph_get()
scene = context.scene
# add empty
cam_ob = scene.camera
# make sure run other script first to give cam parent empty
mt = cam_ob.parent

plane = context.object
mt.parent = plane

pmw = plane.matrix_world
bbox = [Vector(b) for b in plane.bound_box]
plane_co = sum(bbox, Vector()) / 8
cam_ob.location.y = (pmw @ bbox[0]).length

coords = [t for b in plane.bound_box for t in pmw @ Vector(b)]

for lat, lon in ((0, 0),(45, 45)):
    mt.rotation_euler = (radians(lat), 0, radians(lon))
    dg.update()
    v, scale = cam_ob.camera_fit_coords(dg, coords)

    cam_ob.data.ortho_scale = scale
    cam_ob.matrix_world.translation = v
    # render

Now we only need to input the latitude and longitude of the camera.

Assumes the object's origin is centre of bounding box.  The script sets the object as the parent of the camera "dolly" empty.
If you are using 2.79 or prior, replace any occurence of @ with * and context.depsgraph with context.scene

.. I should be learning in 2.8, not 2.79, i guess ...  far be it from me.. is  camera_fit_coords(context.depsgraph, coords) 2.79 OK?

No, edited....,

I did some changes to your proposed solution but somehow I don't get the results you had. So basically I create a uvsphere and use it as viewpoints then i try to render and the images are all black. I hope you can help me with that by explaining your procedure

The script above leaves the camera in last assigned position. Use to check alignment and also whether a UI render is all black.  Are there lights in the scene for example?


text:
How to make a dripping text effect in blender 3.0?
I was trying to make a fluid simulation following this tutorial but fluid settings were changed in blender 2.8 and I'm at a loss. I don't know how to break the fluid into small drips like in this video. It's just constant streams.
This what I want..  It's a three-second-long video:

My blend file.

just increase the resolution. If that doesn't help, pls provide blend file because you didn't show us any settings you have made (and no, not everybody wants to watch an 8 minute video just to prepare an answer to your question).

@Chris Thanks for answering. I don't think changing the resolution is the solution. It is still a constant stream. Also, I have updated my question. A three-second video of the effect I want, and a .blend file.

A setting for "Honey" or heavy oil, implies Viscosity.  Yours is enabled, but is set to 0.0.

Diffusion also has a "Honey" quickset -- yours appears to be the default

@james_t I did both of these things already. Setting Viscosity higher and using honey preset. The liquid just wouldn't separate like in the video. It just becomes a big chunk of liquid falling very slowly. Maybe I need to increase resolution like a thousand or something?

You're posting is a good challenge and I can't figure it out, unless I add other effectors/collision with drivers to simulate.  I'll try to re-post your question as I have enough rep point to create a bounty after a few days, which may attract more expert help.

perhaps follow this post

2.79
Quite interesting, this dripping works in 2.79 with just default setup :) In general it is not too much expected behaviour, but works great for your purpose.
So ... one way is to download 2.79 and Bake fluid there. Than Export as Alembic (.abc) file.
3.xx
Speaking to Blender 3 - behaviour is different, because it uses completely different fluid solver (Mantaflow).
The way I accomplished this result ...

Set Domain's > Field Weights > Gravity zero
Add Force Field > Force, Shape > Plane, Strength -0.6, enable Falloff > Max Distance with value that ends bellow Inflow object

Or you can try Particle System > Fluid and render as Object (Metaballs).

Notes to your blend file: Try to simplify your Inflow object, there is no a need to bevel edges for simulation and also don't use Dimension of this object 32 m since world scale matters the dimension define tally will affect result. Don't waste your computation power and time – scale domain object as small as possible.

Interesting, indeed I thought the clumping didn't seem natural without perhaps some other objects underneath as collisions to obstruct/gather particles.

@james_t ... now I got something useful :) Probably too late, but it didn't let me a sleep. Idea for solution came from appearance in 2.79 where it looks like an inflow levitates and just a drops are leaking. So the trick here is zero gravity and Empty object as Force Field bellow an inflow object with Falloff > Max Distance up to the bottom part of the text, that attracts (catches) lower parts of liquid.

"zero gravity and Empty object as Force Field bellow an inflow object with Falloff"!  makes sense.

Would you mind describe your solution for blender 4 step by step? thanks

@MicroMachine ... the solver is the same. Is there anything that is not working for you at version 4?


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How to stop the influence of a curve modifier for part of a mesh after having animated along it?
I have a long thin constant width mesh (a bit like a long train, but it actually looks like a wall) that moves along a curve using the curve modifier. And when the mesh has reached the end of the curve it stops (having the bent shape of the curve). Now I want the end of my mesh to animate straigt out into a 90 degree angle. As if the last "train wagon" was pulled off the track, but still attached to the rest of the train. Without having the front of the "train" loose it's bent shape from the modifier.
But when I animate the end part of the mesh it is still affected by the curve modifier and gets deformed. It basically looks like the last wagon gets a little banana shaped and maybe also a little wider in one end. I want it to keep it´s width and be able to straighten it out and continue the animation using only the end of the mesh.
I have tried animating the visibility of the curve modifier as gandalf3 suggested. Didn't know you could do that. Really cool feature (for those out there that do not know how to - try right clicking on the eye icon or pressing I while hoovering the mouse pointer over the eye).
But it hasn't worked out for me as I hoped. It seems like animating the curve modifiers visibility is the path to the solution but there must be some part of the puzzle missing.
When visibility is turned off the mesh jumps sideways to the position it really is located at hadn't it been for the modifiers influence.
In order for me to be able to turn off visibility only for the last part of the mesh, as I want the beginning of it to stay affected by the curve modifier, I also tried dividing the mesh into vertex groups. And just animate the modifier visibility on one of the vertex groups. But this doesn't work as I had hoped either, the vertex group I animate visibility on still jumps out of place. And separating the mesh into two parented objects doesn't help.
Any help is appreciated.

In other words, you want to disable the curve modifier after a certain amount of time? If that is what you want, you could keyframe the visibility settings at the top of the modifier.


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Blue spots in compositing after color mix
I use different pass for specular in BI, make Glare for specular and try to combine it with original picture with Mix node. When I use screen or overlay mix i get final picture with ugly blue spots instead white. What I'm doing wrong and what kind of Mix should i use to combine specular with original image?

Please show your render and composite nodes, and if possible provide the blend. Hard to answer a question without any sort of context.

IDK what's point, but I got this bug after I'd turned back to BI after Cycles

You should be using the Add mixing mode when you want to add more white pixels to the image, then plug the specular image in the top (so it adds to the bottom image).
Example: