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Can I make mesh curvy?
I have this basic circle extruded and I want to know if, with the selected mesh, is there a way to make this mesh a smooth continuous curve, Not this jagged angle?

So how I ended up doing it was, I extruded the circle straight out and then added a whole bunch of loop cuts to the ectruded circle. I then selected the desired circle of vertices and then moved the circle up using proportional editing. It worked beautifully!!


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change highlight color in interface
How do I change the highlight color of my blender interface?
I tried Preferences>Editing>Anotation>Default color. But that didn't help.

Hello :). Editing > Annotations > Default color only affects the Annotate Tool default color. I added a full answer for you.

Highlight colors can be set in Preferences > Themes > User Interface.
You can set different highlight colors for different parts of UI.
In this case, it's the Menu Item > Selected

To change color for other items, go through the User Interface list.
Or download a theme :).

Thank you very much!!

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Rotation handles won't pop up on mask
I have a mask I'm animating around an object and, when you first draw the mask, if you drag at all when you drop a point, a rotation handle will pop up (see pic below for reference). Well, I have a lot of other points that don't have the rotation handle on them because I didn't drag when I drew that point. How do I bring up this rotation handle on the mask points that don't have them originally?

I figured it out. What you do, is you go over to your toolbar, and you hit "set handle type" then you can go down to the menu that popped up as a result of hitting it and change the handle type to your liking.
The shortcut for this is "V".

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


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Change all the input values at once
I've seen people change the X, Y ans Z inputs in the mapping node all at once. How is that done?
In this tutorial, Andrew Price does it at 7:44

LMB click on the first property, drag your cursor down to the last one and you can enter one value for all of them.


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If I make one object with 2 hair particle systems, can I make each particle system on a different layer? If so, how? (blender 2.83)
If I make one object with 2 hair particle systems, can I make each particle system on a different layer?  If so, how? (blender 2.83)

never mind, figured it out.
I didn't see the field weights section in the particle settings, that fixed it.


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Is there a blender script or way to configure Blender to do this (Retopo)
Is there a Blender script out there that lets you basically 'draw' in a 'net' of edges using strokes that you can then fill in using the spider script or something?
Could I possibly just change some settings to have this ability?
I've been doing a lot of retopo work and think just being able to draw in edges with mouse or tablet strokes would be such an efficient and simple way to do it- I've tried Retopoflow and 3D Coat for retopo and both feel needlessly complicated to me.

You could try the Bsurfaces addon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQb5lHDFjjs
(The video also activates another add-on).
I haven't tried it myself (new blender doesn't work on my laptop)
but looks simple enough for me.


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Running 2.83.3 ib Mac Mini Mid 2010
I have a Mac Mini Mid 2010 running High Sierra 10.13.6. Blender comes up fine, but locks up if I try to do anything -- and by lock up, I mean the ENTIRE MACHINE locks up.
Is there a fix for this? Thanks.
Dan

I think the problem is the mac mini is likely a 32 bit machine. The latest (and final) version of Blender that has a 32 bit release is 2.80. Just guessing though.

Perhaps your hardware, in particular the GPU, doesn't fulfill the minimum requirements?

Christopher, I'll give 2.80 a try, see if that helps. Thanks!


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Converting Eevee to Cycles
I have a render setup that works great in Eevee but for various reasons I am going to need to get it to look good in Cycles. In areas where there are many triangles it looks grainy in Cycles. In other areas like the one pictured I can see geometric shapes in Cycles' render. See picture. Any ideas on how I can fix this? Also the Cycles rendering seems to take a lot longer (with worse results).

for the triangle artifacts, maybe in the Properties panel > Object Data > Geometry Data > click Clear Custom Split Normals Data?

thanks for the suggestion -- I have an option there to Add Custom Split Normals Data but no option to clear

ok so it's not the problem


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Texture paint is grainy in some areas of the mesh and solid in others. I am also not able to select regions for paint masking
Thanks for taking the time to look at my problem. I have never modeled a day in my life but recently I am trying to learn more about Blender as my company produces incredible models and I personally want to learn more about the process. I have created my first model (Gabe) through a guide available on SkillShare. The guy is using the same version of the program I am, but appears to be getting different results.
For instance, some of my paint is turning up "grainy" in some areas and smooth in others such as the feet.
Additionally, there are strange lines on the feet that I cannot paint over.
Lastly, I am unable to select parts of the model/mesh with the masking tool function such as the upper and lower parts of the beak. This is probably something I am not understanding/messing up on as the guy in the tutorials kinda just did it without showing specifically how to do it, just vague steps you can only make out if you are going at 0.25x.
Thank you all so much for the help!

Check to see if you have a texture in the Brush texture or Mask Texture slots, delete them - because it looks like procedural noise patterns. The Face Select Masking needs to be toggled on and then you can use the Circle selection button to select faces to paint to.

Hi Craig! Sorry for the late reply, didn't get a notification that my question had been answered! So in both the brush texture and texture mask, I have them set to by default, tiled. When it comes to the circle selection it is only letting me select what I "draw on" rather than tabbing to the piece I want to edit such as the beak. Is this because I've merged the pieces into one mesh?

I know this is an old post but this is the one I stumbled upon when it happened to me, and I found a solution, so I thought I'd share it in case someone else has this problem and ends up here too.
I posted it on my Ko-Fi Page with images, but what happened to me was I had mirrored the mesh at one point and must not have clipped and bisected it, which caused noise when I painted on the mesh, but not when I painted on the texture map.
If the OP finds this let us know if that's a possibility :) Cuz my issue went away when I made a new mesh.


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add hair particles to vertex group only
So, I've created a vertex group and a hair particle system. I only want the hair particles on the vertex group. How do I do this?

Choose your vertex group in the Density Tab in Particle Settings


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Transfering add-ons between blender builds
So, I got the blender 2.83 alpha build and, I have all of my bizillion add-ons on 2.82 beta. If I download a new version of 2.82, it will automatically update the newest version of 2.82 with all of my add-ons. But, if I download 2.83, since it's a different build, it will start from scratch. So basically my question is, Is there a way to transfer all of my add-ons/settings from my 2.82b build to my 2.83a build?

Duplicate of https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/78/how-would-i-import-export-blenders-preferences

Once you get a new version of Blender you will see this welcome screen:

Here in bottom of this window you will see something like "Load 2.xx Settings". If you press on it, your settings, add-ons and configs will be properly copied.
What if don't you see this button on the welcome screen (pressed save settings before)?
Navigate to folder:
Linux
~/.config/blender

Mac
/Users/username/Library/Application Support/Blender/

Windows
%APPDATA%(Program files)\Blender Foundation\Blender

And remove folder with name equal newest version number. That makes blender launches "like first time", and you will get  "Load 2.xx Settings" button.


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Why can’t I select an object to change material?
I have appended a car into my scene, and when I go into the outliner, my object is a collection (pic 1), and when I select it, all of my options to edit the material and such disappear (pic 2). Why is this object like this?

that looks like a linked asset, not an appended

"CAR BODY.001" isn't a collection, it's an instance of a collection (the icon for a collection instance is the orange double-box, instead of the single white box). Collection instances cannot be edited, you can only edit the original collection.
 - Collection
 - Collection instance
The actual collection might be in the same scene or it might be in a different blend file (linked through an asset library or simply appended as an instance). In this case you said you appended the asset, so you probably appended a collection with "Instance Collections" checked.
The checkbox is in the file browser window that opens when you click on Append:

To edit the objects inside the instance you have to edit the original collection. But beware, changes made in the original collection will affect all instances of that collection, so keep that in mind if you have multiple instances of the same collection.


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How do I render different things in different render layers?
I have an earth model with an atmosphere model around it. I want to render the earth in one render layer, and the atmosphere on another render layer. How do I set the atmosphere to render in the correct render layer? Sorry, I haven't messed with render layers that much so I'm a noob here.

Hi :). You simply check/uncheck collections you want to show in each render layer

@JachymMichal Thanks! If you post this a a comment, I'll mark it as the answer.

That's what the Collection checkbox is for.
You simply check/uncheck it to Include/Exclude from View Layer


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where is transparent view in luxrender
I use the transparent view in blender with Cycles a lot and I just started using LUXrender and I need to enable transparent view in the viewport except, I can't find it. Is this an option in Luxrender?

@RobertGützkow The linked post only refers to rendering in standalone LuxCore, after exporting the scene to the LuxCore scene format. Inside Blender, it is possible to use the "transparent film" option.

Select the camera, open the camera properties, and scroll down to the "Image Pipeline" panel.
In there, you can enable the "Transparent Film" option.


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Can I turn my rigid bodies animation into keyframes?
I have a very simple rigid body animation, and I want to turn this animation into keyframes. Is there a way I can do this?

Sure, go into Object > Rigid Body > Bake to Keyframes then in the pop-up panel choose the start and end frames:

Thank You so much! Pretty obvious now that I see it LOL


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Why are there 2 GPU options on my M1 MAX?
I have the blender 3.1 build that now supports Metal. When I select the "Metal" option, there are 2 options (seen in pic below). Why are there 2 options, and which one should I choose?

The first option is whether or not to use the Metal GPU on the M1.  The second option is whether to use the CPU on the M1.
As far as I know, the preliminary support from Apple works with both.
Edit in response to a comment:
M1 is a System-on-Chip (SOC) meaning that the CPU and GPU are both on the same chip, along with other things.
Metal is Apple's name for their software layer that other software (like the Blender Program) are supposed to use when they access a GPU on an Apple device.
So the "Metal" button is telling Blender to use the Metal software and the first checkbox is telling the metal software whether to use the hardware GPU while the second checkbox is telling metal whether to use the hardware CPU.

I've always used the CPU on the M1, so now why (if the second is CPU) Metal accelerated? Is there Metal on the CPU? (Sorry, I don't know that much about computer hardware)

M1 is a System-on-Chip (SOC) meaning that the CPU and GPU are both on the same chip, along with other things.  Metal is Apple's name for their software layer that other users (like the Blender Program) are supposed to use when they access a GPU on an Apple device.  So the "Metal" button is telling Blender to use the Metal software and the first checkbox is telling the metal software whether to use the hardware GPU while the second checkbox is telling metal whether to use the hardware CPU.


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Procedural Rougness texture
I'm looking to create a procedural basic rough texture in blender with some texture nodes. Can someone either share a node tree or a link to a video on it? Thanks!

Hello, please a picture of the kind of texture you would like to reproduce

I don't have a picture of the texture. I just want to rough the surface up a little bit.

It depends if you mean roughness as a 2D effect or 3D effect.
For 2D roughness you can use a Noise (or this kind of texture) as a factor in a mix between a glossy and a non glossy material:

For 3D roughness you need to plug a Noise (or this kind of texture) into a Bump node that you plug into the Normal sockets of your nodes. Here I've mixed 2 Noise Texture nodes into a MixRGB (try Overlay or Darken or Lighten mode) in order to have some smoother areas.

If you're not fully procedural and use an Image Texture:
In the case of a 2D effect, if you use an Image Texture you can create something without any unwrap, I guess it's the quickest way:

Prepare your dirt texture (a simple black and white jpg is ok).
Create this nodes setup: Texture Coordinate (Object output) > Mapping > Image Texture > ColorRamp > Factor socket of a Mix Shader.
In the Image Texture, load your dirt image, choose Box instead of Flat so that the texture will be projected all around the object. You may need to play with the Blend factor to avoid any seam effect.
In the Mix Shader, plug the 2 materials, the one that is supposed to be the glossy and the rough one.
You can play with the Location and Scale of the Mapping node, but don't play with the Rotation if you want to avoid stretching.

In the case of a 3D effect, same setup on the left, then:

Plug your Image Texture node into the Height socket of a Bump node.
Plug the Bump into the Normal sockets of your Diffuse and Glossy nodes.
Here I've used a (Math) Multiply node instead of a ColorRamp. - Play with the Strength of the Bump to increase the 3D effect.

The recent versions of Blender have Map Range node but you could have had it before as a node group. I find it a good way to control some important values when you need to have some variations but on a certain scale.

oh ok I don't know anything about it

Thanks!!!!!!!!!

Put a noise (procedural) texture instead of image texure as this node tree shows,and you get a basic rough shader.how-to-make-a-bump-map-from-a-texture-paint


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How to colour particles (in particle settings) based on vertex colour of emitter object
In Blender 2.8, cycles renderer.
I'm using an imported .ply object (which includes vertex colours) to generate a single particle on each vertex of the object. The idea is to create a point cloud effect.
How would I setup my nodes to use the emitter .ply object's vertex colours as the colours for the generated particles?
Is this even possible?
Blender n00b so, assume no knowledge :)
Many Thanks
Mike


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Geometry node booleon material
Hi any idea to insert color from other booleon object in geometry node.

Hello and welcome ! Two notes : Your image is really low-res around the node tree and it's hard to see exactly what you did there, and 2 : You are using an alpha version which may or may not change in the future so it's hard to answer this question for posterity. That being said, I think you should be able to do it by using a third boolean with Union

@Gorgious: he wants to apply material ...to this one cut out cube...so a third boolean wouldn't help - i think ;)

do you mean like this? [1]: https://i.sstatic.net/07KzA.png

you just assign a material as you did before like this:

result:


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Set Vertices To intersection points [Geometry nodes]
has anyone idea how to set all vertices to intersection points like on image below or slide them to point where them intersect. Thanks

You mean like an Auto Merge feature we have available in Edit Mode? I don't think there is a node for that. I think boolean union is the only option for now.

Do you only connect stripes at 90° and 45°? That would allow to mathematically calculate where the points are supposed to be…

Yes, It would be helpful.Could You show it in geometry nodes.


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Road Intersection [Geometry nodes]
I'd like to do a road interection system in Geometry nodes. Any idea how to get intersecting lines. Like on Image below.

I think the most reasonable solution is to hand-craft (manually model) intersections and put them at joints…

I need a more procedural solution because all intersections are different and I'm to lazy to fix them... Thanks for comment.


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How to set value from one geometry node to another?
is there a way of getting values from one geometry node to another. I'd like to make City generator and I need to determine manually for all roads different width and then cut them in landscape. Has anybody solution for that?

Please do not ask questions twice. If a question is unclear, try to complete it with precise details. This way you avoid that others have to make assumptions when answering, you get a more accurate answer and the added value for this platform and other users increases. Thank you for your understanding.

This looks like an XY problem to me. Could you please clarify which values you want to transfer from where to where, and what your node setup looks like? It might also be helpful if you share your blend file.

All 3 primitives have unique geo nodes. The one thing they share is a node group - created by pressing ctrl-g on a single or group of nodes. In your case, the node group would contain a single node as shown, hooked to the output. Press tab to enter or exit the node group. Edit the value node to whatever global variable to want the roads to share. Did I interpret your problem correctly?


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Paraboloid in geometry nodes
any idea how to do paraboloid in blender geometry nodes?

Generate grid and move points in Z direction:

You can find a general method for generating meshes from equations for 3D surfaces in the answers to this question.
In this instance you don't need the complexity of a parametric equation but you can easily find the equations for a paraboloid on Wikipedia.  In this case, if you want to use the parametric form, $x = u$ and $y = v$ makes it easy enough to translate the basic equation to
$$ z = u^2 / a^2 + v^2 / b^2$$
and you can plug that math into the generic answer thusly:

I've pulled all of the parameters you might normally change into inputs.  You could hook those to the Group Input node and control the parameters of the paraboloid from the modifier, if you wanted.
As a bonus for reading this far, here's the node group in a blend file so you don't have to reconstruct it.


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Random steps in GN
has anybody idea how to do this ? I've tried math function modulo and snap but partial effect no x position.

related: https://blender.stackexchange.com/q/297570/60486

Assuming you start from a randomly generated curve like this one:

You can realign specific pairs of points by shifting them along X and then in Z direction in two steps.
Point pairs aligned by X are (0,1), (2,3), (4,5), (6,7), (8,9), (10,11) etc. where the second in the pair takes the value of X from the first.
Point pairs aligned by Z are (0), (1,2), (3,4), (5,6), (7,8), (9,10), (11,12) etc. where the second in the pair takes the value of Z from the first (excluding point at index 0)
We can use Sample Index Node to get a value from the desired index. For that we need to create two sequences based on index numbers 1,2,3,4,5,6... in the form of:
0,0,2,2,4,4,6,6,8,8,10,10...
and
0,1,1,3,3,5,5,7,7,9,9,11,11...
The node setup and result is shown on the figure bellow:

I hope that helps.
Edit:
A less geeky way to do it and amazingly simpler is to individually scale the even edges along X and all odd edges along Z (or vice versa). You will get different look, but as it is random anyway it doesn't really matter.
The node set up is on the figure bellow:

Thank You very much. You are a lifesaver

You're very welcome.


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Select Rings in Geometry nodes
I'd like to select rings on mesh made in geometry nodes.

If you capture the curve Factor before conversion, it survives on mesh vertices. The mesh-edges around the profile will have the same Factor at both ends. That can be used to identify them:

This example deletes the other, longitudinal, edges.
Someone may come up with a better way. For some uses, you could convert the original: Curve to Points ('Evaluated'), and just instance the profile curve on the points, in the points' output: 'Rotation', to  create the same set of edges that would have been the rings of a Curve to Mesh.

Works like a charm. Thank You


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Trim by length in geometry nodes
Hi I'd like to trim curve by length but geometry nodes shows the same length for all curves. Any Idea how to fix it ?

Something wrong here. Output should be curve type, not the mesh. Maybe it shows data from another viewer?

Something wrong here. Output should be curve type, not the mesh. Maybe it shows data from another viewer?
But even if the correct node is active, I have to point that curve length has round output socket. This means that the data is singular, and can be viewed by hovering cursor:

And also that means that it has singular data, basically the length of all splines in the geometry.
To get length per spline, you should use Spline parameter:

Works when I restarted :) Thanks for help


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How can I go back to the original interface layout?

I don't know what the hell I did I just want to get back to modelling

I think you are asking about reason of the suddenly appeared big window with green line inside. You grabbed splitter between these windows way up and now 3d Viewport is in the top. See http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/5631/how-to-close-view-windows

Save and close your file, fully close Blender and then open a new Blender instance with the correct default layout.
Then go to File > Open and browse to open your desired file, but before you open uncheck the Load UI option on the bottom left of the File Browser window.
If when you open Blender by default the layout is already messed up you may have to delete your Startup.blend file from the user preferences folder either under

Blender/2.##/config for portable installations or under
or %APPDATA%\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.##\config for formal installation, generally under C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\<VersionNumber>\config for Windows users

Don't forget to upvote the answer if it helped you or mark it correct if it solved your problem

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


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Problem with Subdivision Surface around curves
I've looked high and low for fixes to my problem but have come to the conclusion that I am just not able to word my searches correctly, or that I have a very specific problem.
Anyway, what I am trying to do is create a human figure from a cube by extruding out and scaling down many faces to create a curve that fits my background image.
This is an image of my mesh in both front orthographic and a view from the side in perspective view without any subdivision surface modifiers.
Now when I apply the subdivision surface modifier, you can clearly see that the mesh is messed up around the armpit area.

The same effect happened on a quick mesh I made for hands, feet and the groin area. This means that the problem is definitely due to how I am making the 'slits' for those areas.
I've no idea how to go about fixing the problem as everything I have tried has failed miserably.

You should probably start by watching some beginner tutorials on how to make a human figure

As Duarte suggested, you should follow some tutorials, your mesh has way too many horizontal edge loops and not enough vertical, so you won't have any good result with that, for example follow this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAO4C_8y0w8


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Blender for elevation models - split object z coordinate at 0
I'm using the GIS addon (https://github.com/domlysz/BlenderGIS) to import digital elevation models into blender. So far so good, it puts a regular mesh at the right coordinates at the correct scale and everyone is happy. Except... When I start shading, I'd like to use a different gradient along the objects z axis for below sea level geometry than for above sea level geometry and use vertical exaggeration (scaling along z).
In my current setup, I'm using the object coordinates from a texture mapping node, the separate xyz node to get the z component and then create masks for below 0 and above 0 using the math node. I've used the map range to convert fixed boundaries (similar to a map legend, with fixed minimum depth and maximum elevation) to 0 and 1 which seems to work ok I guess. I then use the binary land mask to mix the depth shader with the land shader. However, it feels clunky to do it like that. Also, this doesn't work when vertical exaggeration (scaling along z) is used and then applied to the object.
I've attached a screenshot of my shader setup and the current shading (this is in Eevee, but it works in Cycles as well).

As you can see, my setup is quite procedural but it cannot handle vertical exaggeration (when applied to the mesh). I'd love to somehow use the generated coordinates (since they are between 0 and 1), but then I'd need the min and max of z as well and this is where my understanding of the math nodes doe snot get me the desired results.
Any help would be appreciated!

To handle vertical exaggeration in conjunction with the node Map Range, you need to know the height of your mesh.
Since there seems to be no way to process the dimensions of the object in the shader in a mapping node, the following workaround might help:

Create a modifier of type Geometry Nodes.

Use the node Bounding Box, separate the lowest and the highest value on the Z-axis and store it in an Output Attribute.

In the shader you can then read these values with the node Attribute, and use them as minimum and maximum values for your mapping in the node Map Range.

With this, the terrain should always have an even gradient from bottom to top, no matter what dimensions or scaling it has, and should be split at the zero point.

Thanks a bunch that's really helpful! Haven't looked into geometry nodes yet but they seem to be very powerful indeed.


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How to apply shortcut to "Show whole scene transparent" ?
How to apply shortcut for selecting invisible backside parts of mesh?
It called "Limit Selection to Visible" option in 2.7
There was an answer for 2.7:
Assign a shortcut to "Limit selection to visible" toggle
It doesnt work in 2.8

Was looking for the same and just found it.
In Blender 2.8 it is called Toggle X-Ray and the default shortcut is Alt+Z.


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Eevee - How to cast shadow on a background image
Using blender 2.80 official release
I want an object to cast its shadow over a plane (to show the right direction) but then i need the plane to disappear, while leaving the shadow as it was and over a background image.

In the picture i already hve the object and the plane + the image exists as a texture on an actual object.
I found a video from blender guru addresing this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjWoglMYXBE), but i'm not sure how to replicate the effect on 2.80.
Any Ideas?

Update. Found this video on "Shadow catchers" for EEVEE.
Solved the problem perfectly. Thank you "Blender Pirate"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WYCZGOCPEY

Well, please share information here instead of just a link. The idea: this link can be deleted in future. But if you describe the answer here, Stack Exchange will keep it "forever", so that it will be useful for all. Thanks.


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knife tool not ending
I'm just starting to use the knife tool and, after I finish using the knike tool, I can't seem to get it off of the knife tool. How do I get it off of the knife tool?

Just press Enter to quit the Knife modal.

LOL, thanks. I guess I forgot to mark a question as read so since you gave me the true, correct answer, I'll mark yours!

If you selected the knife tool in the sidebar on the left, you can just select a new tool (Select Box, the top one, is the default):

Here, the knife tool is selected, so any time you click, it will use the knife. Just select the first box, and it will go back to the default.
Personally, I just use the knife tool by pressing k, and then after i press space to end the cutting, it will automatically go back to normal mode.

Thank you! I was confused bc I was using K and I couldn't figure out how to get off.


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Soft Body crumples upon impact
I have a very simple simulation of a ball falling onto a ground plane. But every time I play the sim, all the ball does is crumple. My settings are down below. Why is it doing this? I want it to be very plasticy.

@BentleyCarpenter It doesn't help at all.

Try the cloth sim with pressure turned on?

@ProEffectsMAX I meant that as a joke, but I suppose it wasn't very funny. Could turning on Stiffness do anything?

@BentleyCarpenter Oh sorry, no offense meant. I'm just not the best at soft bodies

@ProEffectsMAX Me neither, as a matter of fact. I mostly do hard bodies.

Increase the Bending value

@Blunder: Please write this as an answer, so that the OP can accept it, and so that we can upvote it! Note: checking or unchecking the "Stiffness" option gets an effect more like a rubber ball, or a blob of JELL-O, respectively.

Increase the Bending value (answer was originally in a comment)

Sorry ... dictionary ... Would be nice to wait a few days, maybe @Blunder wants to write an answer based on his comment.

@vklidu Oh, sorry. Should I delete it?

Not necessarily ... I just saw a few yours Answers (also comment of someone) ... it is not necessary to generate answer for such short tip. Comment can be upvoted so others can see useful ones. Or create answer extended about some additional info ... not only copy/paste comment.


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Cycles X renders with tiles with old files/objects
I have blender 3.0 and, when I render an old project, or when I append an object from an old project, Cycles X renders with huge tiles instead of all at once (picture below). Can I change it to render all at once instead of in huge tiles?

In render settings, in the Performance tab, under Memory you will find the tile settings:

You may want to read the Performance section of the manual for details, because tiles do not work the same way in 3.0 (Cycles X) as they did in 2.93 and earlier (Cycles).
The biggest difference is that the Tile size only has one dimension.  It is based on the longest dimension of your render Resolution.

Thank you very much! I just unchecked "Use Tiling"

That's also the way, but rendering 2048x2048 tiles should be actually a little bit faster than rendering 3840*2160 render at once (difference depends on your scene)

@MikoCG what makes you think that?

@J.Doe in Cycles, what he says would be correct, because of how Cycles allocates GPU resources.  It would, in effect, be working on 2 tiles at once in parallel, rather than one huge tile.  I'm not sure that Cycles X is as simple, but perhaps MikoCG knows.

only based on personall testing on my 6700XT, 40004000px image - 1 big single tile 1:58, 4 20002000 tiles took 1:12 and 16 10001000 tiles took 1:54... 2k2k tile seems to be faster than rendering 4k image at once

Ah thank you for testing! Actualy i now realise that this perfeclty makes sense with the note in the performance section of the manual @MartyFouts linked. For the Scene in your screenshot Tiling the scene into 4 vertical tilescould even be faster.


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Snap an inset face to edge instead of in the center?
I'm insetting a face and I want it to inset towards an edge instead of just insetting in the center. I know there is a way to achieve this. How do I do this?
Photo 1: default inset
Photo 2: Desired result (in this instance I just movied the insetted face down after inset)

This only works when there are open edges.
You need to remove some faces to make it work.

Remove the bottom face
Inset and uncheck Boundary
Done

Thanks! I kept on hitting "B" but it wouldn't work lol I didn't realize that it had to be an open face.

Glad to be of help :)


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Alpha Matte not keying out video?
In this tutorial, Kenan Proffitt goes through the very simple process on how to use a matte key (picture 2) to key out a video with rotoscoping. I have duplicated his exact process by using a "Set Key" node with the video clip plugged into the "Image" input and the rotoscoped matte plugged into the "Alpha" input. (picture 1) It's fairly straightforward. But when I do that, the result is only half-way working. The rotoscope subject is perfectly still there while the background is only sort of transparent-not 100% transparent (picture 3). Why is this happening?

The alpha channel needs to be associated to the image. Use an Alpha Convert node and choose Straight to Premultiplied.


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Unwrap doesn't show correct results
I have unwrapped a UV plane with "Project From View" (pic 1 & 2) and it unwrapped the plane perfectly except, even though in the UV Editor the UV looks perfectly positioned (pic 2), the texture result it stretched and warbled (pic 3). Why is this happening? I haven't messed with the texture at all in the nodes or anything.

Subdivide your plane and see if it works better

Seems to me you already asked here https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/239560/ and in second comment I attached several links to this issue with explaination ... if there is something specific you didnt understood be more specific instead of duplicating same Q

@moonboots If you post that as an actual comment, I'll mark it as the answer.

@vklidu It's a bit different in that before, the UVs were all distorted. In this one, their all on the correct place, the result on the actual object is warbled.

Yes, but in both cases distortion can be solved by any of the four solutions provided in mentioned link or comment in your first Q to this topic (subdivision included ... and as mentioned by moonboots - subdivision make it just less noticeable, to solve it completely is better to use different method).

A quad is actually made of 2 tris in Blender. If you project an image as texture it will tend to deform this image. To avoid that just subdivide your plane until the deformation is not noticeable anymore.


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Any way to automatically mark sharps where edges of UV maps are?
I have a photoscanned object that (of course has randomly marked edges of the UVs) and placed them in the correct places on the material (right window). Is there a way to automatically select all the edges where the UV edges are so that I can then mark them as "Sharps"?

Blender can mark the edges for you :).

Select your whole UV map an go UV > Seams From Islands
Select one of the new seams and go Select Similar > Seams
Go Edge > Mark Sharp

Thanks! Exactly what I was looking for!


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How do I make multiple things in the background the "ground and have them as "shadow catchers"
I am building a scene with multiple planes in the background because I want to have the multiple planes working as shadow catchers except, when I put them in the background, they don't behave as shadow catchers because blender renders them out (in the background composite node) and, I don't have a texture on any one of them. How do I make them behave as such? Only the original "Ground" plane behaves that way.

Unclear what you're asking for. To make an object a shadow catcher you'll have to enable that option per object.

What do you mean by "multiple planes in the background"? Your description is confusing.

You have different options.
Do activate shadow catcher in EACH of the object properties like this in CYCLES:

If you're on EEVEE, setup the shadow catcher MATERIAL to assign to all the objects you want to catch the shadow on, like this:

Alternatively, you can use holdouts to separate what you need but (trimming) the pixels to later compose. Activate the HOLDOUT option in the filter selection, and activate it at COLLECTION level for all your grouped (collection) elements.


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Blender is outputting blank screen video with no audio
I am working on a project that has multiple simultaneous sound files and image video files layered over each other, I'm not sure if this effects what I have to do to output. When I try to render, the output is a file that is the length of my project, but displays a blank screen with no audio. I have the following settings set:
-File format: FFmpeg
-Encoding: MPEG-4
-Video Codec: H.264
-Output quality: High quality
-Audio Codec: AAC
I have the file saved in a folder where I know I can find it, and I also do have all of the frames selected in my project from start to end so I know that's not causing the problem.
Any thoughts on this issue would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance!

Does your System console say anything? What is your resolution? Does the same thing happen if you export as image sequence?

@tintwotin Thank you for your response! Forgive my ignorance but where can I check the system console? The resolution is 1080 x 1920, and I was able to render a video that only had one line of audio and video at a time earlier in the day

Related? https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/186586/video-sequence-editor-rendering-a-grey-video


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context is incorrect error in async method probleme
hey guys i'm trying to use some blender commandes inside a async methodes, but it seemes like blender commands don't work insisde async methodes, i will apreciate any help:
from bpy import context
import asyncio
import time
import datetime
from spade.agent import Agent
from spade.behaviour import OneShotBehaviour
from spade.message import Message
from spade.template import Template

class ModeChangerAgent(Agent):
    class ModeChangingBehav(OneShotBehaviour):
        async def run(self):
            print(f"Mode Changing Agent : Mode Changer Behaviour is running ... at {datetime.datetime.now().time()}")
            print("Mode Changing Agent : Mode Changing ... ")
            for obj in bpy.context.scene.objects:

                bpy.context.view_layer.objects.active = bpy.context.scene.objects[2]

            obj_act = bpy.context.view_layer.objects.active

            if obj_act and obj_act.mode == 'OBJECT':

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

            else:
                pass

            print("Mode Changing Agent : Mode changed to edit mode.")

            #********message to the face changer agent*******************

            msg = Message(to="anotherAgentJID@XMPPserver")     # Instantiate the message
            msg.set_metadata("performative", "inform")  # Set the "inform" FIPA performative
            msg.body = "you can start the face changing!"  # Set the message content
            await self.send(msg)
            print("Mode Changing Agent : message sent!")

            msg = await self.receive(timeout=30) # wait for a message for 10 seconds
            if msg:
                print("Mode Changing Agent : Message received with content: {}".format(msg.body))

        async def on_end(self):
            await self.agent.stop()

    async def setup(self):
        print(f"Mode Changing Agent : Mode Changer Agent started at {datetime.datetime.now().time()}")
        b = self.ModeChangingBehav()
        template = Template()
        template.set_metadata("performative", "inform")
        self.add_behaviour(b, template)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    #execution**********************
    modechangeragent = ModeChangerAgent("agentJID@XMPPserver", "password")
    future = modechangeragent.start()
    future.result() # wait for receiver agent to be prepared.

    while modechangeragent.is_alive():
        try:
            time.sleep(1)
        except KeyboardInterrupt:

            modechangeragent.stop()
            break
    print("Mode Changer Agent finished")"""

and this is the error i get every time and i didn't find a solution:
Mode Changing Agent : Mode Changer Behaviour is running ... at 13:51:51.036063
Mode Changing Agent : Mode Changing ...
Exception running behaviour OneShotBehaviour/ModeChangingBehav: Operator bpy.ops
.object.editmode_toggle.poll() failed, context is incorrect
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender 2.83\2.83\python\lib\site-pa
ckages\spade\behaviour.py", line 264, in _step
    await self._run()
  File "C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender 2.83\2.83\python\lib\site-pa
ckages\spade\behaviour.py", line 253, in _run
    await self.run()
  File "\Text", line 27, in run
  File "C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender 2.83\2.83\scripts\modules\bp
y\ops.py", line 201, in __call__
    ret = op_call(self.idname_py(), None, kw)
RuntimeError: Operator bpy.ops.object.editmode_toggle.poll() failed, context is
incorrect

Mode Changer Agent finished
```

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/6101/poll-failed-context-incorrect-example-bpy-ops-view3d-background-image-add


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Bones Mirroring Opposite Rotation
All my bones are mirroring perfectly except for my fingers which for some reason rotate in the opposite direction. Not sure what might be causing this the only thing unique to these are that the tip copies some rotation from the middle finger bone, but I've switched this off and still they taunt me. Here's a video:
https://vimeo.com/513733570 Maybe someone knows what's happening? Thanks in advance :D.
I should also add that this seems only to happen in pose mode, in edit mode it works just fine.

Hello :). If you want to provide the blend, you can use https://pasteall.org/blend/

Found the answer today apparently, the mirror is based on the roll of the bones so I needed to set one side to the negative roll value of the other then readjust all my constraints accordingly.


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Run a Grease Pencil loop multiple times and then change position
I would like to run a walking cycle with Grease Pencil (Blender 2.9) a number of times. When my character reaches his destination, I want him to change position and do something else.
I know I can run the walking cycle using a Time Offset modifier on the Grease Pencil object. However, I have not figured out to set a number of finite repetitions.
Moreover, if I try to draw a new frame after using the Time Offset modifier, the new drawing does not erase the previous one.
I tried using the Non-Linear Animation NLA tool for this, using the suggestion HERE, which allows me to loop a fixed number of times. However, I still cannot figure out how to continue with my animation, after the walk cycle has ended.
I have the feeling I am not using Grease Pencil properly for this task, and I would be grateful for guidance to the right approach.

You just keyframe the modifier ON then keyframe it OFF (both the eye and the camera icons).

Thank you for another useful answer. It was not obvious to me that I could keyframe those buttons. Now it makes sense. I am happy to accept this as an answer with a few more details.

How exactly do you keyframe an entire modifier to be either all the way on, or all the way off? There seems to be a way to do that with constraints, but not modifiers.

As @wilks wrote in a comment, the solution is to keyframe the time offset modifier as indicated below


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Imported SVG shows circles instead of squares

I have some wierd issue with a .svg Import, here's the vectorized image on Illustrator:

But when i import it on Blender, it looks like this:

It transforms squares into circles. And i have no clue why it does that.
I have the same issue with multiple image.
How can i fix this ?

maybe try to scale it up and save in illustrator, and import again

Tried, still do the same thing :(

could you please share your svg? https://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/

Ho. I was about to send it and i just see that the problem is the svg. The export on Illustrator have made thoses circle... I look on the web why he does that...

Ok so if you solved your problem, answer to yourself so that we know how you did it  ;)

Have you tried importing this in Inkscape and then from there exporting to svg? Blender seems to have fewer problems with Inkscape, unless I'm mistaken.

So the problem was in Illustrator. The Image trace tool considered some rectangle as Circle. I had to convert all part how gave me Circle.
Full answered here: https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/a/118502/131137
Thanks to him (And you too !) !

The problem is in your Illustrator trace settings. I tried to trace it in Inkscape, and succeed. There are no circles, just few objects in blender - one for each color.

Problem was in Illustrator yhea.
Gonna try with Inkscape next time maybe.


text:
Save animation clips and play them for a time
I know that my title doesnt explains very well my problem.
I would like to know if there is a way to do some animations in different clips and then in a general animation say, play that clip (that is loop) for x frames, and if it finishes it starts again.
For example, a character. You make an animation of it walking that is 20 frames, and you want to play it 40, another 20 of other action and another 60 of it walking.
There is a way of doing that properly?
Thx

Go to the NLA Editor, with your object or armature selected.  You will find your object listed along with its animation on the left.  Click the double arrow button, and the animation is converted into a strip on the timeline shown in the NLA editor.  Now you can duplicate the strip to continue the animation in any part of the timeline!

Could I get a more detailed answer or a video? I have this: https://gyazo.com/14b812e78a3c6b6106adb50fa14b3cb0

Ok, see the grey button next to the text "CtrlPistolAction"?  Press that, and you will have an animation strip instead.  I use version 2.79, so it looks a little different for me.  Say if you need anything else


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Copy Rotation to bone fails
Im trying to make a controller to the hand, so I want to take the rotation of one bone, so I add a Copy Rotation to the hand and select that bone, but the result its not what I expected, its rotated 90º.
If I rotate the "origin rotation" bone 90 degrees it works, but I would like to not do that.
I can change too the space to local parent, but then I have to rotate in Z to rotate the hand in Y and its weird.
Any help?

I'm not sure it's clear, maybe reformulate?

@moonboots as you can see when I add the modifier to copy the rotation and I select keep offset the bones are not like in the first image.

Still unclear, sorry, maybe share your file... The classic way to rig the hand is to parent it to the IK controller, now if you want your hand to stick to the lower arm, give it a Copy Location with the lower arm as Target, and a Head/Tail value of 1.

The problem its that I would like to use it in Unity as an humanoid, but Im having troubles for doing that


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Make Pole Targets follow the bone
Im trying to rig a Humanoid in blender, and I have the Iks done with their Pole Targets. My problem its that I dont know what its the best option to make them follow their bone position.
I have tried copying location , but its not a option since i cant move the bone. I tried parenting it to the ik or the bones too, but the result its very bad. Any help?
The first image is the bones in rest position.
The second one its if I move the Ik controller.
The third its if I parent it to the bones.

I think it's better you have an extra bone to be the IK and you can parent the Pole to the Foot.

What do you mean? An extra bone between the sections of the finger?

Oh, I didn't notice that was a hand.

You can duplicate that IK bone and make it the parent of the Pole bone.

The IK bone its the right one in the first image, the pole bone the middle one. So I duplicate the right one and this is the parent of the bone? Why cant i parent the pole one to the IK then? (I dont do that because the result its bad)


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Spiral between Points [GN]
Hi I need some help with spiral to transform it between start and end point

Do you want the rotational center of the spiral at the points, or the spiral to connect to the points?

Spiral to connect to points. Spiral should go from start to end point in given number of turns.

@RobinBetts I reckon you're answering this? Knowing you if I post a simple answer you will resign from posting your better answer :D

Hi, Markus.. no, I haven't thought it through.. my question face-value.. very kind but usually I conclude yours are too good to follow.

@RobinBetts I know you're humble, that's exactly why I asked - I have no scruples like this so I feel fine giving a worse answer if it's not worse in every way ;)

Here is a "simple" solution. It just creates a spiral going upwards from one control empty "start" to another control empty "finish". It only works for full rotations.
First I have two Object Info nodes, one for the "start" empty and one for the "finish" empty. I have a Curve Spiral node with Start Radius and End Radius connected to the Group Input for more convenience setting those values outside of the nodetree. Also Rotations is connected but set the type Integer to only set full rotations. The Height is 0 m, because it will be set later by a _Set Position node.
The Location from "start" empty will first be used in a Transform Geometry node to move the spiral's starting point where the empty is. The X location has to be subtracted by the Start Radius value because the radius offsets the start point of the spiral in X direction.
Then I substract the "start" empty's Location from the "finish" one's (with the X value this time corrected by the End Radius and the difference between Start Radius and End Radius. The Z value will become the height of the spiral.
Now I use the differences in a Combine XYZ node to get the offset vector between "start" and "finish" and use them as the Offset in a Set Position node, but to not move everything I scale the vector by the Spline Parameter > Length to trnasition be spiral from "start" to "finish".

And here is the result:

By the way, you can use some maths on the Spline Parameter > Factor like a Power node or a Float Curve to manipulate the interpolation between start and finish if you do not want it to be a linear transition, just make sure the spiral has enough Resolution to show these manipulations properly.

Interesting, totally not the way I went.

@MarkusvonBroady I actually think after finishing it I could have done this differently as well... since my nodetree is just doing what your first screenshot shows, just more complicated than yours  :D

OK ok I can see now how my message could be seen as sarcastig, but I really didn't recognize the effect is the same - I still haven't bothered to test, but it seemed to me like your solution has less stretching going on.

@MarkusvonBroady I did not see it as sarcastic, actually after I finished my answer here I stripped it all off that Transform Geometry stuff at the beginning and used just the locations and mixing between them as well, but I did not bother to change my answer when I saw yours and realized they would be the same then. So I left it like it is, at least the last part with the interpolation can be used maybe. I think mine only looks like less stretching because I have more rotations...?

Your Map Range node suggests you want to move the endpoints to empties, and linearly interpolate the offset (by linear interpolation I mean the smooth switching between moving to Empty and Empty.001 throughout the curve, not the animation - the animation part is removed from the setup below):

However maybe you want to align without actually modifying the shape of the spiral:

Both solutions here:

Bonus:

Oh, now I realize why yours might look more stretched than mine. You are directly setting the positions of the curve points, while I'm leaving the original positions and just offset them to match the start and end points (that's why I need to offset on X by radius and only work with full rotations).

@GordonBrinkmann you're speaking about the 3rd one? I compared it with the 1st and it's clearly different, and yes, stretched. The 1st one offsets, the 3rd one lerps.


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How to make Spiral in Geometry nodes [ but without node spiral ]
I need to make spiral in blender geometry nodes but not using spiral node any ideas how to do this?

The reason why you can't use the spiral node may affect the validity of the answer, please elaborate...

Yes, but it would be interesting to know why because it is so easy with the Curve Spiral. It sounds as if your main problem is finding the maths to do that, which makes it not a Blender problem in the first place. Having a formula but not knowing how to implement it with nodes would be more of a Blender problem. But if the maths is not your problem it would really be interesting to know why you don't want to use the dedicated node, because whatever restricts you from doing simple might affect possible solutions as well.

As You said i need to do it not in blender but in UE4 but setting can be similar

Short question - short answer.


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Blender steps in geometry nodes?
I'd like to do array modifier equivalent in geometry nodes. Image below to clarify it more

This Tutorial will give you a good start.

Another simple setup is to delete part of a cube and instance it along a line like so:

Result:

Thank You for answer works like a charm.

A more mathematical approach, which won't require you to use weld modifier:

Added solidify for thickness:

a very basic stair setup is this:

result:


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Wing in geometry nodes
Hi I'd like to do a plane wing in geometry nodes all is spline based but don't now how to make it more like wing shape more in image below

if i understood you right, you want something like this?

The "trick" here is to use the curve radius. So you can shrinken your profile. I used a simple multiplier node here. Of course you could use a more complicated formula there.

Great this is what I was looking for. Thanks

You are welcome


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GN_Instances with boundaries on spline
I'd like to make instances with boundaries scatter on spline

(1) Do you mean that instanced objects should be in contact, without the gaps highlighted with red crosses ? (2) Because it is unlucky that the spline length matches perfectly the sum of instanced objects width, how do you what to manage shorter/longer curves ?

Rather option (1) I'd like to have instances boundaries start from instance end and so on . It'd be great to function also in looped splines

@Mateusz88 2 questions have been asked, it would help to adress both of them if you hope for answer.

Take a look at this question. It places the instances with no gaps and no overlaps, but this statement is valid for the "center line". Now, if you say you want something that creates a gap in the middle because the sides are touching, then that would be a pretty hard heavy math solution
https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/326230/how-to-infinite-loop-randomly-sized-instances-along-the-multiple-curves/326374#326374


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Body mesh is rendering over clothes mesh when duplicating/mirroring clothes mesh
When editing this model. I duplicated the shoe on the right foot and mirrored it to the left foot. I also duplicated the tights on the left leg and mirrored it to the right leg. It seems that the mirrored meshes have something wrong with the rendering layers or something else. For some reason, even though the body mesh is below the clothes mesh, it is rendering above the clothes mesh. When I import this model into Unity, I see the same render issues I see in blender.

What is almost certainly happening here is that your face normals are reversed for the duplicated objects. In case you don't know, face normals are a fancy term describing the fact that all polygons, as a rule, have only one facing which the renderer recognizes, and the other facing is ignored by the renderer. The "normal" itself is an abstract line representation extending from the side of the polygon that actually gets rendered, though this representation is typically not displayed by default, meaning one could easily find themselves modeling for a very long time without even knowing about normals.
Select your problem geometry in Object Mode, then Tab into Edit Mode. Press 3 to go into Face Selection mode. Press a to select all the faces. Now press Alt + n To bring up the Normals menu, and from the list, choose Recalculate Outside. This should fix your problem.
In addition to the above, though, it might be helpful to discuss how your situation likely arose, and how to avoid it in the future:
By default, objects are created with their normals facing out, so that they will render normally. If they get turned inside out, then their normals face inside instead of out, meaning that their external facings do not render. That's probably what happened to you. This could have happened by taking your duplicated geometry and then scaling it in the X axis until its scale values became negative. That is exactly how the normals can get flipped, because scaling an object into negative coordinate space turns them inside out.
There are two simple ways to avoid this: Either 1) select your object to be copied, and put a mirror modifier on it, then apply the modifier. No normal flipping will occur (you may find that you need to create a dummy object at the worldspace origin to use as a mirror object before this will work properly). Or 2) select your object to be copied, duplicate it with Shift + d, then invert the x axis of the copy with CTRL + m, followed by pressing x to define the axis you want the copy object mirrored along.
Note that while this second method works to create a copy with proper normals, the inverted copy won't be in the correct worldspace position on the other side of the subject's body unless the copy object's pivot center was at the worldspace origin before inverting it. A simple way to deal with this is to make sure your 3D cursor is at the worldspace origin with Shift + c, and then set your Transform Pivot Point setting to 3D Cursor (menu accessible via the . key).


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dialog windows with two displays
I have two displays and I'd like to move Blender to the secondary display and not the main one, because of resolution stuff (main display is a laptop display scaled 125% and it kinda leaves less room for a workspace).
When I do this, any modal/dialog window is still opened on main display and also with random size every time, resulting in a very ugly view sometimes:

It bothers me a lot and I keep wondering is there a way to somehow fix the size of the modal window? Is it possible to set it to "800x600"?
Thanks.


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Unable to merge two objects
After hours of searching this on google and coming up with nothing, I figured I might as well try asking here.
I am currently in the middle of doing a head-swap, where I am attaching a head to a body at the neck. Both objects share UV's, doubles cleared, and tris-to-quads. I marked a seam on the neck and body, bridge edge loops straight up refuses to even do anything at all. I then tried to manually merge the meshes with selecting both loops and pressing F.

Instead of connecting both meshes together, it closes both of them off.
I have even tried merging after making them the same object with CTRL + J.
I was told in a discord that the issue is because of remaining triangles on the head mesh, but I am not entirely sure that really matters. Dissolving some of the edges that form tris will disfigure the mesh.
If I have committed any question no-no's, let me know to avoid it in the future.

search for bridge edge loops - this will help you

@Chris I have already tried to bridge edge loops, it does not work in this case.

did you join your two object before bridge edge loop? or what "didn't work in this case"?

@Chris I stated I have tried bridging even after making them the same object, and it still does not work. I tried selecting the edges one by one and merging by distance, that did not work either. I am open to more suggestions

From the pictures you've provided, it appears that you do not have the same number of vertical spans for the head mesh and the neck mesh. They will need to be the same before they can be properly joined. You won't want to count them manually, so just select each of the edge loops in Edit Mode individually, and then look to the bottom right of the screen to see the number of edges and vertices for each of the selected edge loops. This will tell you exactly how many more spans one mesh has than the other. It looks to me as if your neck mesh is the one which has more.

If you don't see this information, right-click on the field where it should appear, and a menu will appear. Check the box that says Scene Statistics. Now you can see the information.
Fixing your kind of topology problem can be a headache. You could try to remesh the parts to fix it, but I find that it's more straightforward to simply manually select and delete the extra spans. If you are worried about how that may damage your model's shape, you can try to retain it by shrinkwrapping your body mesh to an unedited copy of the body mesh, then delete the spans for your project body mesh, and then adjust the remaining spans on it with by edge-sliding the spans into somewhat better positions. Shrinkwrapping to the copy mesh ensures that the overall shape will be preserved.
If you don't want to delete any spans, there is another way to get this done. You could add spans to the head instead of removing them from the body. One nice thing about going this route is that it won't interfere with your shape. But it will create unnecessary geometry, and maybe even ugly topology. You could consider using the Knife tool to add small edges that bring the total count up on the head side of the join, but then those new edges you create will have to end up going somewhere. There is a trick that prevents you from needing to follow a newly created span all the way around the object you're adding it to. You can get rid of any two extra spans at the same time by tracing them into the new mesh area and then making sure they meet one another at the centerline of the mesh. To keep things all quads, though, you will want the vertex that defines the 90 degree bend that this solution requires to be joined to the nearest corner vertex. It looks ugly, but it gets the job done (Newly added knife cuts shown in dotted green; centerline shown in dotted red).

Your neck mesh looks especially problematic from the side. You may have to use loop tools (an addon which is included with Blender, but not on by default) to straighten and round out the neck hole. You should probably also partially rebuild the topology on the side of the neck so that the edge flow is consistent with that of the head.

When you finally get the spans to be the same number for both parts, your bridging of the edge loops should work. But be aware that you must be sure to join your mesh parts before beginning this operation.


text:
Change the default moving distance
In Blender, I can move the model in default distance by holding the control. However, can I change the default moving setting by myself?

what kind of default moving setting would you like?

@moonboots like moving the distance in 10 centimeters by holding control

you mean like a kind of custom increment snap? You could temporarly change the grid units in the Scene panel > Units > Unit System


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color management in blender 3.3
I recently update to blender3.3, but I find that there isn't any choice in color management. Then, how do I change my render color to high contrast in the new version?

Couple of questions (based on another post) - are you using a portable version of blender? Also, have you installed blender in a OneDrive folder? - This may be an unsolved bug - see here - https://developer.blender.org/T82081

Yes, I only download the portable version, but not in the OneDrive folder.

From the thread I linked, It seems that the problem only affects portable versions (I think one comment even suggests that installing a non-portable version fixes the OCIO path problem that seems to cause this, thus "fixing" the portable install as well). Maybe it's worth giving the standard (non-portable) version an install and see if it works and/or fixes anything.


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How can I use texture properties texture in material properties?
I want to put the stripe texture on my shoe's vamp, and I find that the wood texture in texture properties is correspond to the texture I want. How can I use the texture in texture properties to material properties?

In the same way like current one ? It depends on your current node tree that we don't know.

You can't use a texture that comes from the Texture panel in your material from what I know but what you show looks like the Texture > Wave Texture

Blender's Texture system is legacy, and doesn't marry directly witrh shader node trees. In this case, as @moonboots says, that's a Wave texture node ('Diagonal') .. but you can rotate/map that as you wish.


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Color managements problem
I used to adding high color contrast by color management panel in my rendering. However, recently, I find out that the render viewport won't change by the influence of color management. What does the problem happen on my Blender settings? The output images seem normal with the different color setting but not in render viewport.

What you are showing are the Output Properties which are used when you render an animation for example and save the file. They are set to Override so that they replace the original scene's Color Management settings. The 3D Viewport uses the settings in the Render Properties tab:

To change the Color Management in the viewport, go there. And if you want the rendered images to look the same like the viewport, set the look you want in the viewport's settings and for the Output Properties instead of setting them individually with Override, switch back to the default Follow Scene (which means it uses the color management you have set for the scene for the saved files):


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How to know the situation when to use Mix Shader or Mix RGB?
I try to simulate the fog in my setting, and here is the problem what I met. I don't know what the difference between the Mix shader and Mix RGB. I try to replace the Mix RGB shader to Mix shader in the shading, but it won't work. How does these two shaders work actually?

Mix RGB is only for mixing between colours. Anything with a yellow dot on the node is outputting an RGBA value. Image Textures, Colour Ramp, Hue Saturation Value etc. If a colour node is plugged into a single value node (the grey dots), it takes the greyscale value of the colour.
The Mix Shader node can only be used to mix between Shaders and nothing else. Anything in the Shader submenu. They are the green dots on the nodes.

That was true until recently.  In recent versions of Blender you can plug other nodes into the mix shader and it treats them as if they were being passed through a diffuse (emission?) shader.

@Marty Fouts, yes but as you say it only works as if the color or image was plugged into an Emission, not a Diffuse. Also; maybe Benus should specify that MixRGB is also used to mix textures (which are colors of course)

You could go on for days with all the neat little tricks nodes have, like automatically converting RGB to XYZ and vice versa for example. I think I gave a clear explanation for beginners, which should suffice.

@moonboots  You can plug a color directly into a MixShader node now without plugging it into any shader at all.

@Benus any explanation that tells the beginner something that is not correct is not a clear explanation because when they encounter the variance later they'll be confused.  Give them incomplete information if you must but drop the "and nothing else" and you won't confuse them.

If you plugged Shader Nodes into only green nodes "and nothing else". I'd say you'd bump into less problems than if you didn't follow that rule. Even though I'd say my answer was "clear", I agree it isn't entirely true. So maybe calling it "the simple answer" is more fair. @MartyFouts

@ Marty Fouts yes but again it works as an Emission


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Why my metallic material seems weird in viewport shading?
I change the metallic node to simulate the metal material, but it shows odd in viewport shading.
I have even checked my light is turning on. Please help me to solve this problem.

This is a bit of a cheat, but what happens when you up your specularity?

If you don't have any HDRI image, by default your metallic object will only be able to reflect the background color and the lights, so if you want the same effect as in Material Preview you need an HDRI

It works when I turn off the scene world lighting and turn on the scene lighting, thanks. However, I get another question. Although I turn off both world and scene lighting, the cube can still reflect the HDRI color and light, why?

So basically this is because of different viewport shadings... In picture 1 you are using real time render (red arrow) where your lighting is used without default hdri...

In 2nd picture you are using viewport shading where there is not shown what render looks like (if you render this, you will get what you see in 1st picture) but you are shown what your object looks like with default hdri that Blender uses like in here:

Do you see that sphere in red circle? That is what you see in reflections, it is nothing to worry about. If you change it back to realtime render you will see it how it should look like

It works when I turn on the scene lighting with default hdri. But why the cube can still reflect the HDRI color and light even if I turn off both world and scene lighting(where I select in red arrow)?

Another question. How can I change back to real-time render to see what it looks like in render mode under the default HDRI setting in blender?


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Invisible material node tree?
so im making a fluid simulation where you see through an aquarium and i want to know how to make something like glass material, it has to be eevee engine though.

"my pc is potato pc lol" me, 2022 march 31rst 18:15

Please edit the question to limit it to a specific problem with enough detail to identify an adequate answer.

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/150418/eevee-thin-glass-surface - https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/216244/110840


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Creating 3D tileset
My goal is to create a 3D terrain tileset for a game.
I can't however find a good way to make sure that the edges of the multiple tiles (outer corner, inner corner, edge, slopes) fit seamlessly to each other.
Are there known tools or tricks to create 3d seamless tilesets like these?
Example

Example

Try using ultimate grid snap to keep them in a grid space in Blender, then joining the meshes together and seeing if everything connects correctly when you use merge by distance.

That's what I'd recommend, too. I don't make game assets myself but sometimes watch tutorials for making them, and usually people use grid snapping (with Absolute Grid Snap enabled, I guess).

Assuming you're using a game engine like Godot or probably any other editing software for putting assets together, there is a grid object that places objects on a grid.
The important thing here is the scale needs to match the grid for a seamless tileset to work. I am making a game and in Godot I have two tilesets. I've made one is 3 meters by 1 meter and the other is 1 by 1 and both match on height at 2.5 meters.
Currently I am attempting to make stairs that meet and seal the seams so I have to cover the 0.5 meter gap between upstair tiles and downstair tiles but other than that its straightforward.


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Why my blender layout area appears a mark like hourglass? and how to close it
I don't know what function I pressed, suddenly, the blender layout area appears a mark that looks like "hourglass"(see the picture below), and it does no effect but just a little bit annoying. I try to close it, but still can't.
If anyone knows how to close it and what function did I press accidentally, please help me to fix it. thanks a lot.

Just tap W again and it disappears.
With W you just change the selection mode.

Thanks for your suggestion.  But I tap W change the selection mode still can't select it or let it disappear. It looks like not a object.   : (


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How to use Nonlinear Animation NLA Editor with Grease Pencil
I have a walk cycle made with Grease Pencil in Blender 2.9.
I would like to be able to use the NLA editor to duplicate it a number of times and operate on it.
I have seen a number of useful videos for how to this for non-Grease Pencil walk cycles, like this example.
However I am unable to use that procedure to duplicate a Grease Pencil walk cycles (or general animations). This seems due to the fact that the Grease Pencil animations does not appear in Dope_Sheet/Dope_Sheet below

Instead the Grease Pencil animation are only visible in the Dope_Sheet/Grease_Pencil tab as below

Is the NLA editor simply not supported by Grease Pencil objects, or I am missing something?

I'm pretty sure it isn't supported. The problem isn't only the fact that Grease Pencil keyframes do not show up in the Dope Sheet. The real issue is that creating Grease Pencil Animations does not also create any actions. And if there are no actions for Grease Pencil animations, then there is nothing for the NLA to act upon.

It can be done: see the brilliant answer by @wilks

Glad you asked, I had a eureka moment a few weeks ago and been using the NLA with GP ever since, quietly thinking to myself that it's the best thing since sliced bread.
TLDR; Re-implement the timeline by placing keys on a Time Offset modifier then push those keyframes as action strips.
For a super simple example, we're drawing on 4s and only doing half a walk cycle (it's a silhouette so no difference between right leg in front and left leg in front). So our loop has 4 drawings, the first on frame 1 and the last on frame 13 (and in this case those 2 frames are actually the same):

Add a Time Offset Modifier and switch it to Fixed Frame. Go to the first frame and add a keyframe by pressing I over the Frame field in the modifier. Then go to frame 13, set the Frame field to 13 and add another keyframe:

Right, so we've just painstakingly re-implemented what the regular Blender timeline does by default, which might seem a bit of a waste of time, but far from it: we have two keyframes that show up in the action editor!
Now go over to the NLA editor, push those keyframes as a new action strip and you're good to go. Using the Action Clip section of the Strip tab in the right panel, you can set it to repeat and/or change the playback speed. You can of course also duplicate the strip and move it about as per usual.
I suppose it is just a workaround, but what's awesome is that if later you decide to add extra frames to the loop (say, draw it on twos or on ones) it will automatically update the entire animation. Just remember to disable the modifier in viewport when you want to change/add frames.

Another cool thing is that, by using multiple Time Offset modifiers with the Influence option to limit it to certain layers, you can combine different animations in the NLA editor, which really opens up a whole bunch of possibilities.

Wow! Brilliant idea. Thank you. I thought I had to wait for a future version to use NLA with GP. Which sounded like a shame as NLA is so incredibly useful. Your solution is a bit tricky but it makes GP usable with NLA already now.

This really is brilliant. Thanks for sharing.

While this trick does indeed create a new action strip based on something called a "stroke action", it doesn't seem to actually allow me to produce any new animation behavior with any extensions of that strip, or even, with any duplications of it. None of the animation behavior continues after the initially created strip. Anyone else having this issue?

It would appear to be not working, even though a new action strip appears. The reason the first loop works is because the Action Editor timeline is reading the original keyframes, and so isn't reading any new ones created by the strip because the strip isn't influencing the timeline at all. It exists, but behaves as if its empty, even when making sure that its influence checkboxes are on in the NLA. Hmm...

Hmm, I just did a little test and it still works here. From your description, it kinda sounds as if the time offset modifier was disabled? Maybe? I can check if you have a link to your file


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Invalid texture dislplaying
I'm using Blender 2.83.2 and I tried to create a carbon fiber texture, following steps shown in this video. It definitely worked when I applied it on a simple meshs (plane, cube, sphere etc created in object or edit mode):

But when I try to change something in a mesh, texture goes distorted and sometimes even loses different colors. For example:
I created a plane in edit mode and it has normal texture. Then I just extruded one of its edges and moved it away so it can be illuminated. But its texture is the colors of the edge (it was extruded from) that are stretched along it. Then, in the same mesh, I created another plane and deleted one of its vertices and created a new face using "New Edge/Face from Vertices" (triangle on a picture below). And it has only the color:

I tried deleting the material (in the object properties and even in the .blend file) and applying it again; restarting Blender and computer; switching shading from textured to solid and back; rendering a picture using camera (textures didn`t change). All normals are directed properly.
I am not professional in Blender yet (i don't even know how shader editor works, I just repeated all from that video). So I wonder why this happens and how can i fix it and not to get this problem again.

You need to UV unwrap your mesh...

When you change things about the mesh the UV for the textures doesn't actually update. To do that, you just need to click "u" on your keyboard and choose unwrap. You can also open the UV editor and make more complex changes from there.

Yep, that worked!


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Wires in Blender
I am using Blender 2.90 and yesterday I thought about creating wires in Blender. I searched for some time and found out that it can be done using curves and arrays. There are many important aspects, so I can't remember all of them. But after some time I got that:

Then I went further and thought that it will be good if curve will change it's geometry while wire's source is moving. I did it with hooks, and it worked fine. But when I wanted to rotate a source, curve goes distorted:

It looks like curve's hooked vertex changes it's position, but not rotation. How can I fix that?

Use curves, an example here https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/195051/how-do-i-get-a-cable-to-realistically-follow-the-back-of-my-security-camera-when/195054#195054

I found the solution. When you need to hook curve's vert, be sure to select all verts linked to the vert (not all of them will be shown until you choose a vert). For example, red circles are mistakes, green ones are the right hooking:

Also choose an object that will be the hook (will be followed by vert). It can be any object, Mesh or Empty Object (like on a picture) etc.
Have fun!


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How to simplify some objects in Blender
I have a scene in blender when exported as a gltf file it is 155 megs in size.
I've tracked down the entire model and found that the following objects which are 4 are 100 megs.

When I view it doesn't look too complex.  By this I mean it doesn't look like a complicated mesh but obviously something is going on to why it's so big in size.  It's just the inside of the building so I don't need high end texturing etc.  I'm not sure if the size comes from the "complexity" of the object or if its' texturing etc that makes it so large.  How would I be able to reduce this in size?

What is the size of your Blend file? Gltf format can sometimes pack textures, materials, shape keys and a few bunch of things.

@ mqbaka mqbaka 177 megs

In that case, there's no wonder if the gltf is heavy. There's probably something in your blend file that is responsible for that.

@ mqbaka mqbaka yes that’s why I posted the question

Well, I can't really tell what it is without having a look at the file but you can still check my answer below to help you debug the problem.

Blender has a built-in "Statistics" overlay that I often find helpful:

For the case of analyzing a glTF like this, I recommend exporting from Blender using the option called glTF Separate (.gltf + bin + textures).  You can look at the resulting file sizes individually.  You can also load them into VSCode with the "glTF Tools" extension installed, and get a detailed breakdown:

[Disclaimer, I'm a contributor to the VSCode extension for glTF.]

I doubt it is the mesh that makes the gltf file so heavy, since the objects are barely 1300 tris.
Here is something you can do if you need only the mesh for the gltf file :
First of all, you have a few options when it comes to exporting to gltf format :

The first one, glTF Binary (.glb), is the default and it packs all the data in binary format in one file. If this is the on you chose, it may be the reason for the big file.
The second one, glTF Embedded (.gltf), is the same as the first one but the data is packed in JSON format.
The last one, glTF Separate (.gltf + bin + textures) will save multiple files and will output a more lightweight .gtlf file so you can try this one to see if it solves the problem.
You can also chose which data you export in the Include setion :

By ticking Selected Objects, for example, you can limit your export to only the objects that you selected.
You can also check the Geometry section where you can chose to apply modifiers, export UV's, materials and so on.. Some of the options are enabled by default so you should check if there are some that you don't want.
Under Animation section, you also enable/disable exportation of shape keys, weight paint data and so on..


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export a texture image from Blender with unpack
I currently have an object in Blender that has a material output which is linked to an image:
I need to export this as an fbx file to import it into unity.  Following some instructions I did this by first Unpacking the resources.  When I do that I get the files in a directory named textures`.  However the images in the example image above do not appear.  How can I get these to also be exported?

Did you ever figure this one out?  Post your answer if you did.
My first thought is that if the material "Painting.016" isn't applied to anything, then the texture file would not get written because the data block is "orphaned".


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Why is this happening with faces?
Would it be possible to you to explain how and why this happens? (I am noob (sorry)

The quads are not planar. But you have most probably flat shading. And so you will see the shading for the two underlying tris of this quad therefore.
Try to activate Auto Smooth, and give it a angle of let's say 5. Increase or decrease the value to your needs. Auto Smooth can be found in the Properties editor in the Data tab.

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


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Bmesh: running bmesh ops after deleting geometry often results in an error
I've uploaded a blend file that demonstrates the problem, please have a look and test it for yourself:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9DFPZBPKp6AdERZTmJWeGE0RFE
If you delete geometry from a bmesh, but immediately then run another some more bmesh operations with reference to your resultant geometry, you will often encounter this error:
ValueError: geom: found the same (BMVert/BMEdge/BMFace) used multiple times
The only way I've found to fix this is to run the following after a deletion:
bmesh.update_edit_mesh(mesh, True)
bpy.ops.object.editmode_toggle()
bpy.ops.object.editmode_toggle()
bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(mesh)

But that seems a bit hacky. Is there not a more appropriate way of dealing with this problem?
edit: in the example blend file uncomment 'bmesh.update_edit_mesh(mesh, True)' to stop the entire application from crashing.

I'm inclinded to think this is a bug and I have reported it.
The context paramater you pass to bmesh.ops.delete would appear to correspond to deleting faces (DEL_FACES), this isn't documented clearly but appears to match with the enum defined in bmesh_operator.h. Ideally this enum should be defined in python for use with this operator.
By passing a geom list as well as a context, there are times (not every time) when an item can be deleted multiple times. It may be expecting to use one of these paramaters - not both.
You can verify this by deselecting all geometry before running the script. Removing the context paramater or changing it to 1,2 or 4 also works. It would also appear that if the selected items matches the geom paramater there is no problem, you can test this by deselecting the faces in your loop and selecting the faces as you add them to the list.
So this also works -
delete_first = []
for f in bm.faces:
    f.select = False
    if f.calc_center_bounds().y < 0:
        delete_first.append(f)
        f.select = True

bmesh.ops.delete(bm, geom=delete_first, context=5)

Edit:
From the response to the bug report it seems that passing duplicate geom to bisect_plane is the cause of the duplicate error message, though I seem to have trouble creating another scenario that causes a crash. The bmesh data created by the bisect isn't guaranteed to be appended to the end of the geom list so copying the geom based on the index relative to previous list lengths is creating duplicates. You will need to look at what you want to do after what you have so far to see how to work out another way to update the geom list.

I've just seen that and commented on it myself.
As I suspected, Germano confirmed: Remember that the new elements created are not necessarily at the end of the array., and that explains the bug. But it would seem the only resolution currently is the editmode_toggle trick, which finalizes geometry and leaves no hidden gaps in the bmelemseqs, so I can trust that all new geometry is appended. I think it would be a good idea to make more mention of this in the documentation's Gotcha section, and possibly have a new op that ensures the expected behaviour, so new elements are appended.


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Bmesh: Immediately encounter strange error after adding new layer and running bmesh op
The script is simple:
import bpy, bmesh

mesh = bpy.context.edit_object.data
bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(mesh)
geom = [e for e in bm.verts[:] + bm.edges[:] + bm.faces[:] if e.select]

cut_layer = bm.edges.layers.int.new('cut')
ret = bmesh.ops.bisect_plane(bm, geom=geom , plane_co=(0,1,0), plane_no=(0, 1, 0))
bm.edges.layers.int.remove(cut_layer)

bmesh.update_edit_mesh(mesh)

I get the error:
TypeError: geom: 8 BMEdge has been removed

Here's an example blend file:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9DFPZBPKp6ARjE5NXgzSTU0eDQ
Can anyone explain what's going wrong here?
I know the function itself looks a little pointless but that's because I've boiled the problem down to it's simplest form.
Why does the operation have a problem with the new edge layer I've added?
I can't find anything online about this...

Assign your int layer before you assign geometry.  PS took out verts from bisectable geometry.
import bpy, bmesh

mesh = bpy.context.edit_object.data
bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(mesh)
cut_layer = bm.edges.layers.int.new('cut')
geom = [e for e in bm.edges[:] + bm.faces[:] if e.select]

ret = bmesh.ops.bisect_plane(bm, geom=geom , plane_co=(0,1,0), plane_no=(1, 0, 0))
bm.edges.layers.int.remove(cut_layer)

bmesh.update_edit_mesh(mesh)

This is a bit of a problem as I'm creating my own bmesh operations as it were, which make no reference to selected elements, but receive parameters as lists of geometry (just like the built-in bmesh ops).
Is there some way I can keep the order of my original code while fixing the problem? Even if it means iterating over all the input geom after adding the new layer.

Thank you batFINGER, Wouldn't have guessed from the error msg (TypeError: geom: 0 BMVert has been removed) that it had something to do with a custom data layer.


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is object visible?
Object.is_visible or Object.hide is not sufficient to tell me if the object is actually visible in the viewport.
Is there a function that will tell me if the object is truly visible or not, taking into account layers and local/global view?

Can you explain why is_visible is not enough?

Unless something's changed since I asked the question, is_visible was not sufficient in telling me if the object is visible in different contexts, like if it was outside of local view or the set visible layers. it would remain true, even if these criteria were false.


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Strange shading after running python script
I've written a pretty complicated script which chops up, joins and transforms parts of 1 giant 'world' mesh for better handling in a game engine.
It all works as I'd expect, except for one thing...
Some operations cause strange dark shading to appear on parts of the mesh:

But when I go into edit mode... they disappear! Very odd.
There are other examples of weird shading after running my script, which also disappear upon entering edit mode.
If I export the mesh before entering edit mode, the problematic shading is exported as is.
Unfortunately, this method of toggling in and out of editmode just doesn't work for my purpose. The script mentioned above runs a secondary instance of blender in background mode, and for some reason this solution doesn't work when blender is running in background mode.
I've tried calling Mesh.update, Mesh.calc_normals, Mesh.validate, Scene.update, or regenerating the mesh with a bmesh. Nothing makes the slightest bit of difference.
Any ideas how to fix this besides the editmode toggle trick (which unfortunately doesn't work in my particular setup)
Here's a copy so you can see for yourself.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9DFPZBPKp6ASFVBMGFRaFJyUE0

The "lines" are where you have duplicate vertices where you have re-joined your mesh. You can see a slight variation if you enable vertex normal display.

The solution is to remove doubles in python or manually with W->Remove Doubles.
bmesh.ops.remove_doubles(bm, verts=bm.verts, dist=0.02)


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split edge at multiple points without distorting uv or other data
Here's a bmesh edge:
+-----------------------------+

Say I want to cut it at multiple points, in the middle and 3/4 from the end like so:
+--------------+-------+------+

In which case I can use bmesh.ops.split_edges twice, as it cuts edges exactly in half.
But what if I want to split it at 3/5 from the end just to be awkward, without distorting the uv or other data that may be linearly interpolated between the 2 points?
split_edges doesn't allow this, and neither does loopcut_slide.
The only solution to this I've found is to use bmesh.ops.bisect_plane repeatedly.
It get's messy and rather complex though when I want to split one edge in lots of places, having to refactor the new edges into the algorithm after every cut.
I don't suppose there's a simpler / better way of doing this?


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How to make an object contain water until desired time
I have a simple fluid simulation set up and I'm trying to throw a cube of water at a wall (with the cube's flow behavior set to "Geometry" of course). But of course when I have the cube as geometry, even though I've animated it flying through the air, the fluid drops to the ground at the first frame. I want it to be thrown against the wall and I'm guessing I just have to keyframe a certain property to do this. How do I achieve throwing a geometry of liquid?

You might need to work with force fields, or maybe set the initial velocity of your cube to a non zero number.

There are (at least) two ways of achieving this, depending on the effect you are looking for.
The simplest case is to animate the geometry towards the 'wall' and to switch to fluid at the last moment. The key here is to use the Initial Velocity of the fluid 'Flow' object to give the liquid the same velocity as the moving mesh.

Ideally you would be able to simply use the 'Source' velocity (set to '1') to derive the velocity from the current velocity of the mesh. However, testing has shown that there seems to be a bug where under some circumstances the first frame of the fluid does not pickup the correct velocity (I've filed a bug report at Fluid Initial Velocity 'Source' incorrect when enabling Inflow) but it's fairly trivial to set the Initial X,Y,Z manually.
In order to achieve this, select your mesh on the frame before the impact and determine its coordinates in World Space. If you have animated your mesh using keyframes you can determine the location simply from the object's coordinates in the properties panel (N). However, if you're using, say, a Rigid Body simulation, you can determine the coordinates by first snapping the 3D cursor to the location of the mesh (select the object, press Shift+S, select Cursor to Selected) and view the 3D cursor coordinates from the 'View' properties panel :

Similarly determine the coordinates of the mesh at the point of impact and subtract the previous frame's position from it - the result is the X,Y,Z velocity of the mesh at the point of impact - use those to set the Initial X,Y,Z of the liquid.

Now either set the Flow Behaviour to Geometry and set the simulation to start from that frame or set the Flow Behaviour to Inflow and keyframe the Use Flow to switch on the inflow on the frame of impact and off again afterwards. Note that using the Geometry method is slightly better as it will give you a precise volume of liquid but the Inflo method is better if you need the fluid simulation to begin before the impact (note that fast moving objects will create more fluid as the simulation will create enough fluid to 'fill in' the motion between one frame and the next).
By now switching visibility of objects and the fluid at the relevant points in your animation you should now be able to animate the mesh turning to fluid on the point of impact :

Blend file included :

The more complicated solution is to have the mesh behave as liquid before the impact, staying together as that shape until the point of impact. The reason this is more complicated is that there is no simple method of keeping the fluid within the mesh until released by the impact - so we need to fool Blender into producing the effect using other means.
To achieve this, we'll use an Inflow (instead of Geometry) to generate the fluid as before - and also use the Initial Velocity to set it's velocity (in this case we can use 'Source' to set the velocity based on our object since it is a continuous Inflow so doesn't seem to suffer from the same bug).
In order to keep the fluid within the mesh we need to use an Outflow to remove everything that is outside of the 'inflow' geometry (the Inflow continuously adds fluid while the Outflow removes anything that isn't within an Inflow). This can be easily achieved by duplicating the Fluid Domain object and changing the type to Flow and Outflow. The Outflow should be 'enabled' until the point of impact.
Then, at the point of impact, we simply 'switch off' the Outflow and, a frame later, 'switch off' the Inflow - by animating the 'Use Flow' property. The resulting liquid should be moving at approximately the same speed as the mesh (there will be some difference as the fluid only takes on the Initial Velocity where it is new fluid added into the Inflow mesh - existing fluid is not affected by the Initial Velocity).

Blend file included :


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Arrayed plane not following curve
I have a Plane converted to a curve and I have another plane (with a bunch of loop cuts in it) that I'm trying to wrap around the curve. But when I apply the proper modifiers (as Ian Hubert did in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXldgzeuj1k ), it doesn't follow the curve. Why?
You can download the .blend file below.

You have to understand that the curve modifier displaces vertices depending on the relative distance to the origin of each object. Also, it is good practice to apply your scale when working with modifiers. If you don't, the values in the modifier won't reflect reality. It is also good to apply rotation when there is no benefit in having one, else you will have trouble tweaking axis rotations. Try to re-name your objects as you go so that they aren't confusing afterwards (eg a plane converted to a curve could be renamed curve-something)

Apply rotation to your mesh object (Object (top left of the viewport)> Apply > Location)
Apply scale to both your objects (Object > Apply > Scale)
Go into edit mode after selecting the curve and set the radius to 1 :

Set origin of the mesh object to the origin of the world (Object  > Origin > Origin to 3D Cursor)
Move the geometry back to the origin (in edit mode) like so :

Set relative Offset to x,0 y,1 z,0
Set the length to "Fit curve" so that your object will fit the length of the curve whatever its shape
Set the axis in the curve modifier to "-Y"

Final result :

You just have to move the handles of the curve object and the mesh object will follow along :


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Why is my “Envelope Weights” bone moving way too much?
I have a simple skeleton on my character and when I make it the character’s parent using “Envelope Weights”, by default, each bone controls WAY too much! Is this a setting I need to adjust, or is it something I’ve done wrong?
Please bear with me, I’m not very good at rigging.

Hello, is there a reason why you chose Envelope Weights instead of Automatic Weights?

Automatic weights didn’t do anything.

You use either weights or envelopes, not both. Either way any automatic weights or default bone envelope is barely a starting point, it's unlikely to perfectly work without you adapting it.

Automatic Weights should work, I don't think that Envelope fits your need, but maybe share your file