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The initial render takes 5 days, but the next take 2 minutes? Why?
Okay, I have been living with this problem for a long time, and it's no big deal.
But the problem is when I click render, the initial render is estimated to take 5 hours to 5 days, and I'm pretty sure it's planning on doing exactly that because it's super SLOW.
But if I cancel the render and start it again, it might take 2-5 minutes.
I have no idea why, and this has been happening for maybe 5 months. This hasn't been a major issue because now I have just implemented this extra step in my workflow XD
Can anyone explain to me why this is happening?
Btw it doesn't matter if it's the first, last, or some random frame. It's just the initial render that is super slow. The project size can also vary, but it looks like it has to reach a minimum size, so rendering 1 cube won't take 5 days.
Any help will be much appreciated.

Look under Render Properties > Performance and see if the "Persistent data" button is checked - this option can speed up re-renders, but can also eat up memory. Un-check it if it is.

Yup, sounds exactly like persistant data effects. But "5 hours to 5 days"? i have never seen blender give an interval estimate nor one in days?

@L0Lock Oh, you happy being. A few years ago when I had no dedicated GPU and just a bad CPU, trying to render smoke simulations could actually make my Blender tell me estimated times of 2+ days. But no interval of course, only the estimated time was fluctuating between hours and days... I guess that's what he meant.

Not sure about happiness there, I never have been able to afford rendering even a single frame for days, I have always either optimized or even downgraded things to fit my time budget x)

My bad XD It's not showing a time estimate, it just sometimes says 5 hours but it might also jump to something ridiculous like 120 hours.

Look under Render Properties > Performance and see if the Persistent Data button is checked.
This option can speed up re-renders, but can also eat up memory. Un-check it if it is.


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Sculpt Mode Blender 2.81 Object not visible
When I switch to sculpt work-space, no object is being shown, the screen is blank, only two circles are visible, I hope they are the radius and strength circles. But the object is not visible. Any help is appreciated.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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When I join only the flickering happening

As it is, the Altar is perfect. But when I join it to the wall it flickers. First Altar did not have faces at the back and the back wall was just plane. So I put faces at the back of the Altar and made the back wall 3D too (not just solidify) But it is still happening.
Can someone help me with this please.
Thanks.

May be you have a mirror modifier on your main object, but not on the second, it's just symmertical. After you join it to the main object, all of its face will be double, because the modifier. Apply the modifier before the joining or delete the half of the second mesh.

Thanks for the reply.First I used mirror modifier to make the cross. But then I got worse result. When I joined it to the wall, half the cross (the image part) totally disappeared. So this time I made the whole cross, and now when joined, it is flickering. I even tried cutting a whole with boolean and fit the cross inside it. Still it is flickering. There are no double vertices either.

I meant 'cut a hole' with boolean.

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


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Mirror image disappears when joining with another object

Before joining.
After joining.
The Cross and surroundings are half mirror image. But when I join it to the back wall, the mirror image part is disappearing.
Please tell me why and how can I solve this problem.
Thanks.

the objects will have the same modifiers as the last one you've selected before the ctrl J

Objects are not carrying their modifiers. After joining them, only the main object's modifiers will be valid. If you have a mirror modifier on the cross apply it first, then join them.

Thanks moonboots and FFeller. I will do that.


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The movie slows down

Hi
I am trying to edit this clip. It starts off ok. As you can see, the top left of the first picture got WHITE fps reading (around 30) and the speed of the movement is fine. But within seconds it changes (second picture). fps goes down to about 15 (number changes to RED) and the movie slows down for the rest of the clip.
The clip was taken with a mobile phone.
Can you please help me out.
Thanks

This is not abnormal. The original VSE has a poor hardware optimalization but there are a few solution to earn better performance: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/7738/how-to-make-vse-render-faster/44906#44906

Thanks FFeller, I will do that.


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Cannot find dragging lines

I dont know how I got this one. I cannot get the property panel. I dont see any short cut keys like T & N for the third panel? I don't also see the three lines in the corner to split the screen. There are only three dots that only moves up and down.
Please help me with this. Thanks.

Possible duplicate of Properties window missing?

Looks like you have maximized your 3D view.
You can toggle this action with the shortcut keys  CTRL + Up Arrow  or with SHFT + Spacebar
Or find the option in the View menu

Thanks I got it 3fingeredfrog


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Why corners cut
This is a square with a thickness. It is only ok from Top view. As I rotate to other views this is happening, corners are cut. in front view it actually becomes hollow. When i do the same thing on a new blender file it is ok.
I have something else on a different plane with high polly objects. could it be the reason?

It is quite hard to understand what you mean, screenshots often help, you might [edit] you question with at least one. As a guess you describe clipping in viewport, see https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/8553/why-does-part-of-my-model-disappear-when-i-zoom-in-on-it-in-the-3d-viewport

Thank you very very very much Mr. Zak. It is the camera. I didnt have a camera and no mesh. when i put camera everything comes ok. Thanks again.

.. but your first shot might be to increase the Clip Start and End in the View panel of the properties region (N) to the right side of your 3D view


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How do I bring the cursor and X/Y intersection to the centre of the screen?
How do I bring the cursor and X/Y intersection to the centre of the screen. I asked the question earlier and thanks to D. Dean it only bring the cursor and intersection together but still on the top left corner. Please how do I bring them to the centre of the screen in the object?

It is unclear to me what exactly you are trying to achieve

I just want the 3D cursor to the centre of the monitor screen. I can move the background image as you can see in centre of the screen. But not the cursor/XY intersection which is still on the top left.

With shift + MiddleMouseButton you can drag the the x- and y-axis + the cursor to the center of your screen. Afterwards your circle and image will still be to the bottom left. Now you can re-center the image as you did before. To center the donout, rightclick on it, click on the + sign in the top right and set the location to x: 0, y:0, z:0

@V.Raj164 If this answer helped you, feel free to accept it :)


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How to bring the cross to the centre
I am a beginner. Please tell me how do I bring where X and Y cross to the centre of screen. I can bring by zooming in but when i do that this is what happens. It is supposed to be a circle but missing in between (I found how to cure that problem, thanks to one of you)

Please edit your question to add more information (including a screenshot). In its current form it's unclear what you're asking.

in object mode click shift S and choose 3d cursor to centre


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Selecting the right index in a field attribute passed from python to geonode network
I have a geonode network that instanciates 3D bars on a grid. I want to put a number on top of the bars, a different one for each. These numbers come from a csv file. I extract them and pass them as named attributes to the geonodes network. All that works well.
Problem comes now. I can put the integers as text on top of the bars, it works, but I get the same number on top of all the bars. In reality I need the right number that belongs to each bar. The named attribute is a field, it contains all the numbers for all the bars. I need to somehow extract the right value from that field that corresponds to the index of the bar that is being addressed at each moment. How can I do that? I have tried all sorts of fields related nodes and sample index node etc but nothing works

Use something like Attribute Viewer or Index Viewer or use a repeat zone to iterate over all bars and for each add a single string curve.

Could you provide your Blender file using https://blend-exchange.com/, with the csv data already imported as named attribute ? Are numbers integers or floats ?


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Shortcut to select next row of vertices?

I know how to select one vertex and then hold down control to select a vertex somewhere down the line and thus select all in between these vertices. Is there a shortcut to move to the next rank of vertices without having to repeat the process?  I am wondering if there is a shortcut to get selection B sequentially after selection A is achieved? (and simultaneously deselecting A)
Thank you.

I think you would have to develop your own Python script.

Ok. thanks. I have a lot of programming skills but have not jumped into Python (beyond changing some menu commands so they will have shortcuts in the Blender menu.)

Switch to a Text view and start with the Templates - Python - Bmesh Simple Editmode


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How do I fix my smooth shaded model?

How would I fix the shading under the nostrils without adding too many sub divisions? (my computer us quite old) This model will be for a game if that information helps.


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Mapping and Texturing Separate Sections?

I've begun texturing a model I've been working on but have run into some trouble. I need to texture the stem differently from the rest of the apple but have no idea how to do that and couldn't find anything saying how. How would I be able to do this? (Map and Texture the stem separate from the apple eve thought they're the same object)

possible duplicate: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/516/add-different-materials-to-different-parts-of-a-mesh

it depends if you want to use an Image Texture or not. If you want to, you'll have to unwrap your mesh. Otherwise you'll just have to assign the material you want on the part of the mesh you want.

Sorry I forgot to mention that. Yes I am using an image mesh. How would I go about unwrapping the sections?


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Images Crashing Blender
I have a late 2013 Macbook Pro running on High Sierra but any time I try to open an image file on any part of Blender it crashes. I can't open an image texture, background image, etc. I've tried different images but they all give me the rainbow wheel of death. I'm guessing this is an issue with storage/hardware but I have no clue at this point. Any help would be great.

What happens when you render and the UV/Image editor displays that image?

Can you try an older version of Blender to see if there was a bug?

@3pointedit it causes my mac to give me the rainbow wheel of death. It shouldn't be a bug with the version because before I've been able to put images in just fine. It's only recently it's stopped working.

Did you download a new version of blender recently or do a Mac update? To narrow down the issue you would have to check that an older version still works. If it does not then its a change to the mac system, but thats still potentially a bug in Blender.

Found this mention in the bug tracker https://developer.blender.org/T52640 is this related?

The version of Blender I was using was old. I updated to version 2.79b and that appears to have fixed the issue.


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Can you make a bump map using grey scale after you texture paint?
I'm working on an apple model and am about to texture it. I plan on using bump maps, reflection maps, etc. My only problem is that it would be much easier for me to texture paint the apple instead of using an image or such. What I was wondering if it's possible to turn the texture painting I do on the apple into a bump map using grey scale, or do I need to use an image directly?

of course you can paint on your object, then export the image you've created and make it a bump map with a soft like CrazyBump or else

It is possible to directly paint your bump maps and view it real time.
Its a little hard to see in the GIF but works perfect close up.

Here is a flat plane (Not subdived).

This is the render view

Just make a new image texture and make sure it is set to 50% grey, So when you paint white it bumps up and black bumps down.

This is what the image texture looked like after painting.

I don't think you'll find a direct way to bump map, but texture painting in grayscale is technically bumpmapping. In your material you can use an Image Texture Node to read your painted bump map. You can then feed this (non-color) value into something like the Cycles Bump Node which can take a height value, which will generate a normal map. Alternatively you could use displacement (in the material itself) to directly move the vertices in render mode. I have personally used these methods in Cycles.


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Cycles or Blender Internal for Game Assets?
I've been thinking about messing around in Unreal Engine 4 for a while and hav begun modelling in Blender. I've only just begun to think about which version I should be using (Cycles vs B.I) Does it really matter when I'm exporting meshes and animations? What about materials? I plan on manually tweaking them in UE4 so Blender is more of a preview for them.

You will not be using Cycles or Blender Render in Unreal Engine. It makes sense to create materials for the render engine that you are going to use so you should work on materials for Unreal Engine in Unreal Engine.
If you work on textures inside Blender, you can preview them in the view-port, and it makes little difference what renderer you choose to have selected in Blender while working. You could use Cycles for baking light information. I am sure you could find use for Blender Render while making assets for Unreal Engine, however it is going to be replaced by EEVEE in not so distant future, so it might not be the best investment of your time to learn using it.


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Bump Causing Bumps? (Not the right ones)
So I made a bump map for this model I've been working on and it works but it leaves these lumps.
My bump map doesn't have anything like that on it yet it still causes these no matter how I change the colour scaling.
I'm guessing it could be those seed things the texture has but they look too big. Any help would be great.

maybe your unwrap is not good?

make sure your model is unwrapped. Go to your UV editor hit "N" to bring up the side panel, under display check "stretch" change to area. If you see any read or orange that is bad, it means you need to fix your uvs.

Those weird circular/truncated conical bumps are in fact in your bump map texture.  At least, I see them when I apply your texture to a simple unwrapped object using the "bump" node.  It's the white circles in your texture that are the culprit; they have a gradient around them which makes the cone shape.


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Link an object from a different Blender file and be able to move it around while retaining its modifiers
I want to bring an object modeled in one Blender file into another and have the second file reflect changes that are made to that object after I have later edited the first.  I have been using File->Link and then selecting the file that contains the object and navigating down to where it is in the "Object" subfile of the Blender file.  Then, in order to be able to move the linked object to a different position in the second file, I have to do a "Make Proxy" on it.  My problem is that as soon as I do the "Make Proxy" any un-applied modifiers I have put on the original object in the first file are no longer reflected in the linked object.  Clearly, I could just apply the modifiers again in the second file or apply them before linking in the first file (that is essentially what I have been doing: after finishing edits in a source file, I duplicate the object and apply the modifiers, taking care to have this duplicate object's name match the one I linked in the second file) but neither of these are the ideal workflow and it seems there must be a better way.

Place the object in a group (fine for it to be a group of one) in the first file (the one with the object you want to link in) and link that group (instead of the object itself) in the second file.  You will be able to move the object around in the second file right away, the un-applied modifiers it had in the first file will still be there, and changes made to the object in the first file later will update in the second file.

It also seems you can Link the object directly and then do Make Local and (despite what I originally assumed about this option and some have said in other related questions/answers) it appears the object still updates from the source file i.e. the link isn't completely severed.  I certainly don't know what other (perhaps subtle) differences there might be between the strategy in my answer and this Make Local idea.  The group-based idea requires one fewer step with each link and it seems to be working in the way I need so I am going to stick with it for now.


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Why is object deviating from path random?
I have an object that is following a path ... and at some point (checkout the blend file) it is offseting from path, why?
How can I fix this.
http://flester.ro/path-deviation-2.blend

First you have 2 curves overlaying, curba1 and curba2, so it's a little bit confusing. About the useful one, curba2: it's very long, so you need to increase its resolution if you want the movement of the sphere to be smooth (in the Properties panel > Data > Shape > Resolution > Preview and Render). Also, you've given an animation to your sphere (which makes it move away from the curve) but I guess it's on purpose.

the other path is same path but for different object, so you can ignore it. Looks like  Preview u Resolution is the problem. thank you!


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How to connect to select/deselect event?
I want when a user is selecting/deselecting an object to do something.
I'm working on an alignment tool (free to use) and I manage to make almost everything work.
If you select several objects and click align x or rotate x, it will align rotation/scale/dimension/move
But I can't figure out how to hook into select/deselect event so that I can automatically align objects based on what is checked.

I'm not going to claim this is the correct way; but it will work
import bpy

@bpy.app.handlers.persistent
def _depsgraph_update(scene):
    print(bpy.context.selected_objects)

bpy.app.handlers.depsgraph_update_post.append(_depsgraph_update)
# bpy.app.handlers.depsgraph_update_post.remove(_depsgraph_update)

The other thing you can try; is listening for the active object changing - on the basis that you can't select without changing the active object.  Note you won't get a change notification on undo
bpy.msgbus.subscribe_rna(
     key=(bpy.types.LayerObjects, "active"),
     owner=object(),
     args=tuple(),
     notify=callback,
)

Thank you, I will go with the first approach

IMO not good practice to mix context and handlers.  The context scene isn't necessarily the one being handled by the handler. Look over  the scene objects collection.


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How to divide a mesh in 20
I have a rectangle that i want to divide in 20 faces verticaly
like this:

How can i do it? i need it to be exactly 20 faces

Plane ..(single quad face, CtrlXdissolve internal edges if not)
Edge Mode, select long edges, right-click menu > 'Subdivide'
In the adjust last operator panel, (bottom left of 3D view) set the number of cuts to 19.

I dont have the option to set the number of cuts on operator panel

@LeonelAmaral do you have the panel? If so, it's the top item..

I found it, I need to press ctrl+r do see it, thank you

@LeonelAmaral.. yup,  Ctrl - R is another way, cutting loops into a 1-face face ring... it's a different operation, if you have more than one face.


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Why certain faces dont show texture?
I made some faces with F and those faces dot display texture. What could it be ? thank you in advance for your help...

maybe share your file: https://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/

@moonboots here it is pal :)

I figure it out but now the image texture only appears on texture mode, on the render mode its all grey @moonboots

I don't know Blender Render but it looks like you haven't given any material to your object, other than that the face looks normal so it should work once you'll have set your nodes (in Cycles it would be Image Texture plugged into a Diffuse plugged into the Output)

Dont worry the render is not important, but still weird how is behaving, thank your for your time man or woman!!! @moonboots

it's not weird as you haven't affected any material to your object, or as I said maybe I miss something as I'm not familiar with Blender Render. By the way you should switch to Cycles Render because Blender Render won't be used in next Blender versions.

Select everything in the UV editor and select the texture again.


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How do i change the direction and rotation of rotataion axis?
I have this model and i want it to the handler to spin in the direction that the cursor is so the handler can turn how its should be, how can i do it?

May be Press R and then Z!

No, i want to rotate the rotation axis like my 3d cursor is

According to me, that can't change actually

What i wanted was to rotate the handler with the inclination of the cursor in order to rotate like it was attached to the rest of the bike, if i just simply rotate it it will rotate in a 90 degree angle...

do you know how i caqn do this?

I think you should change the pivot point of the handle!

You could parent the handle to a bone. You could also bring your object back to a vertical position (aligned with X, Y and Z), parent it to an empty (to make this empty is now its new global reference instead of the world) then tilt the empty. Now you can make the object rotate on its own axis for example with R Z Z.

Thank you for your help i will keep that in mind when export the model to unreal engine, since that is the final porpouse :)


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How do I make my mesh move 1-1 with the bones
Whenever I move the bone on my rig the mesh moves but almost never 1-1. How come that happens. I checked to make sure all location, rotation, and scaling are set to zero. I've tried re-parenting, and I have tried painting the whole hand red which has little to no better results than just painting the wrist red.

The effect of the armature on the mesh is an accumulation of all bones - to make a section of your mesh follow the action of a single bone you do need to ensure the weights for that single bone are all at 1.0, but also you need to ensure that the weights for that section of mesh are zero for all other bones - otherwise the other bones will also be affecting its deformation, negating some of the effect.

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


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Displaced texture paint
I am trying to paint a texture in blender using Texture Paint. The problem I have is that when I try to paint on the model the draw is painted in a different position from the area where I painted.
I'm attaching a picture for you to see what I mean.

You can see the place where I am brushing the pain and the area where it is being actually colored.

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


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Displacement settings affecting the mesh luminance
I've added a displacement node following along a tutorial. When I use the same settings as the instructor, my object becomes darker in the render settings viewport using cycles render. When I increase the Scale, then it's more visible. What's causing this to happen?
Thank you.

You are connecting a displacement map with the normal input of a shader. That's not a good idea, since they are designed to do two very different things. Remove that connection, or use a regular Vector -> Bump node.


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Edge crease is making hard edges on curved surface
I'm trying to make rectangle insets on a spherical shape, I have applied modifier to it. I apply edge crease so from having a circular inset its becomes like a rectangle shape, but its causing the outer parts to have a hard looking face. I tried adding loop cuts for support edges, but it distorts the shape.

Hi, that is exactly what crease is supposed to do. You have to crease just the inner edges to keep the rectangular shape, but I guess it creates bad artifacts when smoothing. So adding supporting edges will may be a better way.

I added only edge crease in the inner edges, but there seems to be a bit of pinching in the corners. https://ibb.co/tDqyC77

yep I thougth it would make something like that. There would be need of adding some supportive geometry to keep the hardsurface modeling clean as you wish. Here is a similar problem. https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/15633/cutting-rectangular-hole-in-a-cylinder-with-subsurf-modifier and here is another topology https://blenderartists.org/t/help-to-have-a-squared-hole-on-a-curved-surface/663545/8 you will have to make it more dense to reduce the bad effect

these links sure did help me get a better result. I mainly practice on low subdivided models, because sometimes people tell me its better to start off with less subdivision rather than a condensed model. But in this case more subdivisions worked well. Thanks.

Totally agree, its always better to work with low poly models. You can leave the part as it is and have in mind that it will be not visible in the final form. Or learn a topology that suits your model.


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extruding faces along normals are distorded
I'm trying to extrude using  the extrude faces along normal, and also trying make a simple E, then S + shift Z to scale on X and Y axis, but its not extruding inwards uniformly. on the cube mesh, its working, but on the more complex model its looking incorrect.

Make sure you have scale applied (Ctrl+A > scale) in object mode. Also, make sure you normals are all facing out by selecting the whole mesh in edit mode, then mesh > normals > recalculate outside. If none of that works, make sure you have no dupes by doing a merge by distance.

Hi Christopher. I tried everything you mentioned, and still get the awkward result. I also noticed when extruding on a mesh which is not scaled inwards, the result is better, but I have noticed that some of the lines tend to curve and others are straight although its just a cube mesh. https://ibb.co/pbScpHT
https://ibb.co/Z6VLftv

https://ibb.co/S7xMkS4

Yeah, that's strange. There must be something else going on, but I don't think I can explain it, I'm afraid.

I also uploaded a recent example today, in case you missed it, with further more explanation.

in addition to  christopher's solution , try to hit "a" and "m" and select "by distance" before try to extrude , also you migh have extra faces inside your geometry , which in resault of wrong modeling , try to delete them by hitting "alt + z" and selecting those faces

The normals have a lot of different angles at the corners. The Extrude is trying to compensate those angles in a common direction resulting in weird shapes. You can go to Viewport Overlays and enable the Measurement > Edge Angle to see those different angles at the corners.


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How to get same face area perimeter in a quad area
I have a mesh divided up, and on different parts of the mesh depending on the topology, the face area
has a different perimeter value. Is there a way I can copy/paste the value of one particular area on another quad section? I tried moving the vertices around making them bigger smaller, and its a tedious process.

What benefit are you looking to get out of having the faces all the same size?  I don't know an easy way to achieve it, but maybe if you tell us the end goal we might be able to make a useful suggestion that way instead?

I believe the Mesh Tools addon let's you specify a face area... Not sure how useful it is though :).

For example, if I need to make certain areas on the mesh to have the same circular depth within the mesh, as seen in the example. But because the area is not the same, each circle has a different  depth radius, if there was a way to get the same mesh perimetre, all the circular depths would looks the same:  https://ibb.co/CmC9Xc0

LoopTools >  Circle,  and  Cast, both have radius settings, or even ctrl-shift-B bevel a central vertex ... If  the circles are smaller than the face, you can make them the same size, even if the faces are not.


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How to use repeatedly non destructive Booleans
I have 2 meshes, and I'm doing a a difference Boolean non destructive. I wanted to use the same Boolean, so I duplicated it, I can see the outline, but there is no other cut. I'd like to use the same Boolean to repeatedly if possible, rather than making using more meshes.

Duplicate in edit mode?

I was selecting the Boolean rather than the shape.  So it, worked selecting the Shape in edit more. Thanks.


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Images as planes VS uv mapping
On the left cube I have added an image(PNG) as a plane, and snapped it on the face of the cube, and on the right cube I have UV mapped the image(PNG). Now the image as plane, leaves some weird shading issues, depending on the angle, and light, where as the UV mapped image, there's no problem at all. But is there a way around this to get the image as plane to look as good quality like a UV mapped image? The reason why I snapped it on the face of the cube, was to avoid UV mapping as a solution and avoid setting up Nodes.
Thank you.

What do you mean by "snapped it on the face of the cube"? That looks like z-buffer fighting to me. Maybe you could delete/mask the underlying cube face?

As far as I know, the main difference is that Images As Planes comes pre-setup with alpha enabled. For this, it has the Blend Mode preset to Alpha-Blend, where a new UV mapped texture will have it's Blend Mode set to "opaque" by default.

Don't do that. There is no need to snap a plane over other faces, you are just creating Z-fighting for no reason. Map the texture over the faces of the cube. Don't avoid nodes, learn how to use them and be happy.

Ok guys, I wasn't being lazy, I was just experimenting with various options. After all the only thing I need to add in the Nodes is an image texture and UV the image on the cube. I was after some information in case this was another way of quickly UV mapping images on a mesh. I have seen people using Boolean methods, which makes an awful mesh topology, tris & Ngons and I've always asked myself how do they UV images on that mesh, the image would break up into multiple scattered pieces all over the UV, So I thought this would be the answer.

Quickest way is project from view in this case. However, if you have the time just create proper uv's...

Avoid booleans like the coronavirus. Avoid stacking up surfaces over each other to prevent z-fighting. You don't UV images, you create an UV map, and the coordinates of such map are used to place the image as texture on a material. If you are learning to use blender start with the basic concepts, and do the work before you learn shortcuts. You might be interested in this link: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/23173/how-do-texture-coordinates-work/23174#23174

Read this one too: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/81042/how-to-map-an-image-on-a-plane-manually/81047#81047


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Curve and array modifier is distorting the shape
I have a Hexagon turned into a curve shape, and I'm trying to make the sphere go follow the curvature, I add the array and curve modifier then select the Hexagon but the sphere shape gets distorted. I also added more segments in case it would correct this issue, but the sphere shape becomes even worse.
How can I fix this?
Thank you.

hello, please share your file: https://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/

Here's the file, I did manage to make some progress, but the spheres on the corner are jammed up, I think it was distorting the sphere because the pivot point wasnt in the centre of the world.

You must have applied the scale of your curve, you probably need to reset the curve vertices radius to 1 (go in Edit mode, select all, open the N panel and set the Mean Radius to 1)

I had a look at the mean radius but that's not what's causing the deformation of the spheres. https://ibb.co/YTT1F2s

I don't know if you can avoid that, Curve modifier will deform the object by definition, when it's on an angle the deformation is more visible

I believe this is the solution based on @Lemons response I did it with Dupliverts, not exactly the way it was shown in the GIF animation, but seems spot on. I believe I can use this as a correct answer? https://ibb.co/3R282rD


text:
Multiple Holes On surface
I have a cube shape with a hexagon hole in the middle (Bevel modifier added). I have added loop cuts around it, made straight lines on the face of the cube to get better topology. I then selected the vertices on one side just for the example using Shift Ctrl + B, subdivided it, then with loop tool made a circle. But the holes are not as smooth, and also There's Ngons. The holes still look a bit edge, not perfectly ellipse shaped. Is there a better method to achieve this?
Thank you.

PS: I'm avoiding the subsurface modifier for this mesh,

You could do it with several arrays of cylinder that you use as booleans. Give your cylinder as many vertices as you want (16, 32...). Use the floor topology to precisely set the offset value of the array:

Once you apply, shade smooth the object, and auto-smooth:

Hi MoonBoots. I tried with the Boolean but it was too messy... So I had to bite the bullet and go with he subsurface modifier and bumping it to 3 subdivisions to avoid awful shading issues.  https://ibb.co/pys1F2G

ok, didn't seem messy though

I should of being more specific. Although the Boolean was the alternative, the jagged edges  were not smooth, and when I was using the red matcap I was seeing shading issues.

yes it may need to be reworked but as your shape is very symmetrical I think it would have been quick, anyway I doubt there was any easy way to do what you wanted


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How to round off corners using a curve circle
I have 2 objects in my scene. one semi circle which is from a mesh and I applied subsurface modifier and got round corners. The other object B is a curve circle, but is there a way it can have rounded off corners like the semi circle object A? The reason why I'm using a curve is because I can animate it using the bevel start and edge which is convenient.

I guess you have no other choice but to create half circle objects that will stick to each tip of the curve

so I'm guessing the best option is to just to use a Boolean mask animation or build modifier, because the corner edges of the curve cannot be achieved in a more less tedious way?

I'm not sure to understand how boolean or build would help, maybe tell a bit more about the whole project, you could also array an object along the curve, in that case you give it a cap start and cap end

See how the speed metre animation light has rounded corners on the tips of the circle. Using the curve is great, but its got flat ends, and there is no option to get these rounded off edges.  https://ibb.co/8YKJF6h

Actually I think you have 2 solutions: Use a bezier that you extrude, with a Subdivision Surface modifier it will round the tips. Or use a mesh object that you array along a curve, and give the Array a Start and an End Cap wich will be a round object.

You could also use a curve and use a mesh that will follow exactly the tip of the curve with keyframes

Or... since you need only one end of the arc to extend, it could simply be a rotation from behind a mask.

Can you please post screen shots with your recommended 2 methods. I'm doing something wrong, nothing is working out for me, Thanks.

This question seems related. It's not an answer to your question, but more like a sugestion for a possible workaround...
The mesh looks good, but it's sadly not using the bevel-curve approach. :/
https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/8750/pipe-with-round-caps-ends

are you open to the array solution? in that case Quacksilber has given a link, but it means you use a mesh + curve, not just an extruded or beveled curve

yes just using a Subdivision Surface modifier (firs solution I cite) won't work if your curve is too big


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making holes with subsurface modifier leaving Ngons
I've got mesh which I need to have a specific angle on the edge. I have made the holes into the mesh, which are not causing any shading issue. Is this topology incorrect, or can these Ngons be overlooked? If I did start joining the vertices the angle would alter, therefor I avoided joining them on the end.

If your base topology is all quads, subdivision will result in quads. What you see is an "Optimised" mesh. Uncheck "Optimal Display" in the modifier and go into wireframe view to see the actual topology

Never new about the optimal display, so I guess its ok then: https://ibb.co/WHPLzTf


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Using Smart Booleans with Subsurface modifier to get smooth edges
I have a mesh which has the subsurface modifier applied to it. And I have made an indentation of a hole within the mesh, and the edges are catching the reflections. I also did a smart Boolean operation, but the edges are too sharp and look fake. I rearranged the modifier stack and put the Bevel above the Boolean operation, but its making it look incorrect. is there a way I can use the Smart Booleans to get reflections on the edges? I also tried the decimate modifier in case it cleans it up, also the weighted normal modifier in case it could help, but it only became worse.

I think you will find this tutorial very useful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZXYWzv02m4 Any chance of sending us this file? I would like to test my hard surface modeling knowledge on it. I learned few tricks recently.

Its a good tutorial and has good information about topology, but imagine having to make 5 holes here, 10 over there, etc etc, and having to clean up your vertices each time, so I'm looking for a better method if there is one.

check this out, i think it's way easier https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeGXh59m1s4

Hi Chris, that's how I got the hole in my example which is shown beneath the Smart Boolean operation, hence it gets smoothed edges.  Thanks for the video recommendation though.

so your problem is just, that the edges are too sharp?

Yes, I intend to use the Smart Booleans often, but the edges are too sharp. I saw I can use a node called Bevel, which smoothens the edges using cycles render, but I'd like to know a method using modelling and not done with nodes.

Usually hard surface modeling workflow avoids to make holes in a sphere exactly due to those problems. Also you should never add subdivision before a bevel. Bevel only works well when the vertices of the sphere are not caught inside the bevel.

When they get to close you see artifacts.

The denser the topology the harder it is to keep vertices away.

That's why I suggest not to use subdivision surface.
As a pro tip you can also keep bevel segments low when you use weighted normals modifier after the bevel.
This is single segment bevel without weighted normals.

The setup I usually use:

And this is after weighted normals modifier was added.

Looks just like a bevel with many segments, but it has much smaller chance of generating artifacts.
Only other solution is to apply the modifiers and perform manual cleanup. Several commercial add-ons (I think it was BoxCutter or HardOps) ships with a script to clear the topology to fix exactly this problem.


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Build modifier animation starting from wrong starting point
I have selected the starting point on my Boolean object to reveal the sphere animation. But the animation wont start from that selected point where the cursor is, I have also specified: sort Elements> Cursor  Distance (faces), but still wont start from the selected point.
https://streamable.com/rt0gqa

Look into sorting: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/147139/whats-the-use-of-tool-sort-elements/147141#147141 https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/191649/how-can-i-sort-vertex-positions-sequentially-indices-in-a-closed-area/191656#191656

Do I have to sort all these numbers manually? https://ibb.co/mNBGWBw
What is a correct way to achieve what I am after, some other technique maybe?

You could use the convert trick of robin betts answer with the python 3liner

Please share this link so I can see, I don't understand what you're referring to.

I can't properly load the image in your link. I was refering to the robins answer in my second link. https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/191783/30849

Ok thank you for this, I just had a brief peep and and seems intimidating, I've never seen python script before. Ill give it a go tomorrow, thank you for your insight.

The first sentence of the linked answer is: "Without a script:" (Maybe you looked at another answer?)

Is there another option I can make it like a revealing mask? the reason why I am using this Build modifier is more masking purposes.

Maybe this modifier isn't for complicated masking technique I suppose?

Would you be kind enough to share some screen shots of your method?

I turns out I was talking rubbish. I am going to try to redeem myself with a blend. Please take a look.

thank you kindly for your file, it sure does shed some information regarding my problem. Maybe what the community needs is someone with great knowledge to do a video tutorial and post it on YouTube, so people can be more aware of masking animated complex objects, I scouted the internet to find some info regarding this technique but found nothing helpful.

That's what this site is for. You can always edit your question to make it more clear, general and concise. And you can add your own answer to document your findings.


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Shrinkwrap modifier doesn't show hole when applied onto the mesh
I'm following a tutorial and got confused by the instructor what he's showing. He's shrinkwrapping the bad topology which has a hole into the good topology. Im also doing the same, but when I apply the shrinkwrap modifier it seems better topology but the hole is not cut out.

could you please share your file?

Hi Moonboots, I think the problem was I didnt hide  the mesh, and I believe that was the fix. or maybe I'm incorrect. https://ibb.co/ByHX2NL

if I apply the modifier there's still the hole, so I'm not sure what's your problem

The problem was when I applied the shrink-wrap the hole didn't appear. In the instructional video it shows the good mesh not having a whole in it. But the instructor doesn't mention about turning off the layer so the hole is visible when its shrinkwrapped.

He's using older version of Blender, so I assume now he turns off the mesh with the good topology and the hole is visible: https://ibb.co/TPgPx3L

I'm not sure what's the problem, but have you fixed it? Other than that it looks like you need to add a bit of topology if you want to have no pinching around the corners of the hole, so maybe apply a Subdivision Surface with a level of 1 then apply the Shrinkwrap


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Export-Paper-Model-from-Blender Add-on in 2.80?
Does anyone know why the Paper-Model add-on is not in the Beta 2.8 ?
And Will it be back in the final version of 2.80 ?

Have you searched in the add-on panel for it

It is Ok to Blender 2.8. Only the manual is not update yet.

It looks like the guy who makes the plug-in didn’t have time to update the code for the 2.8 beta.
His words: "It is, and will be in 2.80 release.
I just didn't finish the port, so these changes are not commited yet."
You can follow here: https://github.com/addam/Export-Paper-Model-from-Blender/issues/62


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How to open closed eyelids on pre made models
I'm "kind of" new to Blender and rigging/animation in general, but I like to jump out in the deep part of the pool. (Sorry)
What I mainly want to do is rigging and animation, so I've kind of not paid too much attention to modeling specifics. To this end, I decided to start with rigging a World of Warcraft Blood Elf Female model. (They seemed more proportionally correct than humans)
I've been using Blender 2.79 with the Rigify addon. (Which includes the face) The armature is assigned with automatic weights. This works good on most parts except for the  face. Now, when I try to go in and manually weight the face, I'm running into issues with the eye lids and the standard bones that was included in the meta-rig.
The character has it's own verticies for the eyelids and they start out closed.

Behind that, you find this, which simulates an eye socket when the eye is open (The eye itself is hidden):

Now, I can get my hands on a version with the eyes open, but that one is already posed, so I'm struggling with getting any kind of shape key to work.

Now, my struggle is how to open the eyelids using something that does not necessarily involve manually editing the verts of the eyes on the non posed model. I find that Blender has a lot of features I yet have to discover. Any tips for opening/rigging the eyelids?
PS: The model itself is accessible through exporting from WoW Model Viewer.(Need to have WoW installed)

People often use Shape Keys to control the opening of the eyes. Then they add Drivers to control those Shape Keys with Bones

@HenrikD How do you do this?

@AaronFranke There are good tutorials on youtube on this topic


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render multiple frames using a for loop, stack overflow after one image. Is there anyway to avoid stacking while rendering?
I am trying to move the camera around an interested object, and then render frames along the camera trajectory. The trajectory part worked well, but when I tried to render frames and save the depth map from a node (see the attached code), I have overstack issue. Is there anyway to solve the problem?
PS: I am a newbie in Blender, so I don't even know if I did it completely wrong in the very beginning. Any suggestion would be appreciated, thanks.
SCENE_NAME='123'
viewCount = 0
stepSize=12
scene = bpy.context.scene
stickGroup = list(i for i in bpy.data.objects if 'stick' in i.name)
camera = scene.objects['Camera']

def getPath():
   myPath = savePathConfigure();
   myPath.gtSaveDIR =
   os.path.join(os.path.dirname(bpy.data.filepath), 'Dataset/'+SCENE_NAME+'/')
   myPath.outRGBpath = os.path.join(myPath.gtSaveDIR, 'RGB/')
   myPath.outDepPath = os.path.join(myPath.gtSaveDIR, 'Depth/')

   if myPath.pathConfig()=={'FINISHED'}:
      print(myPath.gtSaveDIR)

   return myPath

class getRGBHandler:
   def __init__(self, path_in):
      self.base_path = path_in

   @persistent
   def __call__(self, scene):
      bpy.context.scene.node_tree.nodes['File Output'].base_path = self.base_path
      bpy.ops.render.render(write_still=True)

class getDepthHandler:
   def __init__(self, path_in):
      self.base_path = path_in

   @persistent
   def __call__(self, scene):
      pixels = bpy.data.images['Viewer Node'].pixels
      np.save(os.path.join(self.base_path, str(viewCount)+'.npy'), pixels)

def moveCamHandler(scene):
   cameraOrigin = camera.location
   newTheta = stepSize* (math.pi/180)  # rotate the camera completely around the focused point
   # This rotating is in global coordinate system
   rotationMatrix =np.array([  [math.cos(newTheta), -math.sin(newTheta), 0.],\
                            [math.sin(newTheta), math.cos(newTheta), 0.],\
                            [0., 0., 1.]  ])
   goal = Vector(np.dot(cameraOrigin, rotationMatrix))
   gaze = Vector(np.array([0,0,0], dtype=np.double))  # look at the origin
   camera.location = goal

   gazeRay = gaze - camera.location
   camEulerAng = gazeRay.to_track_quat('-Z', 'Y').to_euler()
   camera.rotation_euler = camEulerAng

def callMyHandlers():
   saveDIR =getPath()
   myGT = groundTruthStruct(whatScene= SCENE_NAME, objectGroup = stickGroup)

   bpy.app.handlers.frame_change_pre.clear()
   bpy.app.handlers.frame_change_pre.append(getRGBHandler(saveDIR.outRGBpath))
   bpy.app.handlers.render_post.append(getDepthHandler(saveDIR.outDepPath))

# Main loop
callMyHandlers()

for i in range(30):
   scene.frame_set(i*stepSize+1)
   viewCount+=1
   scn.render.filepath = '/outputDIR/'+str(viewCount)+'.png'
   bpy.ops.render.render(write_still=True,use_viewport=True)
   scene.update()

I have a node tree like this (see image), what I want is the depth value. Directly adding a File Out Node will lose some accuracy (double -> int16).

Thanks.

This is just a guess, I have not verified this since I am not able to run  the code myself without the objects referred from it.
The frame_change_pre handler is the method getRGBHandler.__call__, which is making a call to bpy.ops.render.render. The render call, however, in its turn calls frame_change_pre handler triggering a call to getRGBHandler.__call__, which again calls render. This is causing an infinite recursion, resulting in stack overflow.
It may not be a good idea to call render from within the frame_change_pre handler. You might want to try and move it to the main code. I didn't quite get the logic, so I am unable to suggest where it should be. But am tempted to observe: main is already calling render, is there a need for another render in the handler?
Lastly, (in case you are unaware of this) there's an easier way to get the rotation matrix, namely:
mathutils.Euler([0, 0, newTheta], 'XYZ').to_matrix(). And
newTheta can be caluclated only once, since it depends solely on stepSize (math.radians(stepSize))? mathutils.Vector has methods for dot and cross products.

Thank you very much! Everything works smoothly after I moved all the render commands in the main loop and delete repeated one. It turns out I was trapped in those handlers, which caused me a lot of troubles. Appreciate again.

You are welcome :) Glad that I could be of help.


text:
How to join edges in the cylinder to the center in a symmetrical way?
I'm starting from extruding a circle along Z to have a cylinder without the basis. I want to create a basis like that in the photo, with all the vertices joined in the middle edge of the cylinder. How I can achieve that?
I don't want alternatives, I want to know how to achieve that starting from the point explained above.
Thanks in advance.
Cristian Palmas

What about scaling the selected vertices just in the Y direction and entering the value 0?

Yes, I got that in the end. I forgot that simple scaling to 0 could work. Thanks.


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Object disappears when zooming out
I am on blender, and I have imported an object. I believe that the object is so large that it doesn't fit the environment when zoomed out for a view of its entirity. It would be nice if you could include a python cript to your solution.
Here is how it looks:

He is referring to a question while I am referring to a problem. We might end up in needing the same solution, but we take different routes. All routes should be available to the beginner, don't you think?

You do take different routes, which is why I voted to close this question as a duplicate of the previous, older question. The older question already has an answer that uses Python, and uses more accurate terminology. This way, people who search for the problem using either the more technical phrasing, or the way you phrased it will be able to find an answer, since closed questions are linked to their duplicate.

I do not know python, however you can change the depth of field to make it bigger or smaller to make you able to see the object in it's entirety.
Go to the Properties Panel (N) -> View -> Clip and change the End distance to increase the field of view and allow the whole object to be seen when zooming out.
Be mindful that it may slow down your computer is the object in question is very big and complex.

It may be useful to know that you should also increase the near distance also to reduce artefacts like "z-fighting".
I can't see why a big object should slow down rendering. But complexity (mesh, materials) and percentage of the view matters.

You mean the right thing, but there are a few problems with terminology in this answer: 'Depth of Field' is the range of acceptable_focus_ of a lens (which can also be set on Blender cameras). 'Field of View' generally refers to the limits in X and Y, across and up, not Z, of the view. And the reason bits of the image disappear is the camera has moved closer or further from the target. Strictly speaking, this is not 'zooming', which is changing the focal length of the lens.


text:
Viewing topology while working
when I try to model from tutorials the instructors' topology will show on both sides of a mirrored object, and won't be as hidden with gray in areas. I can't figure out how to set that up.

you've got to enable this display method in the mirror modifier by hitting this small icon:

Also, is there a way to see the vertices through the gray mesh? Quite a few of them get hidden by gray blotching when I model. Thank you so much for your help!

Yes of course! :) https://i.sstatic.net/tHnwg.png Just press this small button and x-ray is enabled.


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Imported an Alembic animation to Blender. How can i time-reverse it?
I imported an Alembic animation to Blender from the VR animation app Tvori. How can i time-reverse it? i need it to play as intended but then would like it to play backward, so to create a loop. and then render. is it even possible?
i'm a total beginner so i don't know anything about how the Blender timeline works, but coming from video editing it's hard for me to look at the timeline and not even see a clip on it that represent my "animation" and on which i can maybe right click and change settings?
i know, i sound very ignorant about all of this which i am.
thank you for any response!

p.s: i'm using latest version of Blender, 2.8something

This should help. It's about looping an .abc cache, but you can make it play once in reverse with the same tools. https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/78674/loop-alembic-animation/78701#78701

thanks! but i have blender 2.8 so that menu is not relevant to my case :/ my "object" is an animation that is made of about 20 different objects, not just one. they came out in the alembic file all separated. and if i click on one and check the Constraint panel, nothing comes up, it just says to "Add Object Constraint".

2.9 is the newest...

Related:

looping alembic
start alembic at specific frame

(e.g.) My alembic animation has a length of 240 frames.

Select all the objects, which were created on alembic import and go to the constraints or modifiers [properties tab].
Hold ⎇ Alt and  LMB click Override Frame.
Then ⎇ Alt LMB into the Frame field and type # 240 - frame.

A driver will be created for the Frame field and the field will turn purple.
Holding the ⎇ Alt key ensures, that this happens in all the modifiers and constraints of all the selected objects. You can confirm this, by individually selecting the other objects and double-check that their Frame field of the Cache Modifier and Cache Constraint is also purple.

If you can render the animation frame by frame into images in "normal" order, once, then you can use the Video Sequencer to reverse an image strip and play it backward. This works for any animation you can render...


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Parallax-like texture depth in Cycles
I have a texture that I want to give an actual depth. However, I dont want to use Displacement because it requires very high polygon count to work properly and it slows down render times which is quite annoying.
I know there is a method of doing this called "Parallax Mapping" and is used in some video games but I cant find a way of doing this in Blender.
I've put an example to show you what I want to achieve:

This is a 2D texture on a 2D plane that has only 4 vertices.

This is the result I want to achieve without increasing the polygon count.
(To demonstrate the second image, I simply used the Array-Modifier and set the offset to 1 mm and the count to 1000! Obviously, this wont work on curved meshes, slows down the performance in the viewport and it has some side effects if you look from the side...)

Looks like a hologram with vertical sync issues, lol

Maybe OSL is a way to go? Martin Geupel has ported an Open GL example by Joey de Vries to an OSL shader, which can be found here. I have not tried it yet.

Might be useful: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/84129/is-there-a-way-to-add-fake-thickness-to-an-alpha-image-texture

Is this Q&A helpful?


text:
Accessing animated properties from script
I have a camera with animated transforms (loc, rot) and the focal length. I need to find out if the camera's lens is animated.
my_cam.animation_data has 1 action, the transforms. The action editor also only shows the transforms keyframes, however the dope sheet suggests, there are 2 actions on the camera

'CameraAction' and 'Camera'.
bpy.data.actions contains 'CameraAction' and 'CameraAction.001', the latter holds the f-curve for the focal length animation. But I can't be sure whether it's from this camera or another, or even orphan data.
So how can I find all animated channels of an object not just the transforms ones?

CameraAction is the only one that's related to object. Camera is not related to the object bpy.data.objects["Camera"] but to its object data bpy.data.objects["Camera"].data that's a different datablock.

dang, I tried this, but didn't look properly at the datapath of that action's fcurve. Thanks.


text:
Inset boundary hot key in blender 2.8?
I am working on anvil by blender guru tutorial but inset boundary is not working in Blender 2.8. what is the shortcut in 2.8?

Could you specify which part of the tutorial series? Inset face is still "I". "B" toggles the Boundary on and off. I did find a post about the anvil tutorial talking about problems with the inset boundary here: https://blenderartists.org/t/boundary-not-affecting-mirrored-portions-of-my-model/701549

demo from Imphenzia in 2.8/2.8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jHUY3qoBu8&t=1056s

After hitting I key, continue with the B key to turn off/on boundary feature.

I watched the video and had the same issue. What solved it for me was that you have to delete the face/s that is "in" the mirror, eg facing each other. In the tutorial by Blender Guru he does that early in the modelling.
Good luck!

Asking for keybinds on SE are a little wobbly since they can be changed by both preference and what kind of layout you chose, but the best way to find out a keybind is to press F3 (or spacbar if you chose it to be that way) to bring up the action search.  This will also show the keyboard shortcut if one is set.

Now, as for "Inset Border"... I'm not sure what that is.  Do you mean Bevel?  That is ctrl+b. There is also "Inset Faces", which is kind of like extrude but scaling the faces instead.

He might mean the toggle Boundary mode while inset operator running.


text:
Multiresolution Modifier and N-gons
While retopologizing a human head, the internal cavities i.e. nose, mouth, ear, eye lids, were extruded inwards to create the required occlusion effect.
While all the mesh is in quads, the final face in these cavities is an N-gon. After applying the multi res modifier at latter subdivisions, the single ngons turn into a jutting irregular triangular mess. Even when smoothed in to disappear in sculpt mode, they retake their shape at saving or changing modes.
Is there anyway to exclude these n-gons or subvert this effect without doing major changes to the retopology?
Can I at least prevent them from penetrating to the exterior?

What I would suggest is turning the faces into quads or tris, like by poking (Ctrl+P). I don't know how exactly you want to save your original topology, but this shouldn't visibly change anything from the intended shape.
Alternatively, if you're sure nobody will ever look up the nostrils (if this is a demo render, etc) then you could just remove the faces. however, if you're planning on texturing it open holes in the geometry can cause problems for volumetric or subsurface shaders.

Poking creates tris which behave as badly if not worse than n-gons. Even turning tris to quads will leave at least 1 tri.  Revisiting retopology makes me lose all multi res detail. I do need to texture.

Is there any overlapping, inverted, or otherwise crunchy geometry? I would check for inverted normals but other than that I think this is almost definitely a bug. From what I saw it looks like your geometry is neat enough that the smoothing subsurf algorithm shouldn't be confused by anything on your model.


text:
Double motion of bone if its parent is another bone
Trying to creat a rig where a have a simple motion  of leg with local upvectors for roll. Problem is taht I need (green) bone to be the chiled bone of "Body" bone for export animation purpose. But move with IK control and completely linked to it.. If I child of contrain the "green bone" it works perfect... Until I move whole body.. Then child bone just doubles the transform and geen bone flyis double the distance..
https://i.postimg.cc/ZKDXHsmF/blender-lvmi-Sysp-UO.gif
I guess I'm missing something.. Is there some kind of visual constrain solution for this? Or am doing it wrong from the start?


text:
How do I know the parent of my selected object?
I downloaded a car model and selected the steering wheel. I want to rename it now. Unfortunately, it is attached to some parent objects so I cannot find it in the hierarchy (see at screenshot). Is there a method how I find it without checking every object manually ?
Kind regards

Change your Outliner display settings to "selected". Then you can rename your object. I'm sure there is a way better and more intelligent method, but this is something you can try in the mean time.

You can read this information in the properties panel, Relations tab.

Unfortunately, the parent had another parent so that did not help me. But otherwise, thanks to you I found the way to go! Just copy the name of the selected object and enter it in the search. Then it shows your selected object and all its parents.

Thanks for this answer.  I'd long wondered how to find out the parent of an object.

Using the search with the selected object's name is a good way. Thanks for your answers.

For finding the object in the tree: Select the object in the scene and then move your cursor over into the Tree. Press numpad "." will take you to it in the tree. This also works in reverse. Select in Tree and move over to scene, then press numpad . to go to that object.


text:
The length of the edge doesn't show correctly!
What did I do wrong? Any suggestions?

What value are you expecting?

You did nothing wrong. The conversion from binary to decimal numbers may very well end up with floating point errors. floating points gui

Related https://blenderartists.org/t/is-0-999-equal-to-1/318626/48

If the middle edge is 7.99999mm, then three edges together should be 1.299999cm not 1.3cm

I understand that 0.99999 is equally to 1 but my problem is. A start with single face, a extrude the face to 2.5mm then I extrude to 8mm then extrude again with 2.5 length and when I measure the 8mm blender show that is 7.9999mm (I know they are the same) But my question is why blender show 7.9999mm why not 8mm?


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Hair particles clumping in Cycles render
First time posting :)
I'm relatively new to Blender, and I'm having trouble with hair particles rendering correctly.
This is my viewport render preview, which is the appearance I'm looking for:

And this is my render, where the hair clumps unexpectedly:

Can anyone suggest how I might fix this?
Here are my settings:

Thanks in advance.

Could you upload the file?

This is caused by the particle children.
for every 10 hairs displayed in the preview you render 2000 hairs with the same propertys in the final render. Thats why it looks smooth and lumpy.

Thanks so much :) It seems obvious in hindsight, but that was killing me.


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Possible to automatically decimate geometry based on distance to save ram?
Is it possible to decimate based on distance from camera in cycles?  Would save a ton of VRAM.

You can drive the collapse distance for decimation with a vertex group. Create a spherical gradient vertex group (with a big brush) with your camera in the center.

so will the vertex weight value act as a multiplier for the decimation ratio/factor?

Possible duplicate of Use Decimate modifier as a realtime LOD generator


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Knife tool wont cut on face
I’m trying to use the knife tool, so I can make a cut/slice from vertex to vertex and sometimes I cannot make this happen.There is no Ngons so what am I not doing incorrect? or why is Blender not allowing this action to happen?
Thank you.

this usually means there are duplicate vertices somewhere, or otherwise corrupted geometry. can you upload your blend file?

Hey :). Why not just press J to connect the vertices?

or that the destination vertex is part o a different face... again, invalid geometry... You can check using face selection mode.

Hi guys, for some reason the vertices were not connected.
Thank you.


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Check “Correct Aspect” Option
I cannot locate the Correct Aspect option in my Blender 2.82 Version.

Hello :). Cannot replicate the issue, works just fine on my end. Would restarting Blender help?

Hi Jachym. Yes I quit and restarted Blender, and it appeared.
Thank you.


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Black line appearing in my mesh
There’s a black line appearing in my mesh. I have recalculated normals, merged vertices, and this is still appearing. how do I fix this?
Thank you.

could be interior faces, duplicate geometry or normals. What does select non manifold show?

Hi, thanks for your reply.
It was the modifiers causing the issue, I added some more thickness to the solidify and bumped up the subsurface from 2 to 3, and the mesh looks clean.
Kind regards.


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Cant select only one face on my mesh
I’m trying to select only one face on my mesh, but it’s selecting 2 instead of one. I have cleaned up the loose geometry also merged vertices, what am I doing wrong?

H Hide that selection, and look behind it, just to be sure? Does it leave the dividing edge behind?

To select faces you need to press 3 to switch to FACE SELECTION mode.

Hi, thanks for replying.
The screen shot shows that the vertices are selected, but it was only the print screen which I did. https://ibb.co/j8bBtRw
When I was trying to select the faces, I had already selected face mode.

can you make a gif of what actions are you doing to select the face? If you are doing all usual stuff, can you share the blend file? thanks


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Exporting PNG Animation With Shadows On Transparent Background
I'm doing an animation and trying to export it as a PNG. I need to export it with the shadows, but on a transparent background. Once the render finished I imported of on the PNG sequence to see if the shadow was included but it wasnt. Is there a method to have the shadows exported with my PNG animation?
Thank you.

There is no shadow catcher option in eevee, you would have to fake it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQJ_SBpcUQE Also: never ever render to png, recommend render to OpenEXR, especially when dealing with alpha: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/106670/compositors-corner-pin-node-does-something-odd-to-input-image/106671#106671

Yes, great information, thanks!


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Size of an object from a distance of the camera
In my example, I have set up a canvas 500 x 500 pixels, and scaled my object to fit in the camera boundaries. Once exported to Photoshop I can see it's the correct size I wanted to export my object.
But is there a way knowing the dimensions of the object in Pixels (if there's an add-on) since it's away
from the camera boundaries. I can see the dimension of the object in Metres, but the conversion of metres to pixels is confusing. So if there's a way to see pixels when sizing and object that would be great.
Thank you.

Related: constrain object size to camera angle of view and Create a plane that always fits the camera viewport and fit an image in the compositor

Notes towards an answer.
The size of the final output image (in pixels) depends on the resolution settings for the project.
There is no default size for pixels when images are used as textures, the size of the image depends on the dimensions of the object, and how the textures are mapped as part of the material.
The size of objects in the camera view depends on three different variables:

The dimensions of the object.

The camera lens (or field of view in degrees).

The distance between the object and camera.

Answer.
With the information above you can then use Trigonometry(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trigonometry) to calculate camera placement, or lens size, or the dimensions of the object so that the image fills the screen.

End of answer.

For a lazy way to have an image fill the screen read on:
When you import an "image as plane" you can determine the size. By default blender will import an image as a plane that measures 1 unit in height.

But if you open the settings, by pressing N or pressing the gear icon on the top right, you can change the settings to Camera Relative.
That will allow you choose to have the image be at a scale that fills the current camera view. Select Fill or Fit.

Fill will fill the camera frame. (if the image is a different aspect ratio than that of the camera then the image might spill out of the frame)
Fit will fit the entire image within the camera frame (if the image is a different aspect ratio than that of the camera the image will have some empty space around it)
If the camera view and the images are the same aspect ratio, then you can use either one of those choices.

Great information, lots of insight with this explanation, it's going to surely help me with my school projects. Thanks heaps for this!!!


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Cycles bevel node Set on Wood texture
I have set up of Nodes with wooden texture for a wooden box. I want the box to have a slight bevel, so I added the bevel node since I'm going to render with cycles. When I plug the bevel into the vector of the image map, the texture disappears. What other nodes do I need to add?
Thank you.

The Normal output should be attached to the Normal input of the Principled BSDF. You'll have to combine the values with your current normal map.

Hello, you just have to drag the bevel node between the "Normal Map" node and the "Bump" node. Also, set the normal map texture node to "non-color data" instead of "sRGB"

Hey guys, I think I set it up correctly, but the bevel is not very obvious on the edges. https://ibb.co/Cn7sK7J

Is the non color data selected only for that specific image correctly?


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Making ridges method on a cube mesh
I have a wooden box in my example which looks like its made out of different wooden pieces. I'm trying to find a good method how to make it look its from separate pieces. So In my example I made loop cuts, and extruded the faces along the normals. would this be the right approach, or would it be incorrect to just make up a box from different meshes to get the ridge look where the red arrows are pointing?
Thank you.

yes why not making separate meshes, it will simplify your work

Hey Moonboots, I wanted to make sure I'm not breaking any 3D modelling rules, and I take a correct approach. Thank you for your advice.


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Exponential replication of object
I'm trying to figure out how I can create an array of objects where each instance has an increasing number instances of that starting object.
A simple example:
1 cube
2 cubes (to the right and stacked on top of eachother)
4 cubes (to the right of the 2 cubes and also stacked)
8 cubes
16 cubes
and so on...
This continues for x number of instances.
I tried the array modifier with very little luck and also the replicator in animation nodes.
Does anyone know how to achieve this? Help would be much appreciated.

Thanks to some help from Jaque Luke (see this post here Animation Nodes: How to unzip a list) I found a slightly different solution: I'm using the Object Instancer, which you can now feed in any Object you like, and first compose a list of target positioning vectors. Then I loop over the list length of those vectors and apply the locations to each Object Instance. A Blend file is here:

The starting point takes a few parameters, allowing you to choose what the distances should be, and also on which column to start. Also, you can pick the object from here:

Next, I'm generating the Columns, and also calculate how many rows each column will have:

I feed that into an extra Sub-Loop to generate the Vectors finally for each column:

This however generates a list of a bunch of vectors lists:

To decompose them, I've used the Expression node in this setup:

Now, all I needed to do was to get the length of this list and use it as a number of iterations for the loop. I loop over each list item (each item is a vector, i.e. the new location of the object), and set the vector accordingly:

and the result is:

Hi and sorry for my late reply. (too busy lately)

Thank you very much. This is exactly what I was looking for. I understand the overall concept of how you did it. But I'm still trying to understand the details of it. Regardless, this  helps a lot! Thanks for the effort! Cheers

Got it! Nice out-of-the-box thinking!

I tried to find a workaround for this problem,I found one which is not really good,but should be working fine,Using animation nodes.
The Idea is to generate a set of points in the first quadrant,then exclude all the points that are inside of the parabola (x^2 curve) using a loop with a condition.
Then there is the loop that put the object it the list that is left with us.
Here is the node tree:

And here is the result:


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Is there a way to create a list of all available trackers of a scene?
I'm currently trying to write a first addon for blender and I would like to be able to have a drop-down menu where I can select one of all available trackers of a scene. (Just like what you can see in the "Follow Track" constraint.
Does anyone know how to achieve sth. like this:

Thank! Any help is much appreciated.

This will add a panel in your Properties Window --> Scene Tab called "Layout Demo", which will enable you to select a track if one exists for the 1st Movie Clip added to your scene.

import bpy

class LayoutDemoPanel(bpy.types.Panel):
    """Creates a Panel in the scene context of the properties editor"""
    bl_label       = "Layout Demo"
    bl_idname      = "SCENE_PT_layout"
    bl_space_type  = 'PROPERTIES'
    bl_region_type = 'WINDOW'
    bl_context     = "scene"

    def draw(self, context):
        layout = self.layout

        scene       = context.scene
        showProp    = False
        tracks      = None
        trackingCam = None

        # Only show this property if there is at least 1 movie clip that has trackers
        if len( bpy.data.movieclips ) > 0:
            mc = bpy.data.movieclips[0] # First movie clip
            if 'Camera' in mc.tracking.objects:
                trackingCam = mc.tracking.objects['Camera']
                tracks      = trackingCam.tracks
                if len( tracks ) > 0:
                    showProp = True

        if showProp and trackingCam and tracks:
            props = context.scene.myprops # Reference property group
            row   = layout.row()
            row.prop_search(props, "tracks", trackingCam, "tracks")

class propsGrp( bpy.types.PropertyGroup ):
    ''' Property group that contains your tracks custom property  '''
    tracks = bpy.props.StringProperty()

def register():
    bpy.utils.register_module(__name__)
    # Add property group to scene to make it persistent and accessible to panel
    bpy.types.Scene.myprops = bpy.props.PointerProperty(
        type = propsGrp
    )

def unregister():
    bpy.utils.unregister_module(__name__)
    # Remove property group from scene when panel is unregistered
    del bpy.types.Scene.props

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()

More about how to use property search.

This is perfect, Thanks! Exactly what I needed!


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Python: Add existing NodeGroup to Material
My goal is to add a NodeGroup I created earlier to the shader nodetree of an object using python. (Actually a few hundred times, hence the script)
This is what I know how to do:

iterate over all the objects of which I need to change the Material.

Here is where I get stuck:

I can add a new NodeGroup with object.data.materials[0].node_tree.nodes.new("ShaderNodeGroup")
This only creates a generic NodeGroup and I'm unable to select the actual Nodetree within this new Group.
py.ops.node.add_node(type="ShaderNodeGroup", use_transform=True, settings=[{"name":"node_tree", "value":"bpy.data.node_groups['MyNodeGroup']"}]) is the operator to add the Nodegroup that I want, but when I try to use that in my script, I get an error that I'm in the wrong context.

How can I make any of these methods work for my script?

You can do something like this: create the node group instance and set the existing node group as node tree for this new instance.
import bpy

C = bpy.context

def instantiate_group(nodes, data_block_name):
    group = nodes.new(type='ShaderNodeGroup')
    group.node_tree = bpy.data.node_groups[data_block_name]
    return group

instantiate_group(C.object.material_slots[0].material.node_tree.nodes, 'NodeGroup')

Thank you! "Especially group.node_tree = bpy.data.node_groups[group_name]" solved my problem!


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Weird driver behavior on frame change
I came across some weird driver behavior and hope someone can explain this to me.
I was trying to create a wheel that rotates automatically on the floor when it is moved along. (Just like real world wheels do.)
To achieve this, I wanted to use a driver. (Use position to calculate rotation -> rotate the wheel)
However, I got different results for the same frame while scrubbing on the timeline:

Note that I'm always on frame 44 and the xLocation is also equal. But the driver result varies and the wheel's rotation vary.
I found the difference to be dependent on whether I scrub using the mouse or the keyboard, and also from which direction I reach the frame.
(44 is arbitrary - it's the same for any other frame)
This is the Driver:

(not the solution, yet ;) )
Pressing "update dependencies" seems to fix it, but it is very impractical in this situation, because I'm trying to see if the wheel slips on the floor, and I need to jump quickly back and forth between frames and can't press the button each time.
Thinking this has sth. to do with the Dependency Graph, I tried to open this file in 2.8 and got the same result. Also in 2.79b and 2.79.5.
I would expect to get consistent values on the same frame. Any ideas why this happens? Thanks!!

This is the just the dependencies graph not updating in the right time just as you speculated. The value 101° is actually the result of the driver at frame 45 while the value 96.2° is actually the result of the driver at frame 43. The true value of the driver at frame 44 is 98.5°.
When you approach the frame 44 from the left, the last computed value is at frame 45, so its value is used. When you approach the frame 44 from the right, the last computed value is at frame 43, so its value is used. If you updated the dependencies at the frame 44, the true value is used.
I don't think there is an easy way to solve this, and this is one of many reasons I stopped using drivers. I recommend using Animation Nodes instead.

Thanks for your answer. I'm just wondering why a frame change wouldn't automatically trigger a dependency update?

@michaelh Honestly, I don't know, drivers are unpredictable. However, I think the reason is as follows. When you change the frame from 45 to 44, blender recognizes a change and execute the driver to update, however, blender recognize the change when you are still at frame 45, subsequently it executes the driver when it is at frame 45 and not the target frame 44.


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is it possible to limit texture resolution by distance?
I know in the simplify tab you can set a reduced texture size for all of the scene, but is it possible to reduce the texture size in vram based on distance from the camera?
For example I have a 2km stretch of land I'm modelling for a client animation, at one end of the landscape there's a stone wall with an 8k texture, and at the other end there's a wooden bridge with an 8k texture.  In between there are other objects with large textures also.  Most of them are in view from a distance and close up, so do need to keep the high res textures rather than simplifying the entire scene's texture sizes.
Cheers
Michael.

Related https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/98365/texture-blurry-when-viewed-at-shallow-angle/ and https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/86214/scaling-texture-based-on-distance-to-camera


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why is playback really slow, but scrubbing really fast?
why is playback really slow, but scrubbing really fast?  This is in a scene with nothing but a single character and armature.
i'm getting 4 fps when using alt a or pressing play, but when I scrub by hand,  everything updates just as fast as I scrub up to around 80fps (for a guess).

When you manually scrub you´re forcing the playback to update on current frame. But when playback is set to play by default it will calculate vertices, deformations (armature) and other effects.
If you´re on 2.79 blender, make an OGL capture from the Render menu or by pressing this icon:
That will render a capture sequence to the OUTPUT directory you´ve set your files to OUTPUT from on your properties->scene->render output on your blender file (panels to your right side of the screen).
Thank you for your consideration to vote me as the answer by clicking to the left :the icon with a check mark and upvote this answer.
BFCT_Schiller

Any way around it without running a capture sequence?  The odd thing is that any changes I make to the animation are reflected when scrubbing, so it must be updating something when scrubbing?


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import geometry from houdini with vertex groups and vertex color
I'm just trying to find a good workflow which will enable me to import both vertex colour and vertex or prim groups from Houdini, and then have them as editable vertex groups/colours in blender.
I've tried obj, fbx, and alembic so far.  With Obj I can get the vertex groups in if i choose 'keep vert order' and tick 'poly groups', but then I don't get the vertex colours.
With fbx I can get the vertex colour only, no groups.
alembic brings through vertex colour only too.
Any way to get both vertex colour and vertex groups, also I notice that only groups created as primitive groups in houdini can be imported as vertex groups in blender, so if there's a single vertex, then that won't get imported, any way around that?

i am trying to do reverse ( blender vertex groups to houdini groups and totally failing :) please do let me know if you have some idea. thanks


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import particles as particle system?
Any way to import particles from a 3rd party software and have them import as a blender particle system so I can use them to scatter objects?
I'm using Houdini, so if I can bring in the density, scale, rotation attributes etc that would be great.

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/57531/fbx-export-why-there-are-no-materials-or-textures

Well, I thought I'd found a workaround by importing particles as alembic, in which case they come through as vertices, and then applying a particle hair system set to vertices as the distributin method.
Only problem is though that I can't find a way to import the vertex normals ready for the scatter system.  Possible?


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how to get a smoke domain and flow object to follow a parent that is driven by a rig following follow path bone constraint?
Figured it out before I finished asking, see below for answer, but i'm going to have to continue typing so that my question meets the minimum amount of characters...hmm will this be enough.

For anyone else who might stumble on this problem, there's nothing different you need to do, but like me you might be thrown off by the viewport showing the smoke sim stuck at frame 1 with the domain not following along with the object, and the smoke sim not updating.
All you need to do is parent all of your smoke objects to any child of the rig that has a path follow constraint (which you've probably already done), and then select the domain and click bake. It will then bake properly. The problem is only that blender tricks you into thinking you've done it wrong for a few hours by giving you the completely wrong result in the viewport unless you bake.
Hope that helps someone.


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keep initial weights with dynamic paint
I have a plane with hand drawn vertex weights and I'm trying to dynamically paint onto it during animation. The problem is that if I set the dynamic paint vertex output to the same vertex groups with my hand drawn weights on, then rather than getting modified by the dynamic paint, my hand drawn weights get completely overwritten at the start of the animation.
Is there a way to keep the existing weights and just modify them dynamically?

You can use a different weight group for the dynamic paint. Then mix these two groups with the Vertex Weight Mix modifier. This way you can choose how your weights will be mixed with great possibilities.

Thanks, that's the solution.


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Start with Blender 2.79b or 2.8
I’m new to Blender and need to learn Blender from scratch.
Should I start with version 2.79b or start using 2.8?
I’m expecting 2.8 to be mainstream before I reach any level of proficiency.

Hello! A question like this was asked before: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/122408/learn-blender-2-7-now-or-wait-for-the-2-8-beta-release and it was considered off-topic for this site. In the other question I advised starting with the newest Beta, unless you are doing production work or working with one of the few features not yet updated.

Thank you, based on what I read, made the switch to 2.8!


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How do I make objects collide with text?
I'm a beginner in Blender, and I'm making an animation where an animated piece of text collides with balls in its path, causing them to roll.  I was just wondering if there was some way to tackle this with some kind of physics simulation.

Convert your text to a mesh as indicated in the image below to get more options in the physics panel.


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merging bended solid tubes organically
being a complete noob in blender, I wisely chose a quite complex object as my first project ;-)
 - the objects should have precise dimensions (which I managed more or less)
 - the tubes should have a certain thicknes (solidify modifier?)
 - and above all, the merging should come out as "organically" as possible
the aim should be an "adapter" where poles might be connected crosswise.
I hope I made it adequately clear...and if you tell me "boy, forget it! too demanding for an absolute beginner.", then it´s also fine with me :-D
thanks for any hint

What is it that you are modelling? Do you have a picture or a drawing of it? It is not clear from the description. What is it supposed to be?

You can construct it out of primitives making sure the forms to be connected have the same amount of edges, use solidify(ctrl+f->Solidify) to add thickness and insert edge ring(ctrl+r) to subdivide the primitives and delete unnecessary geometry, then you can select the edge segments and bridge them(w->Bridge Edge Loops). You can choose Blend Surface as surface interpolation and add some cuts for the bridge to have smoother shape. You would have to fill the holes using fill(f) and various other tools. F2 add-on will be very useful - just enable it in add-ons tab of user preferences(ctrl+alt+u).


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Catapult animation

Hi guys I'm totally new to game design, I managed to make a very simple catapult and it shoots and moves fine, the problem is when I turn the catapult to face another direction and tell it to fire it always wants to fire both from a fixed location on the map and to the right, it will even disconnect from the base of my catapult as shown in the picture above, how do I get it to stop doing that and only fire in the direction the object is looking at and to not leave the catapult base while firing?

FYI in blender you can Save Screenshot from the Window menu

Or use Win+PrtScreen to capture active menus too.

Hi. http://take-a-screenshot.org/ should help with taking better screenshots.

Have you got an active modifier in that model somewhere?  If so you have to pay attention to origin points when you're putting it together. Rotation and scaling of components in particular during construction can upset models when modifiers are at work. (not "applied") For trouble-free animation, hard mesh parts/components of a model are a lot easier to live with.


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Blender 2.8 Zoom to mouse position
I've just started using Blender - been meaning to for a while but figured I'd wait until there was a somewhat stable 2.8, so I wouldn't have to relearn things.
I'm trying to figure out how to set it so when you zoom using the mouse scroll wheel it will zoom to where the mouse position is instead of making everything go off the screen unless its perfectly centred, as it is infuriating, and annoying having to scroll across after zooming every time.
Doing multiple searches all yields the same result - there's an option in User Preferences under Interface. Except it's missing in 2.8, and it's not under the Input > Mouse section either.
I'm sure it's something simple but can't find any 2.8 documentation.

Preferences > Interface > View Gizmos > Zoom to mouse position

You were using a newer version of the 2.8 beta than I was :)
In the latest version its Preferences > Navigation > Zoom :

Thanks for the prompt reply but I don't have any of those options. I only just downloaded Blender about a week ago so it should be up to date. Images:
https://imgur.com/a/8rOFBmd
https://imgur.com/a/OibLJDA

I have modified my answer for the latest version of 2.8

Thank you for updating the answer for 2.8.

Thank you! Also, why is it not the default?

It's not working at all. Still zooming to my cursor not where I'm looking at


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I need to improve a part of my mesh
I have been working on a face mask in blender for quite a while now. I almost reached my goal and learned a lot but cannot make the last step.
1) I have a mesh (pretty clean now) of a human face.
2) I'm selecting the edge of the face on the right side and move the edges away from the mesh. This way I create a kind of extruded mold. I'm stretching the mesh
3) I'm using the bisect tool to cut the extruded mold.
This is almost what I want to achieve. The goal is to print this model in  a 3d printer so that it can be used as a mold for a cake.
My remaining problem is that the tube part of my model does not have a nice mesh structure. It only comprises of 1 loop of very lengthy quads.
All operators that I tried to apply to this part of the mesh fail and produce an unbelievable amount of noise and artefacts. Specifically, I cannot thicken this part using the solidify modifiers.
How can I create a nice mesh structure here?

Could you try to decimate your mesh and work with a lot of less polygons? Would be easier to work

You can try to subdivide that extrusion with a bunch of loopcuts so that the resulting density of polygons is approximately the same as on the face; then use Sculpt mode > Smooth brush to smooth it. Another way could be to cut geometry on the first step with some smooth line (a curve or grease pencil stroke) using e.g. Knife Project and extrude the result; there should be less smoothening work required

Unfortunately, I cannot give up any more details in the mesh of the face. @MrZak you say: "you can try to subdivide that extrusion with a bunch of loopcuts so that the resulting density of polygons is approximately the same as on the face"  How would I do that?

Easiest way to subdivide is to hover mouse cursor over long tiny extruded polygons which should be quads on the last screenshot above, press Ctrl+R and scroll the mouse wheel up

This is a common problem. For this the easiest way would be to sculpt it with dyntopo which also looks very organic for a face. You can also retopo the mesh after the sculpting process to get a mesh with a decent topology.

@Schamph dynotop is definetly what I was looking for. Thanky you so much!!!!

You´re welcome!


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Exporting PNG Animation sequence in vertical column sprite Sheet
I made an animation of a wheel rotating which is 80 frames. Is there a way I can export my PNG sequence in a vertical sprite sheet, the PNG files stacked one on top of the other like the example I have provided?
Thank you.

to do this directly on blender read: https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/188001/92768

Thanks for your reply, but It seems that Spritify is no longer available.  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Fweeb/blender_spritify/master/spritify.py

I linked the second answer, not the Spritify one...


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Look Dev Mode Transparent background
I'm trying to find a way to render my image in Look Dev mode with a transparent background if this is possible.
I have tried to emulate the dev mode in view port shading, I added a HDRI image, lights, but cannot get a better result than the look Dev mode.
Thank you.

Have you tried turning down the World Opacity under Viewport Shading menu already?

I turned down the Opacity. Once I render, the image is flat.
https://ibb.co/52zBtPX

You have to enable Transparent under Render Properties > Film for rendering... two different things you're asking for.

Also: The image is "flat" because you also have to setup an environment for rendering: https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/179977/31447 (lookdev is for preview only and has no effect on rendering)

Yep, all the things worked, well, I got a better result.
Thank you.


text:
Decal Machine Question
I saw a convenient Blender Add-On, and before purchasing I wanted to ask if anyone in the forum please confirm if you use Decal Machine, if I place an object in front of a decal, does it look like it's actually sitting within depth of the decal, like in the example I have uploaded. This is a reference photo I found on the internet and trying to see if it actually looks realistic within blender.
Thank you.

In this video you can see parts of the decal image/texture hiding other parts of it, as actual geometry would (skip to 1:20) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW9Pk9h6D8k Also here is an answer with some links at the end that might help anyone tying to achieve this parallax occlusion mapping effect without add-on: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/185716/how-to-make-3d-decals/185725#185725 (I don't know about adding actual geometry to such a decal)

I gave it a try and made an answer : )

This is a different example of Parallax Occlusion Mapping, (not from the add-on mentioned but from here:
https://blenderartists.org/t/parallax-shader-with-silhouette-clipping-for-blender-2-8-eevee-and-cycles/1162334 )
But as you can see, the visible part of the added geometry (white object) lies on top of the texture. The wall surface is flat and the POM only creates the illusion of extra geometry (like a normal map but more advanced). Therefore the wall can not interact with the white object as actual geometry would.
I strongly suspect the same would be true for the DECALmachine add-on.

The guy who developed Decal Machine, uploaded a quick video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRUxFizVALU&feature=emb_logo
So it works.

Ah, I guess it depends on the situation. The illusion isn't broken if you stay within certain borders of a particular decal. That looks very nice : )


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symmetrical selection of meshes
I deliberately made random loop cuts on a plane. And in between the annotation lines, I'm trying to select 2 meshes (faces) which are the same width. As seen in the example, one is wider than the other.And it's a tedious task to try match the width. So is there a method in blender which can even the widths of the selected mesh?
Thank you.

Yes: Go into Edit mode. Change your transform pivot type (top of screen) to Active. Select all the vertices to the left of and including the leftmost vertices of the left rectangle that is too narrow (all the vertices to the left). Now SHIFT+CLICK any one of the left-most vertices. This will make that vertex "active" (doing this again will deselect it--but you want it to be active).
You are going to scale all of those vertices along the X-axis towards that active vertex.
Type S, X, and drag the mouse a little to the left until you are satisfied with how thick the red region on the left in your image is.
This is not the only way to do what you are tying to do.  You also could have moved the cursor and used that as your transform registration point. You also could have used Proportional Editing.

I tried that, but the distance of the edges are not symmetrical. they width scales depending on how much I move the mouse. But the area of the mesh doesnt even out.
https://ibb.co/LNqV1TC


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Blurry Text On Model After Render
I'm UV mapping some text  which I did in Illustrator and exported PNG 300 resolution. And I rendered it using cycles and EEVEE. Cycles render gives a more crisp image of the text, while EEVEE seems blurry. I prefer to use EEVEE, becauce my PC is old and takes a while to render. Is there a way my text can look more sharp/crisp usin EEVEE.
Thank you.

is Depth of Field on?

I have turned that off. It's only with EEVEE render it's blurry.


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UV mapping/ Image is expanding beyond UV mapping borders
Doing some practising on UV mapping, I've imported my image, and selected my mesh where I'd like the image applied to. Seems to work well, but I cant figure out why some part of my image is going beyond the mesh which is selected. ( the numbers indicated in red circle).
Thank you.

By default only the selected geometry appears in the UV editor. If you select all your geometry you will see that the other parts also have uvs that seem to be overlapping with the numbers in your image.

Thanks for your reply, so how do I fix this?