text:
I want to link the back pack with spine
My model data. The back belt is oddly detached from the body.
I added bone is it needed to connect these bones? How to connect? I tried to parent. But those can connect the lonely bone head to the back. It seems good to link back and back.

And I tried to connect the top of the backpack bones. It can't make parents. It cants select ctrl P many. It becomes gray.
My model data. The back belt is oddly detached from the body.
How do I fix this?

I uploaded again but it still doesn't work.

You already have an answer here: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/274890/i-want-a-backpack-on-my-back-and-waist?rq=1

I got the answer I tried to watch it.
But I couldn't.
I am asking the next things.
That's diffelent.

Ok. You added the bones for the backpack as a new armature (Armature.001) rather than adding them to the existing armature. You're trying to parent bones from different armatures. That's why the parenting menu is greyed out.

I tried to do that.
But the back belt is still oddly detached from the body.
I uploaded new data.


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How to create twisted wires in Blender
This object was created in Cinema 4D.
How can you recreate it in Blender?

You can do it this way:

Create a Circle, shift it from its origin in Edit mode, go back in Object mode, create an Empty on the same point as the origin of the circle. Assign an Array modifier to the Circle with a Count of 5, deactivate Relative Offset, activate Object Offset and choose the Empty. Rotate the Empty 72° on the Z axis. Apply the Array modifier, you now have 5 circles.
Extrude one time your 5 circles and repeat with shift R so that you have several extrudes (of course you can also decide to make all these extrusions, or edge loops creation, on the original circle, before applying the first array).

Assign a Simple Deform modifier to your object, with a Deform Angle of 72°. You can Apply this modifier if you want.

Assign an Array modifier to your Object and choose a factor of 1 on the Z axis. Maybe enable Merge and First/Last so that the top sticks correctly to the bottom of the array copy. Choose the Count you want.

Create a bezier curve, go in Edit mode and make sure the direction is the one you want, if not W > Switch Direction. Put the Origin at its starting point.
Put your object at the beginning of the curve.
Assign a Curve modifier to your object, choose your bezier curve as the Object. It should follow the curve.
You can add a Subdivision Surface modifier to your object and smooth it.

great answer!! Learnt a lot

Here is one approach using addon: Add Curve: Extra Objects
1) Create archimedian spiral
2) Press F6 to toggle the Curve Spirals menu and adjust the curve
3) Bevel the curve
4) Create instance of the curve with Alt + D
5) Rotate R+Z+72 (360/5=72 if you want 5 elements)
6) Repeat 3 more times
7) You can additionally scale it (in edit mode)

@金馆长 Please don't just add thank you. If an answer solves your problem, you can accept it as the best answer.

Just for completeness, another method. (This time, for a 6-fold braid, up in Z)

Create a 6-sided circle at the origin
Create an Empty at the origin
Rotate the Empty by 60 in Z
Give the circle an Array modifier, 6-count, Object-offset, based on the Empty
In Edit mode, all selected, G X drag the circle away from its origin
Give the array a Screw modifier, in Z, adjusting the modifier's 'Screw' parameter for height.
Finish with a Subdivision Surface modifier.

The braid on the left should result. Now you have some options:

in Edit Mode, with Pivot set to 'Median', R X and G X the circle to get better topology, with less-stressed quads, as in the middle.
Delete the inner edges of the circle, and adjusting as above, bring connecting vertices together, adding  Weld and Bevel (by angle) modifiers, to get a shell that will subdivide well. (Move the subdiv to the bottom of the modifier stack)

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
CUDA ERROR: Launch failed in cuCtxSynchronize()” and “cuCtxCreate: Launch failed” when Rendering in Cycles using GPU
When I render my image, it stops, giving the error message "CUDA ERROR: Launch failed in cuCtxSynchronize() Line 1372", then when I try to start the render again, I get the error message "cuCtxCreate: Launch failed"  all the answers I have seen say to update your graphics card driver, however, mine is up to date.
I have a GTX1080 with 4gb of RAM.

Most likely you ran out of memory, what's the peak number you see in the info above the image?

My peak memory while rendering is 963M but on the Blender taskbar it shows as 2265M

Do you run other programs that require VRAM simultaneously? This ways my first idea, but there are lot of variables that can be causing this in your scene, complexity of the geometry, size of the textures. A quick solution besides simplyfing your scene is to use smaller tile size, like 64,32 or even 16. Also restarting the program helps to free some memory. https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/96878/cuda-error-launch-failed-in-cuctxsynchronize-line-1372 https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/94178/rendering-with-gpu-crashed

try updating ur driver

Bumped into the same error once.
Found following thread at developers forum:

Then it occurred to me that the Gforce Experience runs in the background (and being in my opinion, not a well written program) may be overlapping the memory of Blender or at least hogging the memory. So I un-installed it and magic! All Cuda errors and memory errors went away. Blender works again as it should!

I used to have this error, till i lower my render tile sizes to a value, that is lower than my output image size, my output image was "1920*1080" so i made my tile size 500 by 500.
and if you have the option "square samples" ticked, then untick it.
From my experience the problem is from either the tile size or the square samples or both
hope that works.

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

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


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How do I "unlink" or "make local" a created proxy?
How can I remove a linked library that pertains to a created proxy without deleting or altering the proxy or proxy's data?
Using the "make local" function,L in object mode, simply unselects the selected proxy without making any changes.

Shift-clicking and then clicking on the chain icon beside the datablock selector seems to work. For a larger set of objects, SHIFT+D Duplicate combined with "Make local" seems to produce fully local copies.

As a workaround, one could save the proxy's associated data(Animation,Materials,etc) through fake users, then delete the associated linked library in the outliner, append the original object or armature the proxy came from, if the file is still available, and then reassociate the data.

I had this issue today and it took me a while to figure out a workaround, but here it is:
It's essentially just duplicating the object and moving the proxy to an unused layer and disabling it from rendering. Just select the proxy and run it. AFAIK it also carries the child relationships as well.
    import bpy

    ###SCRIPT TO FIX PROXIES###

    old = bpy.context.active_object.name #call the name of the proxy object
    bpy.ops.object.duplicate_move(OBJECT_OT_duplicate={"linked":False, "mode":'TRANSLATION'}) #duplicate
    newname = bpy.context.active_object.name #call the name of the new object
    newobj = bpy.context.object #call the data/ID of the new object
    bpy.ops.object.select_all(action='DESELECT') #deselect all

    bpy.data.objects[old].select = True #select proxy
    obj = bpy.context.object #call data/ID of proxy
    bpy.context.scene.objects.active = obj #make proxy active
    bpy.ops.object.move_to_layer(layers=(False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, True))
    bpy.context.object.hide_render = True #after moving, hide the proxy from rendering

    bpy.context.area.type = 'VIEW_3D' #change context to 3D

    bpy.ops.view3d.layers(nr=0, extend=False) #select all layers
    bpy.ops.object.select_all(action='DESELECT') #deselect all
    bpy.ops.view3d.layers(nr=0, extend=False) #deselect all layers

    bpy.context.area.type = 'TEXT_EDITOR' #change context back to text editor

    bpy.data.objects[newname].select = True #make new object selected
    bpy.context.scene.objects.active = newobj #make new object active


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Why do these dark lines appear in render mode?
Black lines appear on my mesh when moved away from the origin. The black lines intensify as the mesh is moved further and further from the origin. The black lines only appear in the render view. Any help on the issue will be greatly appreciated. Attached is a photo of the issue and the blend file.

This is a known bug and limitation of Cycles. Does happen in render also, not only in render view.
The solution is to keep everything close by scene origin. You can have the camera stationary close to origin and then move the scene if it is big inversely to do "camera motion".

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


text:
how to set the mask to be the correct size in the compositor?
I have been doing car removal with mask using a tutorial I found on youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVyJj9tcTDY&index=33&list=PLrh6CSb2iXxQZq9Y79GbTtrQlC0giLSrI&t=0s.
I think I have been doing everything he did and the mask follows my car exactly on the movie clip editor but, when I composite it - my mask only shows part of the car i want in the render? any help would be greatly appreciated.My node tree render settings and result
2]2my mask

Thank you for the help :) I have reset to 100% and used scene size but my composite still does not follow my mask. it looks like its position is a few frames off . Like running ahead of the car in my mask?

I don't know how to add images here? ..   But I kept rendering each frame i was masking and moving the mask accordingly until it played right ... not sure if that is the right way or not?

If you are using a video clip in an .mp4 format or similarly compressed then Blender may not be decoding it properly. Best way is to convert this media to an image sequence first.


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Continuous and coherent texture mapping on deforming objects
I am new to Blender, and I am stuck with a problem in texture mapping.
I have got a series of model files (*.obj) that represents a non-rigid, deforming object. Each of the model file, represents an incremental deformation of the object and has been generated externally, using another software. These model files are textureless.
Here is an example:

I want to import these models into Blender sequentially (using Python), overlay a texture on them, add a background (and some lights) and export the complete animation. The texture that gets wrapped around the object is an image of 6000x4000 pixels.
However, the texture mapping is not working properly. It seems as if the texture is loosely overlaid on the object and the deformation makes the surface smoothly glide and slide beneath the texture. It is not what one would expect from a real world object.
If you look at the following images carefully, you might be able to notice the discrepancy:

Here is the script I am using to assign the texture:
realpath = os.path.expanduser("/path/to/some/image.jpg")
try:
    img = bpy.data.images.load(realpath)
except:
    raise NameError("Cannot load image %s" % realpath)

# Create image texture from image
cTex = bpy.data.textures.new('material1', type='IMAGE')
cTex.image = img

# Create material
mat = bpy.data.materials.new('material1')

# Add texture slot for color texture
mtex = mat.texture_slots.add()
mtex.texture = cTex
mtex.texture_coords = 'OBJECT'
mtex.bump_method = 'BUMP_BEST_QUALITY'
mtex.reflection_factor = 0.8
mtex.use_map_diffuse = True
mtex.use_map_color_diffuse = True
mtex.use_map_color_emission = True
mtex.emission_color_factor = 0.0
mtex.use_map_density = True
mtex.mapping = 'FLAT'

mat.diffuse_intensity = 0.8
mat.diffuse_shader = 'OREN_NAYAR'

Using
mtex.texture_coords = 'GLOBAL'

instead of 'OBJECT' helps a little, but the stretching and distortion of the texture looks unrealistic in the 'global' mode.
Please help me in figuring out the root cause behind the problem and how, if at all, can this be remedied.

How do you assign UVs? Any link or a tutorial would help. I am new to this and not familiar with the basics. And... I have little control over how the mesh is being generated. It is part of a FEM simulation software. Don't think its possible to add texture there.

Number of vertices are not the same, in fact... there can be topological changes in the model too, such as cutting or splitting of a part of the model. And when multiple vertices gets squeezed together, they get replaced by one vertex. So the number of vertices are not guaranteed to be the same.

Okay... but I get the drift. I'll look into UV mapping and get back to this question! Thanks for the help @cegaton

If you want the texture to deform with the surface, you will have to use UV mapping. Every polygon corner gets assigned a location in UV (2D) space and textures use this information to map to surface. This mapping is not hard to create (see UV textures/ing tutorials), but it can be unique for every mesh, so the key is ensuring this UV mapping is the same in all your meshes.
There is a way to have only 1 mesh and to use all the others for creating mesh shape keys. You need Absolute shape keys that animate in a sequence. You do this by joining 2 meshes with Join as Shapes option. This way you can convert multiple meshes with the same vertex order into a single mesh with deformation animation.
In python with both selected and the target for animation active:
bpy.ops.object.join_shapes()

You might need to override the context.

My understanding of your problem: mesh deformations dont seem to affect the texture, giving you an-always perfectly spread image over the surface.
I believe it's a UV problem.
Does each one of your objects have its own UV layout specifically unwrapped for that object?
If that's the case, it means (at least in my mind) that each UV layout adjusted itself around the mesh deformations, giving you an always-even distribution of vertices, preventing the texture from stretching.
Which, in turn, also mitigates the appearance of the mesh deformations.
Anyway, I would check UVs.

"Does each one of your objects have its own UV layout specifically unwrapped for that object?" ..... No, they don't. That seems to be the problem. I'm new to Blender (and graphics, in general) and don't understand UV mapping. I just wishfully thought it will be straightforward. But it seems like I need to do some homework.

@metsburg It's been a while, but if you're still studying the matter I'd gladly help you get up and running with 3D modeling/texturing. I'd use some knowledge review and explaining the subject to a newcomer would serve the purpose.


text:
Error with my model's legs
Ok so, basically I have this error where my model's legs aren't connecting
may someone let me know how to fix it?

Hello, maybe an inner face that you need to delete? Or overlapping vertices?

It looks like the vertices in the knee area are duplicated, and the top ones are separated from the bottom ones. Furthermore it looks like the top part is closed with a face towards the knee while the bottom part is open to the top.
To fix this:

Go into Edit Mode and select all with A.

Now press M > Merge > By Distance.

If the Merge operation shows "Removed 0 vertice(s)" in the status bar at the bottom, then probably the Merge Distance was too small and the vertices are further apart. Increase this value very carefully, until the status bar shows a number of vertices > 0 to be removed (presumably 4 in your case). If you increase the value too much, other parts of the mesh might get merged as well although they are supposed to be separate.

It should already look better now. But there is still a face inside the mesh. You can either select it in Face Select mode with X-Ray enabled by directly clicking it or to make sure you get all possible inside faces, from the viewport menu choose Select > Select All by Trait > Interior Faces.

All faces on the inside of the mesh should be selected now and you can hit X > Delete > Faces.

Now it looks like this its upper leg is square-ish: https://i.sstatic.net/m65OR.png

It also looks like there are edges going inside from the corner vertices, so it's not one interior face but four triangles going from the center to the outward edges. That's a good example where using the menu Select Interior Faces comes in handy. Looking at it again I think these triangles weren't there before. Did you Merge > By Distance or Merge > At Center?

I did distance I think.


text:
How do I fix my bump map being messed up from certain angles?
For some context, I'm trying to turn my profile picture into a spinning coin GIF. I made a bump map and stuff, so it looks kind of 3d, but it seems to get messed up from certain viewing angles.

Here is a GIF of what I'm talking about.

I think it's because I had previously subdivided it a massive amount to try to get displacement to work. Currently trying to dissolve half the vertices.

You should plug the texture into the Height input, not Normal.


text:
Rigify and Weight Painting
I just made a mouth rig, and used weight painting and Rigify.

I was following a tutorial but structured the mouth to be open on one side instead of a closed circle.  When I applied the weight painting and tried to move the control bones, everything becomes distorted.  Is there something I can use instead of weight painting or how do I fix what I made with weight painting?  I'll try to figure out how to post a file here.

It is a 2.7 mb file and it is taking a long time to upload.

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1Bts4A-9Od0hF-iwGFvc9CKR1_ULF6CUV    Hopefully this works.

A few screenshots, the link to the tutorial, and details on how you build the rig would help. I guess the right side (character's left side) is the problem?

https://youtu.be/UTlchZhyS18  Here is the link to the tutorial.  Also, I used weight painting and rigify to make the rig.  Yeah, the left side, the side with the teeth is the problem.


text:
how to import stl by python ？
I want to use this code to open the specific folder to select the imported stl file like this:

I defined the folder to open, but the code didn't
work(bpy.ops.import_mesh.stl(filepath='C:/0/',global_scale=0.1))

How can I modify the code to jump directly to this directory（C:/0/） when I open the file browser using the import command？
class ImportSomeData(Operator, ImportHelper):
    """This appears in the tooltip of the operator and in the generated docs"""
    bl_idname = "import_test.some_data"
    bl_label = "Import Some Stl File"
    bl_options = {'REGISTER', 'UNDO'}

    # ImportHelper mixin class uses this
    filename_ext = ".stl"
    filter_glob: bpy.props.StringProperty(
        default="*.stl",
        options={'HIDDEN'})

    def execute(self, context):
        if self.filepath:
           bpy.ops.import_mesh.stl(filepath='C:/0/',global_scale=0.1)

        # Print the imported object reference
            print("Imported object:", context.object)
            # Create a material
            mat = bpy.data.materials.new(name="STLMaterial")
            # Append the material to the last slot
            context.object.data.materials.append(mat)

        return {'FINISHED'}

The first sentence is hard to read. You want to define the filepath, right? What does not work? A complete working code example including the imports would be helpful. Where is self.filepath defined? If it's not defined it will do nothing.

"How to modify the code?" - to do what exactly? What do you want to do specifically? What does "opening the folder directly" mean in this context? Do you want to import all STL files in some folder? You also need to share the full code that you are trying to run.


text:
Intersect faces between 2 objects without join or boolean modifier?
I'm kind of lost in my research, in a scene I'm trying to modify an object that intersects another object.
Let me explain, so I go with the example I've seen many times with 2 cubes among each other.

These are 2 different objects; what I want is to add a face where the intersection occurs.
If I try the boolean modifier, it might look like what I want, but the mesh didn't change :/

So another solution was to join both objects to then use the intersect knife tool. But then I can't work on each cube independently.
Am I clear on what I want?
Thanks for the help.

I believe what you want is to "apply" the boolean.  If you don't apply it, the boolean is a live modifier that reacts to to changes in the base objects, so it can't write to the base mesh-- what the base mesh is, depends on those objects.  If you apply it, it is no longer live, but then applied to the mesh for edit mode.  To apply it, look at the dropdown arrow to the right of the modifier name and select "apply".

Brillant, exactly my need, thanks !


text:
Curly hair animated
So, looking on this research paper ( http://graphics.pixar.com/library/CurlyHairB/paper.pdf ) I wasn't able to recreate even the starting point on the trouble that Pixar had simulating hair. In blender hair is a straight strand, if you want to have a curly hair you have to use children. And it only curls it along the straight strand (the one who is simulated), so it doesn't have compression between the loops (natural of curly hair).
I added a gif of a single strand with hair dynamics and with one children curled (on the left) and a faked one with a not physically real animation of the real curl hair while walking.

As you could see, the hair simulation doesn't compress itself (because real straight hair doesn't compress) so the problem isn't in the simulation, is in the way you curl the hair. In blender (as far as I know, that isn't too much) you create a straight strand of hair that is simulated, and then you create a child (curled in this case) around the straight strand. So the loops of hair that you create with childrens aren't simulated properly.
You can curl the hair manually in the particle edit mode, but I'm looking for a method that could work with many hair strands.
Is a way to correctly curl the hair that I missed (probably)?? An addon?? Should I ask for it on the blender development site??

Please make your writing clearer.  I find the writing in you question to be confusing.  Others may find it clear.  There appears to be many words missing.  I believe some of your long sentences can be made into two sentences.  Probably the best person to make your question clearer is you.  Please read your question carefully and make improvements.

Changed, is understandable now? Sorry about the misspelled words and wrong grammar, but English isn't my first language.

Have you used [particle mode] on the hair ? [Yes, No]  This would demonstrate hair can be combed in a wavy/curly fashion.  Please use particle mode to style your hair a little.

This may be related to advanced hair management. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pxZtmlqtvc I have not seen the video recently yet I remember the provider managing hair with a curve ... not necessarily physics.  I consider this video to be intermediate to advanced.  You must judge if it is relevant.

atomicbezierslinger , your answer works, thanks, but if I have a head, it is almost impossible to edit every strand, gonna update the question. Also, I think your answer would have been better on as an answer than a comment because is very useful.

The point is to use particle edit mode and probably children together.


text:
Animating car wheels, Separating object, Splitting a UV map
I'm animating the wheels of a car. I can select the wheel in edit mode as shown but not in object mode.  When I separate the wheel from the car to rotate it the uv map for the wheel disappears but the rest of the uv map remains. There is one uv map for the car parts. I hope I'm being clear. Can anyone help please? I want to rotate the wheel with current uv mapping.

The uv map for the wheel should not disappear, could you please share your file, don't forget to pack the image so that it's part of the file: https://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/

When posting a question like this, it is best to give us the entire workspace with the elements involved exposed.
Like this...

You UV Islands may be disappearing because the wheels use a different material than the body of the car and that mesh isn't part of the selected mesh object or material (especially if you've split the wheel away from the car.)
Can you post a picture of your work area like above?
Also, are you trying to rotate vertices in the 3d Viewer or the UV island?  (I'm assuming you're trying to line up the spokes of the front left wheel with the other wheels.)


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How to rotate a 2d plan in ver 2.79. no option in property panel
i'm creating a 3d airplane from a 2d plan. i have built the shell overlaying it over 2d plan. Now i need to rotate the plan -90deg to work on the tail and the wing. There is currently no option in the property panel to do this. where am i going wrong? Appreciate any feedback. thanks.

What do you mean by "2d plan"? If you use background images then there's no way to rotate them and match another preset ortho view unless creating another background image for that view. See https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/118/how-do-i-set-a-background-image-while-i-am-editing

I got it. I needed to point back to the source and then i could use the x and y sliders to move the reference image.

Assuming you have a blueprint which contains sections with both plan and elevation views, you can assign the same image as background to each relevant Blender orthographic view.
For example: Having constructed your shell from the blueprint's elevation section in the Blender's 'Left' view, you can add (Add Image) and assign the same blueprint image to Blender's 'Top' view. You don't have to reload it from file, it will already be in Blender's list of available images. You then offset/ rotate/reflect the blueprint image (in the Blender's background image panel) so that its plan section coincides with the shell you have built, seen from the top.
The versions of the background image are visible only from the exact preset Blender view to which they were assigned.


text:
How to edit Geometry for extrusion
I'm trying to model this character's helmet as an exercise, and I've reached a snag. As you can see from the photograph, the geometry behind the gem cross straight over the helmet, but as it stands, the edges on my sphere all converge at the center, making it very difficult to get a clean extrusion. I'm currently experimenting with dissolving that center vertex and then quadding the remaining hole so I can manipulate the loops more easily, but I feel as though there must be a better way. How should I go about editing it to rectify the issue? Thank you so much!

Yeah, UV spheres aren't generally the start of great topo.  There are times when they'll work, but more often than not, they're just headaches.
Consider using what I call a cube-sphere:

I started out by subdividing my cube with 2 cuts (so I can get that center stripe), then used the "to sphere" operator (which I use rarely enough that I just call it from the spacebar search, so I don't know the hotkey.)  Give it the full factor (1.0) for the to-sphere, and you've basically shrinkwrapped your cube to the surface of a sphere.
I've got two levels of subdivision in that pic afterwards.  You can write your subdivision as you go and need more detail, but as always, it's smart to work from low detail to high detail, from big to small.  I think you'll find that a lot of your extrusions come more easily from starting with topo appropriate to what you're going to end up with.  (Of course, you can always retopo afterwards too.)

Hey there friend! I know it's been a while, but I remembered your answer and thought you might like this! I was digging through the blender addons for fun and found one called "Add Mesh: Extra Objects." It makes some nifty additions to the add mesh menu, one of which being your cube sphere! Thought since you use it so much, it might be a nice time saver for you.

Oh, thanks!  I try not to load up too much on add-ons, and making primitives isn't how I spend much of my time, but thanks for thinking of me :)  One of these days I might install that, but not because of cube-spheres (fifteen seconds to make one of those) but because of curve spirals.


text:
Airplane Cylinder Modeling
Any tip to model something like this photo ? I'm new to Blender.
The top part of the cylinder with this curves looks like a nightmare to me.
I did the lower region with a cylinder mesh and loop cuts to add the details.

Hello :). I'm not sure which part you are reffering to, but there is a detailed model of R-2800 on Turbosquid including a Wireframe preview.


text:
Does Blender generate audio?
I've never entered any audio/sound into blender. I'm curious to know, does Blender generate sound for you? or is it all whatever I import?

Have a look at the documentation. https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/render/audio/speaker.html

No, blender is not an audio tool, you can import sounds and add them to the timeline. Think of blender as a 3D content and visual effects tool, the video editing and audio tools are quite basic.

You can generate sound in blender while you load a sound into the speaker and place it in the 3d-Space. There you have than may an animation object and you can parent the speaker to it. Than you can render the sound and you have a 3d Sound.


text:
Transparent shadow not appearing in viewer node
I am trying to create a transparent shadow using the compositor in blender 2.8, i used a image invert and viewer node to get rid of the white portion of the image, but the changed image wont show up in my viewer node in image editor, is there anything that i'm doing wrong here?

Not sure what you're trying to accomplish here.
Right now your compositing nodes will display nothing because there's nothing fed in the input color. So basically you ask Blender to display "nothing" according to an alpha map.
Besides, I'm pretty sure you want to display this shadow on the floor beneath your model. In which case, what you want to do is either use a material on that flood to display shadows where you want and not use compositing at all.
Something like that:

Compositing is meant to make changes on the rendered picture. May it be color corrections, deformations, ... But it's really on the rendered picture level, not on what will be rendered. Think of it like editing pictures with Photoshop, but using nodes.

I was trying to make the white part transparent so that i could export the shadow as png and use it in unity, thats why i needed to see it in viewer node without the white part, and save it like that. so basically i dont exactly need to see it in rendered view, i just need to be able save the shadow as png with transparency


text:
How to deform the outer part of a torus along one axis?
Thanks so much to those who answered my original question, but I don't think I was clear enough about what I was needing.  So here's a (hopefully) clearer explanation:
So here's a standard (high res) torus, can see the specs on the pic:

And so I want to scale it wider by 30% just with the default scaler, like this:

However I don't want the inner circle (the hole) to be scaled, just the outer diameter.  The result should look something like this (except with all rounded surfaces):

And with a constant Z height at the highest and lowest points of the curve, so the side (X/Y) view should look like this:

I made this which is closest I can get, by beveling the corners of a cubic shape, but the top and bottom planes are still flat.  I need it rounded.  I want it so that if you were cutting the shape radially you'd get a perfect oval cross-section shape.

Hopefully this is clear.  This should be an easy shape to make by an experienced Blender user but I just started playing with it not long ago.
Thanks again!

It's trickier than it looks, .. I'm a slow scripter .. maybe someone else will jump in? :D But I think one approach to a solution is as follows: There are 2 ellipses to be considered at any angle theta around the center of the torus.  1. The plan view outer ellipse. We need its  radius at theta around its center, from that ellipse's Polar Form.  From that, we can derive the major axis of 2. the profile ellipse at that angle, which could just be the scaling and offset of a circular profile.

@RobinBetts just posted and noticed comment... pretty much where comments were leading the other day.  Think I  might have stuffed up the maths somewhere,

@RobinBetts yep, figured it out need to rotate the rib by the angle defined by p2 - p1, not the one that determines them. Which is giving the oval look. Will fix later.

You can use the Proportional Editing mode :

Select only the outer ring of vertices
Activate the PET with O or with the button (blue arrow in the screenshot)
initiate the scale on the desired axis THEN control the radius of the PET with your mouse wheel

You can try different fallof profiles (the "curve" button right to the PET). "Sphere" seems a good choice.

A way to do it is to use some modifiers (subdivision surface, screw and surface deform).
At the end, we'll use the surface deform modifier, and its vertex group option. The idea is to set the vertex group weights from 0 to 1 depending on the proximity to the inner radius.

As we want to set the vertex weights simply (and this is the reason why we use subdivision surface and screw modifiers), we start with a square, so with 4 vertices to make the torus ring and set the weights manually: 0 for the inner, 0.5 for the two in the middle, 1 for the outer.

To make this square round, we add a subdivision surface modifier.
And to make the torus, we add a screw modifier.

Finally, the surface deform modifier will trigger when another object is deformed in edit mode (the object is named plane.001 in the capture above).
In the example here, a square is deformed (scaled) along y.

Very nice... definite UV .. but does @Fluffy want all the profiles to be elliptical in the result?

@RobinBetts, I don't know... we'll see.The images in the question are not so clear about it effectively.

I believe this is exactly what I'm looking for!  @lemon Thank you!  But which value do I modify in your .blend to do the deforming like in the gif?  Tried changing the strength value in the surface deform modifier but didn't work.

@SmashingFulffy, you have to enter edit mode for the plane next to the torus. Then you can scale it along Y (in the config of the joined file). This plane is used in the surface deform modifier as parameter to influence the torus.

Got it! Thanks @lemon again. And thanks for sharing the .blend file that helps tremendously. It seems like such a simple shape in my mind but so hard to explain in words. All you folks here rock!

This script takes the approach commented, calculating the radius of the outer ellipse in plan view for any angle theta around the torus center, by using the ellipse's representation in polar coordinates.
From the outer radius of the torus, and its inner radius of 1, the major radius of an elliptical profile at any theta can be calculated, and a circle scaled, rotated, and translated into place for each radial segment.
import bpy
import bmesh
from mathutils import *
from math import *

a = 1.29    # minor outer radius
b = 1.64    # major outer radius
u = 72      # u segments
v = 24      # v segments

def r_at(theta):
    den2 = ((b * cos(theta)) ** 2.0) + ((a * sin(theta)) ** 2.0)
    return a * b / sqrt(den2)

bm = bmesh.new()

segs  =  range (0,360, int(360/u))
for theta in segs:

    rt = radians(theta)
    rr =  r_at(rt)
    sf = (rr - 1.0)
    xo = 1+(sf/2.0)
    tvec = Vector((xo,0.0,0.0))

    v_dict = bmesh.ops.create_circle(
      bm,
      cap_ends=False,
      radius=1,
      segments=v)
    v_list = v_dict['verts']

    m_sca_x = Matrix.Scale(sf/2.0, 4, (1.0, 0.0, 0.0))
    m_sca_y = Matrix.Scale((a-1)/2.0, 4, (0.0, 1.0, 0.0))
    m_rot_x = Matrix.Rotation(pi/2, 4, 'X')
    m_trans = Matrix.Translation(tvec)
    m_rot_z = Matrix.Rotation(rt, 4, 'Z')
    m_xform = m_rot_z @ m_trans @ m_rot_x @ m_sca_y @ m_sca_x

    bmesh.ops.transform(bm, verts=v_list, matrix=m_xform)

bmesh.ops.bridge_loops(bm, edges=bm.edges, use_cyclic=True)

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

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

I've assumed the profile at the minor radius of the outer ellipse is supposed to be circular, and that height is maintained throughout. All profiles are elliptical, in the radial cross-section.

This looks like the correct shape i asked for. Thanks! Even though I got the shape from Lemon's solution I'll try yours as well, hopefully it'll make me a better blenderer. Lol

BMesh script

Using methods from https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/132928/15543 re making an ellipse from the eccentricity.
Here is a test script, result image above using values as below.  The inner radius is the radius of hole, the outer radius the maximum radius of ellipse, and an angle of eccentricity as explained in link.
Have added a height to keep the "ribs" too, whereas could also use the eccentricity.  Am not sure if a scaled circle in 1D, and rotated and projected are same ellipse.
Anyway, the method uses the points created by scribing the hole, and the ellipse as reference points to create ribs and skin them.
Left as a long chain of transforms, instead could make a you-beaut chain matrix, but ...
import bpy
import bmesh
from bpy import context
from mathutils import Matrix, Vector
from math import asin, radians

inner_radius = 0.5
outer_radius = 1.5 # maximum
height = 0.5
eccentricity_angle = radians(45)
number_segments = 32
number_rings = 64

Re = Matrix.Rotation(eccentricity_angle, 3, 'X')
Se = Matrix.Scale(0, 3, (0, 0, 1))

Me = Se @ Re
me = bpy.data.meshes.new("Ell_Toro")
bm = bmesh.new()
Te = Matrix.Translation((1, 0, 0))

def new_rib(angle):
    x = Vector((1, 0))
    R = Matrix.Rotation(angle, 4, 'Z')
    p1 = R @ Vector((inner_radius, 0, 0))
    p2 = Me @ (R @ Vector((outer_radius, 0, 0)))

    rib = bmesh.ops.create_circle(
            bm,
            radius=1,
            segments=number_segments,
            matrix= Matrix.Rotation(radians(-90), 4, 'X') @ Matrix.Translation((1, 0, 0)),
            )
    Q = Matrix.Rotation(
            (p2 - p1).xy.angle_signed(x),
            4, 'Z')

    bmesh.ops.transform(
            bm,
            verts=rib["verts"],
            matrix = Q,
            )

    bmesh.ops.transform(
            bm,
            verts=rib["verts"],
            matrix = (0.5 * (p2 - p1).length * Matrix()),
            )

    bmesh.ops.transform(
            bm,
            verts=rib["verts"],
            matrix=Matrix.Scale(height /(p2 - p1).length, 3, (0, 0, 1)),
            )
    bmesh.ops.transform(
            bm,
            verts=rib["verts"],
            matrix= Matrix.Translation(p1),
            )
    return bm.edges[-number_segments:]

angle = radians(360) / number_rings
ribs = [new_rib(i * angle) for i in range(number_rings)]

ribs.append(ribs[0])

while len(ribs) > 1:
    rib = ribs.pop()
    bmesh.ops.bridge_loops(
            bm,
            use_pairs=True,
            edges=rib + ribs[-1],
            )

ob = bpy.data.objects.new("Ell_Toro", me)
bm.to_mesh(me)
context.collection.objects.link(ob)

Your answer is very nice indeed @RobinBetts  Caught up with you and Fixed the error mentioned which  was giving me the oval shape instead of ellipse due  rotating rib to circle radial instead of via circle -> ellipse.  Made some wonderfully weird crumpet shaped torii whilst getting it wrong.

.. So that's  what it was! I was trying to work out where the difference came from, but ran out of fag-packet, as it were, before I had to go to bed. I'm so slow at these things..:(

Ditto. Bit the 99% rule with this one.  Nothing worse than running out of smokes. They're as dear as poison here.  As is think we have pretty muchly matched result.  Do you think a scaled circle matches ellipse (have lazilly scaled the rib circles, rather than rotate project)?


text:
why can't i see material on evee but can in cycles?
when i apply material on an object can't see them on render mode on evee. The object becomes transparent also transparent in rendered image but it is working on cycles

could you post an image of the node setup?

are you using an amd gpu?


text:
Accessing Geometry Nodes Input and Output data with Python
i want to review the inputs and outputs of geometry nodes for debugging and to gain a deeper understanding what is going on.
I have read other questions on the topic but they are mostly very short, with a specific example and without the explanation i need.
Other resources
Article1
Article2
Article3
.
.
.
So my naive approach, and i guess the approach of thousands of other people is to enable the python tooltips and go to the shown path like
bpy.data.node_groups['Geometry Nodes'].nodes['Vector Math']

then i add a dot and press tab to see what's inside
                                                                as_pointer(
                                                            bl_description
                                                            bl_height_default
                                                            bl_height_max
                                                            bl_height_min
                                                            bl_icon
                                                            bl_idname
                                                            bl_label
                                                            bl_rna
                                                            bl_rna_get_subclass(
                                                            bl_rna_get_subclass_py(
                                                            bl_static_type
                                                            bl_width_default
                                                            bl_width_max
                                                            bl_width_min
                                                            color
                                                            dimensions
                                                            draw_buttons(
                                                            draw_buttons_ext(
                                                            driver_add(
                                                            driver_remove(
                                                            get(
                                                            height
                                                            hide
                                                            id_data
                                                            id_properties_clear(
                                                            id_properties_ensure(
                                                            id_properties_ui(
                                                            input_template(
                                                            inputs
                                                            internal_links
                                                            is_property_hidden(
                                                            is_property_overridable_library(
                                                            is_property_readonly(
                                                            is_property_set(
                                                            is_registered_node_type(
                                                            items(
                                                            keyframe_delete(
                                                            keyframe_insert(
                                                            keys(
                                                            label
                                                            location
                                                            mute
                                                            name
                                                            operation
                                                            output_template(
                                                            outputs
                                                            parent
                                                            path_from_id(
                                                            path_resolve(
                                                            poll(
                                                            poll_instance(
                                                            pop(
                                                            property_overridable_library_set(
                                                            property_unset(
                                                            rna_type
                                                            select
                                                            show_options
                                                            show_preview
                                                            show_texture
                                                            socket_value_update(
                                                            type
                                                            type_recast(
                                                            update(
                                                            use_custom_color
                                                            values(
                                                            width
                                                            width_hidden

I then try to figure out what i want to see (please tell me if there is a better documented way).
So there is a variable named inputs... sounds good. I'll have a look into
bpy.data.node_groups['Geometry Nodes'].nodes['Vector Math'].inputs.

and find
                                                                       as_bytes(
                                                                   bl_rna
                                                                   clear(
                                                                   data
                                                                   find(
                                                                   foreach_get(
                                                                   foreach_set(
                                                                   get(
                                                                   id_data
                                                                   items(
                                                                   keys(
                                                                   move(
                                                                   new(
                                                                   path_from_id(
                                                                   remove(
                                                                   rna_type
                                                                   update(
                                                                   values(

Then i try data or value but this leads me nowhere...
In the other articles people use
bpy.context.evaluated_depsgraph_get()

but i lack the understanding what that means. So any reference is welcome.
I'd really like to understand the concepts behind rather than finding a specific example that fixes this exact problem until i run into the next. Is there an article on how geometry nodes (or blender) store data and apply modifiers. I'm sorry for the very open question...
===== Follow Up Edit
As Crantisz pointed out you can access the "default inputs" with
>>> bpy.data.node_groups['Geometry Nodes'].nodes['Vector Math'].inputs[0].default_value[0]
1.0

>>> bpy.data.node_groups['Geometry Nodes'].nodes['Vector Math'].inputs[0].default_value[1]
0.0

>>> bpy.data.node_groups['Geometry Nodes'].nodes['Vector Math'].inputs[0].default_value[2]
1.0

>>> bpy.data.node_groups['Geometry Nodes'].nodes['Vector Math'].inputs[1].default_value[0]
0.0

>>> bpy.data.node_groups['Geometry Nodes'].nodes['Vector Math'].inputs[1].default_value[1]
1.0

>>> bpy.data.node_groups['Geometry Nodes'].nodes['Vector Math'].inputs[1].default_value[2]
0.0

So the "regulator inputs" can be adressed.
But when i attach another source (which is the realistic use case)

then i get the same outputs and NOT the ones coming from the real input that is attached (here Combine XYZ)
So, how do i get to the input that is currently active at the input?
========== Final Edit
As Crantisz points out: "This is not accessible"
The data of a node does not appear to be accessible.
That is really a bad choice in my opinion. Following
Viewer Node Discussion
there was a statement that really made me jump of my chair ("The value without geometry doesn't make sense."). Hopefully there will be some overthinking of this statement, but i fear there is a deeper reason (how geometry nodes work deep inside).
I noticed the following:

but when i connect to a geometry

So that brings me to two thoughts/observations:

The Information i'm looking for (input / output data) must be somewhere as it was displayed in the tooltip
Geometry Node does not compute nodes that are not connected to a geometry, which is sad mostly for debugging. I get that the whole point of a geometry node is to deal with geometry, but there are other sidecalculations that may need debugging until you hook it to a geometry eventually. The viewer node is cumbersome (and only knows values). Debugging vectors is a nightmare...

If you don't enter dot, you will see a content of the dictionary:

You can also get item by index (in this case is important because of same names):

As for the connections - You can find them in links dictionary.

Thank you Crantisz. That helps but, it seems to work only for the inputs that come from the "regulators" (in the case of the vector math: the two xyz inputs). However if i attach e.g. a "Combine XYZ" to a Vector input the your method still shows the regulators setting and not what is actually attached to that channel via the Combine XYZ (if that is unclear i can also reply with some figures). For the Node Output it does not work at all (only get zeros)

It shows "default" value, of course. Connections can be found in links dictionary

i still dont get it, sorry. The links dictionary seems to tell me the source/target (from_ or to_) of the data (either socket or node), which is definitely good to know. However, i want to know what the actual data at the input or output is.

This is not accessible

sad... How do you debug complicated node trees when you have unexpected results? The viewer node is not a big help in my opinion...

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/259223/geometry-nodes-viewer-node-how-can-i-debug-a-value/259225#259225


text:
Auto rig pro: Knees bent backwards
So I'm using Auto Rig Pro to rig a character, but the knees always bend the wrong way. I've tried moving the bones and the pivot point but it never changes.

I provide the blend file here:

in your file nothing is rigged?!

This one should be good

Make sure the protrusion is facing the direction you want. The protrusion direction will be judged as pole

I used to try align the bones into straight line like | (instead the < > in the pictures), then the generate algorithm would return Error due it doesn't know the protrusion direction.

The pole target bones must be in front of the knees. It's the red and blue spheres. Your rig has them at the back of the knees. In consequence, the knees bend backward.
I don't know Auto Rig Pro and if it's like Rigify that works with a meta-rig. If it has something like a meta-rig, I recommend fixing the pole's position there. If not, you can edit the current rig and fix it.
You just need to mirror the poles and fix the bone rolls of the knee bones.
Step 1 - fixing the pole position

move the 3D Cursor to World Origin (Shift+S)
set the Transformation Pivot Point to the 3D Cursor (dropdown menu)
select the rig, switch to Edit mode, select the pole bone (c_leg_pole.l) and mirror it along the global Y-axis, which is a scale by -1 (SY-1).

The other pole bones will be moved because X mirroring is enabled. The poles should be now in front of the knees:

Step 2 - fix the bone rolls. This is necessary so that the mesh is properly deformed and the shin is in front and the calf is on the back and not twisted by 180°.

make the last bone layer visible to see the deformation bones
select the lower thigh bone (thigh_stretch.l) and change its roll value from -90.478d to 90.478d
do the same for the upper shinbone (leg_stretch.l) and remove the -

That's it. Switch to Pose mode, select Individual Origins as Transformation Pivot Point, select bone layer 1 to see the control bones, and give it a try. The knees should be correctly bent.

Looks like the hair curves are not yet bound to the armature. In Pose mode,  they can be made a child of the head bone (head.x) with Ctrl+P Parent To > Bone and they will move with it.


text:
How to add shape keys to high poly model?
I'm trying to add muscles shape key to my high poly character (~1 million faces). I'm using a Multires modifier to unsubdivide the mesh to ~65000 faces, but with sculpt parameter=2 to get more details in sculpt mode.

But when I've created muscles and changed to object mode, everything I did in sculpt mode disappears. And now I can't apply a Multires modifier because "Modifier cannot be applied to a mesh with shape keys". Is there a right way to create shape keys in sculpt mode for high poly mesh?
I'm creating characters for my game, so I want to simulate the muscles growth. Like if I have strength 1 my character doesn't have muscles, if I have strength 100 my character is getting 6 pack abs, for example. The easy way to achieve it in Unreal Engine 4 is to use morph targets - shape keys in Blender. In the beginning, I just want to make muscles growth.

When you create a shapekey and switch back to Object mode you need to put the shapekey value at 1, otherwise you won't see it. For the modifier problem, I guess you need to apply your multires before creating shapekeys. But why do you need so many faces?

@moonboots "you need to put the shapekey value at 1, otherwise you won't see it" - i did it, nothing changed. "But why do you need so many faces?" - i just study now, so i trying to follow the pipeline: high poly sculpt, retopology, uv, bake, textures, rig, animations. Is it wrong?

Your base object should be low poly, it will make any modeling work (and also any animation) easy. Then if you want to sculpt details you can either give a Multiresolution modifier to your object, or duplicate the object and create a high-poly version (to make this high-poly either apply a Subdivision Surface modifier or use Dyntopo). Once you have your high-poly version, bake the details onto the low-poly version (if you've used Multires, don't apply it). Now you can work on shapekeys on the low-poly.

@moonboots sorry, I totally confused( My problem is that I have two high poly version: with muscles and without muscles. I'm trying to join this versions in one, using shape keys, but everything that I'm doing in sculpt mode is affecting only on basic mesh, so my shape keys are useless.

I'm not sure to understand your goal and method, I hope someone will help

@Сергей the pipeline is correct. But why do you need 2 high-poly versions? Do you want to simulate muscle contractions? A sculpt with 1 million faces and shape keys is a bad idea. It increases the amount of data a lot. And not all modifiers work with shapekeys and get blocked. I've done this once when I was clueless and it broke my mesh and crashed blender.

@Blunder I'm creating characters for my game, so I want to simulate the muscles growth. Like if i have strength 1 my character don't have muscles, if i have strength 100 my character is getting 6 pack abs, for example. Easy way to achive it in unreal engine 4 is to use morph targets - shape keys in blender. Yes, I want to simulate muscle contractions but now I know too little in blender, so for beginning I just want to make muscles growth.

@moonboots thank you, I hope too.

Thanks for the context. Let's assume you can have a high-poly sculpt with shape keys for muscles. What's your workflow then? What is the advantage of it for the game model? Why do you need the high-poly shape keys? Wouldn't you create a low-poly base version of the character, and a muscle hero version and use these for the game?

@Blunder because in that case to provide smooth changing I need to create a lot of hero versions. In additional, I planned to make a lot of shape keys for legs (endurance), face (age, face animation), arms (power) etc... I can't create so much models. "Why do you need the high-poly shape keys?" - maybe, I don't need it, but I suppose I should do it in high poly to get better result in low poly, am I right?


text:
How I fix "sinking" clothes under body
I was just going to unwrap my shirt in low poly after I was unwrapped the body in low poly, but I have a problem. The body is over the shirt, and I tried to inflate the shirt, increase object collision distance, scale it. When I zoom in a shirt is seen from the side. Also, I have in object properties in viewport display unchecked "in front" checkbox. Please, can somebody help?

Object collision is only relevant for cloth physics. You can pull the shirt with the Elastic Deform brush in sculpt mode. Scaling it up or the Inflate brush should also work. If the Inflate brush makes the shirt deflate/shrink then the normals might be wrong/flipped?

https://1drv.ms/v/s!AiG5cVX8QE83tVm8MYVDujXoqb-T?e=ddLZlG  I tried the Elastic deform brush and inflate, but it turn out same like on this video.

Looks like the shirt gets clipped

yes, i tried now use knife tool in edit mode on body and it turns to normal as it should be. Hope, it solved the problem. Thank you so much for helping me. :)

you fixed it with the knife tool?! My guess was to lower the start value for the viewport clipping -> How to adjust viewport clipping

I just tried it and it looks normal i don't know but i have the old version with problem saved so, i can try your clipping. https://1drv.ms/v/s!AiG5cVX8QE83tWO76zkWh3X8Wp5E?e=6BxSG4


text:
How to fix this shadow using a toon shader in Cycles
I am currently working on a very simple toon shader effect for some background assets for a game, I am specifically trying to get as much done in Blender as possible rather than using shaders. I wanted to know if anyone had a fix for this weird shadow that is being cast onto the model. The geometry in question is a cylinder.I get a similarly weird effect with a cube.
I have no additional lights or HDRIs active, the world is a simple flat colour (currently set to a .7 value no hue or saturation).
here is the material setup:

It's hard to tell only from the cropped screenshots. Why the backface culling? Are you sure the normals are all correct? How many samples do you use? Toon shaders don't need many but transparency does.

You mean game engine shaders, yes?


text:
Is it possible to use two GPUs in viewport rendered preview, and not only for final render?
I have two Nvidia GPUs and they work fine in normal rendering (when I press F12, both are working).
However, in viewport, when I select "Rendered" as a viewport shading mode, only one is used. Is it possible to use both of them in viewport?

Out of curiousity how do you know both aren't working in preview mode? Thanks.

because there was no noticeable speed increase in the viewport, as opposed to the final render (f12) where the increase was significant

Short answer is "Yes", see details here. :)

Yes. Open User Preferences and go to the System tab. Under Compute Device, select CUDA and multiple gpus (should be the one with (2x)). Next in the Render context, make sure that Device is set to GPU. It should now use both for rendering in the viewport.

I thought that setting controlled both the viewport and the render? Is there a separate setting for the render somewhere that I missed?

@gandalf3 hmm? I'm not sure how exactly Blender determines this at runtime as it uses both for F12 renders while it uses whatever is set to that value for rendering in the viewport (which by default is set to one, even if you have two).


text:
Bezier curve handles - precision modeling
I encountered two problems while modeling with Bezier curves in Blender.

How do I equalize handle lengths? Basically I would like to make the handle A equal B in length, or make handle B equal to A.

How do I maintain constant angle while moving the handle? For example I would like to move the left handle to the left towards the X mark, but following the handle axis.

If it was a vertex on the edge, I would just use GG shortcut (with ALT), to move the vertex along the edge. This shortcut however doesn't work while moving curve handles.

Re. 1: To equalize the handle's lenght (without changing their angles) you may select the whole handle, press V-->Set Handle Type-->Free and enable the Snapping Tool (press the magnet icon and change its mode to Vertex). Rotate the shorter handle tip 180 degrees, then select the longer one and snap it to the shorter. Select the rotated one again and rotate it back to its place (input -180 while rotating).

Note: Sorry for an odd method to do it but nothing else comes to my mind right now:). The advantage of this method over Polosson's idea is you keep the angles of the handles, while when you change the handle type to Automatic you don't.
Re. 2: Change the Transform Orientation type to Normal and select the handle you want to move. Press G and input the desired axis (remember to press the button, which defines the axis twice to make a transformation along normal coordinates).

You may also just use scaling. Select desired handle tip and press S.

To equalize the handle tips length, you can set it to Automatic and just after that re-set it to Aligned. To do so, (in edit mode of course) select the handle, hit V, and choose the type you want. (You can also access this menu in Curve menu > Control Points > Set Handle Type.)

For your second question, you can use S after selecting one handle tip. This will move it towards, or away from center along the handle.

The disadvantage of setting up the handle type to Automatic is it changes the angle of the handles.


text:
The render result is correct but when in the viewer node the render is going off screen
I'm trying to put my render with a background image which worked the first time, but when I enlarged the resolution of the background image in photoshop to twice its size (from 4368 × 2084 to 8736 × 4168) and put it back in blender (and after doubling the size of the render resolution to match) the render is going off screen as shown in the pictures. How do I fix this?
Here's a link to screenshots: https://www.flickr.com/photos/163507419@N03/?
first one shows how I want it to look (this was when it worked at the 4368 × 2084 resolution), the others show what it looks like now

thanks in advance

Please use this https://i.sstatic.net/jgAFv.gif to post screenshots as it will directly embed them and allow you to organize them in your question as well as ensure long term archival instead of an external link that may vanish. Also, if need be, attach your blender file using this: https://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/

Without having your .blend and image files at hand, I can't tell for sure what is happening.
However, usually a "Scale" node (found under "Distort"), set to "Render Size" and applied just after the Image input, should guarantee that RenderLayers and external images have matching sizes. (Note: if the image is smaller than the render layers, it will be stretched, losing sharpness in the process)

I don't know, however, why they don't match already if – as you say – you already changed the resolutions in both the image and Blender. I can just suggest to check again.

Hi Nicola, I've added the blend file and images now, I'm about to check your method

Hi Nicola, your suggestion has worked! Thank you for your help

Hello Kenzo. Glad it worked! However, I've checked your blend file: be aware that you have opened the file "hi rez 2" into blender, but you are still using the original file (Gas station.jpg) in your "Image" node! I don't know what sizes these files are (they aren't packed into the .blend) but you might want to check which one you're supposed to be using!

Ah yes i forgot to do that as well! thank you for pointing that out too


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The image renders pink. Possible texture/material error
I've been importing overwatch maps into blender which has worked well in the past. I have used something called OWimporter which is a tool that extracts data from files such as .owmat,.owmap, and .owmodel. Now when I open my file I press space and type ".owmap" and I fetch the file from my directory. Now, I am using a GTX 980TI gpu and CUDA is enabled (as it should be). I set the render set to cycles render. Then I test all the materials for switching into material mode. As you can see... Everything is here:
Now I decide to go into viewport render and BOOM:

The lighting and object orientation are all in place but the textures and materials seem to be missing. If I go into node editor for any of these objects I can see that there is something connected to material output (obviously).The next thing I tried was pressing ctrl + alt + H to de-restrict render. What this means is that for all objects that were not suppose to be fully rendered in the final render,are now visible. I though this would solve it, but it doesn't. I do however believe that the solution to my issue has something to do with the fact that some parts are just not getting rendered out properly due to them being blocked by something or another. Lastly, on occasion, I keep seeing "cuda error at cudamoduleload: file not found blender" and it just completley stops all rendering processes. I know I have enough Vram so I really dont know what is going on. But IDK that is why I am here! If you guys have any idea of what is going on please feel free to post a response! Thanks!
UPDATE:

AS You can see, it is a CUDA error and there are missing textures. Now, the problem with all this is that I cannot seem to  "report missing files" and when I click "find missing files" I give it the entire folder to sift through. However, there are no material files! IDK why and if there were, they would be in this .owmat format. Which blender does not go out and find cuz its not a base file type. I had to install a addon to read these type of files.
here is another file as requested:
Lastly here is anouther post I made with a video of me going through all the processes: NOT THE USUAL textures and materials missing in view port and final render from imported scenes
Here is another blender file I tried and I think I found the problem:

look at the preview. NOTHING...

I have updated my post

There should be more information about that CUDA error in the blender logs (try pulling down the top menu bar). Also, I see something similar in case of a missing world environment texture

Remco thanks! here is a screenshot of what I see https://imgur.com/a/5Mzcl

could you upload your blend-file to https://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com? that would help. Or at least upload screen-shots of the content of the node groups (you can enter node-groups by selecting them and pressing tab


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Help to make a section plane view of house interior
I have worked up a crude model of a small house and want to make a section view to show the interior.  It is build up of many blocks, a roof material, a cladding material and other materials for doors windows and furniture.  I have tried the Section View Plane addon, but cannot get materials to display consistantly.  I cannot understand how to work with the BlenderBIM Add-on, and shaders are completely beyond me.  Please can someone explain how this can be achieved relatively simply.
Thank you
As suggested I have attached and image achieved by hiding roof elements, using the camera clipping, and editing with gimp, but I would still like to use a section plane if possible.  Thank you for your beautiful and detailed explanation of the shader technique. I will give it a go, but I fear it is beyond me.

What do you mean "cannot get the materials do display"? To get a material to display, you first have to create and assign a material, and then switch to rendered view mode.

You need to provide an image of your model which you can insert into your question so that we can see what you're talking about. In any case both of the addons you mention are 3rd-party addons, not part of Blender, so you should ask their developers about them.

You can make nodes like this:

This will make surfaces transparent on the one side of the Empty:

You can move and rotate the Empty to adjust the cut.
Then it goes to multiple materials group these nodes by selecting them and pressing Ctrl + G:

Press Tab to enter and leave nodegroup
And you can reuse it in other materials Shift + A ⇾ Group ⇾ NodeGroup name

Put it in every material right before Surface output.
For EEVEE Alpha clip should be enabled:

You can also make inner parts of the mesh looks solid, if you color back of faces using emission node

Works with EEVEE and Cycles


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Bone constraint Limit Rotation does nothing (v3.2.1)
I have a bone with a Limit Rotation constraint on it, and it appears to be completely ineffective.
There are plenty of tutorials covering adding a constraint and mine simply isn't working.
Here is one such tutorial for reference - https://youtu.be/y6ECmeANUSw
So am I doing something wrong, or is this a bug?

This is object constraints:

And this is bone constraints:

So that you have added object constraint, but move bone, not object itself.
Pay attention to that you have 2 separate armatures instead of 2 bones in one armature. Consider joining them into one armature.

Ooh that's sneaky... I did not realise there was a separate set of constraints for objects. I figured all constraints were for the bones. I can make it work now, thank you!


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system is out of gpu memory
I am using Imac with following specification :
Processor: 4 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
Memory : 32 GB 1867 MHz DDR3
Graphics : AMD Radeon R9 M395X 4 GB

I was trying to make stormy ocean from this video : youtu.be/oysCSbhXYBo?si=5TIzcs4TR7D80BN2. settings:

The system runs out of GPU after certain number of frames.
I can't understand why blender is not dumping previous frames data.
After restarting blender is working but I have to repeat it.
Is it because I am Rendering on Metal with both on.
Or is it because I am using Persistent data.Or is it because I am rendering in OpenEXR Format.
Please Help.

"a scene which I think is not complicated": Well, hard to tell without knowing the scene. 4 GB of RAM is not really a lot nowadays.. on the official site the minimum requirement is 2 GB, but recommended is 8 GB. "I can't understand why blender is not dumping previous frames data": I don't know either, but you say you use Persistent Data - now this is exactly what it does, keeping render data in memory at the cost of extra memory usage. Ever tried it without?

Make sure you don't use 8k or 4k textures, this is the most likely culprit if your scene is "not complicated"

I am a beginner in blender. Afterwards I started using approximately 16 GB and I don't think I used any 4k or 8k texture but I used water simulation for ocean as I was trying to make stormy ocean from this video : youtu.be/oysCSbhXYBo?si=5TIzcs4TR7D80BN2. Thanks for the tip.
But my question was that is the problem due to using both AMD and Intel or anyone  is causing the problem or the problem is not related to it ?

Have you checked this aspect?  "Metal – Apple (macOS)
Metal is supported on Apple computers with Apple Silicon, AMD and Intel graphics cards. macOS 13.0 or newer is required to support all features and graphics cards.
Light Trees and Shadow Caustics are not supported when using an AMD graphics card with Metal." https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/render/cycles/gpu_rendering.html

Thanks for the tip but when  I enabled AMD ,the render time was roughly cut by half.


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Trouble rigging a wrist to twist correctly
I am having a lot of trouble getting a wrist to twist correctly. My bone setup is thus:
Forearm > IK palm bone, with a wrist twist bone that has the forearm as a parent and inherits rotation from the IK palm bone.
The palm cannot rotate without ruining the wrist. I have tried removing weight paint from the forearm, and moving around the bones in edit mode, but it remains broken.

This is the blend file, I have only been working on the right arm:
https://file.io/m4gZoHqewydA

Could you attach the blend file,please? This would help to clarify the problem/

A common technique to get a natural twist of the limbs is to subdivide the bones. This way you have 2 upper arm bones, 2 forearm bones, and so on.  The two bones can both rotate to a certain degree, allowing the hand to rotate almost 180 degrees. Rigify does this and you can build your own rig like this.

Thanks all, I was able to make it work using Rigify per @Blunder's answer. Very good addon.


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Randomize materials using python
Blender beginner here.
I am currently working on a project for which I am making a synthetic dataset involving a chess board and its pieces.

To give this modell the variation it needs I would like to randomize both the material/ texture of the board and pieces using python. I have seen some posts about randomly assigning materials from a pre-existing list, but none about creating them through a script.

What I've been doing is just assigning a random number to these values under the material section.
A friend of mine told me automating the creation/ changing of materials doesn't work well in blender and this is the most I could do. (hence why there are not many questions about creating materials, instead rather about assigning premade ones)
Is this true? They wouldn't need to be too complex. Just some simple patterns and surface structure to distinguish each picture from another would be enough.
Thanks for helping in advance :)

you can easily create materials and randomize these values with a script but it doesn't make any sense because the output would not look good. you need to know what material you want to create, is it metalic, plastic, specular, transparent, etc... just randomly putting together numbers won't get you good results as creating a material with experimentation.


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how do i set up a material so that im able to set up the falloff of an volumetric object from its surface?

how do i  set up a material so that im able to set up the falloff of an volumetric object from its surface? i basically want the density at the center of the object to be normal while i can make the outside fade into a lower the density, like a gradient. like this ball but on a different object.

Hello, is it not what the Principled Volume is supposed to do?

You can also convert the mesh to volume in geometry nodes and use a principled volume shader:

That is what Volume Absorption (or Principled Volume) are supposed to do in Cycles (in Eevee you can use the Mesh to Volume system):

For the spherical shape it can be done with Spherical gradient (3D texture).

Similar like here I used Linear gradient just to make it easier visible the effect (make it more solid at right side).

For more complex shades you would need to somehow calculate distance from surface ... that I'm not sure if possible now.


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Library Override links broken, how to fix?
I was working in a scene last night in Blender 2.90.1, with 3 rigged characters I imported as library overrides. I created a brick wall behind them in the scene and posed them in front of it.
Then this morning when I open the file, none of the library override characters show up, it is only the brick wall. They still show in the outliner but I get an error when the scene loads that says:
"Unable to open "file path" . No such file or directory
"Cannot find lib "***.blend"
It shows that for every object in a big long list. Now I'm not sure why this happened, i didn't change any paths while working on the scene or between last night and this morning. All the files are on a local drive.
And aside from why it happened, if by chance all of my file paths did change, how do i fix the path for the library override to work again?
Thanks!

Most external files can be quickly resolved by using File -> External Data -> Find Missing Files, there's options in that submenu for changing the path behavior per .blend.
Linked Libraries are slightly different, they can be re-linked using the Outliner, by switching the Display Mode to "Blender File" and then right-clicking the broken library to Relocate.
This may preserve the Library Override and it's data, but the feature is still being actively improved, so some datablocks may be reset to their linked state.

Thanks! It turns out i think the whole scene is corrupt as a few items i built and textured in the scene also seemed to lose connection to their textures and were showing up pink until i reconnected them. Even though the path was the same. The relocate feature for the library overrides did work though, but unfortunately while it recovered the characters, it threw them back at their original import state in a t-pose and lost all the animation, :-(

Don't lose hope on the lost animations just yet :) If you still have an old copy of the scene that has the animation data, you can try re-linking these action blocks to the refreshed, t-posed armatures using the Action Editor. I had to do the same when testing out a broken scene for myself.
You might see them in the Actions drop-down with "0 Character_action", showing they're still present in the scene but with no users. They may also be visible under the Outliner when you toggle the view to Blender File instead of View Layer. Good luck!

Ah cool!! yeah Ill give that a shot, thanks!


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Book pages rig and book cover rig don't align when moving the rigs
Im trying to create a book rig. The book cover and the inner pages have 2 separate rigs but the control bone in the book cover also controls the control bone in the inner pages rig.
My question is if there's a way for the book cover and the inner pages to align, it looks good when it's closed but when it's open the pages aren't in the correct place.

hello could you please share your file? https://blend-exchange.com/

 here it is!

@moonboots i added the link :)

I'm not sure this is the right way to rig, because the pages object is actually deforming when you open a book, so maybe you should not use any Copy constraint and instead move the bones manually so that the pages stick to the cover?

@moonboots ahh oke... I was wondering if you maybe know how to keep a point always aligned with a different point? Because right now i have the book case aligned with the pages, so the top page moves with the cover but i was wondering if it's possible to set the edge of the page to always stay aligned with the center of the book cover? i'll add the picture to the question


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How to rig and animate a 8-bit pixel stick figure?
I'm relatively new to Blender (use it before but I forgot almost everything) and I'm working on a simple "stick figure" model to make an animation. I want the arms and legs to behave like an 8-bit pixel sprite-like in old video games. What I want is for the arms and legs to "divide in pixels" and control those divisions to make the model look like an 8-bit sprite-like in the first image. What is the best way to create the arms and legs to rig and animate it in that way?
Thank you
PS. There's only a half model because I want to be symmetrical so I was going to copy/paste for the other half before rigging.

Try the Remesh modifier with "Blocks" selected like so...

Then you can animate your character like normal, while the Remesh option handles the pixelation of the mesh.

Uh, that may work. Thank you very much, I will try!
One question though, can I apply this modifier only to the arms and legs or has to be to all the objet? And if it's just the arms and legs, It won't be problematic with the rigging and the animation process?

Unfortunately it would have to be a separate mesh. This was the simplest option I could think of. Also, a note on your "copy/paste for the other half before rigging", you could simple use a 'mirror' modifer. This is common practice when modeling things that need symmetry.

Hello, Landon. I use the modifier you suggest but I get a single cube for result, even if I try changing the "Octree" doesn't look like your picture. And I ended up using the mirror modifier, thank you.


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Why does my character mesh deform when I animate the camera?
I've run into a problem. So I've got a character that I intend to use in an FPS, I've already done the animations for the mesh (like walking and jumping), and I tried to animate the camera to add some realism to the animations. But whenever I add a keyframe to the camera's position and rotation, and move the timeline slider my mesh gets deformed.

This is what happens when I move the slider. The keyframe for the camera is on the first frame. The deformation is quite severe, and I still don't know how to fix it.
This is how it should look like:

I've tried joining the mesh and the camera, parenting them, giving a bone to the camera, and adding a keyframe for all the options when you press I, but all these solutions don't work.
I would really appreciate a solution that can help me animate the camera on top of the animations that I already have without deforming the mesh as to not make matters more complicated.
Thank You!
This is the blend file

We need more detail to be able to help you.  Can you add your blend file to your question? (Grab the URL of the question.
Go to https://blend-exchange.com/.
Select the blend file.
Add the url of the question.
Grab the url that results.
Go back to the question and edit it.
Add the new url to the bottom of the post.)

Hello and welcome. While files, images, and external videos or links may be helpful additions they should not be the only way to obtain information about your issue. Don't make understanding your question rely on downloading a file, watching a video or visiting an external site. Use the builtin tools to upload images or gifs, along with thoroughly explaining the problem in written form so it can be indexed and searched for thus helping future visitors with similar issues.

I've added a screenshot from your blend file to your question. I've keyframed the location and rotation, moved and rotated it, played the animation, and scrubbed the timeline. But I cannot see any deformations. Blender 2.93. Can you add a screenshot?

I think I solved my problem, I haven't been rotating when I insert a keyframe.
Thank you @Blunder, your comment helped me alot. Thanks!

The screen-shot is above. The deformation is quite severe, and I still don't know how to fix it.

Hi. BSE is not like a common forum where you do follow-up posts. Instead, you should edit your question and add this info. Just done it for you, but next time it's up to you ;-)


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Is multiplying the color input same as multiplying the strength of Background/Emission shaders? Like in the screenshot
Is multiplying the color input same as multiplying the strength of Background/Emission shaders? Like in the screenshot.

Does this answer your question? How does the multiply color node work?

I think the availability of the clamp is the only difference

As long as you leave the Factor at 1 and the Clamp Result disabled the result is the same.

Yes. Pretty much. You will get the same result.


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Try to make a corner with curve
I working on a train game, and I try to make "rails", what are basically a square with a throgh part in middle (the dark parts), My problem is that, I want this part to turn curvy (90 degree), like I illustrated, to join vertical or horisontal rails perfectly. I can bevel the edges to be curvy, but the gap between them is larger than the gap between the straight parts.
How can I do this?
Thanks for any help!

Try to use the bevel tool in percent mode. https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/131516/how-do-i-create-a-proper-bevel-on-narrow-pointy-shapes/131526#131526

Starting from the profile of the rails, you can use the spin tool:


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Problem using Voronoi texture as Cycles displacement (2.8)

Hello, I wanted to wrap the whole Sphere in Blobs but as you see on the left side it is deflated and I don't seem to get why it is happening.
Maybe someone could explain why I would be so grateful.

Displacement is usually done along faces normals. This is the role of the 'displacement vector' to help to do that.
If you use any vector like a color as displacement in the output node, the displacement will operate directly in the directions given by this vector and this will not consider faces orientations. This is the case in the image in your question.
So simply insert a 'displacement vector' (which can be found in the 'vector' category) between your displacement calculation and the output.
Here is a view with on left an exaggerated offset when 'displacement' is not used. And on the right, the same with a displacement vector.
(Note that the 'screen' node is not useful here I think).

Blender file for 2.8, Cycles experimental using adaptive subdivision:


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finding the geometric intersection point of three spheres
im new to blender so bear with me.
im a sculptor and mainly working with magnetic rods and steel ball nodes. in the blender worlds that means the geometric shape of my sculptures is the result of the length of all vertices in the mesh. if i change one rod the whole shape will readjust as the magnets can freely rotate around the balls.
here is what this looks like:
https://youtu.be/DkFMgQ94iac
so to model my magnetic scultpures in blender i need to construct every 3d point with 3 spheres that are the lengths of the connecting rods. i can only find meshed spheres which are not precise enough i think.
is there a function that finds a new point via the distances to three already existing points? how can this be done? i was also thinking about a rag doll model with bones and joints but this seems to be overkill.
thanks in advance.

yes, the tetrahedron is a math function but only works if all the vertices are the same length. i have two different lengths. 1 and 1.414. so there are many more shapes possible. i need the interesection of 3 radius, i think.
thast plain archimedean geometry. blender should have that included. maybe i should construct it in geogebra and import into blender?
ok so i just checked. yes geogebra has all these function in its 3dgeo section. but of course its missing the rag doll skeleton functions. which i need because i dont know the exact distances most of the time. all the angles at the nodes are a result of the whole mesh. so i need flexible joints.
maybe script the whole thing in python but that would be over my paygrade.
so here is a shape i just made to illustrate the problem:
https://i.sstatic.net/G5NYD.jpg
https://i.sstatic.net/fBL5H.jpg
its completely hollow and meshed and all the rods are either 1 or 1.414. i dont have a single coordinate, just the lengths and the mesh structure. how would you model that?

im surprised nobody seems to know what im talking about. here is a woodpecker i just made.

see how the shape is defined by the geo of the mesh around it. thats a real world problem :-) only length 1 and 1.414 used. the resulting shape is always proportionally balanced because all the angles are around 90 to 60 deg and the faces have similar surface sizes.
a friend just sent me this link. i think the answer to my problem is in there.
https://www.rgb-labs.com/blender-190-simple-machines-1-part-2-rigging-bones/

Hello. You can use a equilateral triangle in 2d or a tetrahedron in 3d.


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Not able to get the final rendered output(when f12 is clicked)
I am a newbie, just started rendering. I am not able to get the final image that I have rendered. When I press F12 I get just a window (the pic below) showing almost nothing. Can someone please tell me where I went wrong or what extra needs to be done? Thank you.

To configure a render please be sure of the following :

you have an active camera in your scene and that the camera is pointing to your object
go to the render properties panel here and check what rendering engine you're using (Eeve or Cycles)

go in the output properties panel here, and check that you have a good resolution

And make sure you have a light in the scene ! (or an HDRI setted) in order to be able to see something.
Check that you don't have scrolled out too much in the rendering view window

If you still have the issue, try opening a new scene in Blender and render the default cube to check


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Interior walls question
I am quite new to Blender. I am currently creating a replica of a building to be used in a VR simulation at some point (I have a few years to learn how to achieve this).
I have been reading about breaking up a building into parts to make it easier to work with as I plan to move the model to Unreal Engine once I have learned how to use that. That is fine, I get why that would be a useful thing to do.
Currently, I am about to learn all about UV unwrapping and baking. Whilst modeling the interior walls, would it be better to include objects on the walls such as switches, notice boards, pictures, cupboards, etc, or make those as separate objects and add them later?
I currently haven't included them but I am still at a stage where I could add them. I know I am in the early stages of learning but I could do with knowing what I will be unwrapping.

If you want the ability to move the objects around the wall and maybe even use it in different walls, I would recommend keeping it as separate objects.
If its a one-off building with no reusable assets, than you can make it as one object.
I prefer the first way as it will give you a bunch of reusable assets.

You could model the wall decorations as separate objects, and then just parent them to the wall.
As Daklinus said already, best practice would be to model them all as individual objects.


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How can I see the numeric values being sent between material nodes?
Is there a way I can just hover over, click a button, hold a key, or something, so I can see the actual numbers being sent between nodes? Is there an add-on or something? I'm tired of guessing.

Update - here is a mockup:

*** oops, the starting value for the example should've been 242, but I just put that in wrong**
I swear I saw this on some tutorial video somewhere but can't seem to find it again.

I think it's impossible, because these values are not the same on the whole model. For example if you plug a mask texture into one of the sockets the output value will be different on every pixel of the image. So the result won't be clear.

this is very tricky if not impossible because unfortunately there is no feature implemented. So you will have to find workarounds for this. Try to check through the comments and answers in this thread https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/10673/debugging-material-math-nodes-in-cycles/10675#10675 someone mentioned something about OSL script.

Here is a similar question at devtalk.blender.org (quote) "The nodes in a nodegraph are only a visual representation they do not actually do anything, at render time they get compiled into a shader program that’ll either run on the gpu or cpu but you can’t query a nodes outputs from python. It also doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense in most cases, when you query the output of a noise texture in a node graph what are you expecting to see there? or a glossy node?"

And here (https://blender.stackexchange.com/q/23605/107598) is a solution to display the result of Math nodes.


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Why are the fingertips not moving with my hand in pose mode?
My armature moves but the fingertips on the hand are staying in place.

I belive I have recreated the problem with the image above
Check to see if the finger tips are weight painted. Weight painting controls how a model's mesh is manipulated whenever bones are moved. This means if a mesh is not painted correctly, you will get issues like part of the fingers not moving with the rest of the hand.
When in "Object" mode, select your armature, then also select your mesh which contains the fingertips

Weight painting mode 101:

Single bone's weight paints can be viewed with ctrl and selecting that bone
Multiple bone's weight paints can be viewed with shift and selcting multiple bones
this mode will show a heatmap showing the weight of parts of the mesh

dark blue = weight 0.0 -> this part of mesh is not affected when the selected bone is moved/ will               stay in place no matter how the bone(s) are moved
dark red = weight 1.0 -> this part of mesh will completely move with the selected bone

click on the mesh to paint on weights for certain bones

For more reading, here is the Blender Weight Painting Manual
So to fix the fingertips, you would select each of the bones at the tips of the fingers indivisually and paint the tops red with a brush with weight 1.0. This should make the fingertips snap into place as shown below.

Once you've done this with each finger and its respective bone, you should be able to go into pose mode and pose it however you want without the issue

Hope this helps


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Help with modeling issue (Paper folds on the corners of a package)
I just started using Blender and I'm losing my mind over this little issue. I have to model a box for product packaging and, to make it as realistic as possible I need to model the corner to show that there is paper over it (as in the picture).
I tried a lot of methods but I end up messing with the mesh or not being able to use the bevels. Do you know a simple method to recreate this fold?
Thank you very much guys.

you could just extrude a bit, or fake it with normal map or bump map, or with a texture?

I know it's a dumb question, but If can I extrude faces in different directions altogether? (I'll show you the problem in the video) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1m8am6-6_DMC2k6IyfJPUL2qzQ-pg0BHX/view?usp=sharing

I guess it depends on how detailed you want your object to be, if you want to make close-up shots you'll need to take care of this part, if it's not the case you don't need to work this part a lot. You can also fake the bump. But if you want to model it, you can create an edge loop:

Then extrude a bit on Y, then a bit on Z:

Then add bevels to round the edges:

Here is what it will give (the extrusion is probably too strong here but it is for demonstrastion):

Thank you so much for using your time to do this mini-tutorial! it was really helpful!


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Create add on for View Menu
Can you add an add-on to the view menu, instead of the object menu?
def register():
  bpy.utils.register_class(MyAddOn)
  bpy.types.VIEW3D_MT_object.append(menu_func)
 # Adds to the Object menu

My guess it's something to do with the register function, but I can't find any options for this - the API came up with nothing

If you enable python tooltips, you can hover over menus and it will show their type. You must disable auto-opening of menus or whatever the option is called when you hover over them for it to work though. it is VIEW3D_MT_view

@Gorgious -- is there any document that lists these?  E.g., Object Data Properties

@Gorgious Done! That makes it a lot easier. Is there a way to copy the tooltip snippet to the clipboard?


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How do I create a relocated clone of a modified object that automatically tracks changes to the original's modifiers?
I have a Left object that has a lot of boolean modifiers.
I would like to create a second object (Right) that is a mirrored clone of that first object, but in a different location, so I can apply a few extra modifiers to it.
If I create Right by cloning the Left object and all the objects that provide the boolean modifiers, then any later changes I make to Left and its modifiers must be performed again on Right.
The specific use case is two halves of a 3D print, and I want one side to have wider screw holes (so the thread only bites one of the halves, and the other half has clearance for the screw head which doesn't belong on the first side).

Have you tried creating a linked duplicate with Alt+D?

A linked duplicate created with Alt+D would indeed be a duplicate, but moving it would cause the boolean modifiers to be wrong, and any changes made to the modifier stack on the original late ron would not be mirrored in the duplicate.

This may not be the best workflow, but I found something that accomplishes the mission for now:
I eventually found the GeometryNodes modifier and experimented with that.
The technique I eventually developed was to have a series of empty-mesh objects with Boolean Union modifiers.
The first object (LeftPrime) is a mesh with no vertices and a Boolean Union modifier pointed at the Left object.  The next modifier is a GeometryNode to translate it by several millimeters.  The third modifier is a Boolean Difference to carve some holes for screws.
The second object (Right) is another instance of the no-vertex mesh.  Its first modifier is a Boolean Union pointed at LeftPrime.  Its last modifier is a GeometryNode to scale x *= -1 to reflect it about the X axis.

I suspect that this second object is not strictly necessary, since this modifier could be the fourth one on LeftPrime, but keeping LeftPrime and Right separate makes it easier to fine-tune the bore holes for the boolean difference modifier.
One problem I encountered was that if I performed the boolean difference after a reflection the face normals on the result were non-manifold (which makes gcode slicers grumpy).  That is one reason the mirroring is a separate GeometryNodes modifier from the initial translation.