text:
How to add template objects (groups) from other file?
Let's say I have a *.blend containing a few objects which I would like to add to a group and use as a template. This could be some (textured) meshes and a text object which are connected in a group. A totally arbitrary example might be a player mesh (e.g. a tank) with a health bar and a life-counter.
Then, in another blend, I linked the above group, added them to an invisible layer and and would like to:

Add instances of the whole group, staying connected as known from the editor
Change properties of the group members (e.g. text)
Move the whole group at once with Python

How can I achieve that?
PS: I'm using about the standard BGE (2.79), not the UPBGE fork.

Here are two example files achieving this:
template.blend

This contains two template groups named template_A and template_B, each consisting of two meshes (Suzanne and Cylinder) and a text object, but different hierarchy. See images

 - In the group "template_A", Text and Suzanne are parented to the cylinder ("root" parent).
 - In the group "template_B", there are no parent-child relations.
addTemplate.blend

in this file, both templates are linked and placed on layer 2.
A cone object acts as spawner,moves around and reacts on Keys A ("template_A") and B ("template_B"). The script add handles the reactions and sets the string (Question 2).
Note that when template_B is added, the three objects fall apart (they have different translational damping), while in template_A they stay connected (question 1).
Edit: As Monster pointed out in the comment, you can not move the whole group at once by changing e.g. world.objects["template_A"].worldPosition. Instead - you need to move the "Root" parent (see image above), which can be accessd by e.g. world.objects["template_A"].groupmembers["Cylinder"]. This is related to the additionally added question 3.

I suggest to link groups (rather objects).

Open your target blend file
Link (not append) the group(s) from the asset blend file
Create an instance of the linked group at an hidden layer (an instance is an empty with dupli group enabled).
Use the instance as base object when creating new object in-game (via AddObjectActuator or via Python).

Remarks: The copied object is still an instance and consists of empty + group objects! As usual the empty has no relationship to the group objects. Moving it after creation has no effect on the group objects.

Thanks, Monster! The steps you describe are exactly what I did to link the templates. And your last remark "Moving it after creation..." is right - I observed this myself once and fount it very counterintuitive. This behavior is not obvious in my example, since all transformations are driven by the physics engine.
However, in case the linked group has one "root" parent object, one can move this instead.

This is the major difference between Blender and the BGE. With a little Python code you can parent the group objects to the empty or the empty to a group object. The BGE does not know which direction you need. I guess this is the reason why it has no such relationship by default.

Actually, I found this behavior very annoying. From the editor, I was used to move a linked object around with the mouse as one connected piece as usual. It "lives" in the hierarchy like normal objects do, so I would expect, that it can be moved around with a motion sensor or with *.worldPosition like his brothers and sisters.
However, it does not work like that. And since it doesn't, you end up with two options: Asking Google/Blenderartists/here or trial and error...which may heavily discourage new users.


text:
Computer Movement
I'm making a very simple game where you, playing with a helicopter, have to drop off people in difficult areas. Though it might be a fun game, it's more of an exercise to get used to python.
I'm almost there, so most things work. The problem now is that when I drop the AI characters, they land on the exact same spot; so they land on each other. What I want is that every character, when landed, walks to a random position in certain area around the landing zone.
1) is this possible or am I asking too much?
2) remark: the characters are just jumping out of the heli, not with a parachute or anything ;)

you could have an empty, 100 frames animated to different random positions, ray-casted onto the ground. When the people land, the should head toward the empty's current position, and then it should play a random number of frames to get set to the next position.

I suggest you edit your question from "computer movement" - which is to broad -> into "how to let characters walk to random locations" or "how to let characters walk into random directions" (two different things)

Okay, here's how to drop people from a helicopter then have them clear the landing zone when they hit.
First, make your basic setup. right now, mine is a helicopter that drops Suzannes when you hit Spacebar.

1- Make the spawner rotate
This will ensure that the people are rarely facing the same direction when they hit the ground. This could be the helicopter itself, or an invisible empty that spawns the people. Make it rotate on the Z axis (not local) at any speed you want.
2- Create a "landing zone"
This is an invisible cylinder with ghost static physics. Give it the property "Zone" and your ground the property "G" or "Ground". This landing zone is the area that the people will attempt to clear when they hit "G". Make sure both objects are "Actors".
3- Give the movement behavior to your people
The people aren't going anywhere without logic! give them a "Motion" actuator rigged up to an "Always" sensor. Make sure it is local movement and not global. (make the little "L" next to the motion box shaded)
4- Organize the states
You don't want the people running until they hit the ground. You can do this a myriad of ways, but the easiest is to replace the always sensor from above with a collision sensor looking for the property "G". Next, make another collision sensor that looks for "Zone". this will tell the people when they are clear of the helicopter. When the sensor is triggered, send them to state 2, using a "Set State" actuator. On state 2 put all the logic for what you want them to do when they have safely landed.
5- Profit!
Now you have the system all set up and with logic that is easy to change or adjust.

source: Stack Exchange

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

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

sort: votes


text:
What happens when I press F while selecting two faces?
What happens when I press F while selecting two faces?
If I press F while selecting two faces, they appears to become merged...
what actually happens?
And if its not the way of joining/merging faces?

What happens for real is a mega-super-wonky N-gon is created using all the vertices that are selected. F activates the fill tool, it appears to be vertex driven, that means it does recognize when a face is selected, just that there are four more vertices; hitting F forces blender to try to create a new face with all the vertices you selected as its extremities.
Lets assume that you were using nice, clean mesh, only quads. After selecting two faces, filling them

destroys the old faces
form a new 6-8 vertex face (depending on whether or not the faces were adjacent)
places the origin of the new face at the average of the vertices.

Now, I guess, this is essentially merging the two faces, but its bad form because it causes those dreaded N-gons, and you can see here what the results will be like when the faces aren't flush:

You have to use the Bridge tool to merge 2 faces. Just press (w) and select 'bridge edge loops'.

Bridging two edge loops is different than merging faces.  [F] does merge the faces, it just creates bad topology.

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


text:
Jiggly Text problems ( Jello like text is not behaving the way I want w physics )
I'm totally new here. I don't even know how to add a blend file yet, I just joined this site now.
Goal:
Chinese characters in 3D, and similar to noob jello cube tutorials on youtube, I want to turn them into soft bodies and collision, and raise them up a bit on z axis, and animate the jello chinese characters falling down a short way and jiggling around a bit.
Problem:
The Chinese characters need to remain in their shape a bit as if they are connected.

(B) And (C) are in the same character. If I hit tab > edit mode, they are the same object, same mesh. But when I add physics (C) will hit the ground first and jiggle. But then (B) falls too far and runs into (C). But the gap between (B) and (C) was supposed to remain about the same, aside from some jiggling.
Also, the characters all want to fall down near the end of the animation. I can't get them to stand upright properly after the gravity and collision animation is over. For example (A) won't find an upright position after all is said and done. It always falls over or leans on another character. All the characters don't find their original shape enough or stand up in the end. Instead they jiggle around like jello and fall all over the place.
Sorry for the wall of text and sheer noobishness.

Welcome to SE. You can easily provide your blend file by opening https://blend-exchange.com/ and follow instructions. And don't worry - your explanation is really great and understandable and by far better than the most "first time problem"-descriptions here.

I would connect B + C into one mesh and just visually separate them via color (transparent).
How good or stabile they stand on the floor after the animation depends on your soft body settings + mesh.
If you provide blend file, we can work on that ;)

they are already the same mesh. But i think I know what you mean, connect them with invisible mesh! That's brilliant, thanks for your quick response :)
I'll be at this for a while and post again later about the falling over issue. And I'll learn how to upload a blend file.

Chris, how is your English so good? You help me as if you are a native speaker. Greetings from USA to Germany and thanks again for the help.

@cello: thank you‼ but my English is not as good as it could be . I learnt it at school and a bit more at my former work. Greetings back to USA!

You don't have to use material/transparency since you will deal with hole in depth. Sim is based on edges not faces. So it should be enough to just connect separate parts by edges that are not rendered.


text:
Unable to Bake Mesh? How to fix this?
I'm pretty new to Blender and I was trying out the fluid simulations and when it came to baking the mesh, I wasn't able to do it and I am kind of confused as to what the problem is as I have never baked before in Blender. I'd appreciate if y'all could lend me a hand and let me know what I have done wrong and how to fix it. At the moment, the Bake Mesh button just seems to be greyed out and clicking on it does nothing, the other baking options are working I think. I have already managed to bake the data, it's just the mesh which needs to be done but the button is preventing it. I have unbaked the data until I can figure out what is causing the problem. I have attached images of all of my settings which I have changed in the fluid settings.

Expand the properties area and find out what it’s saying about a “non-resumable cache“

I managed to fix it now, I discovered a thread similar to my issue and it fixed it. The thread was this: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/218360/bake-mesh-not-clickable

Does this answer your question? Bake mesh not clickable

Yes, this thread answered my question and I was able to resolve the issue. Sorry for the late reply, I forgot to check but, I'm all ears if you had a better idea.

You have to check the "is resumable" checkbox under your cache settings (you can see it in your last picture of your question).
Blender can cache calculations which can take a long time to produce. But it does this not always automatically.
By clicking this checkbox you tell Blender to use the cache.


text:
Custom pointer property is read only?
Pretty sure i'm doing something wrong here, seems a bit strange to have a custom property default to read only (what would be the point in creating it if you can never set it to something other than the default?)
here's a bare bones test script that can be run in a scene with a default cube:
import bpy
from bpy.props import CollectionProperty, PointerProperty, StringProperty

class CUSTOM_test(bpy.types.PropertyGroup):
    my_attr: StringProperty()

bpy.utils.register_class(CUSTOM_test)
bpy.types.Scene.my_test = CollectionProperty(type=CUSTOM_test)
bpy.types.Object.my_pointer = PointerProperty(type=CUSTOM_test)

bpy.context.scene.my_test.add()

# AttributeError:
bpy.context.active_object.my_pointer = bpy.context.scene.my_test[0]

which results in the following exception:
AttributeError: bpy_struct: attribute "my_pointer" from "Object" is read-only
So what's the solution here? I have a custom PropertyGroup stored on the Scene that I need to be able to keep track of on individual objects.
nb: cross-posted on ba.org

You can't assign a pointer property directly. Use bpy.context.active_object.my_pointer.my_attr = bpy.context.scene.my_test[0].my_attr

@Gorgious can't remember the terminology, for bpy.types.Object.foo = PointerProperty(type=bpy.types.Object) you can, if defined as above you cannot. Commonly for lists define an active index, get / set  the active element via a getter setter.

https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/209628/15543

@batFINGER Right ! Depends on the context of the add-on. I think the answer on ba https://blenderartists.org/t/custom-pointer-property-is-read-only/1315651/4 hit the nail on the head regarding your suggestion

interesting, so it's not actually creating a pointer to the propertygroup's reference, it's just initializing it as a property group. seems a bit pointless to me, since the whole point of using a pointer would be to create a linked reference to an original. Ah well, just a limitation I'll have to work around. Thanks for the clarification guys.

As mentioned in a prior comment pointers to ID types are not read only and revert to None if the object pointed to is removed. Those pointing to user defined propertygroups cannot be changed at run time.... not sure how dev's could change this to handle the question scenario of pointing to reference of nth item of a collection that can be later redefined or removed.


text:
Is there any way create auto mesh?
Is there any way create auto mesh?
In the model I have a wall a snake/caterpillar and a cylinder/wood. I want the snake/caterpillar when its moving forward the rest of the body should get elongated or say, auto mesh to be created and look as if the snake/caterpillar when moving is coming from the wall, and the body is still too long and after a distance, say 10cm ,the body should finish and the tail detaches.
Is there any addon that can create auto mesh or how to animate to feel that the snake/caterpillar is coming from that wall.

Alternative file attach i want to know the procedure and i want to know how it is made

(I try to repost this same comment that I posted this morning here... and then... disappeared?) @atek, there is no "auto mesh" feature ora ddona syou intend above, but usin shape keys you can animate the mesh, and get some result useful for that setup, as I understood. See https://www.blender.org/manual/animation/shape_keys/introduction.html

thanks for replying i have a file hope u go through it and plz tell me how it is build i found this on internet its free to download as what i was thinking i found in that file but i did not get how it is hope u expert can explain me

sorry, I can't understand how the linked file solves the image above... the "snake" body should keep coming out of the wall, while the whole body also deforms and goes around the cylinder obstacle?

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


text:
Adding bevel altering the geometry and I can't create loopcuts
Q1. I want to bevel the edge. When I bevel and make loopcuts some extra geometry is made.
Q2. I have just made a simple geometry. I can't create loopcuts. I have removed doubles, recalculated the normals, yet I can't make loopcuts.
You can download the file

Related - http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/52842/cant-bevel-an-ngon and http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/10865/add-bevel-to-more-complex-objects.

Also http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/21287/bevel-tool-creating-intersecting-faces

Which addon have you found ? If you solved your problem yourself write an answer with clear steps of what have you done to give another solution.

please only ask one question per question. You can ask as many questions as you want.

That geometry won't be beveled as expected because you're trying to do that on non-planar Ngon consisting of 8 vertices:

Instead dissolve unneeded vertices, and join those on the left to make solid corner:

The selection on the screenshot is an added loopcut which is better to create to avoid Ngon in the middle (however one from the right side is left which is also best to avoid).
Then there won't be any spikes because the corner will be bevelled equally in all directions.
See also related posts - Bevel tool creating intersecting faces, Can't bevel an NGon


text:
Whats problem with my model faces
Whats problem with my model faces. I have tried all Normal faces, recalculated inside and some time outside yet to not get success. My file is attached and a screen shot i hope there is addon that can make everything clear

In places, where you see darker shading, inner faces are to close to outer faces. Try to get better geometry (similar to the other side of your object, with smooth curve in upper corners) and then use solidify modifier, but if you don't want to repeat this process, you can just set Transformation Orientation to Normal and pull inner faces in problematic areas a little more inside or outer a little more outside.

You have some faces double each other in the same position, which causes the ugly Z-fighting effect. Delete one half of your mesh (I noticed that the model isn't symmetrcal). Remove doubles with W-->Remove Doubles and increase the Merge Distance to the value above 0.01.

Align the edge scaling it by 0 (S, Y, 0).

Add a Mirror Modifier and apply it.

Apply transformations (Ctrl+A-->Apply Location, Rotation, and Scale). Add Solidify Modifier, increase the Thickness value, check the Even Thickness checkbox and play with the Offset value to get rid of the ugly results.

Here's the final, clean result.

I found the good solution maybe ever body like it. After doing flip normal, recalculation inside and outside. Try this
select the model in edit model
press N to open the panel
go down in shading section ---
just check mark ------------- "Backface Culling"
.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thats it...............

But do you understand why this worked?  Your faces are too close together, as Mzidare says in his answer, and your graphics card's depth buffer does not have precision to tell them apart.  Flipping this checkbox may not have an effect on a final render, it's essentially sweeping the problem under the rug by not rendering faces that point away from the camera.


text:
importing a good mesh
Im importing and svg file and when i go to edit mode get some 1000's mesh and edges,etc. Is there a file to get a clean mesh. Image is attach object mode look fine but when turn to edit mode 1000's of mesh. Is there any other file format which we can get a clean mesh.

blender file
file disappear

Mesh looks alright to me honestly, this is a fairly complicated pattern that requires a lot of polygons to represent. Might be simpler using ngons but the importer and simple conversion from curve to mesh is unlikely to generate these.

a file attached problem im getting as soon as the remesh added it disappears

To use the remesh modifier your mesh must have volume. You need to extrude all your geometry like in @Paul Gonet's example below, then the Remesh modifier will work.

i have tried adding but its not working with my mesh can u plz try with my mesh

There is no other file format that will guarantee a better mesh topology, unless you import as NURBS, but Blender can not import NURBS nor handle that kind of geometric complexity.
As TLousky mentions the results you are getting are totally normal and expected when converting a bezier curve into a mesh. However I would advise to not convert the SVG curve into a mesh, unless you specifically need to and only when you need to.
Keep it as a Bezier Curve object as long as possible, it's non destructive,  will be easier to edit and maintain while being easily editable as a bezier curve handles.
Also have a look at my answer about cleanup techniques for bezier curve objects, useful both for keeping as curve or before converting to mesh for a cleaner topology.
Have in mind that converting Bezier Objects into meshes will always leave a mesh with uneven topology and lots of triangulated edges. You may later clean them up a bit by turning flat faces into NGons.
That won't improve topology nor benefit unwrapping or editing, but it may give a cleaner viewport.

a file attached problem im getting as soon as the remesh added it disappears

and in ur image after u clicking the face what hot key u have press u got that normal and other options

Press Shift +G in edit mode to bring up the Select Grouped menu

You may always improve the geometry after importing using the Remesh Modifier.

Extrude your mesh downwards to give it some depth. Add the modifier and experiment with the Octree Depth and Scale values.

To see the modifier's effect in Object Mode go to Object header and check the Wire checkbox in the Display panel.

EDIT: Steps to follow in your case:

select thw whole mesh (A) in Edit Mode and press W-->Remove Doubles
with the whole mesh selected press Shift+S-->Cursor to Selected. Enter Object Mode and press Shift+Ctrl+Alt+C-->Origin to 3D Cursor. Then press Shift+C and finally Shift+S-->Selection to Cursor

go to Object header and check the Wire checkbox in the Display panel
extrude your whole mesh downwards (E,Z)
go to Object Mode and add the Remesh Modifier. Increase the Octree Depth and play with a Scale value. Uncheck the Remove Disconnected Pieces checkbox
apply the modifier

delete extruded vertices
select the top ones and scale them (S,Z,0) to make them flat (if needed)

Here's the result:

And a .blend file:

a file attached problem im getting as soon as the remesh added it disappears

Updated my answer. Please check it out.

thanks for replying me and getting that image. as i have notice that 4 image are not similar as i have attach the image/ It looks good from a view but when zoom its not similar.

Sometimes some modifiers don't work perfectly, so you have to tweak some things by hand. As you have the clean divisions in your mesh, you may try to delete three patterns and give the remaining one an Array Modifier with the Count number of 4.

authors: Поліна Ощепкова


text:
Why does the shape differ when importing an SVG file?
Consider:

I have made a sword shape in CorelDraw and exported it in the SVG format. The shape when imported in Blender looks compressed. The original image attached with the Blend file is:

Why is it compressed?
You can get the SVG file from https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwiTD4qoMzsZWmxSMjZFSzVzQWM.

https://gist.github.com/zeffii/a50863b18bd6fcb0b574dbf232c9cc44

To increase the resolution of the Curve Object see this panel. There's a setting for Preview and Render resolution.

The SVG itself is also stretched in the width, internally it's showing a non-proportional viewbox property. Each coordinate is transformed according to the viewbox ratio.
viewBox="0 0 1 1.41379"

save it again from CorelDraw with proportional dimensions (can't help you with that) or edit the .svg manually (easy). Look for the line with viewBox="0 0 1 1.41379" and change it to viewBox="0 0 1.41379 1.41379", or "0 0 1 1"

Thanks, very helpful. The default settings for SVG curve import are very low, it's a shame, I've had to redo a project because extruded fonts had flat planes visible on the "rounded" parts and I noticed after converting to mesh.


text:
Where are .blend files saved?
I have looked everywhere on my computer, and I cannot find where the .blend files are saved. I try to Google this question, but I only get results for removing textures.

Blend files are saved where-ever you chose to save them, opening Blender trying to save again will show the default location.
Blender also has an autosave function that saves backup files to a temporary directory, see Blender autosave


text:
daz character missing root bone in blender
I wonder if anyone knows why a rigged character imported to blender from Daz studio doesn’t have the ability to kneel. I don’t see the root bone, so I guess that may be the problem. Can anyone tell me how to solve this? When I try to make the character kneel, moving the pelvis bone or the lower abdomen bones, I instead drag the bone down while everything else stays in place.
Thank you!

How did you import the character into blender? Different importer methods can produce different results. I strongly suggest trying to set up the Daz importer addon here: https://blenderartists.org/t/daz-importer/684697. It takes a little bit to set up, but should generally give good results for the rigging.

hard to tell, please share your armature: https://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/


text:
How to know if the 3d-view is in camera mode or not?
I'd like to know if the context 3d-view is in camera mode or not using python?
What is the code for that, I can't find it in the API.

See context.space_data.region_3d.view_perspective which returns a string from an emum of PERSP, ORTHO and CAMERA.
thanks to kaio !


text:
How does blender scaling works?
I am new to blender. I have been looking into a github code, and trying to understand the operations.
I am confused about the blender scaling operation.
This is the code for scaling:
def __scale(self, name, size):
    obj = bpy.data.objects[name]
    for dim in range(3):
        obj.scale[dim] = size

def __ensureList(self, inp):
    if type(inp) != list:
        inp = [inp]
    return inp

def resize(self, names, size, dim=0):
    names = self.__ensureList(names)
    if type(names) == str:
        names = [names]
    for name in names:
        obj = bpy.data.objects[name]
        obj.dimensions[dim] = size
        scale = obj.scale[dim]
        self.__scale(name, scale)

To scale, I execute the following command:
blender.resize([obj_name], 2.7)
When I print the min, max and mean of the 3D points before and after scaling the results are:
before scaling:
min_x: -0.20754599571228027, max_x: 0.20533299446105957, mean_x: 0.0007154246070189982.
min_y: -0.1282069981098175, max_y:  0.1692579984664917, mean_y:  0.0012065420240592241.
min_z: -0.46883198618888855, max_z:  0.3920080065727234, mean_z:  -0.000768613462913994.
after scaling:
min_x: -1.3572359085083008, max_x: 1.342764139175415, mean_x: 0.004678481022643731
min_y: -0.8384028077125549, max_y:1.1068536043167114, mean_y: 0.007890116447166636
min_z: -3.065901517868042, max_z: 2.5635154247283936, mean_z: -0.005026305425451572
A scaling of 2.7 along each dimension is resulting into a scale of approx 6.55 along each dimension. Can someone please explain the math behind this scaling. I mean if there is a point X(x,y,z) before scaling then what would be X after scaling ?
I am asking this question as I am not able to understand the post: How does scaling work in Blender, *exactly*?
Thanks, and would appreciate any help in understanding this.
Some edits based on suggestions from the comments:
Min max mean are numpy.min(), numpy.max(), numpy.mean(). I loop over the mesh vertices (obj.data.vertices), and add the vertex.co to a numpy array. and the test object is a mesh.

Could you indicates how min/max are calculated here? using world matrix? What is the test object?

Min max mean are numpy.min(), numpy.max(), numpy.mean(). I loop over the mesh vertices (obj.data.vertices), and add the vertex.co to a numpy array.  and the test object is a mesh.

obj.data.vertices coordinates are not supposed to change when scaling... so are you using matrix_world?

bpy.ops.object.transform_apply(scale=True) I do this before printining the vertices after applying scaling

OK, I think you should indicate all these in the question to make it understandable. Though, from the mesh you used where the 6.5 ratio comes from?

6.55 is basically max_x (after scaling) / max_x (before scaling)

Yes... tried to reproduce your results. But failed. You should upload all the elements in a blend file. In first though, what you obtain is not expected (I think). So possibly, there is another reason.

can you explain how scaling works, I mean if there is a point X(x,y,z) before scaling then what would be X after scaling ? So if the scale is 2.7 would X after scaling be X2.7 (x2.7, y2.7, z2.7) ? Thanks !!

You are totally right. That's why I think there is another reason here (or I miss something). Upload a file, so that we can check that.

I am actually taking inspiration from this codebase: https://github.com/JannerM/intrinsics-network/blob/612e003fb6d15c075f6fbac8d7b26a357e7b99be/dataset/render.py#L95. What kind of file are you referring to ?

The blend file you are using for this test. Can upload it using https://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/

Was the object scaled before the script?


text:
How can I model a railmotor roof?
G'day everyone,
Just trying to model the exact same railmotor and having trouble modelling the damn forsaken roof! I am using Blender 2.79b to make the model in
If someone could tell me how exactly to model the roof this would be great! I have used every method I can using the bevel but it's just problems with it overlapping or not doing what I want it to do
See here for photos of the railmotor and the roof I am really getting frustrated with
https://sites.google.com/site/queenslandgreattrains/Home/the-railmotors/1800-class-the-blue-lagoons

Hey !! It is always to show what you tried instead of directly asking about how to make it completely so that we can get an idea of where you are facing the issue. Please add some pic of your work and explain whats exactly going wrong

Yes bevel is probably the tool to use, first bevel the front (probably more segments as you'll see later):

Then the sides:

Then create some inner loop cuts:

Extrude and flatten the top light:

Create additional edge loops in order to round it, etc (the proportions are not good of course):

When you'll bring the Subdivision Surface modifier you'll need more edge loops:

And that's probably the only thing I never tried! I didn't think to bevel the front first... THANKS HEAPS

@PhilChorusch I'd say as a general rule you should always bevel from large to small scale. Of course there might be exceptions and surely it depends on what exact look you are going for.

@PhilChorusch Hello and welcome. Please don't reply "Thanks" as an answer or comment, instead upvote the post that helped you. If you feel it completely solved your issue consider marking it as accepted.


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Problems with UV wrapping not baking
I’m following this YouTube tutorial https://youtu.be/sPKWR7Lcs3w and from about the 46th mark forward I can seem to get mine to work. I create the “displace” image and do everything exactly as shown but once I go to bake it like at the 47th mark, his will succeed while mine still results in an error.
If you could help me with this that would be EXTREMELY helpful!
Thanks!
- Colby

IMO an answer would need a way to confirm "everything exactly as shown"

I've added an image to show you what I mean. Do you notice any points where I've gone wrong to cause this error now? batFINGER?

Some things to check: 1) if you check the box "selected to active" it expects to concern more than one object, so make sure that you have all relevant objects selected, and the one you want to bake to selected last so that it is the active object. 2) it might be that the difference between the two meshes is so little that it registers as near-black unless the bake is normalized (check that box and see)

In the outliner all of your meshes are disabled in render (the camera icons).

Thank you so much @Denis ! that did solve all of my problems. You are a life saver!

Denis was correct! Thank you so much!
The camera icons are turned off as default and simply switching those on allowed the bake to process and solve all my problems!

This does not provide an answer to the question. To critique or request clarification from an author, leave a comment below their post. - From Review

what do you mean @Sazerac ? I followed the steps Denis provided me with and that in turn solved all of my problems. I don't understand how you're saying that does not answer the question. I asked the question - and now I know how to do it properly. question answered


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How to save blender project without the original files [Unable to pack file Warning]
I'm really new to blender here, and I was looking for an environment for import so I can render a picture of a room from a very specific POV to use in an After Effects project.
So I downloaded a free room environment from this website: https://free3d.com/3d-model/chambre--24937.html
And it only provides one .blend file, now the problem is that I made some changes to the scene and I need to save this .blend file, and upon saving I receive this error:

Unable to pack file source path: /path/

Well, I understand what it means, it can't find the original images used in the project to pack the new .blend file, so how do I use the already packed images in the original .blend file to save the new .blend file?
Why doesn't blender automatically extract the images from the opened .blend file and save them to a location and then use them to pack a new .blend file?
I tried manually extracting some of the images, and saved them to where the original .blend file is saved and opened, and I went to File -> External Data -> Find Missing Files but it doesn't work.

The .blend in your link comes with a file missing (Fields_wallpapers_488.jpg).
It was not packed properly by the creator of the file.
Packed files do not need to be unpacked for them to work in Blender. If files are unpacked they are usually used from the location they are unpacked to and automatic packing is turned off. If it's enabled again then the files are packed from the location they were unpacked. As you can see asset packing and unpacking functionality is quite complete in Blender and it usually works as intended. In this specific case the file comes with a missing asset - that's why it's not possible to find. The creator of the file must have received the same warning and chose to ignore it.


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Eyes follow me, but i don't want them to
I imported a .vrm file into blender, and for some reason, the eyes follow me, not the camera, ME, in the viewport. I actually have a few .vrm files that do this. Is there a setting where i can turn that off? i'm using 2.79.
picture: https://i.imgur.com/xPiAPRh.gifv
there are no constraints, no modifiers, nothing that i can find.

Sounds like your computer needs an exorcism. Could you be more specific about as to how the eyes move? Is it related to the user camera? Is a constrained involved? (Maybe post an image or gif)

i expected more serious replies. i thought i was pretty clear, but i guess i'll edit my question to include a visual example...

Ohhh, that was clever!
I'm almost 99% sure it's just a trick of topology.
They eyes are sunken so they appear to rotate in the opposite direction as the observer (you!).
It's the exact same illusion as this mask:

The fact that your viewport has no or little shading reinforces the illusion.
Can you go into edit mode confirm that the eyes are sunken and when you make them flush with the face, the creepy effect stops?
If yes, then rest assured, your computer is NOT haunted.

they were sunken in, but i moved them up on my edit, and they still slightly do the same thing. also, quite a view .vrm files i have DON'T do that


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Multiple Modal Timers running continuously without the delay
I am new to blender and i need to visualise linear transformations. I am using this piece of code to create a timer.
def mod (mid, label, timeout, callback, *args):

    class ModalTimerOperator(bpy.types.Operator):
        bl_idname = mid
        bl_label = label

        _timer = None
        valid = True

        def modal(self, context, event):
            if not self.valid or event.type in {'RIGHTMOUSE', 'ESC'}:
                self.cancel(context)
                return {'CANCELLED'}

            if event.type == 'TIMER':
                self.valid = callback(*args)

            return {'PASS_THROUGH'}

        def execute(self, context):
            wm = context.window_manager
            self._timer = wm.event_timer_add(timeout, context.window)
            wm.modal_handler_add(self)
            return {'RUNNING_MODAL'}

        def cancel(self, context):
            wm = context.window_manager
            wm.event_timer_remove(self._timer)

    bpy.utils.register_class(ModalTimerOperator)

so i am assuming function callback (args...) gets called every time after timeout seconds.
So overall i am creating a cube then creating two timers with different timeouts. one does a translation and other does Rotation. But the problem with the timers is that, instead of firing every timeout seconds it is firing continuously one after another without the timeout delay. Happens when multiple timers are present
mymesh =  makeCube ()

translateMatrix = mathutils.Matrix.Translation( mathutils.Vector((0, 0, 1)) )
rotationMatrix  = mathutils.Matrix.Rotation(math.radians(45.0), 3, "Z")

mod("wm.a", "a", 2,   transformation, mymesh, translateMatrix, True)
mod("wm.b", "b", 0.1, transformation, mymesh, rotationMatrix,  True)

bpy.ops.wm.a();
bpy.ops.wm.b();

Please Help me. Here is overall code.
import mathutils
import math
import bpy
import bmesh

def clean():
    for i in bpy.data.objects:
        i.select = True
        bpy.ops.object.delete()

def mod (mid, label, timeout, callback, *args):

    class ModalTimerOperator(bpy.types.Operator):
        bl_idname = mid
        bl_label = label

        _timer = None
        valid = True

        def modal(self, context, event):
            if not self.valid or event.type in {'RIGHTMOUSE', 'ESC'}:
                self.cancel(context)
                return {'CANCELLED'}

            if event.type == 'TIMER':
                self.valid = callback(*args)

            return {'PASS_THROUGH'}

        def execute(self, context):
            wm = context.window_manager
            self._timer = wm.event_timer_add(timeout, context.window)
            wm.modal_handler_add(self)
            return {'RUNNING_MODAL'}

        def cancel(self, context):
            wm = context.window_manager
            wm.event_timer_remove(self._timer)

    bpy.utils.register_class(ModalTimerOperator)

def makeCube ():
    verts = [ (0, 0, 0), (0, 5, 0), (5, 5, 0), (5, 0, 0), (0, 0, 5), (0, 5, 5), (5, 5, 5), (5, 0, 5) ]
    faces = [ (0, 1, 2, 3), (7, 6, 5, 4), (0, 4, 5, 1), (1, 5, 6, 2), (2, 6, 7, 3), (3, 7, 4, 0) ]
    edges = []

    mymesh = bpy.data.meshes.new("supershape")
    myobject = bpy.data.objects.new("supershape",mymesh)

    myobject.location.x = 0
    myobject.location.y = 0
    myobject.location.z = 0

    bpy.context.scene.objects.link(myobject)

    mymesh.from_pydata(verts,edges,faces)
    mymesh.update(calc_edges=True)

    myobject.select = True
    bpy.ops.object.origin_set(type='ORIGIN_CENTER_OF_VOLUME')

    return mymesh

def transformation (mesh, matrix, ret):

    bm = bmesh.new()
    bm.from_mesh(mesh)

    #Modify the vertices of mesh
    for v in bm.verts:
        v.co = matrix * v.co

    # update mesh
    bm.to_mesh(mesh)
    mesh.update (calc_edges = True)
    bm.free()
    return ret

clean()                #remove all the objects
mymesh =  makeCube ()

translateMatrix = mathutils.Matrix.Translation( mathutils.Vector((0, 0, 1)) )
rotationMatrix  = mathutils.Matrix.Rotation(math.radians(45.0), 3, "Z")

mod("wm.a", "a", 2,   transformation, mymesh, translateMatrix, True)
mod("wm.b", "b", 0.1, transformation, mymesh, rotationMatrix,  True)

bpy.ops.wm.a();
bpy.ops.wm.b();

Confused as to what the question is here. Yes the timers run continously firing a 'TIMER' event every timeout seconds.  Suggest looking into a frame change handler to do this. see Handlers , or some other method like drivers, that utilize the animation system built into blender.

@batFINGER i am sorry, i wanted to say that instead of firing every timeout seconds it is firing continuously one after another without the timeout delay. Happens when multiple timers are present

Ok, recall another question about that. Would use one timer and give each callout a count (eg timer every 0.1 seconds,  rotate:1 translate:20) or as mentioned prior use a frame change handler.

May find this useful too

@batFINGER yes. its better to use single timer and figure out which functions to run. Thank you.

Cool, write up an answer with basics. Out of interest, why change local coords of every vert every tick,  could alternatively calculate object matrix each tick.   And to reiterate, consider using the animation system built in to blender. to tie in the state of your object to the frame number.  Will put up handler answer if you are interested.

@batFINGER I am learning 3D math and just wanted to visualise how objects are changing by applying different transformations, step by step. prior to this was using geogebra which was very slow.


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Geometry Nodes instancing faces (Update Blender 3.0)
How to make Instancing Faces and aligned to face normal in Geometry Nodes?

I tried blender 3.0. Mesh to Points node solved instancing in the middle of a triangle. But aligned to face normal weird. Here image:

You are asking how to align point instance position to center of face and align rotation to face normal, right?

Use Align Rotation to Vector, Vector should be "normal" and axis Z (for default cone):

Thanks! And how make one Point Distribute in one tris?

I do not found the answer yet. I guess, it is not developed yet. Note, that it is the first scope of geometry nodes, hope it will be in future releases.

This answer aligns point instances to mesh vertices normals, which are different than the OP's request for two things: align point instance position to center of face and align rotation to face normal. Is this even possible? I'm searching for the answer myself.


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Adding texture layer over stroke object (Grease Pencil)
I add texture layer and I can clip texture to match underlying stroke object by clicking mask layer icon in the layer properties section.
There is an example in this video.
I can do this in Blender 2.80 and 2.82 but can't make it work in 2.83 (and 2.90).
Images before and after masking are below.
Is this feature removed in 2.83 or am I missing something?
Before:

After:

There is a Masks section below layer list in 2.83 and later versions.
Adding new mask in here and clicking mask icon on the related layer solved the problem.


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Geometry Nodes: How to calculate Custom normal deformation from real Normals?
AFAIK There is no Custom Normals at moment in GN.
As a workaround, Custom Normals can be baked into Vertex colors.
Which works great... until the mesh gets deformed.
Is it possible to calculate in Geometry Nodes the deformed Custom Normals having: Original/Deformed Normals and original Custom Normals?
Is there any other way?

I found how to calculate face tangent, but this probably would rather need a vertex to face vector...


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Render on Tesla K80
I'm trying to render on a Tesla K80, but it doesn't work.
blender --debug-cycles

outputs
Ignoring device Tesla K80, not officially supported yet

Release notes of 2.77 say:
Add support of GK210 GPUs (NVidia Tesla K80). (ff0dcc5)

https://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Dev:Ref/Release_Notes/2.77/Cycles
But I had to use a custom build of Blender (very recent), so I'm not sure if the problem is of the custom build or if Teslas aren't supported at all yet. Couldn't try further cause my shift ended.
Any information on the current state of "Tesla & Cycles" I will mark as correct answer.
EDIT I've search in the Blender source for the string "Ignoring device Tesla ..." and I think I found it in opencl_util.cpp although I'm not 100% sure. If that's true it would mean that Blender uses OpenCL instead of CUDA. Not sure why it would, CUDA drivers and toolkit where succesfully installed (confirmed) on the target machine. Any insight on how to force CUDA instead of OpenCL?
EDIT2: It doesn't work either with official Blender builds. Same problem.
Now some linux specialists had a look at the issue but couldn't figure it out yet.

What's custom in your custom build? It is indeed possible that the build you are using hasn't got the required CUDA kernels compiled.

It's the new Pricipled Shader only, but additional branches like denoising have been requested already. So the offical version of Blender definitely should work with Tesla K80?

I'd assume so, though I don't have access to one. Did you run a test with latest Blender 2.78c yet? If that works, it's a matter of providing a build with the same cuda toolkit version.

I don't have access to the GRID from home either, will have to test it again on Monday. First thing I will be testing is an offical version, I see now I should have started with that. Thanks for the advice about cuda toolkit, I'll read into that.

the cuda toolkit is only relevant for the one who is compiling the custom blender build. The user does not need it. If the one compiling it doesn't have the latest toolkit installed, some cuda kernels won't be generated, and thus certain devices requiring it won't be supported.

Here's what I got: 1.) Blender indeed starts rendering. CPU usage ist at 100% 2.) nvidia-smi doesn't show any process or activity


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How to emit particles according to object movement?
I'm animating an underwater robot. I'd like him to emit particles (bubbles) as soon as he moves (X and Y direction).
Is there a possibility to convert the coordinate-changerate to particle emission? Or a ideas for a work-around?
I already tried the Vertex Weight Proximity Modifier, but the particle emission work only staticly with it. The screenshots show an example of the weight paint according to the distance to the empty. In the beginning, the particles fit the weight paint. But as the empty moves on to the other side, the particles just ignore the change of weight paint.
What do to?

Best reguards,
OldPowel

Maybe using a vertex weights proximity modifier and make so the vertex group weights influences the particle emission?

Good idea, edited my post.

FYI http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/3560/is-it-possible-to-change-the-emission-rate-of-particles-over-time... so this is not the good approach... for now!

As the vertex weights is not a solution, you should have a look at this with some possibilities given by Animation Nodes http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/67207/is-there-a-way-to-restrict-brownian-motion-to-a-specific-axis/74860#74860. Here you can control all the bubbles in time


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Camera flips 180 degress when moving around object
I have a problem that I have not been able to find an answer to, I am sure there must be an answer out there, probably I am not formulating the question correctly. Anyway, I want to rotate the camera around an object, but when I am completely perpendicular to the Y axis, as soon as I cross the X axis my camera flips 180 degrees, making the camera always maintain its "belly down attitude", how can I stop the camera from doing that?
Thank you!

Locked Track
You should use Locked Track Constraint instead of Track To Constraint .
As stated in the manual's page:

Basically, it is a Track To constraint, but with a locked axis, i.e. an axis that cannot rotate (change its orientation).

While the for the Track To it is said:

... it always points a given “To” axis towards its target, with another “Up” axis permanently maintained as much aligned with the global Z axis (by default) as possible.

That said, using this kind of constraint will allow you to avoid the flipping of the camera. Here's an example of usage:

Boy do I feel dumb! I did try it out but I was having a hard time understanding how to set the constraint. Thank you very much for such a complete answer!


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Geometry Nodes: How to select instances either side of an index?
I have a geometry nodes setup that instances a set of cards along a curve, and turns each card over as a 'completed' value is increased from 0 to 100. However, my setup only turns one card over at once, which given the number of cards I'm using means that unless I'm using motion blur, it's difficult to tell that the cards are flipping, as they look like they're just snapping from one rotational value to another.
Is there a way to begin turning the cards either side of the selected index at the same time so for example a card 3 in front of the index will begin turning, the index will be at the midpoint in it's turn, and the card 3 behind the index will be finishing it's turn?
My current nodes setup:

.blend file:

Many thanks for any help you can offer!

It might be helpful to people trying to help you if you uploaded an example blend file to the site https://blend-exchange.com and add that link in the question.

Thanks Rick - I've added the .blend file now. <3

I managed to work it out by feeding the index into a subtract node (set to 7), and then feeding the index and the subtract node into a map range node, which then feeds into the mix factor of the node controlling the angle of rotation.
I've attached the blend here for anyone wanting to achieve the same effect.


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How to cut holes in an object using another object?
I'm trying to model a M16 but I have a problem with cutting the holes on top of the handguard of the weapon.

As you can see in the picture above, I have tried to cut holes into the handguard (The marked mesh in edit mode) with the object above it (The multiple cylinder one). But I simply can't. I have tried the Boolean modifier but the handguard just disappears and doesn't make any holes. Same with the Knife Project thing. Nothing works, it won't make a hole in it. I also installed the BoolTool 0.2 but that didn't work either...The multiple cylinder object goes invisible and doesn't make any cuts.

In the picture above you can see how I want the cuts to be made. I want the holes of the multiple cylinder object to be there on the handguard when I take it away. Nothing works. The 3 methods I tried with worked on other parts of this model but not on the handguard. It should be the handguards mesh's fault but I can do nothing about it. Is there any solution?

Booleans in blender are notoriously unreliable (in my experience). I would have recommended manually modelling one hole on a short section of the barrel and then using an array (as long as the cylinders are equally spaced). However, because the barrel gets smaller towards the end, I'm not sure this would work. It might be a starting point though.

@cegaton I have now added the file at the bottom of the post.

@ToddMcIntosh I will test that. But first I want to be sure that there's no way of fixing this dumb problem.

How to do a subtractive boolean

Make sure you've selected the object to be carved from, and add a Boolean Modifier (when in Edit mode, look for a wrench icon on the right-side panel when you have the object to be carved from selected - this is the modifier panel).
For the modifier's Operation choose "Difference".
For the Object field choose the object that will do the carving.
Apply the Boolean Modifier and delete your carving object.

Tip: For step 4, as an alternative non-destructive approach you could also leave the modifier on without applying it, and hide the carving object from rendering. If you want to see the carving object's shape and its effect at the same time, instead of totally hiding it in the viewport you could go to the Object Tab and set the Maximum Draw Type to "Wire".

Tip: Low-poly meshes may not boolean so well, while high-poly meshes can be slow to calculate or in extreme cases even crash Blender. So consider your mesh density before using a boolean.
Tip: If either mesh's normals are facing the wrong direction you will have problems when doing a boolean. Recalculating normals can sometimes be a solution if you find a boolean is not working as expected.
Tip: Remove doubles. If your normals are just fine, the next thing to try is removing doubled-up vertices. This can be done from within Edit Mode by pressing W and choosing "Remove Doubles". At the top of the interface near the tiny Blender logo a message will momentarily appear saying "Removed __ vertices". If this number is not 0 then you'll know that some doubles were removed and that the problem has probably been fixed.
Tip: Large n-gons can cause booleans to fail. The solution is to convert to triangles. Here is a post addressing this problem in more detail.
Tip: Avoid booleans if you plan to SubSurf. Modeling with booleans may be fine for simple hard-surface geometry, but if you then put a Subdivision Surface Modifier on that object you can expect unsightly results. This is because for things like subdivision and mesh deformation topology is important. An all-quad mesh is ideal, but still requires some good old-fashioned manual modeling to create. It's worth learning the concepts of edge-flow and poles if you intend to create a low or med-poly mesh with "holes" cut into it that still looks good when SubSurfed.
Tip: Sometimes using "Smooth" shading doesn't go so smoothly after modeling with a boolean. This has a lot to do with the topology issues I mentioned above, but there is a quick fix that is suitable for many cases. Navigate to the Mesh context tab and check the Auto Smooth option. Adjust the slider until the shading looks desirable in the viewport. Here is a before/after example:

Note that regardless of the angle specified for Auto Smooth, any edges that have been Marked Sharp (CtrlE) will be sharp as long as the Auto Smooth feature is enabled.
The solution for your case

It was caused by conflicting normals, as I mentioned in one of the tips above. In fact, you can even see from the darkly shaded geometry in your screen shots that some of the normals are inverted. After recalculating normals on both objects I was able to boolean just fine. Here's the solved file:

It just says "Cannot execute boolean operation". And when I tested to use a newly created cylinder mesh, the handguard just goes invisible. And when I afterwards apply it, the cylinder becomes my handguard and the real handguard deletes.

Please see the new section I added in my answer: "The solution for your case".

@Zemah why are you removing the blend files ?

Mesh context tab/Auto Smooth is a life saver!!


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Crack animation on shadow catcher (2.80)?
I have an motion-tracked animation of a dart hitting the ground and sticking. It has shadow, materials, everything. But I want the effect of cracks forming when the dart hits the ground, but I can't do that with the shadow catcher (because it is invisible.) What is the best way to do this?
BTW, I have been researching and trying many things, so I am not expecting any responses for a while. :)

@cegaton thanks! I'll try it. And the fracture modifier is coming in the final release of blender 2.8?

Could an alternative be to first render out my scene fully, then import it back as another motion tracking project, track it, and add the cracks separately?

Cool. Thank you!


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Beginner: black polygons while texturing
I'm trying to texture just a standard cube but some of it's polygons remain untextured (black). Here is the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfaxOVjdIqc
What I'm doing wrong?
Thanks

You are using the Blender Internal (BI) rendering engine, which is not physically based and thus does not interact with light realistically (as it's physically-based counterpart Cycles does).
The polygons are not actually black, they simply have no light falling on them (BI doesn't have the capacity to compute correct environment or bounce lighting). Try adding more lamp objects to the scene to illuminate the different sides of the cube, or simply drag the current Point lamp around.
Alternatively, it is recommended that you use Cycles as your main render engine, not only for the realistic benefits that it adds but because the BI engine will no longer be included (or supported) in the upcoming 2.8 release.


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How to make ultra instinct aura?

I am trying to make a aura like the one above but can’t get it right. I have tried using a transparent shader mix with a emission shader but it ends up way off from what I’m trying to achieve.
Here’s what it looks like without a character

Any help would be appreciated.

Oh and if you click transparent under renders it takes they volume away from a material. not sure if this helps but maybe just try iy out


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How to make a super sonic material in cycles?

I am trying to make a shader like the yellow shader below but can’t get it right. I have tried using a mix shader with two diffuse and a fresnel but it ends up way off from the what I’m trying to achieve.

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/56437/how-can-i-make-a-shiny-edge-material-in-cycles

Duarte Farrajota Ramos this is not the same question neither is “how to make a sonic shader”.

I would use the principled shader. It also looks like some anistropy is being used but you will have to play with that. Mess around with the anistropic sliders and roughness to get the desired look. It almost looks like your image has hair the same color as skin so its giving it that sheen look.
The 2nd shader is so you can control the fresnel (the lighter yellow part).

What lighting did you use?

Just an HDRI from HDRIhaven.com, not sure which one, I didn't save the file.


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Boolean modifier not working and also material not applied
I have 2 Question mention below
I have attached a file.
Q1. I want to cut the part and im using the boolean modifier. I have rename the layer. In that layer 3 parts can cut (its name is cut) And the one layer without cut its not cutting with the boolean modifier. Plz tell me how it can be cut and reason where im going wrong.
Q2. I cannot apply material to my model. Whats the problem behind the model.

may i know what is unrelated question to be as in different post. The same model is not cut and the same model is not adding the material.

You can expect that behaviour of boolean modifier, if you try to cut in ngons (face with more then 4 vertices). Blender is smart enough to cut it smoothly in other parts of the mesh, but in this particular part, something went wrong. Fortunately boolean works, but not in perfect way. Here you'll see how to fix that and that you can apply material to your mesh without problem.What I didn't show in this short .gif is that you should always have normals pointing outside so you need on all your meshes in edit mode, with all faces selected press CTRL+N to calculate them.

it work with boolean modifier but i cant apply the material as ur showing in ur gif but here i cant apply. reason plz

Yes you can. I just showed you, that it's possible. Maybe you expect for the material color to be visible in solid view mode. You have to switch to rendered or material to see it. After doing that if you still will be insisting, that it's not possible. Make gif of you trying and failing.


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How to make object transparent

I have a added a cube and delete the top and bottom faces. And given plastic material. I have added a ico-sphere inside that cube and given emission light to it. I want the light should come out from the cube. I want to get the lantern effect. Image of lantern is attached. i want to achieve that effect. I have attach my blender file   to know what material i have use.

The best looking result you can achieve by using Subsurface Scattering shader.

The other options could be also:

Mix Diffuse shader with Transparent shader - this will give you visible emission material trough it.
Translucent shader - the inside of the lantern will not be affected by light.
Diffuse mixed with Translucent - will be very close to Subsurface Scattering. You will want to mix it with Transparent shader.

Note that I've bumped Emission material to 20.


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can’t symetrize my mesh
Hi so I started to use dynotopo on my object or character. I realized it hadn’t been mirroring well. Or hasn’t overall. So some parts are off, I tried to snap to symmetry on edit mode. Ends up with 4494 mirrored, and 84012 failed. I then tried to do dynotopo symetrize. I tried all of the directions, for example -x to +x, and vice versa. I also tried all of the rest and they all end up wonky, like two heads beside each other or inside each other. How do I fix this?

tip: press ⌘+SHIFT+3 to take a quick screenshot on mac

Hi. This may help with taking clearer screenshots: https://www.take-a-screenshot.org


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Object with driver issue when rotating around Z- and X-axis
My object (a mechanical arm) is Clamped To a curve.
I am using a driver to move this mechanical arm around the curve.
When rotating this curve around the z-axis or x-axis, the entire arm starts acting weird and changes postion.
Click here for a more clear Video
-32.4° Around Z-axis:

-33.6° Around Z-axis:

[Edit] I'm using the 'Follow Path' constraint now, which didn't work at first. I figured out that I had a problem with some of my rotations and axis. Fixing this fixed all of it.

What about the Follow Path Constraint? Drive the Offset value with a driver, that might work.


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How emission works
I want to know how an emission light works. I have a small room, A window and a sphere as light. I want the light from inside to pass through the transparent glass window and the light from the outside to also pass through the same window. I have set the strength to 100 yet the light is not passing out of the room.
If I were to make another object other than a glass window (Like a wall lantern for example), are the settings for the material the same or do I have to change them? If they are different how do I set the settings for both?
blender file
getting error

Umm maybe i missed something but from what i see your wall behind the window doesn't have a hole - so sure there can pass no light through it. If you cut a hole in the walls with a boolean modifier, it works fine.
Edit:I think you used archimesh and thats why the .blend does not work right for me. but still- when i cut a hole in the wall it works fine.

but the window having the glass material so light can pass from it why it need a hole.

Please watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Heg89K3ZMDo

So the simple solution i case your .blend works the same as mine: add an solidify modifier and an boolean modifier (set to difference) that uses the object CTRL_Hole to both walls that are in the scene ("Room" and "Wall_cover"). Then it works fine.

edit- Answer to your previous question under my comment: The window doesn't need a hole it's the walls behind it (diffuse material) that need it for the light to pass through.

Thanks for that answer if i have a paper lantern will that works as i want that paper lantern light to be pass from the paper there is no hole to the lantern how it will work then.

use a translucent shader for the paper. It makes the light pass from one side to the other side of an object (like paper).

as soon as i click on apply its give an error an image add above.

Sorry i don't get what you mean maybe you should watch some tutorials about cycles in general - Andrew Price and CynicatPro on YouTube for example do nice tutorials.

I have applied the boolean tool as u said but its not working its giving error i have attach .gif file with whats error im getting


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How do I map a gradient onto each individual brick in the bricks texture?
I'm trying to use gradient texture and color ramp with the brick texture. I want each individual brick to have it's own gradient rather than it showing across the whole object as a whole, is this doable in version 2.77?

You can use methods based on https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/26692/how-do-i-create-repeating-patterns-with-cycles-procedural-textures to create something like the brick node that can do this, although you need a few more clever tricks to handle the offset and mortar,

I tried these, it was informative but it's for the faces on the object Geometry. I haven't been able to make it work for the brick texture, unless I'm doing something wrong


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How to create a spiral 3d structure?
I want to create a helical/spiral structure like the figure below. I tried to create a circle and poke faces after that I dont know how to extend it in z direction to look like a spiral.

You can use the 'screw modifier' to do that.
Here is two examples, just starting with an edge (segment) a bit rotated and placed differently relatively to the objects origins:

The modifier starts with a base mesh and extrudes it around an axis (of the mesh itself or the one of another object). The 'screw' parameter give the elongation along the axis.


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Making my own Modifier : Make Texture operate as mask on vertices
I’m would like to perform on operation in blender that I don’t think I can yet, I would like some help on how I can develop it in the right way.
I would like to delete geometries depending on a texture and following the UV map.
Imagine the Displace Modifier, where you indicate the texture and that you want to use the UV but instead of extruding vertices based on the grey level, it would delete or keep vertices based on a threshold.
Because you can’t create modifier as addon, I’m already making my own from blender source code. I believe it is actually ready, what do I need to do so that my modifier appears with the other ( precisely ) ?
Also after that I will aim do the same thing but with subdivide operation, where my mesh will be subdivided more in specific area depending on a grey level texture.
Any help is welcome.

Have you tried to use a displacement modifier on an object, then use this object to cut the other one using a boolean modifier (with difference)?

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is about developing Blender and not using it. See https://blender.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1/what-questions-should-be-definitely-off-topic

@Martin Z since https://blender.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2216/source-code-questions-in-2016, I don't think we are treating these questions as off topic.

How to add a Modifier
(This answer is for 2.7X versions, 2.8 has made some changes to modifier code, and I haven't got around to looking at them)
A while back, Campbell Barton created a patch template for a deform modifier, which provides a great place to start when looking at creating a modifier, it can be found here. In general, once you know which files to look in, you can just follow what has been done for other similar modifiers, as it tends to be fairly systematic.
I will assume a working knowledge of Blender's DNA/RNA system (See https://wiki.blender.org/wiki/Reference/FAQ for a starting point if you are unfamiliar)
In essence you need to do the following:

Define a struct and appropriate exports in source/blender/makesdna/DNA_modifier_types.h for your modifier properties. Make sure you follow DNA byte alignment rules (the compiler will check and and help you)
Create your modifier file in source/blender/modifiers/intern/ (And don't forget to add it to CMake). This is the file where you will do most of the work. The most important thing you need to do is to define a ModifierTypeInfo struct which describes how your modifier behaves and provides access to the methods that actually execute it. See other modifiers for examples. This includes indications on what sort of data the modifier accepts, how to construct the modifier data, and depsgraph relationships and many more bits and pieces. Be aware the deform only modifers are different that onces that change vertices.
In source/blender/modifiers/MOD_modifiertypes.h add a reference to the above ModifierTypeInfo
In source/blender/makesrna/RNA_access.h define the RNA mapping for your modifier data DNA struct so that it can be accessed by the UI.
Add a UI for the modifier panel in release/scripts/startup/bl_ui/properties_data_modifier.py
If you have added any pointers in your DNA struct, you will need to update the source/blender/blenloader/intern/writefile.c and source/blender/blenloader/intern/readfile.c files to define save and load behavior. This is also used in undo.

Suggestions for your particular Modifier
For the particular modifier you want to add, you should actually be able to do this by combining two existing modifiers.

The Vertex Weight Edit modifier supports a texture mask option that you could use to define which vertices you want mask. If it doesn't provide enough control, I would suggest looking at enhancing this modifier.
Them just use the ordinary mask modifier with the generated vertex group.

even though i'm working on doing it with the python API at the moment, I'm marking this as the current answer as it's the first time seeing a proper guide on creating a modifier. Thanks good sir.

A possibility (to avoid a bit difficult coding), more than a real answer:
Use a displacement modifier on a cutting object.
Then use this cutting object for a boolean 'difference' operation on the object you want to cut (or remove some vertices).
This is illustrated in this animation:

thanks but my issue with this approach is that the booleen operation will create new vertices because the edges that are cut make additional geometry. I was aiming for an approach that will cut "clean" similar to selecting the vertices  and deleting it.

I could probably make a script that select those vertices who are in a volume created by the method you show case, hmm I will try this approach.

@EdmondBoulet-Gilly. OK, I should have presumed that. But what about faces if for a face only part of its vertices are deleted?

Yes my goal is also to delete them, I tried the volume selection but I'm not working with closed volume so it's no working for me. Is there a way to select vertex using a grey scale texture ?


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Add Rigify Widgets to Weight Painted Figure
Working in Blender 2.79 using the Rigify Cat(Meta_Rig) I discovered problems with the front feet when trying to apply Automatic Weight Painting.  After much tweeking and retopoing of the area Blender still didn't like it so I separated the fron feet from the main mesh, Auto Weighted the mesh to the rig, then reattached and hand weighted to offending area. Checked everything was working smoothly by moving the bones around, and finally highlighted the metarig and hit GENERATE RIG to create Widgit Rig. This took several tries and both Blender and computer reboots before it cleanly generated. But now it is there.

Problem: The weighting does not seem to have carried over to the widgets as they are not controlling the mesh. How do I link the widgets to the weighted mesh?

I asked a similar question back in June before working out the weight painting issues of the front feet.  The discussion went into Chat because of it's length but has been erased because of time.
BLEND FILE

You need to paint weights on the generated rig, not the metarig.

How? As far as I can tell weights can only be painted from metarig bones, not FK/IK control widgets.

With Rigify, you need to generate the rig from the meta rig first, before weight painting.
In blender all control widgets etc are also bones, but may or may not be allowed to move the mesh, depending on whether the deform flag is set on them or not (this can be found in the bone properties tab in the properties editor). In the generated rigify rigs, the deform bones are hidden by default, and normally on the third to last layer:

These are the ones you need to weight paint.
You may also find the following (slightly old) link useful:
https://blenderartists.org/t/rigging-with-rigify/673045/2

Yea.  Looks like I screwed up again somewhere along the way.  Thanks for the advice.

@Rivercoon if this helped, please upvote and/or or accept the answer.

OMG what a pain in the ass


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How to Offset\Distribute EVENLY with PBR in Blender 2.8x?
this my first question here and yes i'm a beginner in Blender especially in PBR.
So i'm trying to create a conveyor belt close to what you see in factories lines or airports, and I started with a simple cube (Default cube) and shaped it into a belt like you see in the pictures below.
Then I wanted to create vertical lines using the shader editor which then I can create an image from by baking it and then use it as diffuse map in Unity where then all I have to do is to just offset it (through time) the Y axis of the material in unity creating the effect of a working conveyor belt.
What I said above almost worked but I keep facing this issue, where the lines are not evenly distributed, they are sometimes close to each other and sometimes are far from each other only on curved faces. They are evenly distributed on the straight faces but the not of the curved faces.
From the pictures below you can see where that happen and also you can see that the belt is perfectly Unwrapped. The cube is just made of 64 faces and I didn't use any modifier on the cube.
The lines i'm talking about are made like this:

Coordinate Texture Node > Mapping Node > Wave Texture Node > ColorRamp Node
Where i'm using the UV output of the Coordinate texture and in
the Mapping node I set the rotation to 90 on X and 45 on Y to make
the the lines vertical and in the ColorRamp I set the factor to a very small
value to make the lines thin.

Please download the blender file if you don't know what i'm talking, it's a very simple model. You can download it from github Here. I created it in Blender 2.81a.

You need to map the UVs of your mesh so that they are spaced evenly according to their dimensions. Since your mesh will map nicely onto a 2D plane. Blender can do this for you very easily.
What you had was close, but not mathematically perfect.
The best way to do it would first be to mark a seam on your mesh that will tell blender where it can start mapping, then a normal U unwrap will work (keeping the dimensions of the faces consistent). See GIF

Thank you very much, it worked, please see my other question https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/161480/how-to-uv-unwrap-this-simple-object


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Volume Scatter is changing colour
I want to add fog to a blender scene (in Cycles), so I created a cube and applied a Volume Scatter Shader. I changed the color to white, but the cube is black now.
When I change the color to red, it's becoming blue.
How can I change the settings so Blender is rendering the color that is shown in my Volume Scatter Node?

If the cube is black make sure the Anisotropic value is set to 0 (zero). To make the fog a consistent colour, add an 'Add Shader' and a 'Volume Absorption Shader' with the same colour as the Volume scatter node.

Thanks for your quick answer, but the Anisotropic Value was already set to 0, and the Volume Absorption Shader does not work ...

From the looks of your scene there doesn't seem to be a light source. Try adding a lamp or a mesh light. Also I see you're using an older version of blender. Try upgrading to the lastest one.


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How to create this colorful metal material?
I want to create this material, but I cannot create these splotches of colors well enough.
As you can see, this has different colours in it. I can see pink, green, and a little yellow.

This is the result I get:

Indoor HDRI:

Node setup

You're on the right track. Have you added some noise and scratches creating less reflective parts? Are you using an outdoor hdri? Use an indoor hdri for better comparison

What is the current node setup you are using? Please edit your question and include an image of your current setup.

@Timaroberts I have provided the node setup. I am not very good at node setup. Please correct or improve if possible.

@Leander Updated with an Indoor HDRI.

You're missing some procedural texture/image texture that reduces the reflectivity for those spots. I think you just need to plug some data into roughness. Or at least a texture that just adds the details of those splotch.

Download the blend:

lighting and colormanagement, scene scale

before you start creating your shader, make sure to use filmic log encoding in the scenes colormanagement tab. This will switch your colormanagement from sRGB to filmic and will enable additional dynamic range, a natural desaturation of the highlights and a more human like gamma response. It also gives you more opportunities during post-production
roughly recreate the lighting conditions of your reference image. I used two area lamps, two diffuse white planes as room placeholders and a pitch-black scene background/ scene environment. Metal looks best with a very minimalistic lighting setup, an outdoor HDRI creates very unsteady, noisy reflections in comparison
recreate the objects of the reference image, that feature unique topological similarities of the objects you want to apply the shader to. Do not use the monkey head for example, it is an organic shape and doesn't feature the sharp beveled edges and geometrical shapes of the metal parts.
to find the right brightness of my lights, I usually use a diffuse white shader (RGB 0.8) for the ground and increase the strength of the lights right to the point where it almost clips to white. I also added a slight variation between the two area lamps blackbody temperatures.
make sure to get the scale right, for this objects I switched to metric measurements in the scenes settings and assumend them to be about 6-8cm long. Apply the scale of the objects before shading

start setting up the base shader

I used a single principled shader. Since it was implementent in blender, I rarely use a mix of multiple shaders (like you did) anymore, I find it the safest way to create a material, that is physically plausible and has the right energy conservation
set up a orangy/ yellowish basecolor and a basic roughness. Set the metallic value to 1 and specular to zero. All these inputs will be fed with noise (controlled by color ramps) to bring the necessary variation to the color, roughness, metallic and normal inputs of the shader

This is roughly the order, in witch I created the different parts of the shader:

Principled BRDF as base shader, connected to Surface Material Output
set up a color ramp with the basecolors of your metal (the nodes where I add the green tint based on the camera angle (layer weight fed into hue value of HSV node) were all added later on when I refined the material. So are the base color variations, that darken the material on sharp edges and darken the diffuse component of the shader)
create a noise texture and plug in a mapping mapping node and texture coordinates. This mapping node will be your centralized scaling knob and will feed all vector inputs of the noise textures. I split the main noise texture up into R G and B to use these channels independently
create noise textures to control the blend between metallic and diffuse components. The reference image shows some diffuse spots, where the metal is very rough and might partially be covered in dust. For this purpose I used two different noise patterns, one large scale and one small scale noise, that are tonemapped with the help of two color ramps and multiplied ontop of each other. Then I use the resulting noise pattern as a factor to blend between almost pure white (0.99) and light grey (0.9) in a mix node. This is fed into the metallic input, so our surface is 1% - 10% diffuse and 99% - 90% metallic depending on where you look at the surface. It also gets added to the color ramp that controls the surface roughness, to make sure the diffuse parts are more rough than the metallic parts.
the surface details are again a combination of different noise types. Here I used three differently scaled noise textures with very high contrast tonemapping (color ramps again) to create the dents, scratches and microscratches. The mixed noise patterns are connected to the height input of a bump node, you can control its effect on the surface with the strength value. This value is dependent on the scale of your object. When you apply this shader to an object that is too big or small, you'll need to adjust the scale in the main mapping node, as well as the strength of this bump node.

set up a turntable animation
When making complex shaders, it helps to change the directions of the light or the orientation of the object without leaving the node editor. I usually parent the lights to one empty, that rotates 360° around the z-axis. I do the same thing with the objects. Now you can spin your lights and objects toggeling alta and altshifta to rotate objects and lights.
My turntable as an example:

Have a look at the blend to see what is going on in detail and feel free to ask when something isn't clear. This answer has gotten longer than I anticipated, I hope it is understandable.

While this is an already great answer, the render is even better. Would completely pass by me as photorealistic.

I wish I could +2

This is really helpful and a perfect shader.

thank you for the positive feedback. I also rendered a 2160p version to check the different levels of detail. You can view/ download it here [10.2 mb]: http://6minuten.com/download/metal_shader_2160p.mp4

A quick and much less  complicated way  of going about it is to just use a noise texture for color input of a shader, and mix with another shader using a layer weight node.
From this starting point, you can add bump map or imperfections to affect roughness, or do whatever else you want to the material.
Here is a simple example node setup:

The result:

This is good and so easy. But I don't want the colors to appear everywhere. For example, in the pic, you can see that we see bright green color around inclined surface. But this is a very good answer.

@4-K this is intended to be a starting point for the material. From here it can be built on to add wear ,or  mixed in any way with other shaders desired to create the desired final look. When I have time I will try to expand a bit more.

I will appreciate if you could further expand this answer and see how this compares to the other answer. Really want to know the other method of achieving the same effect.

I think this is pretty close enough:

Here is the node setup:

It looks very clean though, OP wants those darker spots to be visible too.

@Sidar The answerer is the OP...

Bamboozled!!!!!!

@Sidar scratches are to be added later.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/388923314889254/
Here my node Setup
I had the same problem now and tried to solve it. But my result's werent satisfying so I asked in this facebook group. I hope it will help you to.
For feedback or advice I'm always open.

I Think, the mix is rather good, the shaders could be optimized. For scratches I can recomend that tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAtFHBzEqAI&t=730s

yellow "dots" you may could combine with an add shader, so you build a red gren and a yellow green and comnbine it with an add shader

I think I have applied similar technique. Thanks for the input :)

your welcome :-)


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Key Configurations for iMac's TrackPad not fully recognised by Blender
I have a trackPad, which I use with the Macbook Pro, and works perfectly in Blender.
But it doesn't work in the iMac.
I installed the latest version 2.78.
and used the same StartUp File.
I exported the Key Configurations.
But, the Keys don't work. Rotation, Move, & Zoom.
I tried the Emulate 3 button mouse, and many other options, such as Middle instead of Trackpad, etc.
In a forum someone said, the problem is between the trackpad and the iMac, so the comunication from the TrackPad doesn't reach Blender.
The trackpad works fine with all other softwares.
So, I decided to reinstall the drivers. but when installing them I got a message saying that I didn't need to reinstall them. And didn't allow me go go further.
In this image you have the configuration that works in the Macbook Pro with the same TrackPad, but not in the iMac.

Any suggestions?

I still didn't manage to fix this. if anyone has an iMac with a trackpad, that would be nice if I could see your keys configuration.

If you work with puzzles, I don't know if this is a piece of the same puzzle or completely different, so I thought I would mention it to see if it helps. I've been using my trackpad with Blender on my SuperMac for a while. Everything was fine. Now, it mostly works, but when I use the 3 finger grab on the arrow to move it along an axis, it goes wacky. I used to be able to grab an axis arrow (not sure what it's called exactly) and move it precisely. Now, just a little move and it goes way far. I haven't changed any settings and replaced the batteries. If I press the "G" and choose and axis to move on, it will work correctly. Just wanted to give more info to see if it works out with anything.


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Buildings Projected to Terrain - Lattice and ShrinkWrap - bypassing the terrain and deforming the roof
I'm trying to project many buildings or many shapes into a very uneven Terrain.
I've tried many ways, the closest where to use: only ShrinkWrap constrain, and the best is to use a combination of Lattice modifier and ShrinkWrap modifier.
Most of the times the problem is that the buildings go thru the terrain, some more than others. I would like them to all just sink a little bit.
The other issue is that the roof gets deformed to follow the angle of the terrain mesh.
In my example, the red building is higher. and if you look underneeth half of the building is under ground.
And all the roofs are flat, and as you can see some get an inclination ( deformation ).
Here is the file and a photo:

[![enter image description here][1]][1]
[EDIT]
The problem I get with the suggestions (which I read many times), is that the lattice ( yes, I moved it up and down, under the buildings, scaled it, ... ) but it doesn't adapt to the mountain. For you to understand see next new image, showing the bottom of the mountain: the buildings are underneath the mountain, and they don't even show on top of the mountain.


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Auto-export to OBJ format on save
I have the following workflow in Blender:

Edit object in .blend format
Save .blend
Set axis options in OBJ exporter
Enable normals export in OBJ exporter
Enable "triangulate" in OBJ exporter
Export .obj (and .mtl) using OBJ exporter
Copy .obj from wherever it got saved to $someDir/mesh/
Copy .mtl from whetever it got saved to $someDir/material/

This is getting pretty tedious, so I'd like to write a Blender script so that when I press save, all of the above steps happen automatically. I couldn't figure out how to attach a script action to the "save" button. Is this possible?
(Note: I want to keep the native .blend file too)

You're better off running a script that saves the blend from inside the script. That would be easier than attaching a script to the save button.

You can find an OBJ export script on this SE answer: http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/31528/selecting-many-objects-inside-blender-and-export-them-as-seperate-obj-with-one/31529#31529

Here's my answer with most of the script credit going to zeffii from this page. I just added the Save Blend file line at the top.
You can set the output path parent folder with the folder variable. The script creates the child mesh and material folders. The MTL files are moved to the material folder at the end of each OBJ loop.
import bpy
import os
import shutil

bpy.ops.wm.save_mainfile()

folder = '/path/to/export/folder/'
meshFolder = folder + 'mesh/'
matFolder = folder + 'material/'

if not os.path.exists(folder):
        os.makedirs(folder)
if not os.path.exists(meshFolder):
        os.makedirs(meshFolder)
if not os.path.exists(matFolder):
        os.makedirs(matFolder)

selected = bpy.context.selected_objects.copy()
bpy.ops.object.select_all(action='DESELECT')

for obj in selected:
    name = obj.name.replace('.', '_')
    obj.select = True
    fullpath = os.path.join(meshFolder, name + '.obj')
    bpy.ops.export_scene.obj(
        filepath=fullpath,
        check_existing=True,
        axis_forward='-Z',
        axis_up='Y',
        use_selection=True,
        use_animation=False,
        use_mesh_modifiers=True,
        use_edges=True,
        use_smooth_groups=False,
        use_smooth_groups_bitflags=False,
        use_normals=True,
        use_uvs=True,
        use_materials=True,
        use_triangles=False,
        use_nurbs=False,
        use_vertex_groups=False,
        use_blen_objects=True,
        group_by_object=False,
        group_by_material=False,
        keep_vertex_order=False,
        global_scale=1,
        path_mode='AUTO')
    obj.select = False
    shutil.move(meshFolder + name + '.mtl', matFolder + name + '.mtl')

you can add the copy command at the end to separate the mat and mesh, see this http://stackoverflow.com/a/123212/2987234

Yes, it depends how you want the OBJ and MTL files organized following export.

he has said that they should be separated

Thanks your right. Script has been updated to separate files and move the MTL files at the end of each loop increment.


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How to have volume material cast shadows?
I have a box with a volume material applied, affecting its density.  However, when I render the scene, the shadow of the box is still in the scene. Here is the image:

I am wondering how to either disable the shadows for that box specifically (in case there are other objects in the scene) or to make the light cast volume shadows based on the density inside the box.
Thanks!

You have to enable Receive transparent in the material settings of the floor plane:

Result:


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Setting Voxel Coordinates
I've been looking online for a long time, searching for documentation on the subject of Blender Voxel Data. So far, I know that Blender uses many file types, including the .bvox file type. For the .bvox file type, I have found that it uses ASCII characters to load in density values, starting with the dimensions. For example, a data set with dimensions 64,64,64 would save into the .bvox file as:
@@@
However, only the density values are saved. The data set I have is formatted as follows, where dd is a density value:
xx yy zz dd
xx yy zz dd

My python code strips each line and takes only the density values and uses pythons pack struct to pack the values into a .bvox file. This works fine, but I am wondering how Blender knows where to put the coordinates of the densities? Each density value has to be at a specific point, and how does Blender know where that point is? And also, is it possible to specify my own coordinates for each value?

In the Blender wiki article it says

The voxels are stored in a flat z/y/x grid of floats.

That means that the coordinates of every density is defined by its position in the file. I guess that your original data set is sorted that way too. For example:
xx yy zz dd
-----------
12 20 00 dd
12 20 01 dd
12 20 02 dd
...
12 21 00 dd
12 21 01 dd
...

In this case the coordinates are redundant because they can be easily deduced from the position in the list. Thus the coordinates can be omitted.
Also the file format doesn't use ASCII characters. It is a binary file and simply stores numbers. Every number can be interpreted as an ASCII character. The character for 64 is @. But in this case this is irrelevant.

Thank you for your reply! Also, I forgot to note that at the bvox file is headed by the dimensions.  Does that have something to do with is too? The data file I have has dimensions 64-64-64, and so the bvox file starts with @@@ .

Yes that is what I mean with the last paragraph in my answer

One more thing, is it possible to manually set the voxel coordinates?  Some of my data sets are not in the pattern specified above, so the coordinates cannot be omitted.

You could fill in the blanks with 0 densities and/or reoder the data.

Are there any alternatives?  sometimes coordinates do not increment by the same amount like above, and to fill in the coordinates would be extremely difficult.

I don't know about the possibilities of RAW voxel files mentioned in blender wiki. But if you don't have uniformly spaced data you could resample it: For each point in a grid calculate the density based on points of the original file that are near the grid point.


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Edges look sharp
The edges are sharp making the sphere not smooth. I have applied the sub-surf modifier, but it does not appear to help smoothing the sphere.

I have attached my final render model.

What is your problem? I see that the edges could use a bit of bevel, but what else?

Can you add you blend file? (http://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/)

You might want to include some screenshots showing your settings. This will help you get a faster response/solution.

Have you smoothed the mesh? (open up the Tool Shelf with T, then Tools-Edit panel-Shading:Smooth). How many Subsurf Modifier subdivisions you have?

blend file attach

While the answer given by 10 Replies is correct - you did not have sub-surf modifiers added to the objects - I think there is another problem. The edges of the front red spherical shape, and the back rear dark shape have slight deviations. The particular angle you have chosen for your composition shows very slightly the edge of the back object.

If you have a look at the edge in Edit Mode - you will see it is not what can be considered a clean topographical mesh. Presumably by either Boolean or the knife tool you have an edge that has triangles and this is where the sub-surf will try, but not necessarily solve the problem.

You could probably get away with just adjusting the angle a bit. If you do want to fix the edge, ideally you would want an edge loop where you might add a slight bevel to soften...

Turn up the Subsurf Modifiers

If the render is too sharp, turn the render subdivisions up to 3 or 4.
If the preview is too sharp, turn up the view subdivisions. Typicaly it is best practice to have lower preview subdivisions than render subdivisions.
Make sure that the object you want to modify is selected when you use the sub surf modifier.
For those of you who need more help, please watch the following gif that consists of 3 mouse clicks:

Also, make sure you do this with every single part of your model, otherwise some parts might have more creased edges.

i have attach my blend file plz go through its not working

@atek Make sure that the object you want to modify is selected when you use the sub surf modifier.

Plz tell me if the sub surf modifier or other modifier works from my side it did not work for me

@atek I can't actually test it right now because I'm in the middle of an intense render, but in a few hours I should be able to do it.

ok take ur time and plz tell me what it can work and which modifier is help for me to make the model smoother

@atek Use the subsurface modifier to make the model smoother. Make sure it is catmull-clark mode, otherwise it won't smooth.

@atek Try actually following my answer. None of your objects actually had the sub surf modifier on them


text:
How to make countour edges
I have a shape and I want to offset or contour the edges as you can see in the image below. Is there any add-on to offset the edge or any other method?

Here's the .blend file:

Your grease pencil lines aren't planar. Is this what you intend to do or do you just want to have concentric duplicates of the shape? This needs some clarification.

yes i want concentric duplicates of the shape from small to big

As a lazy solution which also needs some clearing work, use Offset Edges addon. See how to install addon to access its functionality.
First, for it to work properly, apply scale for the object (Ctrl+A > Scale) and remove doubles (W > Remove Doubles).
With that, run Ctrl+E > Offset Edges > Offset (or Extrude, depending on whether you want the extruded edges to be connected to original ones or not).
It won't work well in the corners because of big amount of vertices there. You might need to edit that by using e.g. Vertex Slide tool to grab vertices along the edges to get rid of distorted corners.

Repeat the same for yet one more concentric iteration.
This will be easier if you dissolve that big amount of vertices before using the addon with Limited Dissolve (not an option if those vertices are needed as details).

AFAIK there's only one "easy" and reliable method to achieve concentric copies in Blender. Depending on what you want to do with the shapes, there's still a little work ahead. Basically we "abuse" the Solidifiy Modifier to get the desired result.

Tab into Edit Mode, press W and select "Remove Doubles".
Then extrude the shape on the Z-axis. The size doesn't matter, since
we delete the upper loopcut later on, anyway.

Tab into Object Mode and with your object selected,  go to
"Properties - Modifiers" and add a Solidify Modifier. In the
Modifier Settings, deselect "Fill Rim", then select "Even
Thickness".

The distance between the two sides is controlled by the Thickness.
Adjust it and then apply the Modifier (don't worry about the
overlapping edges, we have to fix them manually in the next step).
Then Tab into Edit Mode and delete the two upper rims.

Now we have to fix the newly created shape by removing the
overlapping edges (the following gif shows only one side due to the
image size limit, but you'll get the picture).

Depending on what you want to do with the shapes (filling the rims
with faces?) you need to recreate the deleted vertices in order to
get a decent copy (again, the gif shows only one side).

If you want to have a more even distribution of your vertices (this
helps if you want to fill the rims with faces), you can fix that by
using the Loop Tools add-on. Due to the shape of the object (and how
accurate it should be), this should be done in several steps per
rim.
Select the straight parts of the rim, then hit W, select
"LoopTools" and "Space". Repeat for the other parts. The curved part
might work in one step. The difference on that part is most
prominent.

Repeat this on both rims until all the vertices are distributed
evenly.
When you're done, repeat the whole process from Step 1 on the newly
created outer rim to create a third one.

Here's a .blend file with three rims, vertices evenly distributed: