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Weight paint substraction not working? Blender 2.8
i am trying to remove weight paint from a vertex group.
Adding weight works just fine but when i change the weight scale to 0.0 it does not remove weight. What am i missing or how else do i remove weight paint? (I am using Blender 2.8)

Hi. Can you explain what exact process you are doing when you say "i change the weight scale to 0.0"? Are you clicking buttons, using weight-paint mode? Thanks.

I imported a 3D-Model, rigged it and applied auto weight assignment (which worked fine), i select a vertex group of which i want to adjust the weight paint and i just want to remove some of the weight paint (make it blue). In order to do that i right click while in weight paint mode and set the "Weight" value to 0. From what i know this is supposed to remove weight, but nothing changes when painting then.

Stop the presses. It is an Auto-normalize issue. Killing Auto-normalize fixed this problem for me. I hate that solution, but it works.

The Brush is set to Add by default.
In the top left corner go to View > Tool Settings, now you can change the Brush Mode to Subtract.

Try changing the brush from "draw" to "Subtract". Draw is designed to create more weight, and subtract to remove it. If it is still not working, try adjusting the strength tab. As far as I know, the weight parameter is the target weight, and the strength is the percentage of that that is added. If that doesn't work, try posting the .blend.

There is no subtract brush in blender 2.8. If the weight scale on the draw brush is <0.5 it is supposed to subtract and above to add weight.


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Problem extruding from beveled curve
I am a total noob trying to do a tutorial - to make a neon sign. Here's a link to the tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQjQfmjDXXA
Basically, you convert text to "curve from mesh/text," then go to "curve > shape > fill (none)" and then "geometry > bevel." So at this point, you have grey tubes. They are doubles, so to get single tubes, you have to select points in each letter and "x > delete > segments." Then delete the parts you don't want. Now you have single tube letters.
Here's my problem: The next step is to select vertices on the letters to extrude back - to get a 3D neon geometry. I am getting weird artifacts on my "U" letters (flickering). When I go to extrude, they extrude weird droopy extrusions (see attached). Other letters extrude straight and correct. I have tried deleting the "tops" of the "U" and reconstructing by extruding up from the lower part of the "U" and I get the same result each time. Any ideas what is causing this baggy distorted geometry?
Thank you for your help and patience with a beginner trying to learn!

It seems as though there are double vertices in the U - or the vertices are upside down? I tried to convert to mesh and the flickering was still there - and when I added a solidify modifier the whole end ballooned up. Not sure how to fix this geometry

Try messing around with the scale of the handle. It really looks like that artifact when theres two meshes on the same coordinates on an axis. Blender is trying to render both at once, and you get that.

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/47217/extrude-and-bevel-an-imported-svg-curve/47220#47220

Thank you Corbomite and Duarte Farrajota Ramos!

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Glare shows in compositing window, not in final render
I am trying to do the Blender Guru Neon tutorial, all good EXCEPT I can't figure out the glare node set up. I have mine set up just like his tutorial shows, but in mine the glare only shows as a preview in the compositing window, does not show up in final render. I have attached a picture of the compositing window view and a shot of the render (bottom).
I am a total noob - I must have something set up wrong. Anybody have any ideas?
(Someone else asked an almost identical question to mine, but if you read it, he just says he figured it out and didn't give the solution)

You need to connect the output of the Glare node to the image input of the Composite node. Otherwise you're just viewing the result of the glare but not applying it to the compositing output.

THANK YOU! And here's a tip for anyone else - the Glare is added after the entire render is done - so it renders, then the Glare pops on! You will not see the Glare until the entire render is done

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


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Boolean Modifier Disabled in Blender 2.8?
Every time I try to apply a Boolean Modifier, I get a "Report: Error" that reads "Modifier is disabled, skipping apply." Also, the Boolean button appears in red (is this normal?). I am just using two basic shapes, a cube and a cylinder, so the geometry can't be the problem (I guess).
Anyone know how to fix this? Have I disabled Boolean accidentally or am I just missing some step here?
Please be patient, I'm a total noob and would appreciate any input.
Thank you]1

Before you can apply the modifier, you need to set a target in the object field of the modifier

That works! Thank you very much.

If a modifier header turns red, this basically means it is doing nothing at the moment because some input is either missing or not as expected. There is an action required by the user to make it work. Here are three examples of modifiers that show this behavior:

In each case I have circled the parameter that is causing the behavior in red. Most of the time, Blender requires a reference to another object to run the modifier.

In case of a boolean, there must be another object you want to cut or join your main object with
In case of the lattice modifier, a lattice object is required that tells Blender what the rules of the deformation are
In case of the SubSurf the modifier is entirely skipped in the Viewport because there are simply zero subdivisions requested by the user.

These are not the only modifiers with such behavior, they are just listed here as examples. So red header means currently not doing anything at all, and as a result, clicking Apply will throw an error, because nothing can be done to the base object as a result.

Thank you very much!


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Doing 3blue1brown style animations in Blender
I wanted to know we can do complex mathematical 2D Animations in blender. I am trying to do something like the famous 3blue1brown youtube channel videos. Please take a look at Sample Video for example. Basically my purpose is not just to draw 2D objects but to control them alone a path governed by mathematical equations.

try Animation Nodes Addon. Its is really good for this kind of things

@HenrikD Thanks for the suggestion. I will take a look at it.


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My mesh is partly hidden in the viewport
I was working on my mesh when all of a sudden, I realised it was partly hidden when I go to the Solid or Wireframe mode.
I probably toggle something that only allows to show what's inside that dark grey area but I can't find what it is.
Does any of you have an answer to that problem ?
Cheers,

You've accidentally pressed AltB, press again to cancel. AltB (Cliping Border) allows you to see only a part of your 3D view.

Thank you so much


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Posing armature causes mesh to stretch
I've gone through multiple different 'fixes' trying to get these shoes to not stretch like this when my model is posed, but I've had no luck.  It's parented to the armature, the weights have been set like everything else on the model, I've tried applying scale via shift+A > Scale, but no matter what I do, the mesh ends up like this. It doesn't happen to any other part of the model.

There's no feet on the model that could be causing problems. The laces on our right are actually attached to the shoe model whereas on the left they aren't. I can't really think of much else I can do - it's probably a simple solution but unfortunately I'm rather new to using blender and can't figure it out. Anyone know how to fix this?

It looks like some vertices are getting left without any vertex weight influence. While in Edit Mode, select one single instance of any of these straggling vertices and check the Properties Shelf (to the right of the 3D View) for the Item Tab, which brings up the Transform Panel. Then look to the area beneath the Transform Panel for the Vertex Weights section. For any vertex that is selected, you will be shown all the vertex groups that the currently selected vertex is currently part of, as well as the vertex weighting assigned to each of the listed vertex groups. If you don't see any Vertex Weight section at all, it means the selected vertex is not part of any vertex group, and that would be your problem. Assign them by navigating to the Object Data tab in the Properties Panel, then look for the Vertex Groups Section, where you can assign, remove, and adjust the influence (weight) of the currently selected vertices.

You're a life saver, thanks so much for the help. For whatever reason parts of the shoes were connected to the Root bone, that one in between both feet - I thought they might be but had no clue how to go about fixing it. Ended up having to make new vertex groups for the shoes. Much appreciated!!


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Objects not touching in collision
I'm a total noob - and I'm doing a soft body simulation -  just a ball bouncing. The ball does bounce, but it is not actually touching the collision surface, it is bouncing slightly above. It's like there's an invisible surface holding the ball floating in space. It's very noticeable in a side view (see picture). How do I make the ball actually bounce on the correct surface?

In the Context Tab for Scene, icon of a Cone, glass sphere and small sphere, you can set the parameters of the Rigid body world. Increasing the "Steps per second" and "Solver iterations" will improve the accuracy of your simulation but will take longer to run.

Hi Rob, thanks for the response. Okay, so I gave that a try, and it doesn't seem to change the position of the ball. I built another version with identical settings, and that seems to work fine, so I'm not sure why I'm getting inconsistent results. I am just learning, and perhaps there is some subtle thing I'm doing wrong

Found the solution! The ball was a cube with a subdivision surface modifier, smooth shaded. The problem was that I did not hit "apply" in the modifier settings. Blender was showing me a nice smooth ball, but was animating it as though it was still a cube -- and held on to it's invisible cube geometry. Problem instantly vanishes by hitting "apply."
Thanks everybody!

I guess that by "Accept" you actually mean "Apply".

Yes, "Apply" - sorry

You'd probably fix all by just applying the Scale, Location and Rotation (Ctrl+A), leaving your modifiers intact (it's always BAD to apply your modifiers, because you're now not anymore able to change the settings - it's RARELY required to apply just one or two - and in the correct order)


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Would Blender run on Trident X Plus Gaming PC?
Please excuse my naive question - but I have only ever owned Apple Computers. I want to buy a PC computer that will handle Blender (and Unreal Engine, honestly). I am looking at an MSI Trident X Plus Gaming PC with an I9 9900 processor and NVIDIA RTX 2080ti graphics card. It supposedly runs Windows Pro - but will a GAMING computer work for Blender? Here's a link to the actual model:
https://www.amazon.com/MSI-Trident-Plus-9SF-054US-High-End/dp/B07MPB24PH/ref=asc_df_B07MPB24PH/
Please don't beat me up too hard on this - I need advise

Blender should work like a charm on this config!

You could wait for the 3080 Extreme.  Some rumours on the street.

One day... I'll sell my left kidney and buy something similar :).

Thanks everyone!


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Rendering problem - only rendering one layer?
I am doing the Blender Guru Donut tutorial - in my viewport, if I click on rendered view everything looks fine, but when I go to actually render the image, only part is rendering. Did I click some button by accident that is making this happen, and if so, how do I fix it?
The top is a screen shot of my viewport, the bottom is a render.
Thanks for helping a noob]1

It could be a lot of things, try to see if in the outliner some meshes has a crossed camera on the right. If so that means is not gonna be rendered.

Found the answer - in the outliner I had an object that had the "eye" turned off so that it wasn't visible in the view window, but it was part of another collection that was turned on, so it became visible in the rendering (Donut was peeking through it). The collection needed to be turned off (uncheck box) and the problem stopped. Thanks to Igor Svara for his help.

Your image looks great for a beginner. :)

Thank you - that's very encouraging!


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How do I get other angles in orthographic view?
I want to see an angle in between front and side view that's exacly like front and side view - orthographic with the grid. However when I change the angle the grid disappears and it changes to perspective.

You can use the Numpad keys to freely switch from perspective to orthographic views.
Numpad 5 toggles perspective/orthographic view mode without changing your camera angle.

that's what I'm doing, but it's still not showing the grid in anything but the straight angles

Oh, so if I understand correctly, you're trying to view the XZ grid for example while you're not axis aligned to it?

yes so I can align my reference image from different angles

I don't think that has been implemented into Blender, did a bit of poking around and it seems you can only view/hide the grid while you're in the ortho front, side etc views. :-/

okay well thanks for looking


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Why can't I use put Render Layers in a node group? (Compositor)
When I try to create a node group that includes the Render Layers node, I get an error saying it can't create a group with that node. Is there a reason why or some way around it? I don't want to have to plug the input into every single copy of my node group.

Probably because that is a group in its own. A render group. And so Blender just will not let you do that.

This answer implies that groups cannot be put into groups. It is not true. You can have groups inside other groups without any problems.


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How can I create normal maps for my model without generating it from a model or texture?
I want to add detail to my model, which isn't present in the model or texture. Something to add detail to the face. My textures are flat shaded, so they wont be very helpful in generating anything, and the model is just a rounded sphere.
My texture is something like this:

And I want to create something like this, to add minor face details like mouth / eyes, without them being in the model.

Are there any methods to create this either in blender or another program?

Yes. Blender has Bake a Normal Map. Search for tutorials on Blender Bake Normal Map.  This site or the site that has the name that rhymes with NooNube.  Look on the right side of this web page.

Mesh Models and Textures are common place ways of representing data, thus part of your title to the question seems like you are trying to escape a common practice.  I would like to see others comment on this.  Now is the time to use an accepted practice.

You may want to see displacement modifier ... with a texture.


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Is there a way to shrink-wrap only a section of a mesh?
Is there a way to shrink-wrap only a selection of mesh to another without effecting the whole mesh?
When I shrink wrap a mesh to another mesh, sometimes I lose a lot of data on the other side of my object.

The solution is a vertex group. You can assign a value from 0.0 to 1.0 to any vertex in the group and the Shrinkwrap Modifier will only partially or fully affect verts within the group with a value > 0.0
That way most of your mesh can remain unchanged. Many modifiers have that option.
The green plane has a vertex group including all verts, but the outer two rows have a weight of 0.0 (blue) and the Shrinkwrap is guided by this vertex group. Excluding them from the group would have the same effect.

The option to have some verts react partially to the shrinkwrap offers nice solutions to gradually adhere to a surface. Look how the bevel of the small cylinder behaves:

Also related video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luFz5gzvM9s&ab_channel=MaxPuliero

You can add to Vertex Group part of the mesh that should be affected by Shrinkwrap modifier, then choose this group in the modifier itself.

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


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Is there a way to turn this strut/Spring into a Nurbs Curve?
I have a spring that I want to convert into curve (Nurbs Curve specifically)
Is there a way to turn the mesh into a curve without having to trace it out.
This  mesh is way to decimated so clitic links doesn't work. the top picture is the object and the bottom picture is how I want it to convert to...Is this possible?

hello could you please share your file? https://pasteall.org/blend/

I just shared it :) thank you for the help in advance

please copy the link it gives you and paste here

https://pasteall.org/blend/d15c54ec43f648a59c4c7b570f8baf91

Im very sorry I am new at this

I thought I could select an edge loop all along but the topology is triangulated so I'm not sure there's any simple solution (you can merge by distance but it will be a bit trash)

its ok Moonboots, thank you for the help :)

I'm afraid the simplest way would be to recreate with for example the Add Curves addon and Curve > Spirales > Archemedian, but maybe someone will find a solution


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Animate propellers on helicopters without having to reposition them every time the helicopter moves
We are trying to animate a simple scene of the helicopter flying around a large city area. Is there was a way to make the already moving animated propeller stick to the helicopter moving around, without having to reposition it every time the helicopter flyies around?
Is there an option to add the propeller animation to a folder so that we can animate multiple things at once?

Select the rotor (airplanes have propellers), then shift select the helicopter, then press CTRLP to parent them together. Now the rotor moves with the helicopter whenever the helicopter moves. Just don't animate the rotor position anymore.

Group Instance
A simple way to make a group of objects a single animated unit is to use groups.  As an example have made a simple helicopter, made of three objects, the body and two rotors.  The rotors are animated to spin using a simple rotation_euler[axis] = frame driver on their rotation axis. (Could be keyframed instead).  There is no parenting or armature involved.

Select All the objects that make up the helicopter and press CtrlG  This will make each member have a green outline indicating it's in a group.  Default group name is "Group".
Move the objects to an unused layer.M select a layer.
 Image shows 3 objects that make up heli, added to group "Group" and moved to layer 20
In object mode, adding a group instance to your scene will add a helicopter keeping all the animations of the original.  The instances can be translated, rotated, scaled.

adding group instance "Group" into layer 1.  The original objects are on layer 20.

Sample file, with simple driver based rotation on rotors.

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


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Can someone help me get rid of overlapping freestyle lines?
so I am trying to make this scene with a helicopter flying through a city with freestyle lines to make it still look cartoony, since I am doing this for a 2D animated feature.
For some reason it keeps making the lines of the building overlap with the helicopter and it looks annoying when you render it.
What settings do I have to put to make it so that I can make the overlapping lines disappear and just have the helicopter's body lines in front?
Here are my settings for freestyle lines

Thank you.

Could you better describe your scene and show your freestyles settings?

https://i.imgur.com/nPbIxgw.png


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Custom light falloff in Cycles
I'm trying to create a point light with a stepped falloff. I know that in Blender Render, there is an option to customize falloff, but the falloff node in cycles only allows for linear, quadratic and constant.
Is there a way to make my own falloff curve or manually manipulate the light properties in Blender?

I believe you can keyframe the strength.

Wouldn't keyframing the strength change the falloff over time, but not distance? I'm looking for light that has a clear stepped attenuation at any given time.

Yes... You could also keyframe the distance (Location) of the light source.

You can manipulate the Emission strength of the lamp based on the Ray Length from the Light Path node - this is precisely what the Light Falloff node does (you provide an emission Strength and it determines what the actual emission should be to achieve that result).
You can derive the different Light Falloff values from each other by either multiplying or dividing by the ray length to move up or down the scale. ie,
Quadratic * RayLength = Linear
Linear * RayLength = Constant
Constant / RayLength / RayLength = Quadratic

This allows you to get some interesting effects - for example, you could get Cubic falloff by simply dividing Quadratic by the RayLength.
To get a 'stepped' effect (where the falloff suddenly changes at regular intervals) you can use the Modulo maths function to give a stepped effect to the Ray Length as follows :

Adjusting the Modulo node will affect the size of the banding.
This can produce the following result :

Here's another useful setup for adjusting the falloff using a Color Ramp - this time using Constant falloff so the 'maximum' illumination is not affected by distance (ie, purely based on the color ramp).

The Subtract and Divide maths nodes control the offset and scaling of where the color ramp is applied to the illumination and the color ramp controls the profile. For 'stepped' banding simply use Constant interpolation in the Color Ramp and configure the ramp with the required bands.


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Is there a way to make vertices not move?
I have made a robot character, and I made a cut in his arm so that there could be two different materials.

The problem is that when I move the arm, now this new cut acts as new vertices (like another elbow) and now there are too many joints in the arm. Is there a way to make these vertices stiff?

Because this description probably makes no sense, I will post the Blend file for you guys to check out. (Because they take so long to upload it won't be here right away)

For uploading files please use https://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/ it will be fast and simple. As to your question - the only way to "stop" vertices from moving in different ways is to move them in the same way, i.e. add them to the same group and weight paint them the same as you use armature deforming.

@MrZak I am uploading it to the blend exchange, and it is still at 0% Otherwise, I will try assigning the vertex groups


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Bones not parenting properly?
I have made this low-poly character mesh, and so far added bones from the torso to the head.
So, my next step is to add the legs. Unfortunately, when I extrude from the torso bone to the top of the legs, the hip/leg bones don't parent to the torso bone. When I move the torso, the legs just stay totally still and they disconnect from the torso.
Even when I parent the bones manually, both in offset and connected mode, the torso simply does not move the leg/hip bones. It does move the others though. This is a re-rig of an old model I made, and I did not have this problem, but i don't remember exactly what I did so I'm not sure if I'm forgetting something. This leads me to believe that there might be a parent limit on bones, but I highly doubt it. Does anyone know a solution to this?

Extruding from the base of a bone doesn't automatically create a parent relationship.

Select your extruded leg bone
Select your back bone (keeping both selected)
Press CTRL + P
Select keep offset

The bones won't move each other in edit mode because edit mode is for positioning/creating bones. However, the leg bone will now be parented in pose mode.

After extruding your bones as you have done you need to parent them once more as Aoradon said and if it doesn't work then it will be a weight paint problem just select the bone in pose mode and then go into weight paint mode and then manually paint weight manually. You can also take help of tutorials online there are numerous number of tutorials on weight painting in blender.


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Armature not moving mesh properly?
I'm sure this is an easy fix, but when I move the hand bones on my character, the bones move more than the mesh is moved. This happened to the feet as well but I move the bones to a different position and it fixed itself. I tried the same thing with the hands, but nothing seems to change.

Anyone got any ideas?
EDIT: I have already done weight painting, and the hand is completely red. Sorry for not mentioning this the begin with.

Did you check your vertex groups to see if the bone has proper weights?

Make sure that the hand vertices are only assigned to the one vertex group. If you select the hand vertices and go to the vertex groups panel, at the bottom right there is a dark arrow that opens a menu. Choose Remove From All Groups, then reassign the vertices to the hand group to see if that fixes it.

I think it needs more meshes.

@Whitest Glad I could help. I created an answer with this information. If you could accept the answer that will mark this question as solved.

Despite the fact that the hand is completely red, it is still most likely a weight painting issue.
A vertex on a mesh can be assigned to multiple different vertex groups which means it can be affected by multiple different bones. Since the hand mesh looks to be moving about half as much as it should, I think you have the vertices assigned to a second group as well.
You can manually select the bones in weight paint mode to see which one is causing the issue, but there is a quick way to solve this without even knowing which bone is the culprit.
In the vertex groups panel of the Object Data tab of the properties panel there is a small, dark arrow pointing down located on the right side (under the Plus and Minus icons). With your hand vertices selected, click on it to open a menu, and choose the Remove from All Groups option.

This will remove any and all vertex groups from these vertices. Then select the hand vertex group  and assign a weight of 1 to your hand vertices and you should be good to go.

Its a weight paint problem you just need to select your bone in pose mode and then select your mesh and got to weight paint mode and then you just need to paint weight on the part of the mesh that is lagging behind and in your case increase the strength of your weight paint brush and paint it at the tip of that part.
Point to remember: More the red your weight paint will be more sensitively it will react to your bone movement because red is the highest weight you can paint on your mesh to assign it to a bone.
You will also find lot's of tutorials online look for them if you do not understand.

sorry, I forgot to mention that I already did do weight painting, and the hand is completely red. This is still happening though.


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Video Material does not receive colour?
I am using a video as the face of my character:
But as you can see, the face is white. (I want it to be the same colour as his skin) So I made some nodes to fix this:
This is what I have done for another one of my characters as you can see here:
The only difference is that this character's face is an image not a video. Otherwise, I used the same node setup which worked for this guy.
So my question is, why can't I make the background of the video the same colour as his skin, when I can do it for an image?

In your node setup you are using the alpha channel as mix factor for your colors. As far as I can tell most video files can't save an alpha channel.You also seem to be mixing it with a white-ish color, which results in the white face you see, above.

Change Color1 on your mix node to the color of your character.
Select Multiply or Overlay instead of Mix in your Mix node.
Disconnect your Alpha from the Image Texture node.
You may need to reverse your Color1 and Color2 in your mix node depending on which option you choose.


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How to make the cube follow the nurbs path
I am newbie to blender. I have modified the default cube and added a NURBS path and slightly changed its curve. Now I would like the cube to follow along the NURBS path. For this I used the Curve modifier. But no matter what I tried, the cube does not follow along the curve!
I saw the following post but it did not help!

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro/Deforming_Meshes_using_the_Curve_Modifier
 -

How to get a flexible tube to follow a curved path?
Screenshot

Also attached is the .Blend file.

Thanks Rich! Moving the Subdivision modifier as the first one, did the job. Now I understand that having more detailed geometry is the key. I even tried an alternative approach, without the subdivision modifier, by using Loop cut and adding more vertices.

The Curve modifier requires some more detailed geometry to curve the cube - otherwise you still only have 8 vertices and 6 faces to spread over the cube. Fron your screenshot you do appear to have a Subdivision Surface modifier but it is after the curve - click the ‘up arrow’ in the top-right of the Subdivision Surface modifier panel to move it above the curve. You’ll then need to increase the View number of subdivisions - set it the same as Render (ie, 2). This will affect the shape of your cube as it will cause corners to be rounded off - so click Simple (which divides without affecting the overall shape) rather than Catmull-Clark (which divides and blends faces and edges into each other).
Increase the number of subdivisions (View and Render) for more detail along the curve.


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Bevel not visible, only in back face
I have a problem when applying Bevel to edge, it is not visible and it seems to be created on the back side. I checked face Normals, and all are correct. See attached picture. Thanks in advance.

Hi Cegaton, when I select a single edge there are only 2 vertex selected; I tried also with "B" click and drag select and there is only 1 edge (2 vertex). There must be another reason. Thank you.


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How to make objects suddenly stop
I am pretty new to Blender so please bare with me, as I'm sure this question has a very simple answer.
I'm making a scene where my character falls and hits the ground. By default, Blender smooths movements like this, but obviously things don't slow down before they hit the ground, they just come to an abrupt stop. I just want to know how to stop my character from decelerating (and accelerating) so that I can make this fall seem real. Thanks!

The default interpolation mode is smooth, in the graph editor select the keyframes on the graph you want to stop suddenly. Then go to the menu:
Key>Interpolation mode>Linear
This will make acceleration and stopping at the same speed from start to finish. This should help you accomplish your goal.


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Outline that follows character?
I downloaded an anime model off of the internet and it has this really cool outline effect that follows the rotation of the character.

As you can see, it has an outline that constantly follows the character's rotation. This is a really awesome effect that I want to learn, but I have absolutely no clue how I could. Does anyone know what it is and/or how I can do it?

As you downloaded that file so you can investigate it. One most likely way is that author of the file wisely used Freestyle render engine which in Blender internal works even on viewport render (Shift+Z). Freestyle config probably is done not only in Scene tab in Properties but also in Texture nodes > Freestyle tree.

U mean freestyle?

@Leo yeah turns out thats what its called

You can get an outline in the viewport with a simple hack that involves a solidify modifier and a second black material.

The image contains all the setup you need. To summarize, what we are doing is:

Add a second material to the mesh you want to have the outline one, set color to black.
Add a solidify modifier with the above settings, which creates an inverted normal shell around the original mesh. Assign it the outline material using Material Index Offset.
Turn on 'Backface Culling' in the viewport so that the backface of the black outline is not visible.
To make this setup work in Blender Render and Cycles, check this answer.


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Low Poly Water Animation?
I want to make a low-poly water animation, so I've subdivided and displaced this face to make it look like water:

Now, I want to animate it, like they do in this video:
https://youtu.be/oiX_0QLLDA0?t=55s
Also this:
https://youtu.be/oiX_0QLLDA0?t=1m22s
I tried a wave modifier, but that moves the entire object. Can I just make the individual vertices go up and down separately to create a water effect?

You could use a lattice modifier with shape keys to simulate the effect. It might be that there's an easier solution though.


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Masking materials?
Right here I have two staircases that share the same materials.

I need one more of the same staircase, so I intend on selecting them by material and duplicating them. The only problem is that they share the same materials, so I would be selecting and duplicating both of them, which I don't want.
Is there a way I can "mask out" the other materials on the boat so that I can just use a box select without selecting any other materials? That way I can just box/circle select one of the stairways and not both.
The alternative is manually selecting every face of one of the stairways, which takes a very long time, and I'm sure there is a faster way to do it.
PS: If this masking doesn't exist, but there is another function that can also fix my problem, that would also be very much appreciated.

I just thought about it, and I realized I can separate the stairs, edit them, and then reattach them.

I think you have two other solutions as well. The first is hide the objects that you don't want to select using the eye tools or alternatively, in edit mode, if you select just one vertex of the object you need and hit 'L' or cntrl+L you can select that item only.


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Path constraint switching and timing
I am working on my character animation project.
I want to create multiple paths for my character to follow, (do action).
For Example, follow the first path from frame (x) and (do action) until the end of the path and SWITCH path instant/ delayed time and do another one.
I don't know what makes it so difficult but the Start/ End in F-curve Modifier doesn't work, is that i have wrong concept on the workflow or something else?

I recommend you for using bake animation. The follow step :

First, you set the object to follow the path by adding it on the "Add Object Constraint"
Then, you set the thing, like control the speed (actually just control the frame), direction etc
Bake animation
The switch to another path using dope sheet.

How to bake steps you could check this link :
How can a path animation be used as an action in the game engine?
Hope this help :)


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Face or edge problem ? How to fix it?
I have problem with a simple cube. When i zoom at max in there is that issue, and i dont know what is the problem and even what title to set to this question.

You are probably zooming in too far and the viewport clipping precision limits are showing. Why would you zoom in to the max, and what real issues this causing?

It looks like your edge is not aligned and/or there may be an extra vertex. Adding your .blend to your original post using http://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/ may help others help you.

I'm pretty sure Duarte Farrajota Ramos is right. I'm trying to make a remote controller and just want to zoom this cut to render it, showing it exist.

authors: Димитър Димитров


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Add animated "tv static" effect to object in animation?
Essentially, I want to animate a white noise/tv static effect on a shape for like a couple seconds.
How would i go about doing this? (I'm a blender noob)

Show us what you tried, explain how you failed. Add what renderer you are using (Internal, Cycles, etc)!

@Leander i have zero history to present, i've just started using blender and this was how I wanted to proceed with the project i had in mind haha! sorry

There is still: Add what renderer you are using (Internal, Cycles, etc)?

oh sorry, Cycles!

@srysry when someone asks you to add info to your question they mean [edit] the question, not just add a comment. Also do you want this on just one object, or the whole render?

Just use any high frequency texture like a small scale Voronoi, Noise or similar, attached to your shader, like an Emission and then animate it.
In this example I use a Voronoi texture, set to Cells with a high scale value. Then just animate any parameters you like.
Easiest and most seamless would probably be animating the position of the texture. If the speed is higher than the animation frame rate it will just look like it is changing randomly.
Use a Color Ramp node to adjust coloring and intensity as desired.


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Why has my solid view shading gone really dark?
I just noticed that the shading in my solid view is really dark. I can't find how to change it back.

Have you tried recalculating the normals of your object in edit mode?

Yes, and it's not just for one project, it's for all of them.

What render engine is used? Share this information in such questions please, it's really important when finding solution in this case

Try resetting to factory settings from the file menu. This will get rid of any changed shortcuts or any other settings you've adjusted, but it sounds like you may have changed the OpenGL lights blender uses in the viewport, and that will be the easiest way to get them back to normal.

Go to file > Load factory settings

Note that this will reset all saved settings including enabled addons, all kinds of interface options, file paths etc. In certain cases this is the only way of course, but it's a bit overkill to just change shading in the viewport

Is there another way to reset the OpenGl lights? Manually you could get pretty close, but it's the only way I know to reset them to the exact default values.


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how can I align a line a vertices evenly preserving the angle?
I would like to know how I can align a group of vertices at an angle without having to resort to scaling to zero on an axis. in the picture below how would you make it the vertices circled in green line up the same angle the end points? I know I could just dissolve them and add them again but that would require reconnecting everything again.

you may find a lot of answers on this topic: https://blender.stackexchange.com/search?q=align+vertices

ok I found the correct answer from another user named Denis. turns out the looptool>gstretch was the answer. I always ignored it since the description said it's for grease pencil strokes but does exactly what I needed.

in situations like this You could use the "Relax" function from the "LoopTools" as shown on the image below.

It will correct the line even if the inside verticies are moved vertically. LoopTools could be activated in Preferences/Addons section. Sometimes You need to use the function more than once to get a desired result so for speed things up select more Iterations (10, 25). Hope it helps buddy.
Sincerely, Jan

If you are using loop tools why not use Gstreatch? Without Grease Pencil strokes it only straightens whatever is selected.

Yes, this could be used if You do not use the Grease in fact but I dunno if it also make them even vertically as Relax...


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How to make a screw fallow a curve?
How can i make a screw object fallow a curve correctly? I am trying to make something like a tape around a torus and it only works for a part of the curve.
increasing the angle on screw doesn't work. Increasing the curve smoothness doesn't work. What is the correct way to make such an object?

does this help?.. maybe you're after something else ...

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/57615/how-can-i-model-these-support-wires/ and https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/58959/how-to-model-braided-nylon-sleeve/58963

@Robin Betts That worked. But the path is a perfect circle. Is there a way to have the screw fallow a different shape like this one link  i am trying to make a rib that is bulge on sides and smaller on top and bottom.

@GigelVasilica One way to that (see here) would be to start with a Bezier-Circle, or a mesh with more vertices converted, and Alt-S, or in the Item > Transform  panel, alter the radius of selected vertices..


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Minimum number of samples for a cycles render of a simple image applied as a texture
I have a very simple animation of pages of a book being turned. I use Cycles and a hdri as the only light source. The pages are sitting on a black background with just a simple diffuse shader.
There is nothing complicated in the scene in regards to shading, each page has a principal bsdf, no reflection or specular. Just a 2048x2048 texture attached to base.
I wonder what would be the minimum of samples I could use for this scenario. Right now i am using 128 samples and I get around 15 seconds per frame. But I wonder if I could get away with less samples. Maybe 64, maybe 32 or maybe even less. Considering that there are no shadows, or reflections or anything except diffuse texture, it it possible to get away with maybe 2-3 samples?
I should of course do a simple test and check out, but I have 10 hours to wait for this render and I am curious if anyone encounter this scenario and maybe has a answer.

Hard to tell without having a file. You could upload your file here: https://blend-exchange.com/. If you want to figure out your minimum samples/settings correctly, I recommend to render a high quality image and a low quality image and check the differences between them (e.g. by subtracing the images in Blenders' shader graph or by using the Split Viewer of Blenders' Compositor).

There is a very simple answer to that question and you already know it: test it. How should we decide with what you can get away with? How should we know what is acceptable for you? The problem is, of course with a low sample rate you might need denoising. But how good or bad the result is and what is acceptable highly depends on your actual scene, the HDRI you are using and what you personally accept as result. And to check it out you don't need to render everything - render short bits of it. With 15 seconds at 128 samples it must be possible to render short animations with less samples.

Yes, i did test it. I could go as low as 64 samples. Unfortunately, the time difference isn't that great. I only lost about 2 seconds tops. I asked because i think i remembered reading somewhere that if there's only diffuse in the scene, theoretically it should work with even 1 sample. Anyway, in my scenario, 64 samples gives 99.9% result as 128 samples, but also about the same time. I hope this info could use to someone trying to render thousands of frames of flipping pages.


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Bone controlling eye texture movement not moving straight
I have no idea how to phrase the question, sorry for that.
I'm completely new to blender, I've followed this tutorial to a T to create a bone that controls the movement of a texture (in this case the eyes, as I have a cartoony anime style head and spheres don't work with their shape) and it works exactly as it does in the tutorial, but I'm having a problem with the eyes not moving "straight" together horizontally - they move almost along a curve. Vertically they seem to move fine.

This appears in the tutorial as well however it isn't addressed. Is there a way I can make the eyes follow the bone exact rather than how it follows above? (and yes the eyes move in the opposite direction of the bone.. I tried to fix this as the person in the video did but for some reason it doesn't work.)

have you tried rotating the eyes geometry or their uv maps ?

Could you upload your blend file file here blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com so I can try to help you?

@GeraldDegeneve yes i have, it just ends up moving the eyes all over the place instead of where they should be.

@Tak here's the file, beware it's a real mess since it was more for learning to use the program than anything else lol


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How can I delete overlapping faces when the faces are in multiple objects?
I've already seen the Remove Doubles method, but as far as I know it only removes the doubled vertices...
Plus, the overlapping faces are from two different objects. The problem is that they have to different materials (one blue, one white). The result I get right now is this:
The result I'd like to get is a clear, round curve seperating the blue and the white object. This model was created from a friend in Solid Edge and imported via stl, which is the reason why sometimes (like this time) the mesh is just bad (and always just triangles)...

One way would be to add Solidify modifier to the blue mesh and direct thickness outwards. The other way would be to add Boolean modifier to the grey mesh, duplicate the blue mesh, set one of the blue meshes as Object in the modifier and choose Operation Difference. The boolean modifier must be first before edge split modifier.

I've already tried the boolean modifier (though I haven't applied it). The issue is the same. But thanks for the first tip. It worked just fine!


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How to stop fluid simulation to stick with moving obstacle after collision
I have this little guy here jumping into a pond.

However, the fluid simulation is causing a weird bubble-like wrap around him as he swims in the water.

How can I fix this?
Appreciate any help and thanks in advance :)

You could try experimenting with the "remove air bubbles" option in the domain settings.

It worked! Thank you :D I don't know how to put your comment as the answer so I'll drop in my own answer now.

Thanks to Nick Bosse 18,
So the solution is to check 'remove air bubbles' in Physics -> Fluid -> Fluid Boundary.
*Note: After I did this, the effect of the frog leaping into the water doesn't look as 'strong' as before but I have bubbles emitting from it. So I keyframed the size of the bubbles from big ones when it enters the water, to smaller ones when it's swimming.


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Texture not shown in 3D Viewport
I know this question has been asked multiple times, however none of the answer I found applied to my case.
Please refer to my screenshot below, where I have the sphere thing (I call it Container) with UV unwrapped, painted, with assigned image texture in Nodes. In fact, it was normally displayed until yesterday.
The display method is in Texture. In fact, when I switched to Material, or Solid, the object would still be in wireframe as shown. The whole thing can still be rendered normally.
Hope it's just a wrong button clicked.
Thanks guys, appreciate any help.

Go to Object tab (with Sphere selected) and switch Maximum Draw Type to Textured.


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How to create automatic follow-up (delayed) animation for child objects?
I have a parent object with several child objects. I would like to animate the parent object with child objects following up with slightly delayed time. How can I achieve this? Thank you.

You can use the Slow Parent Option available in the object relations properties.

After setting up you parent/child chain of objects go to each object individually and under the Properties Window > Object > Relations Extras tick Slow Parent option. Bellow it set the desired delay in frames.

You can select all relevant objects and click the properties wile pressing the Alt key to set the values for several selected objects at once. Alternatively right click and choose Copy to Selected.

Exactly what I'm looking for, thank you very much!

Is there any equivalent in Blender 2.8? Thanks.

If I recall correctly slow parent has been removed from 2.8,perhaps it is worth asking a new question about it


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Masking problems
I am working with masking.
Here is my node setting with the mask.

And here is my node settings
And what am i getting is this.

I tried invert node and many settings. It just doesnt work. Where am i going wrong

Please explain what are you tringin to acheve. Readable screenshots would also be nice.

Try lower opacity, I guess 1 is pure white, so Alpha over node is kind of replacing image rather than overlaying (due to you haven't got transparency on image with "magic force" ) Or try ADD mixRGB node instead of Alpha over - it would be a bit brighter, but black values will not appear on the hand.

There is a energy ball in my hand and i want my fingers to mask it. But only two this happen. 1 )the one mentioned in pic  and 2) oe else only the tge energy ball and the mask is getting rendered(only the part of image covered by mask and the animation)

Please use screenshots taken with the print screen key on your keyboard, not photos of the display

The Over operation of a cg object using a mask
Make sure the cg render has a transparent background.

[Sorry the labeling is switched, right is Internal and left is cycles.]
The render preview will show a checkered background, indicating transparency.

The mask (created in the image editor) can also by viewed, by connecting its output to a viewer node in the compositor.

For the easiest over operation, our mask is the "wrong way around". This means, we'll have to invert it. Add a [Color >] Invert node after the mask.

Method to be used with any number of masks.
If you want to use multiple mask nodes, you are not going to be able to use the above node setup.
For that, unpremultiply image, alter the alpha (subtraction, max, cojoint-over, etc), premultiply it. This method is far more superior but also much more complex. Read up on premultiplication!

Premultiplication related: Popcorn question, Green screen question, Alpha nodes assumes alpha (so smart, wow), when to convert to premultiplied, Worst answer ever


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Make each Poly overlap and scale relative to the 0 - 1 space
I am looking for a hybrid of these two images.
I want all UVs to overlap starting at the corner of the 0-1 range, but I also want all the polygons to be scaled relative to eachothers size. The first image was achieved by Smart Unwrapping each poly...one... at...a...time (not practical for large scenes.) The second image was accomplished by Smart Unwrapping all the polygons of an object all at once but this is not good for a repeating pattern. I intend to apply a repeating pattern across all polygons of a rectangle and I want it to repeat correctly no matter how big the polygon gets. The method for the first image would result in uneven scaling and take forever(very large scene,lots of objects), the method for the second image would not allow for a repeating pattern.
I want the polygons to overlap. It is efficient.
I've searched everywhere and can not find anyone trying to make a set of walls this way.

Make bottom LH corner of each UV (0, 0)
Script to move the closest uv coordinate of a face to (0, 0) and adjust the others accordingly. To run. Run the script in text editor to register operator. Create a UV map first, via smart uv unwrap for example, and then run the operator in edit mode.  (Using space bar, and search for "Simple UV Operator")
Script is an edit of text editor > templates > python > Operator Mesh Uv
import bpy
import bmesh

def main(context):
    obj = context.active_object
    me = obj.data
    bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(me)

    uv_layer = bm.loops.layers.uv.verify()
    #bm.faces.layers.tex.verify()  # currently blender needs both layers.

    # adjust UVs
    for f in bm.faces:
        uvs = [l[uv_layer] for l in f.loops]
        uvs.sort(key=lambda o: o.uv.length)
        duv = uvs[0].uv.copy()
        for uv in uvs:
            uv.uv -= duv
    bmesh.update_edit_mesh(me)

class UvOperator(bpy.types.Operator):
    """UV Operator description"""
    bl_idname = "uv.simple_operator"
    bl_label = "Simple UV Operator"

    @classmethod
    def poll(cls, context):
        return (context.mode == 'EDIT_MESH')

    def execute(self, context):
        main(context)
        return {'FINISHED'}

def register():
    bpy.utils.register_class(UvOperator)

def unregister():
    bpy.utils.unregister_class(UvOperator)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()

    # test call
    #bpy.ops.uv.simple_operator()

Note: I've tested this whilst using 2.8, and needed to comment out #bm.faces.layers.tex.verify() . Might need to remove # for versions prior.
If you want only to move to left edge only remove the x component of the uv.
uv.uv.x -= duv.x

Result on 2.8 after running op after smart project


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Animation jumps as if it isn't interpolating properly
I have an animation of a character walking, but the arms appear to jump back between two of the key frames, as if it isn't interpolating properly. It seems it should work fine when I look at the animation with interpolation set to constant.
If you watch carefully, you can see the arms jump
Bezier

Constant

Ok, I figured out the problem. I had edited the rotations manually, and the w of one of the quaternions was negative, which seems to mess with the rotation. You can normalize it by setting the rotation to a format other than quaternion, then putting it back to quaternion.


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How to render this style of geometrical objects
Referring to http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~kmcrane/Projects/DGPDEC/paper.pdf
The document includes numerous geometrical object that are illustrated in a very particular style that is appealing. Can this be replicated via Blender?

Hello and welcome to the site! Could you please elaborate and explain what it is that can be seen in the images? The document you posted is over a hundred pages long and if the link breaks, no one will be able to read explanations of the images, even if they'd be willing to read through that many pages.

I have studied differential geometry, but it is a very broad subject: it studies the nature of geometrical entities in N dimensions. What you want is probably a surface in 3D, which is probably the most studied geometrical entity in the field. In general, Blender is not made for mathematical topologies, since it is based on vertexes, not on absolute functions, but you can still get an approximation of it. In this case if you studied numeric analysis you are absolutely able to to it (even if you didn't, but it helps you build more precise approximations in Python). In short, give us more info

It certainly can. If you want all the details, though, the question might be a bit broad for BSE, because the style involves quite a wide range of Blender's capabilities.

So just a quick rundown:

Objects .. all easily created in Blender. There is support for mathematical surfaces, either directly, through scripting, or via import.
Material for the surfaces. here,  faintly blue, specular, tweaked against the renderer, EEVEE. Backfaces set to a more neutral hue.
Lighting A faintly Blue world color, not in final render, just for providing ambient light, the color in shadows. A spot key-light, white, size and specular intensity set to provide soft highlights.
Black Line: Freestyle: 2 Line sets: One to pick out object external borders and Freestyle-marked edges, One to pick out 'Silouhette', which gives the overlap in the curved outline in the surface at the back.
Black Line: Black Objects:  the dots and the arrow are actual black objects in the scene, as is the text. It would probably be better to render typography in a 2D vector-based application- the sampling in a 3D render doesn't do it any favors.
Rendering: EEVEE, for speed, and because we don't want physically-based photorealism, and all the computation that would take. At the moment, though, for quickly developing Freestyle sets and styles, it could be better to go back to an earlier Blender, so you can use the old Blender Internal renderer to get previews in the viewport. EEVEE doesn't do that yet.
Compositing: the renders are on transparent film, so the result can be laid over any 2D background. The Black objects are rendered in a separate View Layer so they be laid over the surfaces in 2D, and not be occluded by them.

This sounds a lot, but it only has to be set up once. When the components are set and tweaked, your kit is in place to render in this style. All that's left is modelling.
I'm not saying this .blend is exemplary.. you will probably be able to think of better ways to do things. Maybe, though,  playing with it could give you a kick-off, and provoke narrower technical questions.

Remarkable, I need to grok over all this and hopefully be able to implement these in lecture notes.

@mu7z .. Very kind of you to come back after all this time to accept! Hope it all goes well.

Yes sorry it took so long. I actually thought I already accepted months ago, but it seems like I forgot!


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How to replace an existing material with one from other blend file with python?
Currently, I'm working on a lot of files imported from Autodesk Maya to be rendered in Blender 2.8 EEVEE. And of course, the material looks bad when rendered. And will be a lot of work to fix all of these materials on every blend file by hand. So, I tried this python script to replace materials in the current file with the fixed one from other file:
import bpy

scn = bpy.context.scene
D = bpy.data
filepath = '//10_rrd.blend'

with bpy.data.libraries.load(filepath, link=False) as (data_from, data_to):
    data_to.materials = data_from.materials

for mat in D.materials:
    for mat_fix in data_to.materials:
        if mat_fix.name == mat.name:
            print('Found a material copy for '+mat.name+' with name '+mat_fix.name)
            mat.diffuse_color = mat_fix.diffuse_color
            mat.metallic = mat_fix.metallic
            mat.roughness = mat_fix.roughness
            mat.specular_intensity = mat_fix.specular_intensity

The problem is:
Instead of replacing the properties of the material in current blend file, It appends the full material as a new material (with those '.001' suffix) in the current file without touching the materials that needs to be replaced.
What's wrong with my code? Is there is any fix? or should I stick with traditional way of replacing material of every object after it's appended?
By the way, It's not a problem of EEVEE.

I guess bpy.data.libraries.load()... appends the material as a new one. Does it print your "Found a material..." in the console?

Yes, it is. But it doesn't change the existing material, just print that there is a copy of the material.

This code
with bpy.data.libraries.load(filepath, link=False) as (data_from, data_to):
    data_to.materials = data_from.materials

works correctly and you will get appended materials with suffix*.001* in your actual blend file. I propose , maybe not very elegant solution, but it works I have tested on my side.  And it gives you possibility not to replace all materials after adding. The script looks in next way:
import bpy

scn = bpy.context.scene
D = bpy.data
filepath = '//10_rrd.blend'

actual_names = []
dict_names = {}

for i in range(len(D.materials)):
    s = D.materials[i].name + "_actual"
    dict_names[s] = D.materials[i].name
    D.materials[i].name = s
    actual_names.append(D.materials[i].name)

with bpy.data.libraries.load(filepath, link=False) as (data_from, data_to):
    data_to.materials = data_from.materials

all_names = []
for m in bpy.data.materials:
    all_names.append(m.name)

# finding name of added materials
s = set(actual_names)
new_added = [x for x in all_names if x not in s]

for mat in D.materials:
    for mat_fix_name in new_added:
        value = dict_names.get(mat.name, None)
        if mat_fix_name == value:
            print('Found a material copy for '+mat.name+' with name '+mat_fix_name)
            mat.diffuse_color = D.materials[value].diffuse_color
            mat.metallic = D.materials[value].metallic
            mat.roughness = D.materials[value].roughness
            mat.specular_intensity = D.materials[value].specular_intensity

print('-----------------------------------------------')

#clear appended materials
for mat_fix_name in new_added:
    D.materials[mat_fix_name].user_clear()
    bpy.data.materials.remove(D.materials[mat_fix_name])

#roll back names
for mat in D.materials:
    old_name = dict_names.get(mat.name, None)
    if old_name is not None:
        mat.name = old_name

Thank you, I haven't think that far since I'm new to Phyton and with the change of 2.80 API (though looks like the Append API haven't changed).


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How to make object transparented when player approaches them based on their distance?
I have an horror game project, and I want to make an object disappear when player gets near them.
Of course, the disappeared object needs to have opacity step based on player's distance to the object.
So, Is there is anyway to make an object slowly disappear when player approaches them based on their distance? (Phyton suggestion allowed)

You can do this in a node shader using the camera node and extracting the Z distance. No idea if this is faster than a python solution or not, but it will work differently for really large objects (ie close parts of a big object are transparent while far parts are not)

1. In your material active (enable, check) Transparency checkbox:

2. Select the desire object
3. In logic editor, add an always sensor connected to a pyton controller:

4. script.py
from bge import logic
own = logic.getCurrentController().owner
player = logic.getCurrentScene().objects['Cube']
distance = own.getDistanceTo(player)
#if distance
print('distance : ', distance*0.02)
if distance * 0.04 < 1:
    own.meshes[0].materials[0].alpha = distance * 0.04
    print('alpha : ', own.meshes[0].materials[0].alpha)

Related
Python API (bge object material)
bge.types.KX_BlenderMaterial.alpha

Glad to help :P


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Some edges are not smoothing in Blender
I imported this geometry from Zbrush. As you can see the other edges around this area were smooth-able, but I could not get the edges connected to this cone shaped ridge to smooth. The first image is a screen grab of the geometry edges. The second image shows what the geometry looks like. I tried everything that normally works to get them to smooth. Clear Sharp. Shading Smooth. Recalculate Normals. But they are not smoothing. What could cause this?

What exactly is happening with those vertices in that ridge? It looks like there are more there than needed, it might help to be dealing with only a single row of vertices there. Would adding a subsurf modifier work in your situation? A couple of edge loops in that area may also help. And have you tried adding an edge split modifier and adjusting the angle setting?

In the end I retopologised the model and it was much cleaner. It was for the best because the result had half the number of polygons. Thanks for the input.
To add more information the topology now looks like this. While it doesn't flow like it used to, it smooths nicely and that is what's important for this.


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Blender 2.8, Getting Script to Update a Driver
I have a for loop (A) that is updating a Custom Property (B) that is a driver for a Cube's X-location (C) which is supposed to update the Cube's location (D) and Export each incremental change to a .obj file, HOWEVER... The changes are not updating before the .obj is exported and the Cube in each of the seven exported .obj files is staying in the starting position.
I have tried bpy.context.evaluated_depsgraph_get() but it doesn't seem to be doing what people say it's supposed to do, which is work as a replacement for scene.update(), which doesn't work in Blender 2.8 anymore?
What am I missing?


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Line Art not showing through transparency, but showing on transparent objects
This character head is all one object but I am having a problem when applying Grease Pencil Line Art Modifier to the head with glasses. The eyebrows and eye lashes are joined geometry cards, with texture based transparency, the edge of the eyebrow and eyelash cards is showing Line Art, I'm trying to make this goes away. However when geometry edges that are supposed to have Line Art pass through transparency, the line art does not show (The glasses frame and edge of eye) I would like this to show line art.
Trying to understand the principle, setting, or technical limitation at work, so that I can do something about it. I've been playing with Occlusion settings, Material Masks and Intersection settings, but I can't find examples online, of what how these settings interact. General settings are as shown

Does this answer your question? Rendering Grease Pencil lines behind Glass

In the end, the easiest solution for this was to buy a license for Pencil+. It did everything I needed and got this project moving again in about an hour.

Go to the Modifiers tab and then expand the Occlusion there you just have to select Range then select Level Start to 0 and End to a higher number.
If you have problems like too many outlines then just change source type to Collection or Object then apply the Grease Pencil to separate objects or collections separately.
To remove outlines from unwanted objects, just change source type to Collection and remove the unwanted object`s from the collection.


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Particle and Fluid Forces driven by motion vector image data (XYZ vectors). Optical Flow
I'm looking into how to achieve forces in Blender particles and fluids driven by motion vector image data.  Think "optical flow".  This is possible in Nuke, Houdini, and other packages.  It appears like the functionality may be there in Blender but I haven't been successful in getting it to work correctly.  I'm wondering if some of you out there have had success.  Thank you kindly for your help.

Could you include some reference in your question?

Well Houdini added this in recent 16.5 version. You can trace movement from video (optical features), but particle and fluid side of things is very weak. You will need Animation nodes addon and some custom scripting to get anything done, then also mesh those particles into fluid. You are talking about this: https://vimeo.com/208144537 are you. Maybe in couple of years (5+) this will be easier to do in Blender.

That is the process yes.  Houdini can do this, correct.  I'm looking for the approximate solution as it may exist in the blender workflow however.

p.s.  I already have optical flow footage that I can create myself without a problem.  Just trying to figure out how to make use of it in Blender for particle and fluids.

It can be done using Animation Nodes addon. I don't know if it can be done using the fluid simulator or any other part of blender.
The process in Animation Nodes will be super complicated, at least for me, so I don't think it can be written in answer here, I am studying this exact topic now, so I may write about and link the article to you or write a smaller answer here.

Ok.  Thank you.It's a shame.  On the surface it seems like the functionality is right there.  So close lol.

hmm just brainstorming.  Convert motion vectors to points use those points (make sure to keep points to a limited number) to act as effectors in a fluid sim. So you have to probably write a script that converts pixel location x,y,z data into points.  There is software out there but that's the extent of my knowledge on this.
I use this with the depth data from structure scanner to make a per frame point cloud.  It might work with standard motion vectors. Its a start.
https://github.com/arthare/stac_sample_decoder

Does this actually work? Have you tested it or are you just hypothesizing?


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How would I be able to create this support beam?

If there are any informative YouTube tutorials which might help me achieve this please let me know, it looks simple to do but I cant figure out how to do it, thank you for your time.

Do you need it to be one object?

no not necessarily I just want to be able to create it.

This looks kind a Blender 101 thing. You will need only cubes scaled and rotated accordingly. Search for Blender modeling for beginners, there is a lot of tutorials.

I did it but is there any way of my showing you what I did?

Start by creating a cube, press S and then Y
(S for scale Y to lock the scale the Y-axis)
Make it is long enough to be a steal beam, If you have done that you should have something like this. I modeled a steam beam for this don't mind it, this is meant to explain how you can achieve the effect.

Don't mind the shape, I you its about the idea
After that duplicate the steel beam Shift + D, move it up
Duplicate it 1 beam again and scale it smaller by doing S and then Y again and then rotate it 45° by pressing R and then type 45
Place the metal beam in place , then duplicate the rotated metal beam, rotate it with 90°, place it next to the other rotated beam, and repeat
If you are having trouble placing or rotating the metal beams, press Numpad 5, and then press Numpad 3
After that you should be having something like this.

If you wanted them to be one solid piece, select all metal beams and press Ctrl + J
I hope this helped, if not feel free to ask for info.
( I would show you more images but I cannot post more then 2 image links)

thank you so much!!! but how did you make that shape of the beam?

thank you so much!!! but how did you make that shape of the beam? – Joshy

1.Start with a cube and resizing it to the correct width.

Go into edit mode and loop cut the cube 10 times

cntrl+R type 10 for 10 loopcuts

You should be having this now

Leave 2 cuts open on both side and select the other 8
Move them down
Select the edges and bevel them

cntrl+B
Left down in the corner are settings to adjust the bevel

repeat the same progress on the other side

Hope this helped.

You should edit your previous answer, not add another one.

I was planning to, but I cannot add more pictures nor GIFs (I don't have a high enough reputation), since alot of these things are not easy to explain with just text.


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How can I insert keyframes and start an animation on a newly rigged model? (2.78)
within my blend I have use Rigify to rig my model. How can I start the animation process and insert keyframes. If i'm correct, I have set up the action editor correctly, I just cant seem to be able to insert keyframes. Help is much appreciated.

Select a bone in the 3D view, make sure you're in "Pose" Mode of the 3D view, then press "i" and select the properties which you want to keyframe.


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Blender shape fluid to a shape
I have been searching alot for a way to shape a fluid animation to a solid shape
Kinda like this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ9HogEWcT0
I have found this solution
how to convert a shape key animation to a fluid?
problem is I need to have 1 part of the mesh shaped solid and the other side liquid like while having some growth (like in the video)
Any idea how I can achieve this effect?

The YouTube link is no longer valid making this question effectively unanswerable without additional information.


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Increasing mesh detail from existing model
I recently started with Blender to upgrade a model from a videogame character so I can 3D print some parts of it on a 1/4 scale. This means some parts of the model need to go from a low polygon model to a high polygon model, which includes the texture details as an actual mesh.
Some parts have already been recreated from scratch, but for some complex parts I just want to increase the detail from the existing mesh, as that would save me a lot of time.
One part of the model consists of a bunch of different leaves, which need a much smoother, rounded edge. What is de easiest way to achieve this?

You could use Subsurf Modifier, but as far as I can see whats happening there (tris not quad faces) it will probably fail. Please upload one of those leaves in blend file to: http://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/ and I can take a closer look.

You could go with sculpting, either with Multires modifier and increasing level of subdivisions as needed or with dyntopo with just painting details as needed. While the first method needs more or less good starting geometry, the second can require some cleaning afterwards (although the mesh will be manifold after dyntopo so it should be printable increasing its width can become a pain).

I have uploaded a blend file. I did manage to give the edges a bit more detail, but I did this by subdividing and smoothing some vertices and adding the edges manually. It is pretty time consuming so I hope there is an easier way to achieve a similar result. Also, the outside edge will be a problem for 3D printing, so I need a way to make it thicker.

Final result:

Overview:
Sadly you will need to retopologize your meshes. Happily it's not that hard and it's certainly good practice.
Main goal is to have quad only topology, which will allow us to use modifiers and have better control over the mesh itself.
There is no simpler method that I'm aware of to get high poly from low poly in order to prepare mesh for 3D printing.
Steps:

Remove vertices from the back of the mesh.
Merge two bottom vertices (I think only this particular mesh has this issue).
Delete one side of the mesh.
Add Mirror Modifier and select Axis accordingly to your mesh and check Clipping.
Delete inner edges.
Select two bottom vertices and hit F few times to fill in faces.
Make Loop Cut trough the mesh.
Place top vertices a little bit higher (use Edge Slide - G>G) to make nice Edge Loop and add another Loop Cut for sharp center (press E when sliding edge to make it even with left/straight edge).

Add Solidify and Subsurface Modifiers.

Final thoughts:
Now you can add as many Loop Cuts as you want to have sharper/smoother edges. You can use Mean Crease to sharpen them even more. Meshes from your file may produce some issue while printing. It's better to make an effort and prepare good mesh then loose time and money while printing.
Blend file:

Thank you very much! It is still a lot of work, but this will really help me out.
I still have to get used to keep the vertices in squares, but being able to use all the tools and modifiers will make this a whole lot easier.

@Shadow-Link I always encourage people to model using only quad topology because it will help in many ways along whole 3D process. No matter if you want to add details, make rig, animate mesh or keep it as much non-destructive as you can. Quads are the only way. Check also: http://topologyguides.com/ It will help a lot.

Thank you once again! There is some very useful information on that site :P


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Windows 10, Blender cannot open write save on C:
I just noticed this recently, I cannot save my blend file.  Cannot open file for writing permission denied.
I have been using Blender for over 5 years and installed it multiple times on multiple computers.  I cannot save on C: drive all of a sudden and I have went into properties on the drive and allowed all permissions.
I can only use blender now as an administrator which is annoying and ridiculous.  I am using windows 10 which it never used to do this before.
All of a sudden, an update or security setting may have done this but I have tried everything--forums, youtube, etc. and nothing fixes this problem.
I know I am not the only one to be having this problem via forums.
This may not be a Blender issue directly but I think your team should look into why this is occurring on multiple computers, I have 3, all around the same time frame-within a week.
This is a Blender windows 10 issue.  I have uninstalled the program, files, and downloaded the installer - like I have multiple times in multiple years - and installed it the same way from the website and it does not fix the problem.
Only Blender is affected - no other programs that I have, photoshop, gimp, paint, etc. ...   Please look into this and thank you.
Matt Mathers

from here it seem some installation issue (if you recently updated), or some weird operating system issue (win 10 recent updates?) or maybe a workgroup shared folder permission issue...  also, why did you set "texturing" tag for this...?!?

This has been asked before https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/84602/cannot-save-blend-files-permission-denied


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Is it possible to save a selection of vertices?
I finished selecting intricate parts of an object in edit mode (made the mistake of linking them), similar to having spent half an hour lasso-ing an object in Photoshop. Is it possible to save this selection so next time I launch Blender the selection's still there?

You can assign the vertices to a vertex group.

Rather than manually selecting you can press L to select vertices linked to the vertex under the cursor. P will separate into new objects by selected vertices or loose parts.

You could add the selection to a vertex group so the next time you need the vertices to be selected you just need to to click on Select for the current vertex Group


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Inset on a cylinder causing pinching when using subsurf modifier and sharp edges
In my attached picture I have a cyclinder where I'm trying to inset along 3 faces. I've tried every combination of creases, sharp edges, with and without an edge modifier. I can't seem to get the desired result. I just want a sharp edge.
I'd rather not use lots of edge loops as there's a LOT more geometery above the cylinder that I dont want to start splitting.
Does anyone know the proper way to approach this?

Thanks

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/66154/how-can-i-fix-this-subsurf-modifier-issue/66170#66170

Thanks for replying, I've looked at the question you've posted prior to me asking this but still can't seem to get this to work. It appears that in the question posted that having only the loop extrude inwards affects the final geometery. I'm extruding the whole face inwards which still causes this problem. I've  just revisited the question and tried a few other things but it's still not working

Also https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/81596/how-can-i-make-a-rounded-indentation-on-a-cylinder/81605#81605 I don't think you need any additional loopcuts, all you need to do is extrude said faces inwards then crease them along with the corners

I've proposed an alternative, maybe it will answer?


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Baking shadows onto a plane with no image texture in cycles?
I'm in cycles render and I made a scene with a bunch of lightbulbs (see Blenderguru's tutorial. I did the same thing) and I have a Mac with not so decent specs, and I want to speed up the rendering. I am wondering if I could bake the shadows and light onto the plane that all the objects are on. It has a material but not a texture.

Baking means rendering! So you won't save much time baking them separately. Unless you have a specific creative reason to bake your shadows independently, for example to post process them before compositing, you'd better stick with single pass rendering and save in composition complexity. Also since you are experimenting with lighting, you probably want your shadows to be the actual result or your lights setup. Btw are you planning to keep all your objects static and may be just experiment with changing their color or material?

Everything is static except for the camera. No colors or anything are changing. the only keyframes are for the cameras location on the Y axis. Nothing else


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obj sequence to alembic format
Hello I'm quite new in blender.
I've been working on converting obj sequence to alembic format by using blender.
I've used 'Stop Motion Add-on' and 'obj sequence as shape keys' , but it seems like it's not helpful to export objs as abc format.
I have different obj files per frame. And unfortunately each has different number of vertice. Because of this reason, I guess those add-ons are not suitable on what I am doing.
Any suggestions ???
I've just tried 'ShrinkWarp Modifier' to make the objs as shape keys. It works however I am not satisfied with the mesh made from this modifier...

I'm trying to do something similar. This video might help you. https://youtu.be/Kx4IU8lUCDs?list=PLxQxoABIf8KYi8c_gVqUGSfIUyxX-NrKf
Basically, put a displace modifier with 0 influence on the object you want to export to trick blender into exporting it as an alembic cache properly.
Let me know if you found a different way to do this. I'm still experimenting and trying to find a good workflow.

Can confirm that this works with the stop motion obj addon. Awesome! Thanks!

In Blender 2.80, this workaround no longer works with a Displace modifier. Try using an Array Modifier with a "Count" of 1. That worked for me. It didn't preserve textures, though.

(didn't test it with textures, they might get lost):

Download Blender 2.83.8 and install the addon "Stop Motion OBJ 2.1.0"
Import your obj sequnce: File -> import -> Mesh Sequence (under settings: "file name" must match your obj sequence name)
Add an Array modifer (Count:1)
Export as Alembic (.abc)

now you should have the animation stored in a single alembic file.

I made a video tutorial how to make it without any plugin https://youtu.be/KRxDyloJRYU
-1 because of someone who don't like youtube, in the comment below. But don't afraid. It's working.

Please consider expanding this to be a complete answer with the details here. If for some reason the video goes away, then there is nothing for future visitors to see. link only answers may be removed if not further improved.


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How do I copy one mesh's properties and apply it to another mesh in blender?
In Blender v2.70, I've created a mesh from scratch to serve as a custom head in The Sims 4.  However, when I try to use Sims4Studio to import it, it doesn't work because I have to apparently alter one of the pre-existing heads.  Therein lies my problem: I have a mesh that I want to use, but can't, so I need to copy it's vertices locations, sculpt data, etc., and paste that info onto the head mesh the Sims4Studio provides me with.
How do I do that?

You could probably assign the mesh of your head to the preexisting object, replacing its mesh. If vertices count is the same, it could just work, but I can't try, I have not Sims4studio.

Actually I think you will need to use the original mesh, uv's and vertex order... I would try shrinkwrapping the original mesh to your new head model. The snapping tools can be used to align the old head onto the surface of the new one. A tutorial on retopology can explain it.


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Where Can I Download Import Image As Plane Add-On For v2.7?
I'm using Blender v2.7 (other program requires that version) and I need the Import Image As Plane, but I can't find the add-on for Blender v2.7.  Where can I download the Import Image As Plane add-on for Blender 2.7?

The Addons project links to the Addons Catalog(archive) which gives a list of all the 2.6 scripts where you can get the details for Image as Planes which then links to the SVN repository containing the actual Python script.
And hopefully that is in a usable state.


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Can I increase the number of frames in an rigid body simulation?
Every time I am making a simulation it is stopping at 250. Why? I want to make it longer..like 400 or something. Can I even do that? I tried increasing the frames at the menu bar where object mode at all those are written...I don't know what it is called since I am a noob. I even changed frame rate and frame range. It didn't work.

You can change the number of frames in the Rigid Body Cache.


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eye won't mirror over correctly?
I am trying to mirror something over the center, I put my 3d cursor to the center of the grid, then changed my pivot point to the 3d cursor, and then tried to add the mirror modifier, and for some reason it comes out like this and I can not figure out why. It worked before with a different eye that I scrapped, not sure why this one won't do the same...

I hate to tell you this but the Mirror Modifier is grossly ignorant of the 3D Cursor up to the point of complete and perpetual denial.
It mirrors either around the object origin of the object it's assigned to or it takes the orientation and location of the mirror object if you configure it that way. Your screenshot makes it hard to see where the OO of the eyeball is, but I guess it's not on the centerline.
My guess: it's directly beneath the line created by the two eyeballs intersecting.
https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/dev/modeling/modifiers/generate/mirror.html
So you can either put the eyeball (its origin, not the mesh) in the middle of your head and then, in Edit Mode, move it to the side or you can keep the eyeball's object origin in its center and use either the character's OO or an empty for mirroring or you can put your 3D Cursor in the middle, select the eyeball and use 'set origin to 3d cursor' in the tools.


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Too big (in memory size) STL exports
I recently exported one of the Dota 2 characters after applying all the displacement masks to give all the skin and scale textures to the character.
The whole character was divided into 6 parts and each part has to b subdivided and then the displacement has to b applied to give better effects.
I worked on Pudge and after all the tweaking the stl file exported was of 1.8GB,
yeah GB,
What to do , none of the 3D printing services around me are able to open or print the file , it taking too ling to even open and in most cases the 3D printer software crashes.
Even blender is not responding when importing the same stl file

Impossible to tell without seeing the model, sounds like too high subdivision. Anyway if it is too big there is only one thing to do. SImplify the file.

I once had a complicated mesh that was too big for blender. I ended up using MeshLab to simplify the mesh. It might be worth taking a shot. Here is a tutorial on simplifying a mesh.

stl file size is fundamentally proportional to the number of faces in your model (after implicit triangulation), so having a file that big means that your mesh has a huge amount of faces. It's either too finely detailed for a commercial 3D print, or many faces are redundant (unnecessary subdivision).
Before exporting the mesh, try using the Decimate modifier. Don't be afraid to decrease the Ratio to values as low as 0.05 (that in your case would yield a ~90 MB file). Just adjust that value to be the smallest possible that retains all the details that you care about (you can see the mesh updating live in the viewport).
After choosing the right "Ratio", apply the modifier and export.


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Turning off texture smoothing in Blender Render (Exclusive to Blender Render)
I want to make a render of a PSX model and the model's render looks horrible. It's really just the textures, and all the answers I look up and people deal with it in Cycles, which I don't understand one bit.

Change filter size for textures in texture tab. 0.1 value makes them really sharp

Disable 'Interpolation' will make the image texture pixel-sharp.

Result:


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Preview mode shows only a part of object
I have a problem while in preview mode. It cuts my obj at different angles when I'm rotating around it.

Works only on this particular object
Doesn't matter if in Obj or Edit mode
Render works ok
Clipping set to minimum
Real life scale obj

Blend file
Also sometimes when I rotate around whole obj selected in Edit mode, everything disappears.
Render

Previews

Your mesh seems to be severely corrupted and causing all manner of issues and unexpected behavior, including rendering artifacts and badly computed center for rotating view in Edit Mode.
To clean it up select you object, enter Edit Mode, make sure you are in Vertex Selection mode, and switch to Wireframe shading mode.
Select all vertex with Border Select operator (do not use the A Select All operator) then hit P to separate it into a new object.
If you switch back to Object Mode you should now have to objects, a new one containing the actual geometry, and a second one with what appears to be loose edges.
Erase the loose edges and and it should fix your issue.

Thanks, it worked as I need.
It was just a placeholder as you can see, but this issue with preview really bothered me.
And I've learned something new, thanks again ;)


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Why are the colors from color ramps dimmer than what you pick?
If I input a color in a color ramp, and set the ramp to constant, the colors do not come out exactly like the input. They are grayer/darker.
Example:
On my color ramp, the yellow input is "#FFF763", but the output is "#cecb6d"

By default blender tweaks the final renders colors.
Go to the Render Properties tab (camera), and under Color Management, change View Transform from Filmic to Standard. Now the colors will come out nearly identical.


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Why is my texture showing up fine in rendered view but not rendering correctly?
Here is how it appears in "rendered view":

Here it is when rendered:

Faces are overlapping, probably.

Could be that you've hidden objects in the viewport or outliner that still appear in the render. Check if there are objects in the outliner with the eye icon greyed out.

Ah you were both right! I had some hidden objects and didn't consider them when it rendered! Thank you so much!


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Particle system: assign random instance objects
I have a particle system that's instancing an object but I want to randomize the objects that are instanced. In my case, it's a snow flurry, so I'm looking to randomize different snowflake shapes instead of having every particle be the same shape.
Any way to do this without having to set up multiple particle systems from the same emitter?

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/8927/is-there-a-way-to-procedurally-scatter-objects-on-the-ground-of-my-scene/8928#8928

Thanks - that's exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for. Took me a while to find it in 2.8 but it's listed in physics > render > render as > collection.Thank you so much!


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Can you make a texture glow without it emitting light?
this might be a bit of a strange question, but basically I want to have part of a texture be bright even when in shadow but I don't actually want it to emit any light that will then interact with any other part of the scene.
Currently my setup is like this:
Texture that links to both Diffuse BSDF and Emission Nodes which then go into a Mix Node which also has the alpha map of the parts that I want to light up as a Fac entry. This works great for lighting up the texture but then pretty much messes up the scene because when rendering it in cycles it simply adds a lot of noise on the other materials.
Any idea what I could to differently here?

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/53359/how-do-you-make-an-image-emission-without-washing-out-the-image/53360#53360 https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/58272/making-an-emission-shader-emit-a-different-colour-of-light-than-the-colour-assig/58280#58280

You can use the Light-Path node to determine when to use the emission shader.
in your case, you only want the camera to see the material as emission so use the is-camera-ray-output like this:

you can put basically any shader in the first slot, depends on how the object should look ie in reflections.

I see the theory behind this but I am afraid I am not quite sure on how I can apply that to my setup. This is what I have right now:
Image
Since I only want to light certain parts of the texture I need the Factor input for the alpha map. I tried various settings but all I managed so far was to have the lights show up glowing without emitting light, but unfortunately the rest of the material is then pitch black no matter if light shines on it or not.
Damn, how do you include pictures?

Mhm okay... If I add the 'Is Camera Ray' to the Strength input of the Emission Node it kinda works. It now slightly lights up the windows without them emitting light. Unfortunately it's not nearly strong enough to really look the way I want. Is there any way to remedy that or am I just completely misunderstanding how this works?

Okay, I finally got it. I still need to wrap my head around how the nodes work. I needed to add another mix shader between the Emission and Mix Shader but make sure to have the Emission also come in on the second input and then have the 'Is Camera Ray' as the Factor input of the added mix shader. Then I can control the strength and not get the pesky light emitting.
Thank you very much :)

Hey, glad you managed to make it work. I'll edit my post later to make it more clear. Maybe you'll understand how the setup works. :)

Works for me. I just wanted to make an unlit sky picture on the background, but without any light emission


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Animating a bomb that explodes at a certain keyframe after cell fracture
Okay, so I'm trying to create a bomb using cell fracture.  I've got it fractured and set as an active object in physics.  I've set the animation to have it flying through the air which is all good.  I've grouped each "cell" together but when I animate the "Dynamic" button on the active "cell," it does not insert the keyframe for each of the others in the group; not even after clicking the "Copy from selected" button in the physics tool shelf.  What am I doing wrong?

Okay, so what I've figured out is that after creating my group, I had to set up the animated "Dynamic" box for when I wanted it inactive and when I wanted it active again.  After all animation had been set up, I hit ctrl+L > Animation Data and that did the trick!  Now the explosion takes place at the frame I wanted.
The key is to set all of the animations for the active member of the group BEFORE making the link to the Animation Data!
Maybe this will help others as well!

hey, maybe you should select your answer as the one you needed(check it) so people know the question is answered.


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Clean Up Tracking points selects all points no matter what
here's my steps:

Open footage in movie clip editor.
Adding tracking points and track forward/backwards
I get a solve error of let's say 2
Now when I'm trying to clean up tracks from the left panel, it will select all the tracks no matter what value I put in Frames or Error, and when selecting different track points I KNOW they have different solve errors.

It's not like I haven't done any tracking before. Never had this issue until now. Been looking back at many different video tutorials and followed every step, but still, this clean up won't work correctly.
Anyone else ever had this issue?
Thanks in advance.


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How can I randomize rotation on z-axis with hair particles?
So I have all these boxes I made, but I wanna randomize it so it doesn't look so repetative.
It doesn't seem to wanna rotate correctly on the z-axis, it just rotates weird on goes through the ground. Any ideas?

I'm not sure what you want, you talk about two different things, randomness and rotating weird and going through the ground... have you tried to enable the Advanced option, activate Rotation and play with its Random value.

Hi moonboots! I figured this was a common issue and didn't really elaborate. Activating rotation in advanced option is what I have done. No motter what setting I put the boxes wont rotate on the correct axis. Check the image: https://imgur.com/a/hLMt4bz

check the Initial Orientation setup, if it still doesn't work maybe share your file? https://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/

For random rotation: Enable the Advanced option, activate Rotation, play with the Random value.

Hi! Thanks! This is what I have done, and it messes up everything if i set Orientation Axis to anything but none. https://imgur.com/hBDN4YZ

What is your Initial Orientation setup? Choose Global Z for example

Thanks! This is what I have tried. I found out however if I rotate the objects I use in the particle system on the x-axis everything looks good. Really weird how it works though. I don't understand why. However, it works


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Convert bevel node output to black/white
I want to use the new bevel node to simulate chipped paint along edges. I find the edges by using the cross product of the normal outputs of bevel and geometry nodes. However, the output is blurred around the edges and I need a sharp transition to achieve the desired effect, so I am trying to use a color ramp with both positions set to 0.5 to convert the greyscale map to black/white. But it doesn't work, the output is still a greyscale gradient.
How can I fix this?
thanks in advance!

Use the Pointiness output from Geometry node, it does what you want and you don't need a special build of Blender.

I don't want to use pointiness because I am working with low poly models. For pointiness to work, I'd need to refine the mesh significantly.

You can use Subsurf set to Simple to get nice results on low-poly, but I agree it's not ideal. I am afraid you will have to use an OSL shader or wait till Bevel node behaves more nicely..

Unfortunately, "In the latest 2.79 daily build, is it possible to convert the Bevel node's RGB normal maps to BW edge highlighters?" does not answer my question. As I mentioned in the original post, I know how to use bevel to find the edges, but the output is always blurred and I can't convert it to 2-color black & white. This is necessary to simulate an actual "chipped paint" effect, not merely "worn edges".

I am voting to reopen the question, because it is not a duplicate. The problem is in the way the Bevel node sampling works, not in how to get BW edges. I am skeptical there is a nice solution now, but imho the question should stay open, maybe there will be solution someday or someone cleverly finds a good workaround.

Tried this in Blender 2.80 and it is still the same issue. I can't convert the greyscale output to sharp black & white. Did anyone find a solution in the meantime?


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I want parts of a scene to be invisible in final render but still be visible in reflections and light bounces
I'm working on a scene in blender where I have recreated a corridor shot for real. In the scene, I have an object traveling down the corridor. The goal is to just get the object and not the corridor in the final render. I still want to get the reflections and light bounces of the corridor, maybe even shadows if possible!
I'm super new so I've been having a lot of problems. I've tried to use the Holdout node on the materials but that removes the light bounces. Any help is appreciated!