text:
How to loop values on Custom properties
I added a custom property to an object with an integer value and a max of 3. Is there any way to loop the value? I want it to return to the value of 0 after 3. Is it possible?

With a custom property ob["switch"] not so easy... with a bpy.types.Object.switch = bpy.props.IntProperty imagine its doable.  Is this how you have defined the prop?

Could you drive it from another custom property, using a scripted expression such that switch = input%3?

Setter / Getter and modulus.

Zoomed in test. Can see 4 pop up when holding mouse down and sliding, but the setter turns 4 to 0
Internal "get/set" function of property?
How can I change IntProperty default value stored within PropertyGroup?
Is There a Way to Change a Prop with an Update Def without Calling the Update Def?
If we set up an int property with a getter and setter can assure it remains in a certain range.  For this case have set the min to 0 and max to 4, but if the property is set to 4 it reverts to zero, using the modulus operator
value = value % 4

ie the integer remainder when divided by four.  This is stored in the file as a custom property emulating how properties work.
Set the default value in the getter, I've used 0
Test Code.
import bpy

from bpy.props import IntProperty

def get_int(self):
    return self.get("test", 0)

def set_int(self, value):
    self["test"] = value % 4

bpy.types.Object.test = IntProperty(
    min=0,
    max=4,
    get=get_int,
    set=set_int,
    )

def draw(self, context):
    layout = self.layout
    ob = context.object
    layout.prop(ob, "test")

# tacked onto object props transform panel to test.
bpy.types.OBJECT_PT_transform.prepend(draw)

Thanks for the answers. I'm still a beginner at scripting, I guess I'll need to learn more :)


text:
How to maintain driver positive values
I have an empty object driving a cylinder (X) Rotation by empty (Y) Location. Is there any way to maintain Cylinder (X) Rotation on positive values even if I move the empty (Y) Location to negative values?

Do transformation constraints (the little chain link icon tab) do what you want?  I'm not able to check right now but I believe they override driven values in precedence.

I already tried transformation constraint but as long as I moved the empty to negative direction, the cylinder also rotates on negative X rotation

Yes, though you may need to change the driver to a scripted expression (easy to do). See The Blender Documentation for more info.
I’m guessing you copy-pasted the driver.

Right-click the driven property (purple) and click edit driver.
In the appearing dialogue, change the mode from averaged sum to scripted expression.
Put an abs(...) around the variable now in the scripted expression field to take its absolute value. For example, if the variable was position the code should be abs(position).

Thank you so much.

@GeovanieOrcullo If you wanted to constrain the value to some other range you could use the min() and max() functions instead of abs().

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
How do I scale a specific set of vertices via the api
I'm trying to programatically apply a partial scaling to a mesh. For this specific scaling, I'm trying to replicate what happens when you've selected a number of vertices of a mesh in Edit Mode and scale them by pressing 'S' to bring them closer together or farther apart.
Like so:

What I've tried is this:
bpy.ops.object.select_all(action='DESELECT')

# object was originally a plane which I extruded into the z-axis, so this selects the upper half of the mesh.
upper_verts = [vert for vert in glyph_obj.data.vertices if vert.co[2] > 0]

for vert in upper_verts:
    vert.select = True

bpy.ops.transform.resize(value=(0.9, 0.9, 0.9), orient_type='GLOBAL', orient_matrix=((1, 0, 0), (0, 1, 0), (0, 0, 1)), orient_matrix_type='GLOBAL', mirror=True, use_proportional_edit=False, proportional_edit_falloff='SMOOTH', proportional_size=1, use_proportional_connected=False, use_proportional_projected=False, snap=False, snap_elements={'INCREMENT'}, use_snap_project=False, snap_target='CLOSEST', use_snap_self=True, use_snap_edit=True, use_snap_nonedit=True, use_snap_selectable=False)

Where  glyph_obj is a bpy Object .
The last command, the bpy.ops.transform.resize, I copied from the info window from when I performed the operation by hand.
I can see in the viewer that my script does select all the appropriate vertices, but no transformation is performed. No errors are generated either. Because I followed programmatically all the steps I would have done by hand (I think), I don't know what I'm missing.

Operators in bpy.ops are for interactive use through the UI and should be avoided in scripts because they depend on context. Using them through scripts may yield unexpected results at best, or fail entirely at worst. Manipulate data directly from bpy.data instead.

I would try going out of edit mode then in again, it should force the selection state to be updated

@DuarteFarrajotaRamos Yeah I sort of knew that, but had to use bpy.ops operators for some imports and then continued using them. Think I'll stick to bmesh from now on.

Without an operator:
import bmesh
from bpy import context as C
from mathutils import Vector

condition = lambda v: v.co.z > 0
scale = 0.9

ob = C.object
me = ob.data
bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(me)
verts = [v for v in bm.verts if condition(v)]
average = sum((v.co for v in verts), start=Vector()) / len(verts)

for v in verts:
    offset = v.co - average
#    direction = offset.normalized()
#    v.co += direction * scale
    v.co += offset * (scale - 1)

bmesh.update_edit_mesh(me)

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


text:
How to project multiple images onto a single object
How do you project multiple images onto a single object? I have tried some things but it never worked. I have tried to search for it online but to no success and with my current skill level I am not able to come up with a viable solution. Under here you see an example of something I'm trying to make.

As you see I will need to project three images onto an object but I don't know-howbj. Maybe there is another smarter way and a better workflow. Any suggestion will be gladly appreciated

I don't think I will be able to successfully use this method. I'm looking for a more straight-up method since this seems to need a lot of tweaking to get it right

Okay, sure :). Perhaps UV projection could be used for this. Something like this? https://blender.stackexchange.com/q/165123/78972

This works! Thank you for helping

Glad to hear that :). If you get stuck somewhere, feel free to ask a new question. Good luck.


text:
Problems with rendering and Trees
I've recently gotten into the architectural angle of 3D and naturally, I wanted some nature (Plants, grass, trees, bushes and so on). But when I got to it and downloaded some tree models I had a hard time setting up a scene. Very laggy and render times well over the 1-hour mark with only a few trees and sometimes I couldn't even render because of lack of memory.
How do I fix this? I want a background covered in trees and forest like environment so there are no "loose ends" (endless space in the background)

Do Archviz background trees need to be real geometry? They could be part of a b/g HDR, or plates?

They do not necessarily need to be geometry but I have had some experiments with the following and couldn't really get it to work. Do you have any tips or ways to implement it?

Maybe you could refine the question: "I need no render-time trees to achieve  effect X in shots like Y in  style Z" ? or something like that, with illustration?  There will be folks here who are slicker and quicker at archviz than me, I'm sure..

I had never heard the word Archviz before and it greatly helped my search parameter. If I can't find an answer I will try and make a new question. Thanks for the help

Glad that helps! ..You could just edit this question.. if that's easier


text:
Second image is cropping the backplate!
Hello my fellow blenders.
I was playing around with adding decals with the shader editor/nodes but I stumbled upon a problem where the mask of the 2. image is also masking everything outside the image. How can I change that?

The tagged texture is alpha and black if outside the texture, using clipping in the image texture node.
You can use this alpha channel this way so that the fac value stays 0 when outside of the texture:


text:
Problem : Character fbx export has weird animation becaus of IK
I made a character in blender and add few actions to that. Also i used IK for legs and every thing is okay in blender viewport and animations work well. But when i export it as *fbx , it’s legs becomes weird.
I cant understand what the problem is because I previously made character with IK for legs and it works well as *fbx. because In that succesfull case i added IK influences as keyframes. Also in that case i animate copy rotation influences for legs. But now for this case they doesn’t work.
I’ve tried a lot of solutions such as apply transform , bake animation. But none of them work and character always have weird legs.
here , what we see in blender :

and these are what we see in exprted *fbx :

Thanks my merciful God ! Solution Found !
I make the character like a 2D in (( X-Z Plane )). Its just like a 2D object.
So in fpx export settings and in Armature options , i set primary bone axis to X axis and secondary bone axis to Z axis.

Now legs are okay !


text:
Spin tool in Blender 2.92.0 rotates only around z-axis by default
The documentation says that the spin tool will extrude faces along an arc rotating around the axis of the viewport. No matter which axis my viewport is oriented to, and no matter where my 3D-cursor is, my spin tool makes an arc around the z-axis. In order to spin around the x- or y-axes, I have to open the Spin menu and type in a 1 for the axis I want and type in a 0 for the z-axis.

Click outside to use view axis.

Spinning around camera view, undo, then TOP ortho.
There may be some magic to using the gizmo that appears if you click a plus, revealing the default Z axis path, but it is a slippery beast and TBH I have no idea how to control it. (apart from moving the pivot point)  Perhaps someone will add a better answer re this..
So I resort to align the view to axis I wish to spin around, then click outside the gizmo and spin around similarly to rotation.

Yeah the usability is lacking a bit - I always use the pop-up menu to control it :).

am going to feel so embarrassed if someone posts how to use the gizmo and it is easy, I usually end up spinning on at least 2 other axes than the one  I want by the time I get there.  I rarely use the UI,.


text:
Do I need to add a MixRGB node for all of my decals in order for their colors to be changed in a 3D configurator?
I am preparing a blender model for a 3D configurator, which I have never done before, and I need the logos to be able to change color with certain color changes to the main surfaces of the model. Do I need to add a MixRBG node to all of them with the other color I want or can I take care of all of that in the configurator?
I have two wraps and all logos need to change between pink and white/orange. Right now I have a mixRBG node for the wraps and logos, using a property driver to change between the two.

So, what is the question?

I think the details of this lie in the configurator, it's in your best interest to do some testing to see what you can do, if you don't have any documentation.

Thanks! Yeah, I'm thinking I might just be able to take care of it in the configurator. At least for the surfaces, not sure about decals though.

My question is: Do I need to add mixRBG nodes to everything I want to have color options in my configurator? (including decals) Or does the configurator have the ability to differentiate all of my layers and define/change their colors?


text:
Is there an easy way to keep meshes in one piece when uv unwrapping?
I am trying to add a wrap design to a model in blender. I assume uv mapping is the easiest way to do that, however when I unwrap my surfaces, the meshes are getting split up instead of staying in one whole shape. Is there any easy way to get the meshes to project as the single surface that they are projected from?

I basically just want to flatten the mesh in order to easily scale it to the wrap template. Also, the model is a 3DM file imported from rhino.

you could try a project from view from the right point and do the rest manually. But only project for the part that lines up don't select your whole mesh and then do it from every angle

I tried project from view but then it is not true to the flattened shape. I was using that and scaling the mesh and then adjusting the shape but it warped the image on the 3d model.

Okay, you probably have to add your seams manually. Go to the UV Editing space and put the seams there where the texture would be cut. If you don't know how just google for a basic tutorial.

Thanks for the help! I just marked all of the edges of each surface as seams but it isn't keeping the mesh together. Is there a way to remesh everything?

Hello, Julia :). Manual unwrapping seems like the best way here. But marking edge seams everywhere is seldom useful. Perhaps try to watch a few tutorials on unwrapping, it'll save you a lot of time (and hair pulling) :).

Thanks Jachym! I have watched a lot of videos but haven't really found what I am looking for...is there any way to just project an image onto the model and then move it around almost like a decal? I feel like this should be a lot easier than it is turning out to be.

Also relevant, sometimes imported models have lots of vertices that are in the same position as each other, so it is actually split up. Select all, and use “merge by distance“ to check for this.

Merge by distance seemed to be the key, thank you!!


text:
Can .gltf files read mixRGB nodes in material setup?
I am trying to export a model that has a material that is made of layered image textures and combined using mixRGB nodes. Here is what the setup looks like: How do I eliminate the white outline on my layered textures?
Does anyone know how to export as a .gltf so all of my colors and images show up? Currently I am just getting a black model. I have gone through the gltf 2.0 blender page and tried to follow those parameters but I can't seem to get it right. It seems like .gltf doesn't register/translate the mixRGB nodes??

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/57531/fbx-export-why-there-are-no-materials-or-textures/57541

@Julia, the glTF format describes a number of PBR parameters (base color, metallic, roughness, etc), but each one can only be a texture or a solid color.  It can't include mix nodes or other Blender-material-specific things.  Merge the images together into a single, final texturemap, and attach that to the base color input.


text:
Is there an easy way to create a model with multiple texture inputs and then easily switch between them?
I created a model in blender and wrapped it with two custom images, I want to be able to toggle between each wrap. Is there an easy way to have two inputs for the wraps and then turn one off/on?
I used uv mapping in order to wrap the model.

Hello :). You can plug both into a Mix RGB node - and then toggle between 0 or 1.

Sweet! Thank you :)

In Object Properties tab add a custom property:

Right-click its value and choose Copy As New Driver:

Go to your shader and put a Mix RGB node as a switch between the two textures, right-click its Factor input and choose Paste Driver:

In 3D Viewport select your object (in Object Mode), press N to open the Numbers panel, expand Properties section and change the property.

If I want to export the model to three.js or another 3d rendering engine for my website, will I be able to toggle between the two wraps? Or do I need to do something special when exporting? Thank you for the awesome step-by-step for my last question! That was super helpful :)

I found this article that seems helpful https://medium.com/@matthewmain/how-to-import-a-3d-blender-object-into-a-three-js-project-as-a-gltf-file-5a67290f65f2

I think GLTF format is limited to a single texture as base color. This problem seems to be more relevant to the framework you're using and people with expertise in three.js might have a solution ready for swapping a material or a single node (texture) in the node setup generated by the GLTF importer of three.js.

If this was "super helpful", please consider to accept the answer @JuliaKaiser https://blender.stackexchange.com/help/someone-answers, thanks.


text:
Modifying a rig made in Rigify clears the animations
I am animating a quadruped and when I had the feet, body and head ready.
I started doing the tail. At this point I noticed that I was missing more bones for it to deform well.
So I went to my meta rig, I added more subdivisions and generated the rig again, but all the keys of what I had animated were deleted.
Is there a solution to add bones without destroying the animation already made?
I made sure to put overwrite in the rigify options, but it didn't work either.
I am using blender 2.92
Thanks!

If you regenerate the rig, it generates a new one and replace the previous. But animation data stored separately in Data blocks. So what you need to do:
Open Dope sheet and change its type to Action editor. In the center of the header you will see the data block:

Press Shield icon to make sure, that block will not be removed. And keep in mind the name of it.
Then regenerate the rig and address to action editor again. You will see something like this:

Click on this icon and browse your data block here. Once you are done the animation will be restored.

When you will get familiar with data blocks, you will be able to transfer animations between files and rigs, store different animations for the same rig and mix them together in NLA editor!

Thanks a lot! it was exactly what I needed and couldn't find!


text:
Remove edges in mirror
I want to modify the topology of a model, but when I was eliminating edge loops with symmetry, I realized that the edges of the opposite side were not erased along with the ones I had selected.

Is there a way to erase the geometry in both parts without resorting to cutting the mesh in half and using the mirror modifier?
I use blender 2.91 and testing 2.92.
Thanks!

Why not use the mirror modifier?

Press A to select whole mesh, then F3 and search for Symmetrize; make sure to choose the correct direction.


text:
Distribute objects in a straight line aligned to normal with geo nodes [Blender 3.0]
How would I generate points in a straight line in a given direction, then align or snap or distribute those points along the normal of an object, and then use those points to distribute a second object. The farthest I got was to generate a mesh line, distribute that with a vertex group from the bottom, and then use an instance on points to distribute my second object. The issue is that I can't translate each of the the points from the mesh line to snap to the normal of the object I'm distributing on.
I understand that I can edit the mesh itself to create a bunch of vertices in a line, add them to a vertex group and use that as the selection input for an "Instance on Points" node. I want to recreate something similar without adding a ton of geometry, and that could ideally be used on different object.
I know this question is kinda confusing but I think the pictures will clarify.

What I'm trying to accomplish, this was done by adding vertices to the actual mesh

What I've managed with geo nodes

My best efforts node setup

If you want to keep it simple, just create a vertex group, convert it to a curve, and instantiate your objects along that curve.
Additionally, as seen here in this example, you can transfer the normals of the original faces/points and apply them as rotation when instantiating.

Note that the node Named Attribute is only available from Blender 3.2. If you use a lower version, then you would have to get the vertex group in via a Group Input!
(Blender 3.2)


text:
cannot draw on texture
Im new and I am currently making the donut. For some reasons I can't paint on it, does anyone know how I can solve this problem?

From what I'm seeing, you need to add a texture paint slot, found under the tools tab at the very top. Just click the part that says "add texture paint slot" pick "base color" set the resolution and I ASSUME that will fix your problem.


text:
Blender tutorial plate moves on differen axises when I try to move it on Z axis

I tried using move tool and G Z but it's the same story

Did you rotate the plate after you created it? Is your tool axis set to “global“ or “local“ at the top of the 3-D view?

I may said it a bit wrong. I didn't rotate it. When i try to move it upwards it clips to this position as shown in the photo and when i try to center it it just moves down

It seems rather strange. Do you have snap turned on (small magnet icon next to the axis setting mentioned)

Thank you that fixed the problem!


text:
How to smooth/fillet a shape imported from SVG
I'm trying to import a SVG shape and smooth it out to be 3D printed as a necklace pendant.
Import SVG > Solidify > Subdivision and i get weird results.

Similar problem with:
Import SVG > Solidify > Smooth
I also tried remap but could not get good results.
What's the best way to get around this problem without retracing it in blender?
blender file
SVG file

This is probably happening because of very narrow triangles going back-and-forth across the surface.
I might try using Beautify Faces if you are willing to convert it to mesh, but if you don’t want to do that, try the Remesh modifier with various settings.

I get reasonable results with remesh + subdivide, but on a little more complex shape. It get's to slow and blender would crash.

Ah. Hmm. Well, I’m kind of shocked that that’s too heavy for blender, which even more makes me think you should convert the SVG into mesh without any modifiers, and then go into edit mode and see what the vertices and edges look like.

remesh + subdivide worked on the texas example. But on the a more complex shape imported from svg it hangs before i can crank up remesh and subdivide high enough to get good results.(8 cores, 32GB). I did convert curve to mesh as a first step.

Beautify Faces did help a bit


text:
Selecting an object via scripting?
As shown below, I have 2 nested spheres, each with a different material (inner = "1", outer = "2"). Ultimately, I need to select the inner sphere (material "1") via python scripting.
I've found a number of ways to select (or make active) one of the spheres. However, even though Blender says that it's selecting the correct sphere (indicated by orange line around center sphere), I don't believe it's active -- adding a modifier applies it to the outer sphere instead. That, and the material properties show the properties of the outer sphere.

bpy.data.objects['Sphere.017']

refers to an object. (Lets assume all names in quotes are the names of objects in your Blender Scene)
2.8 Recent Version of the API
bpy.data.objects["Cube"].select_set(True)
# to select the object in the 3D viewport,

current_state = bpy.data.objects["Cube"].select_get()
# retrieving the current state

# this way you can also select multiple objects

bpy.context.view_layer.objects.active = bpy.data.objects['Sphere']
# to set the active object

https://docs.blender.org/api/current/bpy.types.LayerObjects.html#bpy.types.LayerObjects

⚠Older Version of API 2.79
A python script can do something with that.
You can also use
bpy.data.objects['Cube'].select = True
# to select the object in the 3D viewport,
# this way you can also select multiple objects

# additionally you can use
bpy.context.scene.objects.active = bpy.data.objects['Sphere.017']
# to make it the active selected object

Atomic -- this was precisely was looking for (last suggestion). I don't know how I missed this in the online literature. Thank you!!!

For some inexplicable reason, in Blender 2.8 you have to use obj.select_set(True) with a different method for checking selection: obj.select_get()

This answer no longer works for Blender 2.8. I've tried it and there are no such fields in object like select, or active.

But it works another way - here is the solution: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/132825/python-selecting-object-by-name-in-2-8

Correct version on how to set the active object: bpy.context.view_layer.objects.active = bpy.context.scene.objects['Cube'] (in 2020), see: https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/132829/31447

"Please don't edit someone elses question to reflect edits to your answer." Thanks. From the revisions of the question: https://blender.stackexchange.com/posts/38618/revisions Notice that a moderator already rolled back your ediits as well.

Is there any other easier ways of doing that, like copy python reference from the outliner, or having it displayed in the "info" pannel so it's easier to copy it afterward ? Like for example if I select from the outliner, I have "bpy.ops.outliner.item_activate(deselect_all=True)" it would be better to have full text.

I'm just doing my duty here. Quick answer that works in 2.8:
objectToSelect = bpy.data.objects["objectName"]
objectToSelect.select_set(True)
bpy.context.view_layer.objects.active = objectToSelect

You need that last line. Without it I couldn't switch into edit mode. I got the answer here. I wanted to post it here, which is actually the question that comes up when you google this, but it has been locked and now only points to this question which thanks to @piotao pointed me to the answer.

You say that the modifier doesn't get added to the right object - the selected and active objects are only an issue if you are using operators, by directly manipulating data you don't have to bother with what is selected or active unless you want to know the selected object/s as the items that the script will work on.
The line -
mod = bpy.data.objects['Cube'].modifiers.new(name='subsurf',type='SUBSURF')

will add a subsurf modifier to the object named 'Cube' and return the modifier item to the mod variable. You can then use mod.levels = 3 to set the viewport subdivisions and mod.render_levels = 3 to set the render subdivisions.
For the type value of a modifier you can find a list here.

NOTE: this does not work in 2.8
If you find this article and are working on 2.8 or newer the syntax is now: ob = bpy.context.scene.objects["Cube.031"] bpy.objects is NO MORE....

@NoirTalon bpy.data.objects still exists in 2.80. Using the 2.80 release I see that this works but there is a delay in updating, the viewport and properties don't show the result until you do something else (like zoom the viewport or click on the object), this is no longer the case with the daily build so will be fixed in 2.81.

authors: Никита Джосан

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


text:
Add modifier to selected and another to active object
I am trying to set up an operator to use the BoolTool after I set a position and modifier on Selected object and a different one on the Active object. I basically need to move the selected object up in Z and add a solidify modifier at .3 thickness, and to the Active I need to add a solidify at .1 thickness and remain in original position.
I thought I understood how to get this to work, but all I get is both modifiers on the Active object. Any hint as to where to go from here?
class SolidfyDifference(bpy.types.Operator):
"""Solidify and Difference Mask"""
bl_idname = "object.solidfy_difference"
bl_label = "Add Solidy and Difference Bool"
bl_options = { 'REGISTER','UNDO' }

def execute(self, context):
    scene = context.scene

    sel = bpy.context.selected_objects
    act = bpy.context.active_object

    for obj in sel:
        if obj != act:
            bpy.ops.object.modifier_add(type='SOLIDIFY')
            bpy.context.object.modifiers["Solidify"].thickness = 0.1

    return {'FINISHED'}

I'd suggest not using modifier add operator and use modifiers.new(name, type) instead.  Avoids hassle of changing the active object and also if using the op to add a second modifier of the same type, would need to access it via obj.modifiers[-1] as it will be named "Solidify.001" or somesuch.
Result of Running Script on 2 default planes

import bpy
context = bpy.context

obj = context.active_object
# add a solidify modifier on active object
mod = obj.modifiers.new("Solidify", 'SOLIDIFY')
# set modifier properties
mod.thickness = 0.3
obj.location.z += 0.15
for o in context.selected_objects:
    if o == obj:
        continue
    # see if there is already a modifier named "SelectedSolidify" and use it
    mod = o.modifiers.get("SelectedSolidify")
    if mod is None:
        # otherwise add a modifier to selected object
        mod = o.modifiers.new("SelectedSolidify", 'SOLIDIFY')
    mod.thickness = 0.1
    o.location.z = 0.05
    # add a boolean mod
    boolmod = obj.modifiers.new("Bool", 'BOOLEAN')
    boolmod.object = o
    boolmod.solver = 'CARVE'
    boolmod.operation = 'DIFFERENCE'

Main purpose I am trying to achieve: two planes selected, one is active - add a solidify modifier to both, but the non-active needs to be at a different thickness so a boolean difference can be added as a modifier and return a solid result.

@CraigDJones I added a boolean modifier to the active object that carves out the difference bool to each selected object. Produces an "empty sandwich" for two def planes at same location.  Hardcoded in 0.3 and 0.1 etc, these could be passed to an operator as properties.

Try something like that :
sel = bpy.context.selected_objects
act = bpy.context.active_object

for obj in sel:
 if obj != act:
    bpy.context.view_layer.objects.active = obj #sets the obj accessible to bpy.ops
    bpy.ops.object.modifier_add(type='SOLIDIFY')
    bpy.context.object.modifiers["Solidify"].thickness = 0.1

bpy.context.view_layer.objects.active = act

That was pretty much the answer - by assigning the status of Active, I can swap to the other selection by naming it as active and giving it a new modifier with different settings.

This option is not possible now with the change in API for post 2.8 series

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


text:
How to group objects?
I have selected several objects and pressed Ctrl+G. Or I have selected several objects, then click Object -> Group -> Create new group.
It doesn't matter what I do. The only thing that happens is the Create New Group panel appears and I am able to enter a name for the group.

It's nice but I need group to appear in scene graph and I be able to manipulate with multiple objects as a whole.
Is it possible in Blender?

Group won't appear in the Outliner window (if you mean that with "scene graph") when it's set to All Scenes or alike. You can select objects by group (Shift+G menu) or use Outliner sorting options. Similar question was asked recently - http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/69225/how-to-sort-3d-models-like-adding-tags-to-them-and-select-3d-by-tags

Also see here how groups work in Blender and a possible workflow http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/47295/sketchup-like-components-case-study-is-it-in-or-even-feasible/47311#47311

On the top of the outliner, there is a drop down that says all scenes, click it, and set it to Groups.
If you are trying to manipulate all of the individual meshes at one time (as in Edit Mode), then you should use Join (Highlight all desired objects to Join & Ctrl + J


text:
Blender EEVEE pixelated render. No denoise options?
I'm a beginner in Blender and I'm trying to render a scene using Blender 2.8.
Unfortunately the result shows strong pixelation.  As far as I learned for version 2.7 (Cycles) you have to use a denoise function as described here.
But I don't find a function like this for EEVEE. I have tried to use a higher number of samples. this also improves the result. But these coarse light pixels remain. Does there exist a function or method I missed to reduce pixelation?

Main Object

4K resolution - 512 Samples

HD resolution - 32 Samples

Indeed there are no denoise options in Blender Eevee for now.
What you can do instead is playing with the filter size, which can be found here:

Little demo of how it works:

Just do some tests and see what works better on your case. Each render is different.
Alternatively, you can use the D-noise addon which will allow you to use denoising on anything using Blender's Compositor.

Download page.
Demo video

Thanks L0Lock, that was a great suggestion! Filter size can remove some of the large white noise, but it does blur the image a bit, hence, experimentation is needed. D-Noise does a good job of removing low-level noise in EEVEE, although it doesn't automatically launch itself after rendering in the experimental builds of 2.8 (only in the official 2.8 build). :-)

Also increasing filter size can have performance benefits. For example, at 128 samples, an HD render dropped from 128 seconds to 96 seconds by increasing filter size to 1.75 pixels (from the 1.50 default size).

If you use very high power light, say 100 KW or more in your render, this incident of pixelation will happen.

Under Output Properties There are options to change the file format. Test the different File Formats I found that AVI JPEG rendered a clear animation for me without making render times longer (note my scene is extremely simple so this may vary).


text:
The drool simulation
Can you tell me how to make the drool simulation like here: https://youtu.be/gR2OhFLkLM0#t=5m6s?
Fluid simulation doesn't give sticky effect, it's just water. I tried to stretch mesh using softbody, but mesh just stretched out and practically didn't change its shape. In short, it turned out nonsense.

I have no more ideas how to do this.

Maybe you could try with bones, for example bendy bones + Stretch To constraint, at least you would have 100% control on it

Perhaps you can do this with the cloth simulation?

Yeah, with Cloth it looks better. But how to control the central part of mesh? I tried to add a bone to that place, but when start simulation, it doesn't affect the mesh. https://i.sstatic.net/x6YAW.gif


text:
Blender energy effects
I'm trying to have one of my character fire a ki blast from his palm (anime style). Now in terms of the effects would i do that while animating my models or would i model and animate the blast itself during the composite phase of my project?

if you are on 2.8, animate the blast. use emission. model it. use bloom effect. If you're on 2.79 do it on post.

I'm using 2.79. What do you mean by do it on post??

I mean you can use mask to create a roto shape on your finalized animation. You (draw) on the compositor.


text:
How to import buildings/terrain from google earth
I'm making a live action short film where the characters fly a magic carpet over a city. It's a fast paced scene with the characters weaving around buildings and plummeting to the ground, and using drone footage as a background plate for my green screen footage wont work.
I was thinking of going CG for the view of the city using Blender, but then my problem is getting the model/materials.
I know Google Earth has very good coverage of the city this takes place in, so is there any good way to export Google Earth terrain/building data into Blender so I can proceed to tidy up the models/materials and render it in Cycles?

I think that Google Earths datas are just images  (360° images for exemple) . You can't export it to a 3D model directly. But you can use the google's 360° images to set your World Background.

Google earth does have actual 3D data for many cities (not all though) but as far as I know there is no way to access this data outside of the web. As Yee mentions below openstreemap is probably your only option, though don't expect full fledged 3D models already textured from the start.

Google has copyrights for all their maps by the way.

As far as I know There is no way to do this from Google Earth. There is, however a site called openstreetmaps.org that lets you do what you are envisioning. A great tutorial i found is CG Geek's Realistic city tutorial
you probably dont need to watch the whole thing, but the first part will show you how to do this

I guess then I could walk around the city taking photos for textures.  But what about terrain data?

There is an addon to simplify the import from google earth : Maps Models Importer
Article and video on how this work:
Article,
Thread on BlenderArtists,
YouTube tutorial.
There is also this addon to help import terrain, road, and flat building : Blender GIS


text:
How to scale Blender units into centimeters on Freestyle SVG export?
I made a blueprint in Blender and I need to export it into SVG for a laser cut.
I tried units and centimeters.
I have 50 cm\units long plane.
When I use Freestyle SVG exporter, neither Adobe Illustrator nor Inkscape shows my plane to be 50 of anything (so I know the whole image scale is wrong). I tried to scale it in Inkscape and open that in Illustrator - the ruler still shows random lenght (DPI doesn't match?).
How do I manage this? Should I still use some measurement object and rescale in vector editors or is there some easier way?

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/64914/setting-camera-to-position-where-it-can-render-a-seamless-repetable-orthographic/64920#64920

@DuarteFarrajotaRamos that doesn't explain much to me. 1 unit is 4000 px. And then? When I open SVG, Inkscape and Illustrator shows different lenghts in centimiters for the same object, and numbers are far away from mine.


text:
Material Library VX Textures
im trying to set up my material library with Material Library VX addon.
It works fine but when i apply a material in a new scene it packs the textures in to
the blendfile. Is there a way that the textures are not packed, so i dont need to
click “Use file in original location” every time?


text:
Child changes position, rotation upon import in Unity
I am trying to export a model from Blender (2.9) to Unity via FBX.
Location, scale and rotation are applied to all objects in the model, but still the eyes rotation and position change upon importing.
Does anybody have a hint what to look at?

For the future: You can just throw in blend files into Unity, it can handle those. No need to export to fbx.

Alright,
I got a hunch and it worked. Here's what I did:
Joined the eyes into the cat model and then separated them back into single objects.


text:
Object locations totally messed up
this will be hard to explain clearly, so i'll go through step by step.
make a robot, assign various robot parts with specific origins.
Learn about bones, give it bones, move it around by dragging the armature in the viewport.
I''ve had some odd problems with animating problem1 probably the same problem
so i tried checking the origins of some of the parts. as soon as i did things like 'origin to geometry' or even 'editmode-selectall-snapcursortoselected' these parts would fly over near the centre of the viewport.
so i 'applied all transforms' and look at this mess
what w see here is, the bones have broken free from their meshes, the origins are kinda random but mostly over toward the right of the pic, the feet (silver ball things) have run off, the legs are a broken mess, the gun has fallen off.
spooky action at a distance stuff. i have entangled worlds

what the hell is happening
how did it get so bad
is there a reasonable way to fix this rather than rebuild piece by piece?

hard to say, maybe share your file: https://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/

@moonboots Cheers mate, I've 'lightened' the file a lot and marked the offending bits in yellow.
link

I don't see what you're talking about, but I'm not sure about your rigging. First thing I would put all my bones inside the same armature. Second thing I would create a foot bone that would be parented by the IK controller bone (the one currently called Right foot), and I wouldn't give the controller a Limit Distance constraint, that doesn't seem to work fine

pt 1 of 2
thanks for taking a look.
I realise how messy my question is, becasue ive been working on it and after  so many iterations, ive forgotten what ive said.
I believe the underlying problem is the same, but what ive uploaded is a totally new armature with refinements in many ways.
BUT, the piston barrels still flick around when the robot moves.
I'm convinced that if we solve that, we solve all of my problems.
when you play the animation, robot will glide across in font of the camera. nothign else should happen, but you'll see the yellow piston barrels flicking.

pt 2 of 3
regarding your suggestions: I initially put all the bones in  the same armature, but when applying the damped track, i couldnt select the armature. I had incorrectly assumed that they had to be seperate armatures.

pt 3 of 3
I'll try all the suggestions, but dont understand the additional footbone. I think.. you want me to add another bone to the foot, maybe call it IK, take the ik off the current 'right foot' and apply it to the new IK bone, and then parent the 'right foot' to the IK bone? although its currently parented to the shin bone.
the min/max limits are to prevent the piston tube ripping out of the piston barrel if the legs move too far

might have an answer - https://blenderartists.org/t/wierd-random-dotted-line-connected-to-bone/568213/7

Piston problem!
https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/182934/damped-track-on-object-in-armature-moves-in-unexpected-and-irregular-way

so have you found your answer?

i saved at an inopportune time and both problems are now deeply integrated into the file. but i think i have both answers, it will just take a lot of work to unpick all the bits. might be faster to start all over
so, the flicking piston is because you cant have two objects trackign to eachother. workaround, is to add a child object right next to 'piston base' and have the piston tube target the child instead.
the feet thing is to do with that 'weird random line connected to bone' link above
but until i actually do the work, i cant fully confirm


text:
how do I... comp/blur/depth of field an object so that it comes into view as the camera dollys?
Bad headline sorry,
here's a frog in a cage

the idea is, we first see froggy through the bars, which are so blurry we cant really figure them out.

as shown in this comp attempt ^above^ .because the most extreme depth of field just dont cut it -below-.

but using the current comp setup, when trying to blend the two layers together, I cant nicely merge them.
its sposed to look like pic 1 after the blur transition (and the camera pulls back)

so my next aattempt will be to animate froggy bouncing in his cage for a bit, duplicating him, making his duplicate vantablack and sending frog noir to the cage layer to act as a mask
and then blacking out everything behind the cage or just making its own alpha-relevant movie to put in top.
the next part of the animation is that the cage and frog interact in ways that make separate layers a pain. so i guess i'd make a duplicate cage and hide it out of sight until the blur transition finishes and then swap them over.
and maybe this will look good, but it will take days to find out (i'm slow).
also considering motion blur and using the graph editor modifiers to shake the shit outta the cage until the camera moves back, but..
anyone got an elegant solution?

Hey :). Why not just control the focus in camera during rendering? It'll give way better results than compositing.

Ya would be much easier, see pic 3 tho :(


text:
why Booleans slow my computer more than expected

Hi, I'm on a 3.2Ghz 6core AMD processor, 16Gb Ram, GTX 1050Ti vid card.
Blender 2.91, via Steam ( so auto updates)
usually works fine, so I'm suspicious of how i'm working.
The mesh was a curve, converted to mesh, cleaned of excess Verts and extruded.
The cylinders (holes 6mm/8mm/10mm) are the default 32 sided, I've changed the dimensions and applied transforms.
Difference boolean calls on the 'Holes colection' which has the cylinders in it.
a couple of arrays spread out the cylinders/holes which display as wire.
it.. chuggs.. soo... slow..
is 32 sides on the cylinders considered excessive?
should I get rid of the arrays and make instances of the cylinders?
have i missed something obvious?

I don't know if you're using one of the latest versions, but now it automatically sets the mode to "Exact" which is really really slow compared to the "Fast" method. Please show the boolean settings

this is the answer!

Unluckily Boolean is super laggy, just get used to it. And set autosave frequency to as small as possible in preferences :D

Blender 2.91 comes with a new "exact" solver for Booleans. The old one is still around but by default EXACT it enabled.
There's the option "fast" in the Boolean Modifier (this enables the old algorithm/solver). If you click it you get way better performance but a less accurate boolean operation.

3.2GHz is a bit slower than many modern CPU's. Also Blender's calculations are going to be single-threaded so you're not really going to be able to make use of the multiple cores. The only thing that is multithreaded in Blender is rendering.
I would get HWInfo or use Resource Monitor to check your CPU core activity, RAM and disk usage while its slow compared to when it's running smoothly. That should give you an idea of where the bottleneck is (if there is one).
Also as Gorgious noted, there is a new(ish) "Exact" solver for boolean modifier/tool which can slow it down a bit.


text:
What sculpting tools would I use to separate a jaw from the skull?
I'm pretty new to sculpting and 3d modeling overall and just picked up blender yesterday. I modelled this dinosaur head and now I want to model teeth, but the problem is that my model is made from one mesh (except for the eyes) and there is no oral cavity. So I need to find a way to cut trough the lips so I can have the initial shape of mouth then sculpt it.
I've tried using a subtractive brush, but i couldn't cut across very evenly. I tried using the knife tool in another mode but it didnt cut though, not super sure why it didn't work.
What would be the optimal steps for separating the jaw from everything else?
or would I just have to cut my loses and use the subtractive brush
This is what I have so far:

There is the Boolean Modifier in Blender. It's can be used to separate, merge, and cut off parts of objects/meshes. In your case, you can easily cut the lips and create an oral cavity with it. Then use the Pose brush to open the mouth.
Separate the lips
First, create a "knife". For this, switch to Object Mode (CTRL + TAB). Add a plane (SHIFT + A). Add a Solidify modifier to add some thickness. (The modifiers are located on the right side. Click the blue wrench icon.) Add the Solidify modifier, adjust the Thickness, then apply the modifier (in Blender 2.9, you need to press the little arrow on the right side of the modifier's name). Then scale and rotate the "knife" so you can place it between the lips of your dino head. Use S to scale. While scaling you can (for example) press X to restrict the scale to the X-axis. Use R to rotate, and G to move it around.

Now cut the lips apart. To do so, place the "kife" right at the beginning of the dino's lips between them where you want to separate them. Select the dino's head. Add the Boolean modifier to the head. In the modifier's options select the plane ("knife") as Object value, use the default mode Difference to cut out geometry. Apply the modifier. After that, move the knife a bit further along the lips into the head, apply again a Boolean modifier. Repeat these steps again if needed until you have cut the full length of the lips.

Create the oral cavity
This is very easy to do. Still in Object Mode, just add a sphere, scale it and place the dino's head where the cavity should be. Then select the head, and apply a Boolean modifier with the sphere as Object value and mode Difference.
Open the mouth
Switch to Sculpt mode. Use the Mask brush to mask the upper jaw of the head. This prevents that this area is affected by brushes. Then use the Pose brush with big size to move the lower jaw down. This part is a bit tricky since it still can happen that some vertices from the upper jaw are dragged down. Try to hide the masked area or use the Pose brush at a different spot or angle.

In the Sculpt menu you can hide masked areas and reveal them again.
The added geometry (cavity) has a lower vertex count. Switch on Wireframe overlay or to Edit mode to check it. You can use the Remesh in Sculpt Mode, or activate DynTopo and touch the area with the Clay brush and a very low strength to add needed geometry when you want to sculpt details there.

I got to the "open the mouth step", when I use the mask tool, nothing happens. Underneath all the Booleans I added, they all have the same error, "Sculpt: Hide, Mask and optimized display disabled". I'm not sure what is causing this

I applied the booleans but the mask tool still doesn't work.

Oh, I see. The error (it's more a warning) you will get when there are modifiers added but not applied yet. Yes, in this case, the mask is painted but you can't see it. That's annoying. Just apply the Boolean modifiers in the stack and you will see it. (It's the black area, colored areas are Facesets). I've added a screenshot above how to apply a modifier because in Blender 2.8 there is a button and in Blender 2.9 you need to use the drop down menu.

Enable bool tool from addons then go to side view by hitting 3 numpad and press shift + A and add a single vertex (you should to Enable addon : Add mesh : Extra objects) go to vertex select to an select your single vertex now by Pressing E extrude your vertex and make a line through where you want to make a cut. Extrude the line through the mesh again and just a little thickness . now go in object mode . select  your cutter object and then your dinosaur head and press CTRL + - to Mines what you want from your head , you can use repeat this way for making a hole for mouth too
PM me if you need more help .
GL.


text:
Can I create a noise texture with a "darker end"?
I made a logo in photoshop a while ago and I am now trying to make it in Blender.
I'm really new to nodes and I somehow managed to create something that looks quite like the real deal. The only thing left to do with the texture is to make it have a "gradient limit" or something that'll make it turn darker after a while.
I'm not a certified explainer so I attached two images.
NOTE: the "PTV" is from the reference image so I haven't gotten that fixed
What I'm getting

What I'm trying to get

Couldn't you just tweak the darker stop of your color ramp node further to the left ? If you want non-linear distribution you can try plugging a map range node with a smooth interpolation or use a RGB Curves for more granular settings. Let me know if you can't do it

You can add multiple materials to an object in Blender. In Edit Mode just select the faces of the outer part and assign them to a new material. In the example I've done this for the outer, middle (white line), and the inner part.
The "darker end" can be created with a ColorRamp and a MixRGB node in the node setup. Set the mode of the MixRGB node to Multiply and factor to 1.0. To move the "darker end" of the outer part to the bottom right I had to add a Mapping node and rotate the position a bit.

The shading for the inner area looks similar. Just swapped the grey values of the  ColorRamp to darken the top right part of this area a bit.

If the colors appear too dark you might need more light in your scene. The logo on the screenshot is 3m tall (to get the shading right) and there is a 3000W point light, 3m radius (affects the shadow softness).
With a Solidify modifier you can add some depth/3D to your logo and it gets some nice light reflections. Add a plane as background to see the drop shadow if you want.
I removed the Alpha channel since it's always 1 and it had no use(?). If you activate the Node Wranger addon that ships with Blender you can press CTRL + SHIFT + LMB to get a preview of the selected node. This can help a lot to see what's going on.


text:
Why does my model's edges are too hard?
Sorry for the question, but I honestly don't clearly understand this issue (well, not an issue at all). So, I modeled a simple door knob, with a considerable low topology because well, I didn't think I would need more, also, I've inspected some models with not-that-much geometry and they look smooth. But there is something that I'm clearly missing here, because the edges of the door knob looks way too hard. I've read on the site that it may be something about the normals? But pretty much all of them suggest to use Shift+E to apply an Edge Crease, which doesn't seem to make a difference.
This is my door knob. As you see, it looks like very low poly, instead of smooth. I should say that the door knob is part of a bigger model (a small wooden warehouse), and not a separate part on itself.

As an example, here's another door knob from a another model which it seems to have almost the same geometry, but this one looks smooth.

https://blenderartists.org/t/how-can-i-make-this-model-appear-smoother/1257114/2

I'll try that, thanks!

The texture and lighting on the second image make it seem smoother since it's harder to distinguish between the faces, even though it has very similar geometry.
To fix this issue, you can select the mesh, go to the Object menu at the top of the viewport, and click on shade smooth. This will make the object appear smooth even though it has fairly simple geometry. However, this approach can cause some issues with shading and lighting not appearing realistic.
If shading smooth doesn't fix the appearance well enough, try using a subdivision surface modifier to add more faces to the mesh and give it a rounder appearance. You can use this modifier and the shade smooth option for the best results.

I'll give it a try, thanks!


text:
How to create a face in between two already connected edges?

Basically I'd like to create a new face right in that selected edge to achieve something like this:

Does Blender have a tool/option to do this or do I need to recreate all of that manually?

You can bevel the edges with CtrlB:

Then you dissolve the vertices of these extra edges with CtrlX:

Never thought of that honestly, many thanks!

To add to Hulifier's answer, you can also use the knife tool, K to activate, A to cut orthogonally, right click to release, Enter to validate, then CtrlX to dissolve the edges:


text:
How to get rid of "black and white stripes" artifacts after baking a diffuse texture in Blender 2.9?
So, I'm working with a scanned model; already cleaned up, 4k faces, a lot of textures of 2048x2048. Because of the last thing I mentioned (many textures for one single and simple model), I want to bake those textures so I could get just one to work with (this is actually my first time doing baking). Everything seems to be set up correctly, but after I tried to do the baking process, some weird artifacts (black and white stripes) appeared covering the entire texture.
I tried to change the Max Ray distance, which didn't seem to work. I also checked faces orientation, and they were fine. Also, I changed the device to render from CPU to GPU, and nothing. Finally, I changed the image resolution of the texture and...well, it improved a little, somehow. I honestly don't know if there's a relation with the image resolution (didn't find anything about it on Blender documentation).

Also, I followed this answer here, since I've never worked with baking before, and I saw this question too, however, I did get the same result.

It looks like a UV map issue, maybe on the low poly. Have you checked it? Or make it again if you've changed some parts of the lowpoly geometry?

I used Smart UV Project for the UV Mapping, it looked way better than the original UVs, should I do something else for the UV mapping? like, manually?

It depends on the result you now have. Often, giving a little extrusion is needed.


text:
Why is blender failing to start up?
so i recently had a virus that deleted the files for my computer to start up and i reinstalled windows 10 on my computer and when i reinstalled blender it failed to start quoting this message.
so i deleted it and got the 32bit version and same error, deleted and installed 64bit, same error.

i am not good with computers so i really need the help and am thankful for it

Did you reinstall Windows 10 as 32bit? That would have caused the issue, as Blender needs a 64bit OS and hardware to run.

no i reinstalled 64bit


text:
Color Value appears to be Logarithmic in 2.92
I've run across a new "feature" wherein the value of a color node appears to be logarithmic rather than linear, as it was in previous versions. This feature does not appear to be affected by the view transform or color space.

I would like to change it back to the linear 2.91 settings, though I haven't found a way to do so.

That’s funny, the dot slider isn’t moving. That seems like a bug. Any new info as of yet?

Hello, could you tell us on which color field you have clicked to get this color wheel ? Is it an RGB node ?

this particular color field is an RGB node, but it appears to be common to all color fields, including viewport display material color.

I just ran into this as well, when following a tutorial that's using 2.8..really confusing..looks like this is answered in https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/258388/value-in-hsv-not-linear


text:
Is it possible for me to export an animation as an OBJ File?
I have been reading around and cannot seem to find anything that will allow me to save a model animation as an OBJ file that would allow for CFD analysis in a different software. Any help on how to do this would be a great help, thanks!

no OBJ does not support animations,
check more about all the specifications about .obj here:
http://paulbourke.net/dataformats/obj/
I suggest using FBX (.fbx) or Alembic (.abc)
for importing object with animations


text:
Mesh looks OK in wireframe but shading is distorted
Imported an OBJ file in Blender 2.91.0. Mesh looks OK in wireframe view and exports OK to other s/ware but weird in all shaded viewport views. Example included shows object Shaded Flat. All surfaces are concaved. A recurring issue for me. Checked normals are OK, checked no modifiers on the object apart from a collision modifier. Searched the net.  Any ideas?

That's interestingly screwed up.  On properties/object data/geometry, click clear custom normals.  If it doesn't help you out, link a file.

OK that fixed it! Thanks Nathan. Custom normals would have come across in the OBJ file?

Answer provided by Nathan. Solution was to clear custom split normals in Object Data Properties/Geometry Data.


text:
how do you show selected mesh in blender's outliner?
I click on a mesh in the graphical window, and I see the mesh gets highlighted. I go to look at the Blender outliner and I cannot find the mesh. My blender file has 700+ components, and I cannot find the graphically selected object in the outliner. Is there a way to have the outliner automatically scroll to the selected mesh?
I see that there is a similar question answered on this website, but I do not have a number pad to use that answer, so I do not know how to use that solution. Is there a method to find the mesh in the outliner using the mouse, or some other alternative? I see this question as well, but that does not address the issue I am running into.

It is possible to filter the displayed objects in the Outliner by their state. Click on the filter icon and change the object state filter to Selected. The outliner should now only display the selected objects.

If the particular objects are deeply nested in collections and you don't want to step through the hierarchy, disable the Collection filter checkbox. This will display the objects without their collection hierarchy, just one after the other in the outliner.

In your preferences (Edit > Preferences) go to your Keymap Options, and under the Outliner section, scroll down to Show Active.

There you can change it to whatever key you want. Then, after selecting the object in the 3D viewport, hover over the outliner and press your key.
You can also change this Show Active key in many different workspaces such as the 3D viewport to instantly center the camera around the selected object. Though it might be called differently in some workspaces, for example in the 3D viewport it's called Frame Selected, so it might be beneficial to look for the key, not it's name.

If you don't want to mess with key bindings: Hover over the outliner, bring up the Menu Search, then search for Outliner -> Show Active.


text:
How to drag select through all geometries, not just visible geometry
(Using Blender 2.90)
I have a model that has lots of extra geometry (polygons) that I want to delete. I know that I can drag select geometry and then use Ctrl+X to "Dissolve Vertices". My question is, how do I drag select such that I can select all of the hidden faces/vertices as well as the visible geometry so that when I delete, any and all geometry that fit inside that drag-selected box goes away?
In essence, the problem I am trying to solve is that I have to drag and select the exact same box multiple times to actually delete all of the geometry, and that is a waste of time as well as prone to errors in mouse movement.
How do I drag-select and include all visible and non-visible geometry?
Better yet, is there a toggle to switch between visible geometry only and both visible and non-visible when using drag-select?
I see this answer here that looks like what I want, but it references a version of blender that does not match what I have, and I am a noob at Blender, so I do not know how to translate that question into something I can operate on.

If I udnerstand the question, switch viewport shading to Wireframe (Z shortcut in default keymap for pie menu). The direct analogue of option mentioned in the linked answer as of 2.8+ is to enable X-Ray in the top right of default viewport (which in Wireframe mode is on, but you can use X-Ray in any mode)

It works the same way in current versions.
Just toggle the X-Ray button and you can select all faces/vertices under the cursor.


text:
How do you get the vertex manipulator to show up in Blender 2.90?
I see in YouTube videos on blender that there is something called a manipulator. This allows for dragging and scaling on an axis. I cannot find this manipulator on my version of Blender. Here is a picture of what I am talking about:

How do I get that manipulator to show up in Blender 2.90?
This is the link to the video where I took this screenshot.

Activate the Move tool in the Toolbar :

Each tool have a specific manipulator.

There is also a generic manipulator that is visible whenever another tool doesn't override it, if you want that.  You can find that under viewport settings - simply check the Active Object checkbox under Viewport Gizmos:


text:
Where is the Collad exporter window in Blender?
I was reading the manual for Blender and I saw that there is a section just for Collada Exporting. I am trying to find this dropdown spinner/window in Blender. I looked under the addons tab under preferences and it was not there. Where can I find the COLLADA Export window, as shown in the blender manual? (Blender 2.90)

File > Export > Collada. But the image in the manual is a bit out of date.

So, what you are telling me, is that there isn't a way to specify settings when exporting as a COLLADA file? I saw some settings there that I find relevant to my application. All there exists is a way to export the file, and that is it?


text:
How do I insert all actions into unity?
I have been trying to get all my actions into unity for hours now and I can't get it to work, I have enabled the F thing, and I tried a lot of solutions including ones that I have tried my self, but none seem to get all my actions into unity. The only action that is being imported is the one that I have selected and shows in the NLA that it is selected, but other than that I can't get any other action to come with the file
I directly drag in the .blend file into unity btw

"I directly drag in the .blend file into unity btw" That may be the problem. Did you try exporting in FBX then importing it into Unity ?

Ohhhh, thanks...  I feel dumb...

You shouldn't feel dumb, dragging and dropping files should be working imho - but it isn't.


text:
Is it possible to use geometry normal to make textures using geometry position to face normal rotation
I am attempting to make a semi-procedural material that is intended for use in walls. To ensure proper tiling of the texture, I intended to use geometry position as the vector and normal as the rotation, which just gave me the same weird streaks as just position. I spent a good while separating out each cardinal direction using comparisons between x & y as a mask. This sort of worked, but resulted in slightly stretched textures on the diagonals.

I figured this was fine, but as I worked, I found that due to the rotation of the texture mapping, the normal maps were facing the wrong direction, so that the face was lit at odd angles and rarely when the light was straight on.

I tried to use vector rotation on each cardinal to correct the issue, but it seemed that each face had a different rotation offset, making it impossible to correct without rotating literally every face, defeating the purpose of the material.

So, my question is; is there an easier way to do this that does not require UV mapping? Or is this simply an impossible endeavor?

Check this answer from @Rich Sedman .. it talks about the Bricks procedural, but should apply to any 2D texture?

... Having just tried it myself, I think you may have to multiply the X component (on the way into the Combine XYZ  which gives  the texture's Vector) by -1.

Indeed triplanar mapping is what you are looking for

The triplanar method from the post Robin referenced does definitely clean up the nodes, but it still results in mangled normals. I'm going to try and correct it with this new method to see if that changes anything

For anyone who runs across this question, this article has some really good information about triplanar mapping and how to overcome various problems you might face while implementing it. It'll be a pain to do it with blender nodes, though, as it's all done in C#.

Also, you can easily fake it by using texture coordinate generated for the vector and setting the projection setting in each texture to "box". It won't respect any transformations, and is a bit finnicky, but it's much easier.


text:
View Layer setting do not show up in certain files
*I have no View Layer settings. But in other files I have all these settings. This is in the Cycles Render engine. In the render setting I can't choose my Gpu or Cpu but if I switch to a different file I have all these setting available. I have no way of lowering or raising my samples or using the denoiser. But if I switch to Evee all of these setting work and come up. *


text:
How to make a lamp light only one object in the scene
I'm new to blender, and I'm a hard time understanding layers and collections.
I started using Blender on 2.8, and most of the topics I read about the matter compare how it works now with how it used to work. I know I can do this by using layers and collections but I would really appreciate a step by step guide.
This is my scene:
There is a background, a shirt, and a backlight between them, to light the shirt. I want this area light to affect only the shirt, and not the background. But I do want the background to be affected by everything else (shadows, other lamps and such). How should I proceed?
Thank you very much!

You will have to create separate layers for each render,
elements that you want to be effected separately put them in different collection.

Basically you can create the whole scene and then duplicate the render layer, in one of them disable the view layer (right-click on the collection --> View Layer --> Disable from View Layer.)
Do the opposite on the other render layer.

Use the compositor to stitch the images together using Alpha Over node.

attaching a .blend file for you to review.

I kinda got it... but what if I want the shirt to still cast shadow over the background?

@AndréLuizGollo Maybe try to create another layer with a background plane 'shadow catcher'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBoiG6jw6MU

I got it now! I duplicated the shirt and disabled its camera visibility. :) Thanks guys!!

That's actually easier ;) nice work

The answer is very dense in content (for beginners like me). Keep in mind that you need to have two different rendering layers (not two different scenes). It is written in the answer but took me while to figure it out.

Thanks, Alpha Over did the trick (else you will get some transparencies on each individual layer, even with opac object).


text:
Blender Bullet Camera Animation
I have modelled a bullet and want to make a camera animation around the bullet.
I want it to like this: First bullet animation starts at 4 seconds
I managed to get the bullet to spin, added a camera and used keyframes but I just cant get it to look right. Any tips on how to achieve the same effect?
Here's what I got right now: https://youtube.com/shorts/yAyjjqJZBjo?feature=share

You have a good start with some of the basic key poses for the camera set. Now you want to work on smoothing out the motion. You'll want to spend some time reading about keyframe "Interpolation". Try editing your keyframes for the camera in the Graph Editor, change the frames to Bezier.
While this can work, it can be tricky to animate the camera to look where you want it to. You might consider adding an empty that the camera "looks at", and animate both the empty and the camera. Read how make the camera look at an object here: Make Camera System Look at Empty

Thank you, I'll give this a go.


text:
Is there a possibility to send Data via Port Nodes?
With Port Nodes I mean Nodes which have Sender and a Receiver where no cables / connections are needed for. Those Port Nodes should be used to declutter complex Nodes.
Something like this:

isn't this exactly what the nodes-groups are for?

Not possible atm but it's in debate https://devtalk.blender.org/t/portal-links-exploration/21306

@Chris Yes true, Node Groups declutter as well but I was looking for something that can even transport data inside Groups as well.

@Gorgious Thanks! Is there a way to create own Nodes via C++ ?

The only way at the moment to create new nodes in C++ is to download the blender source, add your node code, and build a new version of Blender.  The good news is that there is a lot of support information available for doing this. The bad news is that it's time consuming.

Thanks @Marty !

Could implement a first Prototype.

Noted it here https://hackmd.io/t8grsfwpTpubvsSYnrCPMg?view


text:
Geometry node, distribute a specific number of points not a specific density
I've not been able to find a clear answer to this with my searching.
Put simply I want to distribute points over a spherical surface using geometry nodes according to a vertex weight paint texture. However, I need the final number of points to be a specific number of points regardless of the size of the sphere (let's say 2500). As far as I can tell there is no way to specify the final number of points to be distributed, I only have control over a number/square meter value which means the number of points drastically increases as I increase the size of the sphere.
Is there any way to do what I'm trying to do?

You can trim the number of points by deleting unneeded points. And if you want to keep chaotic distribution of points on any surface you should to use modulo math operator. This give you ability to keep not points with index less then N but every N point in the bunch of points.

maybe you can trim the number of points with a delete geometry node?

you could use that multiply node to first aproximate your max value -maybe enable statics under viewport overlays- so you will trim just a few points... or try the other posted answer wich removes every other point


text:
Keyframing custom properties in panel not working
I'm basically going nuts over this one.. well, I am actually
I'm trying to add keyframe/#frame from my addons panel.
I have created custom properties on the property group and everything is working as expected. But when I try to insert a keyframe in the panel on the property: I get this error:
    Traceback (most recent call last):
      File "C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\3.1\scripts\addons\My_addon\properties.py",
line 873, in set_value
        amo = bpy.context.object.modifiers.active
    AttributeError: 'Context' object has no attribute 'object'

The keyframe doesn't update in panel, unless I'm hovering over the value. And it doesn't update at all in viewport.
Update function:
def Updatevaluesfunc(self, context):

    context.active_object.data.update()
    bpy.context.view_layer.depsgraph.update()
    return

Getter/Setter
class SliderValues(PropertyGroup):

def uni_getter(attr_str):
    def get_value(self):
        activemodifier = bpy.context.object.modifiers.active
        return activemodifier[attr_str]
    return get_value

def uni_setter(attr_str):
    def set_value(self, value):
        amo = bpy.context.object.modifiers.active
        amo[attr_str] = value
    return set_value

Property in Propertygroup:
ResolutionProperty: IntProperty(
    name = "Resolution",
    description = "A IntProperty",
    default = 30,
    min = 3,
    max = 2147483647 - 1,
    update = Updatevaluesfunc,
    get = uni_getter("Input_14"),
    set = uni_setter("Input_14")
    )

I have searched everywhere and tried so much variations. What am I doing wrong

bpy.context doesn't have an object field. Did you mean active_object?

Thank you! That is correct and I managed to get the error away. Now the problem is actually different.. It does not print any errors, but it updates viewport only when hovering on right side of panel. I added also update_tag() to getter functions. I'm working with context so only the active object is getting the effects from keyframing, however the values work (per object) without keyframing -  (keeping the values)

And note: If I add for example #frame to the panel - it works only when hovering on panel. If I add it to geometry nodes input - it works as it should. If I add it to both with same value - it works. I think the question is, how to sync the keyframes to both


text:
Geometry nodes vectors to panel
I'm wondering how to get geometry nodes vectors to work properly.
I'm using code like this
row.prop(activemodifier, '["Input_42"]',  text="Position")

This is what it looks like

I would like to get it to look like this instead.

I've tried to do it with [0],
row.prop(activemodifier, '["Input_42"][0]',  text="Position")

but it gives error "rna_uiItemR: property not found: NodesModifier.["Input_43"][0]"
Is there anyway to do it?

Actually I found a solution!
Just have to change the row.prop to col.prop. For it do draw it differently.

Hi, thanks for the post. This site is not a regular forum, answers should be substantial and thoroughly explain the solution and required workflow. One liners and short tips rarely make for a good answer. If you can [edit] your post and provide some more details about the procedure and why it works feel free to restore it, otherwise it may be deleted or converted into a comment. Perhaps add a few images illustrating the workflow and final results. See How do I write a good answer?


text:
Blender 3 and up won't open on m1mac monterey

Previous version worked fine.
I cannot open 3.01 or get the latest betas to open at all. The error image above appears immediately.
GHOST_ContextCGL::metallnit:newLibraryWithSource:options:error:failed!
Any suggestions please?!

are u sure u downloaded the right version? for m1? Apple Silikon is the right one.

I have the same problem. Blender 3.01 was working, and I tried to upgrade to 3.1 to try a package that needed it. Started getting this error, and now no versions work -- same error on 3.01, two 3.1 betas, and 3.2 alpha.
There's no crash report because it's not actually a crash -- just this error window that then forces you to exit. Definitely frustrating -- can anyone suggest anything else to try?
Yes, these are apple silicon builds. I'm on a 2021 14" MBP running Monterey.
I opened a ticket in the blender forums here: https://developer.blender.org/T95844
Thanks in advance ~~

As per my comment, I was having the same problem. At the suggestion of the blender dev forum, I upgraded my OS from 12.0 to 12.2.1, and the issue is now resolved. Hooray!


text:
Does changing the fps change the speed of the animation?
I had created animation in blender 2.76 with sound effects, at 30 fps, and rendered it at 60 fps. However, when I saw the rendered result, the video was faster than the sound. Does increasing the fps while rendering a video increase its speed? If yes, will simply rendering the animation at 30 fps solve the issue? If no, how should I solve this problem?

Does this answer your question? How to render an animation at a higher framerate?

Note that changing fps will affect physics. For example, if fps doubled, u may want to double gravity.

And gravity is just one of them, changing fps will change everything.

Generally, the keyframes (as the name indicates) of blender animations are based on frame numbers instead of absolute time. So if you render an animation that has been created with 30fps in mind at 60 fps, the video will be half the length.
If you really want it to be 60 fps and you do not want to redo the whole animation, you could make use of the "time remapping" parameter (https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/render/output/settings.html), as described here for example: How to render an animation at a higher framerate?


text:
How do I create transparent, 8bit shadows for further use in Photoshop?
I'm struggling with a problem. I created a simple scene in Blender:

As you probably guess, I want to use that scene to create a mockup in Photoshop. The goal is to have a separate shadow that will blend with the background in Photoshop. However, after exporting different layers in PNG format, I get this ugly result:

Shadows are denser and have those ugly highlights in some areas. I've spent a lot of time figuring out what's the problem: 32bit linear color mode in Blender vs. 8bit Photoshop. After changing color mode to 32bit in Photoshop, it looks better, but still not perfect. Also, 32bit mode makes the image almost impossible to edit since PS has a limited set of tools that are working in that mode. Multilayer EXR also fails (it still operates in 32 bit mode).
Do you know how to solve this problem? Almost 99% percent of mockups on the market have separate shadows, so I guess it can be achieved:

Shadows are captured linearly in Blender. The way apps like Photoshop work however, assume the values are nonlinearly encoded. The only way I know of is to (brutal horrible hack do not do this is bad advice never do this) nonlinearly encode your alpha (I warned you dammit!) for use in nonlinear apps like Photoshop. As for that peculiar shadow fold region, no idea, but the dirty nonlinear encoding of alpha should work.


text:
can't transform the object

I downloaded Minecraft blocks and append one of the objects to another blender file.
but I can't move this yellow box which I appended from the file (I tried to move this with G from the keyboard as usual). so I opened the right item section for moving the objects by using that sidebar. however that transform section is not active so that I still can't move the box..is there anyone who knows how to solve this problem..!?

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/47919/accidentally-disabled-transformation-keys
Did you possibly do this?

Looking at the chain link icon beside the object name, you didn't Append the object but Linked it.

You can't move linked objects directly, you have to use a proxy (old way) or a library override (new way).
If you want to retain the link to the original file, right click on the object in the outliner, then go to ID Data > Add Library Override.
The outliner should look like this :

If you want to have the object act independently of the original file, like it would if it had been appended, you need to right click on the object in the outliner, then go to ID Data > Make Local.
The outliner should look like this :

it works!!! thank you so much!!! thanks for your detailed and quick answer!! hope you have a wonderful day :)

Another option would be to put the object in a collection and make only the collection an asset. When linking the collection from the Asset Browser into the 3D Viewport it will then be transformable. You will however need to put the object in the original Blender file at location (0,0,0), otherwise the object's Gizmo will be skewed to location (0,0,0).


text:
I connected colour to composite node directely, and there is a noise
I've found a noise in my image, though (ideally) it should be perfectly clean.
So I made an experiment. (Blender version 2.90.1) New file, I set the render size 40 x 40 and changed "View Transform" from Filmic to Standard.
In Compositing tab, I connected RGB to Composite directly. The colour is (R,G,B = 0.40724).

After rendering, I can see (Barely Noticeable) noise in rendered image. But every pixel's colour displayed at the bottom line, which appears when I press right mouse button,  remained the same.

Render Result
Then I saved it to PNG file and compared to original colour.

Saved noise.png, Noise pattern is changed

Can I make this noise gone?

This was rather a simple question. In the Post Processing tab, reducing Dither to 0 will solve this problem.

Hope this will help somebody.


text:
GPU not recognized in 2.92
so, I was previously on 2.91 and now installed 2.92. My Nvidia GTX 1660 Super is not available in the new version anymore. Anybody knows if this is a common bug and if I can do something about it? I searched around but didnt find useful and fitting answers so far.
I'm on manjaro linux.

Are your graphics drivers up to date?

I'm on 460.39 (Releasedate 2021.1.26). And I also installed cuda 11.2.1-2.

Yeah, I'm not sure then. With linux, you never know... it could be something to do with how Manjaro manages permissions to call on CUDA libraries or something like that. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how to advise you further in that respect. The only linux I use is Kali, and certainly not for blender so i've never had reason to call on CUDA resources.

okay, weird. sometimes waiting seems to help. all of a sudden my graphics card appeard in the settings and I could select gpu as rendering device...

so it kept disappearing, but now I found out a trick in case anybody else needs it. I also have Blender 2.91.2 installed and after opening this (where my gpu was always recognized) the gpu would also show up in 2.92.0


text:
How to translate(bengali) tabs, tools etc
I like blender alot as it is free and open source for modeling animation which i also like. But the main problem is the language as english is my second language. So is there anything that can translate(Bengali) the GUI, tabs, tools etc?

I am almost certain there is, but would have to double check. Look at docs.blender.org for now

The language options can be found under Edit > User Preferences, then under the Interface category, then near the bottom, under the Translation section.

Sadly, not every language is available. Possibly including yours.


text:
How can I Apply material nodes when click image on Enum with Python?
I want my shader nodes to apply to an object when I click the image inside Enum

I am using the Enum template
# This sample script demonstrates a dynamic EnumProperty with custom icons.
# The EnumProperty is populated dynamically with thumbnails of the contents of
# a chosen directory in 'enum_previews_from_directory_items'.
# Then, the same enum is displayed with different interfaces. Note that the
# generated icon previews do not have Blender IDs, which means that they can
# not be used with UILayout templates that require IDs,
# such as template_list and template_ID_preview.
#
# Other use cases:
# - make a fixed list of enum_items instead of calculating them in a function
# - generate isolated thumbnails to use as custom icons in buttons
#   and menu items
#
# For custom icons, see the template "ui_previews_custom_icon.py".
#
# For distributable scripts, it is recommended to place the icons inside the
# script directory and access it relative to the py script file for portability:
#
#    os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), "images")

import os
import bpy

def enum_previews_from_directory_items(self, context):
    """EnumProperty callback"""
    enum_items = []

    if context is None:
        return enum_items

    wm = context.window_manager
    directory = wm.my_previews_dir

    # Get the preview collection (defined in register func).
    pcoll = preview_collections["main"]

    if directory == pcoll.my_previews_dir:
        return pcoll.my_previews

    print("Scanning directory: %s" % directory)

    if directory and os.path.exists(directory):
        # Scan the directory for png files
        image_paths = []
        for fn in os.listdir(directory):
            if fn.lower().endswith(".jpg"):
                image_paths.append(fn)

        for i, name in enumerate(image_paths):
            # generates a thumbnail preview for a file.
            filepath = os.path.join(directory, name)
            icon = pcoll.get(name)
            if not icon:
                thumb = pcoll.load(name, filepath, 'IMAGE')
            else:
                thumb = pcoll[name]
            enum_items.append((name, name, "", thumb.icon_id, i))

    pcoll.my_previews = enum_items
    pcoll.my_previews_dir = directory
    return pcoll.my_previews

class PreviewsExamplePanel(bpy.types.Panel):
    """Creates a Panel in the Object properties window"""
    bl_label = "Previews Example Panel"
    bl_idname = "OBJECT_PT_previews"
    bl_space_type = 'PROPERTIES'
    bl_region_type = 'WINDOW'
    bl_context = "object"

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

        row = layout.row()
        row.prop(wm, "my_previews_dir")

        row = layout.row()
        row.template_icon_view(wm, "my_previews")

        row = layout.row()
        row.prop(wm, "my_previews")

# We can store multiple preview collections here,
# however in this example we only store "main"
preview_collections = {}

def register():
    from bpy.types import WindowManager
    from bpy.props import (
        StringProperty,
        EnumProperty,
    )

    WindowManager.my_previews_dir = StringProperty(
        name="Folder Path",
        subtype='DIR_PATH',
        default=""
    )

    WindowManager.my_previews = EnumProperty(
        items=enum_previews_from_directory_items,
    )

    # Note that preview collections returned by bpy.utils.previews
    # are regular Python objects - you can use them to store custom data.
    #
    # This is especially useful here, since:
    # - It avoids us regenerating the whole enum over and over.
    # - It can store enum_items' strings
    #   (remember you have to keep those strings somewhere in py,
    #   else they get freed and Blender references invalid memory!).
    import bpy.utils.previews
    pcoll = bpy.utils.previews.new()
    pcoll.my_previews_dir = ""
    pcoll.my_previews = ()

    preview_collections["main"] = pcoll

    bpy.utils.register_class(PreviewsExamplePanel)

def unregister():
    from bpy.types import WindowManager

    del WindowManager.my_previews

    for pcoll in preview_collections.values():
        bpy.utils.previews.remove(pcoll)
    preview_collections.clear()

    bpy.utils.unregister_class(PreviewsExamplePanel)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()

When I click the image of the Enum, it will apply the material
I have write the script of the shader nodes operator but I am finding ways to apply it by enum

Not sure its required to parrot the template verbatim into your question.   To clarify, is the idea to add your material as say the active material of the active object when the enum is selected. Suggest then that the enum be a property of the object type, not the window manager, and do changes via an update method of the enum property.  See https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/70710/how-to-execute-an-operator-from-an-enumproperty ... using  your operator instead.

Sorry, I don't prefer that. I want to see an image in the enum so I can see the material preview in the enum. When I press on that image, it can add material to the selected object. That's what I mean.


text:
Input script of Mix Shader node for create link?
I am scripting an add-on and I need to create link between Glossy BSDF node and Mix shader node's "shader"
material_realistic_gold.node_tree.links.new(BsdfGlossy3_node.outputs[0], MixShader_node.outputs.inputs[0])
This is not working and get an error
Python: Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\Yeung\Downloads\Shader 1.0\Script 001.blend\test.py", line 237, in execute
AttributeError: 'bpy_prop_collection' object has no attribute 'inputs'

location: <unknown location>:-1

What is the script of input shader of Mix material node?

My 2c worth here is try and work out the error from the error message before asking a question here.  Even to the extent of disconnecting from the net.  (for a period of time)  This applies to me too... often  weighing up helpful vs distraction.  Take a  closer look at MixShader_node.outputs.inputs

Okay, I solved the answer finally

I finally figure it out
I need to type
material_realistic_gold.node_tree.links.new(MixShader_node.inputs[1], BsdfGlossy3_node.outputs[0])


text:
Why is texture distorting at the sides? How to fix it?
I have used a basic plane and cloth simulator. Solidify and subsurf modifiers applied after. I'm trying to get the lines to be straight vertically and horizontally but can't figure out what has went wrong or how to fix it. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! I'm still in early learning stages of blender]1

You're using object coords. If you watch it right from above it will look okay. But since the edges of the blanket are not flat and have some verticality, X axis projects onto it and you see the distortion

The solution I think is to unwrap the mesh and use UV coordinates:

Thanks so much!!

@BuildInteriors If this answer is indeed useful for you, make sure to upvote and accept it. That's how thanking for help is done on SE.


text:
Snapping faces: wrong orientation
I'm a new Blender user. I have a shape which is a cube section (I made it with the boolean modifier and two planes). Then, I set its origin on the center of one face, which I want to "glue" to another plane. I tried to use the snap tool, with the settings "face" and "center", checking the "align rotation to target" option.
As you can see on my screen, the mesh does snap, but with the wrong normal. In the end, the faces are not parallel to each other. Can you please help me? I've been wandering the internet for literally more than an hour.
Thanks

Hello :). Blender is snapping with the "bottom" of the origin point. Adjust you origin point rotation before snapping and it will work.

Hi, Thank you for your answer! Sadly, I don't know how to do what you're advising me to do. I found this (https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/8892/is-there-a-way-to-rotate-the-origin-without-rotating-the-geometry), but I can't "Paste Selection from Buffer", and even if I could, it would not solve my problem since I still can't rotate the object as I want.

Hey :). If you share your file (https://pasteall.org/blend/), I'll take a look.

Thank you so much! Here is my file. As you will see, it thinks that it snapped perpendicularly because for some reason, it doesn't take the face's normal to be the object normal....
https://pasteall.org/blend/402735ad9bf24689ae3465fd9e529241

Blender is snapping with the "negative Z axis" of the origin point.
Adjust you origin rotation and it will work.

Enable Transform Only Origin option and Face snapping
Snap the origin to a face - it'll inherit it's direction (Z+ axis)
Rotate the origin 180° along local Y axis (so it's Z-)

Snap origin and rotate it 180° along local Y axis

Thank youuuuu! You are my saviour.. I don't know how I was supposed to find this on my own on the internet... For future readers, two things to remember here:
1- Transform can apply origin only
2- rotations can be relative to the local grid.
Final question: if I now want to set the origin back to the center of the face, should I do once more do "Edit>select face>set cursor to selection>Object mode>set origin to 3D cursor"? Or is there a faster way? Thanks once more <3

Hey :). Yes, in this case that's the way to do it.


text:
Problems with using freestyle and array modifier together and freestyle clipping through objects
I'm relatively inexperienced and am having trouble figuring out how to remove the freestyle lines between array duplicates. I'm also having trouble with freestyle going through objects

the building and street are both made from array modifiers, I can easily fix the street by making it one long object instead of using an array modifier but the building would be a lot harder to fix
I followed a tutorial to get the shaders and freestyle outlines to look this way
Does anyone know how to fix either of these problems?

Presumably, there is a mesh of faces at the juncture of the array.
That face should penetrate and describe a line like a border.
If you remove it, the extra mesh will not appear.

If you must have extra lines, prepare a separate layer,
and add edge marks to the edges.
After that, you can composite the image separately by compositing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aTCMWnJKpE&t=367s


text:
Why is everything in my scene black in rendered mode?
I made my first model in Blender recently and worked on it for a while, when suddenly after entering rendered mode everything turned black, both meshes and lightning, but when I go into camera mode, its all there with normal lightning and materials, also render works fine. Im going crazy, because I cant find any fix and I dont know if this is something Ive done by accident or a bug, please help :(
https://we.tl/t-l2mSIMyHyH here's the link to the file, hope it works
https://we.tl/t-870SqILLua here are the screenshots

You've enabled Render Region with CtrlB while in camera view. It allows you to only render the region you'll frame with your cursor. You can disable it with CtrlAltB or in the N panel > View > View > Render Region:

my lord and saviour, thank you so much <3


text:
anvil baking problem

Im posting this cuz I dont have any more ideas and I really want to go on
Anvil tutorial was going pretty well for me before baking stage, simply cannot find settings on which there are no intersections and this god forsaken horn doesnt look like its made of origami
Please guys, just tell me the settings and Ill be forever grateful to you
blend file in the link:
https://we.tl/t-x41HXwhb52

You have not UV Unwrapped your anvils.  For baking to work, both anvils need to be UV unwrapped.  Go back to the tutorial and do the section where he shows how to unwrap them.

thanks man, i somehow missed it

no problem.  One of the problems with most tutorials is that the authors can't remember all of the mistakes people might make so they rarely have good "and if it didn't work try this" sections.  The best you can do is go back to the tutorial and make sure you really have done everything the same way.


text:
How to disable cloth simulation for performance?
I have a character with a simple cloth sim attached. This causes a lot of slowdown when playing the animation. Simply disabling the realtime display does nothing to improve this. This makes animating the character pretty difficult. Is there a way to temporarily disable the simulation while animating so I can re-enable and simulate it after the fact?

"Disable in viewports" on the modifier should disable the simulation and give your performance back.  It does in simple tests.  There is something else in your setup, not detailed, that is involved in any remaining slowdown.

Hm. So, I was using the cloth mesh to drive an armature by using stretch-to constraints. I wrongly assumed the simulation was the problem because there was no slowdown when the cloth modifier was removed completely. Removing the bone constraints seems to have cleared that up. I'll be more thorough next time I post here. Thanks for the answer!

Please clarify your specific problem or provide additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it's hard to tell exactly what you're asking.