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Editing all faces of a cube with one plane (with identical copies of the plane)
I've over complicated it with background. I just want to edit one side (or face) of a cube (or a proxy side of that cube) and Blender to automatically edit all of it's sides in the same way, with a mirror modifier applied to each side, mirroring on each individual side's normal orientations of those sides, with a subdivision surface modifier applied to the whole object, on top of that. However, something that does the same job is good too, as long as it allows for real time previews of the outcome.
This is what I'm looking for:
The mirror modifier applies to only one side of the currently unmade cube.
[![enter image description here][1]][1]
The mirror modifier is applied and copies of that side are joined together to form the cube.[![enter image description here][2]][2]
The subdivision surface modifier is applied to the completed cube after doubles are removed.
(Not enough reputation, of which 10 is required, to post more than two links, such as images. Sorry.)
The thing is, though, that whole process is automated and happens within a tenth of a second after the base mesh (the original side) is edited and is repeated as it continues to be edited (with the necessary cleanup of objects, etc.).
Maybe programming for task automation is the solution, but I would have thought Blender would have a way of doing this without programming. (I came to Blender from Python programming, so it's no big deal to me if it requires Python programming).

It would be much easier to answer questions like this if some screenshots of the objects along with Properties editor opened and if necessary some other important options are provided. There could be many ways to interpret this question as for now.

Okay. Thank you for the good advice. How do I add screenshots to my posts? Also, how do I add GIFs? I'm guessing there's an option somewhere, but you know the internet when it comes to interfaces. Maybe I shouldn't be so hasty. I'm always research first, figure out later. I'll mess around with the options I have.

See meta post about adding images (basically it means to put cursor in the text field and press Ctrl+G), about gifs see here. Please note also that images etc should add description to the text, not substitute it.

The images are not showing correctly.

Hi. I had seen this, but didn't have time to reply because I had to rush to go to an HSP meeting. I can reply now, though, so here goes. :) The images don't work, but I don't know how to make them work. Please can you help me see what I did wrong?

The images worked at first, but now they've stopped working. It's probably a silly mistake I made. I get that all the time with Python programming. Thank you for any help. :)


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How to round extruded text and keep original contour?
If you start with basic extruded text:

Then you add a rounding bevel on it you can bubble it out like this:

But of course this makes the text much bigger so the letters are all fat and bumping into each other.
Is there any way to apply a "rounding"/bubble effect to the front facing aspect of the font without making it giant and fat like this?
For example, if I apply a negative bevel I can get:

Which is sort of what I want - the outline of the font is the same but there is now a 3D effect to the surface. Problem is it's a sharp bevel effect and I want a smoothly contoured one.
Is there any way to get a bubble effect without changing the contour of the text?
Thanks.

You have to equally decrease Offset parametr under Geometry properties ...
Like for Depth 0.02 use Offset -0.02

... but anyway Jachym's suggestion is better (convert to mesh, clean topology and use modifiers) ... it is more predictable and controllable :)

It expands to avoid clashing with the messy geometry of editable text.
To get a 'normal' bevel, you need to use the Bevel modifier.
And probably clean up the messy geometry before that.

Solidify / Remesh / Laplacian Smooth worked quite well for "bubble" text :)
(in this old 2.8x)

Laplacian Smooth modifier – disable Preserve Volume and Normalized

source: Stack Exchange

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sort: votes


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Video Editing cant add background color after changing resolution
I was editing a simple video with a resolution of 320x280. I increased the resolution a little bit(330x290) and offest the video so that it can come at the center(I wanted to add empty space at the top and sides of the video with a white background).
Now there is a transparent background. Adding color strip doesn't change the transparent background. Instead when i try changing the channel of the color strip it seems to only affect the original resolution(320x280). But i wanted to change the entire background(330x290).

Edit: Added some images for clarity.

Does your strip is set Compositing > Blend > Alpha Over?

If so ... you would have to share some simplyfied blend file to let us see.

No.. Ive added some images. everything else is untouched. Do u see the transparent border at the 5th image? thats the things i wanna change. but the color strip wont work. ty :)

My answer seems to be correct ... your mp4 file has to be set as "Alpha Over"  to let see strips bellow. You have set "Cross" that is why you see what you see :)

Thank u so much, i set my mp4 to "Alpha Over" and then set the color strip to "Alpha Under" and it worked. :)

If the Answer works for you consider mark it as accepted https://blender.stackexchange.com/tour .. so others can see your Question has solution from main list. Thanks to keep site organised.

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Baking of texture incorrect at the edge of the face
I have a rooms with multiple walls. I only wanted to bake the interior of the room - the floor, ceiling and another 4 walls and ignore the windows and outer walls.
I selected all the objects that I would like to bake and go to UV Editing, create a new texture for baking and Select All then choose UV->Lightmap Pack.
I roughly go through all the triangles that sit on the texture and found no overlapping so I go back to Shading Tab, select only the floor object and select the image that I want to bake, hit bake button and the result is correct, but If I choose the 6 objects (4 walls, floor and ceiling) and bake again, it return me a result as shown in the image. I try to choose the wall and bake it, it return a correct results but it just don't work if I try to bake all of them together.
Some one please help me, Thanks in Advance.

When you unwrap with type Lightmap Pack you have to set enough Margin or lower Bake Margin value, because like now Bake Margin overlaps.

Unwrap Margin value is described in UV division, that I'm not sure what does that mean exactly, Bake Margin is in pixels. So just check if baked borders are between faces.


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Most efficient way to apply textures to a model (Game Dev)
This is a Game-Dev related question.
Let's say we modeled a simple piece of floor in Blender and applied a wood texture to it. From this plain texture, often referred to the base texture, we usually create some other maps, like:

A bump/normal map.
A specular map.
A displacement map.
An ambient occlusion (AO) map.
And some more...

Finally, right before exporting this model, we usually bake all textures into a master texture (which is a single .jpg or .png file that contains all of the aforementioned textures combined). And voilà. We have a master texture and ready to be used in Unity (or Unreal Engine, or the game engine of your liking).
However, the more I dig into this designing/game-dev world, the more confused I get. This is so because Game Engines generally give you the possibility to attach all of the previously mentioned maps (normal, spec, displ, AO, ...) separately to the model. For example, in Unity 5, you can do that right into the shader:

So, I can come up with two ways of texturing a complex model (for example, a WWII tank):

1. First way of doing it: Baking all maps (normal, spec, displ, AO, ...) into a MASTER TEXTURE. Then using this master texture right inside of the Game Engine.
2. Second way of doing it: Importing all maps (normal, spec, displ, AO, ...) into the Game Engine. Then importing the model as well, and tell the shader what texture corresponds to what map (i.e. manually select all maps; see the first image).
All in all, what is the "most correct" way to apply texturing to a model inside of a game engine, out of the two I mentioned right above?
Thanks.

Those two workflows you describe are not alternatives to the same end.
Baking is generally used to achieve effects that are either too complex, too expensive or unnecessary to be calculated in real time.
However, downside is after baking they become static, that means they no longer vary or react to user input.
You can't really bake a 'Master Texture' of all that, if you do you will be losing information. If you bake the specularity, bump and reflections they will become static, as if painted onto the object and will no longer react to in-game light changes or different user view angle.
Baking is more often used in an earlier stage of game creation, when transforming a high resolution model into a low poly version ready for consumption that the game engine can deal with in real time.
In your case without further info, I'd say you should use all those textures directly in game, which seems like what they were created for in the first place.

But that is exactly what I want. I am baking those maps into a "master map" because my models are static into the game. And because my games are supposed to be played on mobile devices, which more often than not run low on memory. I could have a model with 10 million tris in Blender, but that's not going to be useful in my game. What I usually do is baking all textures into a "master texture", and applying it to a low-poly version of the complex model.

What confuses me is that the Game Engine allows me to add each map individually to an imported model (inside of the shader). But why? I already have a "master texture" upon which I have baked all the complex details. It should suffice with applying this "master texture" to my newly-imported model inside of the game engine. I don't know if I'm being clear enough? Thanks.

Well then I don't know this sounds like a Unity question, not Blender., I am not in the game making industry, but either those are for more performant platforms where baking is not needed, or it serves as some sort of Level of Detail, and the engine only fetches necessary textures when needed

I could sum it up by saying that baking is optimization at the expense of accuracy of visuals.
The correct way is to use the normal, specularity, ambient occlusion etc maps in Unity material. That way the shaders will take them into account when they are rendering the object in the game scene with the scene's lighting.
If you bake everything into the texture (the term is Combined bake) your game object will not fit in with the real time lighting in the game scene. Your game object will have the lighting you had in Blender when you baked it. If you shine light into a crevice of your baked object it will not show as normal surface color, it will show as dark grey / black because you have baked the ambient occlusion and/or shadows and the original surface color (diffuse / albedo) is lost under it. However if you use the various maps in Unity material the material lights up when you shine light into it's crevices and show the real diffuse color as it's supposed to. This is one of the epitomes of Physics Based Render pipelines.
For mobile games the modern graphics approach is a bit less relevant, however. The GPU is much much more limited and you can forget about normal maps and indirect lighting. For mobile games you bake whatever you can get away with because you don't have the VRAM to store in all the separate textures. You also don't have the GPU power to run complex shaders or many pixel lights with shadows real time. Drawcalls are also more limited on mobile so you're further encouraged to batch all the static models together into one material that has everything baked and atlas characters that are likely to be on the screen at the same time.

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


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Cloth simulation doesn't work with collision
I have simple model, just legs and pants, when pressed play animation pants mesh goes up to the pined mesh part. I played with cloth simulation and collision values but result always the same.

I have made some changes. Also cranked up the quality settings a bit so if your pc can't handle it, just pull those back a little.
I have pinned the top and some other simple settings. I also changed the shape of the legs very slightly so the pants wouldn't pass through on some places.
The edited blend file

Can you tell more what cause the problem ?

I'm not sure. I immediately deleted the cloth and collision physics and set them up all over again.

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


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How do i stop my animation from being cropped out
I'm having trouble trying to render a YouTube intro, when I render just one frame to test it, it turns out like this:

I am very new to Blender and just using a template, when I first open the template and play it, the animation runs fine and fills the entire screen instead of being cropped out
I would really appreciate if someone could tell me how this can be fixed
UPDATE: Added a link to download my blender file if it helps, the issue only happens on a 1080p resolution or higher
https://mega.nz/#!jx1GFRSL!8t3rd3rqqxrC1BvBA34Eaiu3k6D-IEXCwndTZwGc7AI

Disable Border Render, right bellow the Aspect Ratio sliders

i have done that, i just worked out that it only does this when im in 1080p, if i change it to 720p then there are no black borders or anything but i would like the animation to be in 1080p, suggestions??

Hard to tell without looking at the file. Please consider editing your question and providing a link to your file if you want a proper answer

Ive added a link that should be open for download without any passwords, try that :)

It's certainly something to do with the compositor. Blender crashed on me while trying to render the animation. Does it crop your image in the video too, or only in a single frame render?

It crops it either way, but only in 1080p or higher, if I change resolution to fit 720p for YouTube its fine but I'd prefer the higher quality

Please don't delete images from your post, this make it less clear. If you don't want to continue hosting images on your imgur account upload them with built-in possibility right here in question window, thank you.

I didn't delete them, not sure why they disappeared and not sure why the other one is unavailable

The problem lies in the compositor section, which joins the render with previous fixed dimensions images: varying the dimensions of the renders creates the problem: go to the compositor (Green selections), and everywhere there is an Image node (Red) add a scale node (Blue) with both X and Y set to 2.
This must be done also in the big "Nodetree" which is a group of nodes and can be opened selecting it and pressing Tab (press Tab again to close). The same for all the "vignette" nodes.
A simpler method is to select the nodes and press M (mute) to disable them.
If you Shift+Ctrl Click a node and wait a few seconds to let the compositor calculate, you can inspect the output of every node of the node tree, so you can understand where the problem lies and where is resolved (start from left to right).

Thanks for the help but I literally have no idea what you mean, I've not use blender before and don't understand what your telling me to do, I will try my best to follow these instructions when I get up in the morning, thanks :)

I muted all the thing you told me too but now the animation looks bad, do I have to not have any of the effects to put it on 1080p

I muted all the things you told me to but it makes the animation look terrible, no effects or anything, maybe it would be best if I just rendered it in 720p resolution

If it's not too much to ask, maybe you could fix it for me and give me a link to download it, I would really appreciate it

There's a lot of reasons for this.
Most likely, you have a render border (red block) that limits the render zone.
Uncheck Border (as shown in the image)

Related:
How do I clear the render border?
Can I specify a portion of the image to render in Cycles?
If that didn't work, you could try to adjust the resolution settings, or maybe move the camera around the scene.

Ive tried removing the border and changing the resolution
This is what the red box looks like when the border is on
https://i.gyazo.com/fa4df3878aececa20fef157323febb70.png

have you got any other suggestions? i dont know alot about blender so please be specific :)

What? How is it perfect? I've done what u said and it turns out the same as the top picture

I added a link to download the .blend file if u want to see what's wrong with it

authors: Олеся Немченко


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Script add-on runs from text editor but not from operator (spacebar) menu?
I am trying to convert my script into an add-on. I have most of the core functionality in place, so I want to try turning it into an operator so that I can connect it to a button.
When I try to test my operator using both the console and the spacebar search menu inside of the Node Editor, it doesn't do anything. However, when I click "Run Script" in the text editor, it runs fine.
This is my source code
Following this tutorial, I notice that he defines 'main' as a function rather than a class. When I do this, running the script does not work, but it works when I run it from the console. Interestingly, when I run the same command from the spacebar menu, Blender hard crashes. Any ideas?

When you run the script, the various properties in the script get set and you use them in your functions, this doesn't happen when you invoke the operator. An operator is invoked in a clean environment, you only get properties you setup in the operator. An addon is a python module and allows you to expand that to some degree as the script properties are actually module properties, but you still need to set the properties from the operator or the register() function, not the top level script steps.
From your operator's execute() method you should setup the properties you want to use based on the active selection at that time and not what may have been active at the time the script was run to register the operator. To do this, you should use the context parameter passed into the execute() method instead of using bpy.context, pass the context parameter from your operator to your functions when you call them.
As you mention - you have class main(), by creating an instance in your operator you aren't actually calling any of the methods listed in the class, so yes it should be a function not a class, unless you move the function calls into the class __init__() method or another method that you then call.
While you have worked out the steps you need to use, you just have to reorganise it so that it can be used within blenders operator context.

I don't think I really understand. What context does it want?
Does it want a bl_context tag set to 'NODE_EDITOR' or do I need to pass the context as the active material operator?

The methods in the operator receive a context parameter, pass that in function calls instead of bpy.context. It is often the same but can be overridden.

I think the context I have is the active material, right? So do I pass that as an argument to the tunction as 'context' and inside the function use context instead of my material name variable? Or do I make it a global variable and simply stick it in as the argument for all of them? I am very confused on why it is done this way.

The context parameter passed to an operator is comparable to bpy.context and should be used in it's place. It gives access to the current scene, active object, selected objects... Many times it will be the same as bpy.context but it can be altered for the duration of a script as described in the above link.

So is the context parameter used as a convenience variable, like C for bpy.context in the console?
Take for instance, my mat variable. That is a convenience variable that takes the active material using bpy.context.active_object.active_material.name. Should I be using context as the variable I am using when calling parameters instead of mat? Or is context just something I throw in as a global, like
context = bpy.context and then put it as a parameter for my functions?

I have gone ahead and asked a new question, as to not clutter this thread. It is located here: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/89277/how-to-define-context-for-a-script


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How to map one image across multiple objects
I am looking for an older post on here, but I can't find it.
I can't recall the exact question, but essentially a user asked how to cast an image across an entire array of objects with it automatically fitting to the objects. A person responded and the main image they used to answer was using a blender logo in many different shapes and sizes. I am hoping to find the original post. Thank you.

Dot matrix display in Cycles?
This is the thread I was looking for. The term I had been thinking of was "Dot Matrix"


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How to fix horse spine?
sorry I can't think of a better way to phrase this question.
I have been working on a horse walk animation for quite awhile now. I am pretty inexperienced with rigging and animation in general, but I am quite familiar and comfortable with Blender as a whole.
Following various image references & video tutorials I have the horse legs working in the way I want.
Edit: Link to armature & keyframes

Now to make Horse really shine, I want to animate his spine bouncing with him. Following this reference image  I can see the stages where his spine should move to certain places, but my rig doesn't transform the way I need it to.
The biggest issue is when I try to make his butt go down, it makes the whole front half of him shoot straight up into space.

I've tried to re-rig it quite a few times, but I am getting the feeling that I am missing something to make it work the way I need. Is it possible I need to use an IK Constraint from the Back to front? I haven't seen anyone use a method like that, but I am very confused on how to approach this problem.

hello, maybe share your file (armature only)

Can do. Didnt have a chance to do so yet for time but I can tonight.

So, considering how your armature is made, you should parent InverseKack and Spine02 to SpineCTRL. At the end, parent SpineCTRL and all the IK controllers and targets to the root bone. Now when you move up and down SpineCTRL, the whole back of your horse follows, as it is supposed to do.

Great diagram, thank you much!


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How can I move part of a mesh along the right orientation?
When I use a mirror modifier for my mesh and try to move something, the normal orientation distorts the mesh.
It turns this

into this

When it should turn it into something more like this, but with greater precision.

How can I fix it, so that I can move the part of the mesh across the right orientation?

IMO, a convenient solution is to use two 3d windows so you can have multiple views simultaniously. The left window is oriented is in your picture, the other is an orthogonal view (left, front, top, bottom, back right). In the latter view (highlighted), use the red and blue arrow to move:


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How do I make remove the "tufts" and get this to be better rounded?
I have a model I'm making, with a mirror modifier and a subdivision surfaces modifier in use, where an ear has "tufts". How do I remove these "tufts" and make the edges connecting the ear to the head uniformly rounded, rather than hap-hardly rounded?
Here's an image of the ear's topology:

Here's the ear in object mode.

I've tried moving around the points manually, but that only makes it worse. I've tried scaling it on the y axis, but that doesn't help, either, because all the points, underneath the subdivision surfaces modifier, are in a line nice curved line, anyway. I've also tried subdividing the mesh then decimating it, but collapse, unsubdivide and planar ruin the mesh and planar makes a "tuft" worse.

Thank you.

Your topology looks quite messy. I see triangles, Ngons unconnected vertex and zero sized faces. You should strive for clean topology, with a mostly quad based topology, with an occasional triangle, and good edge-flow

Thank you. I started again without using the Boolean modifier or using knife project to create holes and it looks better now. I'm still new to modeling.

Avoid using polygons with more than 4 edges(except on hard flat non deforming surfaces)....that is where your issues are coming from...there are no edges for the subdivisions to adhere to.


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Render looks fine until saved (with a lossless image format), then it has colour banding
Thank you for the help. :)
I see no problems in the rendered image, but, when I save it as PNG or TIFF, I can see colour banding in the saved image. How can I fix this?


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Extrude multiple faces, stopping at intersection
I have a model that consists of horizontal faces only, they all have the same normal direction and there are many of them. I am wondering if its possible to extrude all these faces, but just to the face directly under each one. (Grey vertical lines in the image added for reference)
Essentially 'filling' the vertical space between all faces.
They don't have to intersect and split the faces below, but if that is possible then that would be helpful as well.
I've tried a number of tests, but most end up in the same zone as: Merge overlapping, differently sized faces in large model

Another angle:

This is the orthographic side view:

While in Edit Mode, if you go into an orthographic side view, you can box select all faces for either the upper or the lower story (it doesn't matter which one you choose, but the one you choose will be the one you extrude). With all faces selected, press e to extrude, and after you drag, press right-click to cancel the operation. The extrude still takes place, but the faces you created have now ended up back at their starting position, making them essentially invisible, by virtue of the fact that they are now perfectly intersecting with the faces they were originally extruded from. But they are still selected. While still in the orthographic side view, activate edge snapping (This choice may not seem to make sense in this context, but I believe this option works better than face snapping). Press g to grab the selected faces, z to constrain the grab to the vertical axis, and drag upward until your cursor reaches the next story of faces You should now have the two stories in contact (but not merged).
If you want the newly contacted plane to get etched by the intersection, as you indicate you would prefer, you may need extra steps. One option is to use knife project, but this tool is tricky. Select the entire object that you extruded the new faces from, and in Edit Mode, select the entire edge ring which defines its outer perimeter (Shift + select any of its edges to select them all). Press Shift + d to duplicate this edge loop, then press p to bring up the Separate menu, and choose Selection. Now go into Object Mode, and hide the original object that this edge ring was made from. Select the new edge ring object, then Shift + select the object to be etched, tab into Edit Mode (in 2.8, both objects will go into Edit Mode together if they are selected together), press Numpad 7 to force your view to top orthographic (this is important for the next step) and from the Mesh menu at the top of the screen, choose Knife Project. This will etch your plane with the outline of the new object (but make no hole). Delete the new object. It was only needed as a cookie cutter.


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Hi i am trying to make this scene but i am still new to blender please help
I want to make this scifi object and there are so many small and big panels. When I make them glow they don't look like seperate objects they just look like a big panel.
This is a scene from SAO ending 'unlasting'

Edit your title to something more relevant to your question (in short). Attach screens of your result and setup you use or share your simplified blend via https://blend-exchange.com/ ... thank you

what you show also looks like on big panel, except some have a different color, so maybe you should use a particle system with a collection as particle and give a different color to some of the objects of this collection?

Hello and welcome. Please use a title that reflects the content of the question. It should be succinct, unique and identifying, and summarize what the issue is so that users can at a glance broadly understand what your post is about before opening it. Use the [edit] link below your post and avoid any emojis salutations or extraneous text not essential to the question. Remember, your title is the first thing potential visitors will see, and will weight heavily on their decision to open your question, which will directly affect the number of answers you might get.

Here is a particle and non-geometry node solution.
In your picture they also look like one big object except some of the planes have a different color. You can create a cube, stretch it a bit on Z, and give it a particle system with a collection of several planes:

Create several plane, give them a material with an Emission that has a Strength higher than 1 in order to make them glow later, give a different color to one of your particles, put them in a new collection. Select the cube, give it a particle system, enable Advanced, choose the amount of particles, Source > Volume, enable Rotation, choose Global Z axis:

Under Render choose Render As > Collection, choose the scale of the particles and if you want a bit of scale randomness, disable Show Emitter, select the particle collection. To vary the amount of each particle, enable Use Count and set the amount. Under Viewport Display disable Show Emitter:


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When I navigate the viewport black pixels appear
I am having an issue related to importing a rigged characters.  When I navigate the viewport black pixels appear.

windows 10
AMD Ryzen 5 3500U with Radeon Vega mobile gx, 8.0 GB RAM
Leonovo ideapad 3

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.

Looks like a graphic card issue ... See if your device match's minimal requirements.


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Easy way to rotate all vertices along desired shape?
I want to make the "tail" follow the blue line from the picture:
 Is there any easy way to do it?
Trying to rotate each point looks messy as I do have to rotate and drag back to position:

Thank you

Curve modifier? Bend Modifier?

@vklidu I will go to read about both of them. Thank you! (beginner question, I know)

I don't know what is final purpose of your curved shape, but you can consider to try ... Curve object with

Shape > Resolution 8
Geometry > Bevel > Depth to something you like
Geometry > Bevel > Resolution to zero
(it brings default round profile shape to square, like your)

You can easily adjust curvature and if you would need to continue with mesh object, just search for Convert to Mesh operator.

This is awesome! I will go with this approach! I want to create something close to low poly dreadlocks. Works just great!

Great you found it useful :)


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Lower motion blur for some objects?
I want to know, how to lower motion blur for some objects in an animation. Camera is moving so fast, its making an object too blurry to tell what it is.

You want different motion blur on different objects? Or you just want less overall so that it's not so blurry anymore?

Motion Blur calculated due rendering is for entire scene. To affect motion blur per specific object you would have to use Compositors Motion Blur.

I want lower motion blur for specific objects. But keep it the same for the rest of the scene.

@vklidu Is it possible to use the compositor to add different motion blur shutter curves? (like Scene > Motion Blur > Shutter Curve). Not sure how to combine various blurred images together.

@MrG ... does Answer solved your issue?

If you are asking how to add different motion blur per object here is a sketch in Compositor.
You would have to isolate (matte) the object and apply blur just on that. Here I used Cryptomatte.
All depends how complex or where the object is placed in space, if there is something infront covering the object or so ...
(Cubes are moving the same speed ... Cube A Blur 4, Cube B Blur 2)

Proper way to combine it back is to use Z-combine node, but it gives me some crop on blur so I'm missing something here :)

I wasn't sure about the Shutter Curve, but it seems like there can be achieved something ...

I'm not an experienced in Motion Blur, so I can be wrong :)


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Hide Objects behind Specific Plane
I am trying to find ways to hide objects behind specific planes.

That is a "tv" with a cube behind it, I already have it so when you look at it front on, the back disappears.

However the effect is that of "Non-Euclidean geometry" so the blue cube shouldn't be seen outside of the tv, but if I add another transparent cube/plane and apply the same shader to the cube, its not going to work.

It is going to block off both the cube and the back of the tv, and now the cube doesn't show head on.

My question is, is it able to do it based on groups or plane id's? I know the shader is using directly the transparency values. but just not sure how else to do it.
These are the shaders:

(Transparent Plane/Cube)

The tv back, and the blue cube (obviously blue color for cube)
Sincerely, Nota

Hello :). You want the blue cube to only be visible when seen through the 'TV' object? And be invisible on it's own?

Yeah basically :)

I went to recycling this answer and after simplifying I end up with the same node tree, that seems to me is working. So I guess I missed something ... so if you can explain missing part closer.

Hi yes, that is the effect I'm going for, but I wanted to know if it was possible to expand on that, something like this; https://i.imgur.com/haDQXeZ.mp4 I did this through rendering twice, and compositing them together in after effects.

@Nota I don't know if it can be done with a shader. I saw some paralax tech using Normals to get illusion of depth, but  I would go a compositing way as well (can be done in blender too.

Tried, then realize it only works in Cycles because Transparent Depth only works in Cycles, not Eevee.


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Black area on object

hi, I connected this red part and blue part with F and it seems like it's filled but there's black part between...
Is there something wrong with this?
Thank you

can you share your file https://blend-exchange.com

Check under Overlays > "Normal Orientation"  ... you have switched normal direction in red part.

@vklidu why not post it as answer? :)

@HarryMcKenzie Sorry ... On this site is hundreds Q with this issue ... I'm just lazy to search for one and vote close as duplicates Q.:)

true story bro


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How to copy a Cutout from one Object to another
I have created a number of bearings.  All are now positioned where I want them. I cut out a center hole for the axle in one of the bearings.  Is there a way to copy that feature to the other bearings?
I know I should have duplicated the bearing after I had made all my changes.  I just want to learn if there is a way to copy shapes from object to object.

Do you know how to duplicate [Shift D], separate [P] and join [Ctrl J] objects/vertices?

I know Shift-D,  I know separate parts tab(edit) P.  Have not used join with Ctrl J, but use join on tool menu.

Thank you for the lesson.  I was able to copy and duplicate the internal vertices.  Then move the duplicate vertices forming the hole to next bearing and join it to the bearing.  My only problem was I still ended up using Knife Project to cut holes in the faces of the bearing.  If you post your suggestion as an answer I will mark it as the answer.

Haven't got much time right now. But it would be great, if you could answer your question yourself (since you know what helped). Preferably with a screenshot demonstrating the solution (if possible).

Based on the instructions provided by Leander, this is how a copied a hole from one object and added to another similar object.  Note - there are other easier ways to do this like Knife Project or simply making one object and duplicating it. But I wanted to learn.

Select object to copy from and tab into edit mode

Select vertices outlining the feature (hole) to copy.  In this case also selecting the faces which will replace the faces on the object to be modified.
Shft-D to duplicate the vertices and move them to the side

Separate the duplicate vertices from the original object by clicking P and selecting by loose parts

I should have done this next. Select other object and tab into edit mode. Select faces to be replaced and delete them. Exit edit mode.

Select duplicate vertices and Set Origin to Geometry

Select object to be modified and center cursor on object Shft-S cursor to selection
Select duplicate vertices and Shft-S selection to cursor
Add new object to duplicate vertices Shft-LMB
Join vertices and new object Ctrl-J join


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Add marker to 2D tracking list via clip.stabilize_2d_add() or other means
My goal is to call blender form the command line with a set of arguments to use the built in 2D video stabilization tools.
I have been able to (via the bpy API):

Get parameters from command line call
load a new clip
add a marker (to track)
position the marker
'select' the marker/track (not sure if needed)

This is all possible without relying on bpy.ops
Unfortunately now I need to access the following functionality programmatically:

My main question: I can't find a way to get to that (bpy.ops.clip.stabilize_2d_add()). I have no idea what context I would need to switch to to make this a valid python call.

At this point I also notice the transition from doing everything in code to having to hunt through the UI workflow for ways to replicate UI functionality. I am wondering if I shouldn't need to call bpy.ops.clip.stabilize_2d_add() at all and should instead find the underlying functionality?
The part that comes right after this, which is making the stabilized track is completely lost to me as well. Am I going in the wrong direction?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Related: http://blender.stackexchange.com/a/41747/2843 In this example script I use the context a lot to call bpy.ops.* functions, you need to use this override parameter.

@Samoth do you have any tips on a clean way to figure out what screen+region+area this ops control is in? I notice that in one part of your code the override is hardcoded. How did you get the values you hardcode it to?

As far as I can remember that was a mixture of copying it from somewhere and trial and error to adapt it to my needs. I actually use it in three different areas and in the end I included three more parameters: , 'active_object': bpy.context.object, 'edit_object': bpy.context.object, 'selected_objects': [helper] where I set the helper = bpy.data.objects['Empty'] and then adjusted override['selected_objects'] = [helper] and override['active_object'] = helper... This allowed me to call another bpy.ops.anim.keyframe_insert(override, type='Location') to create a new keyframe via python.

Thanks to kostex on #blenderpython and @Samoth here.
The base answer is:
# Make a copy of the current context.
override = bpy.context.copy()

# Find the right area to override
for area in bpy.context.screen.areas:
     if area.type == 'CLIP_EDITOR':
         break

# Override the area
override['area'] = area

# Proceed with operator
bpy.ops.clip.stabilize_2d_add(override)

This is not the complete script for an application as that heavily depends on what else you need to do. A few things to keep in mind though:

You need to have a track selected to add it.
You need to access the Clip Editor (Movie Clip Editor) otherwise it may not exist at all.

Hope this helps others.

I wish I bothered to open the "Info" view before. If anyone is having similar questions, just open it. You will see context switches live as you edit manually, and can then translate them into your code.

You can add and adjust tracking markers without using operators.
Each movie clip has a tracking property which has a list of the tracks that have markers.
Every tracking.track is a point in that you are tracking. The markers for each track are keyframes of the tracks location.
import bpy

track_data = bpy.data.movieclips['movie_track'].tracking

for i in range(10):
    # this adds a new point to be tracked
    trck = track_data.tracks.new()
    for f in range(1,100,10):
        # this sets the location of the point at frame f
        x = (f+i) * 0.1
        y = (f+i) * 0.1
        trck.markers.insert_frame(f, co=(x,y))

# get track data
for t in track_data.tracks:
    for m in t.markers:
        print('marker on frame {} at {}'.format(m.frame, m.co))

Thanks but I have done this as the precursor to this question. What this doesn't answer is adding these tracks to the list of tracks that 2D stabilization uses so that I can then run the automatic stabilization tool. So far I only see operators as the way to do that.

True - The stabilize_2d_add operator only changes the value of a flag, but as it isn't provided in the py-api we have to use the operator for that one step. So track_data.stabilization.tracks is presented as a list but it is really a dynamic subset of the tracks list  based on the flag value, which would be why we can't alter it as a list.


text:
Lock object origin to 3D cursor
I have some problems about animating multiple objects since they're not moving at the same speed and because of that it doesn't seem like the objects are connected during the animation but only in the two frames ''locked'' the
It seems like it's because they have origins in different spots, so I set all origins to the 3D cursor in the absolute center, but as soon as I move the objects the origin follows and leaves the 3D cursor... Is it possible to lock the origin to the 3D cursor so it stays there even when you move your object?
I know that I can just move the object and then replace the origin back to the 3D cursor, but then the animation goes crazy, so another idea?
Pic 1) This is what I'm starting with. All parts have to be animated, but since the white parts only move up and down, there's no problem, but the blue parts have to be rotated, and that's when it goes wrong during animation...
Pic 2) This is where the animation should end. Notice that the spikes marked with a red dot never leave the standard plane (the red line).
It looks fine in the first and last frame of the animation, but the time in between go crazy.. doesn't move at the same speed, rotate around, and the spikes aren't at the red line through the whole time.
Pic 3) The blue parts are just connected to the white part as you see it in this picture... The blue ring just has du stay around the white peak, and don't break the laws of physic by moving in between or through the object.
Pic 4) This is just the full ''product'' so you have a better idea.

You should definitely look into rigging. It's often used to animate characters, but has a place anywhere you're trying to deform an object like this.
I would add several bones along your shape, then parent the shape to the armature using envelope weights. See here.

The objects aren't connected like that... They all have one single spot, that should be able to rotate about one specific spot of another object, which all of the first mentioned objects are connected to, but in different spots... it's a little hard to explain, but do you understand?

Hm. I think I know what you mean, you should check out rigging. Do you want them to pivot freely, with physics, or just be animated but appear to be locked to one spot on the parent?

I have to say that I don't know exactly what you mean, so what about some pictures du demonstrate?...
Pic 1) This is what I'm starting with. All parts have to be animated, but since the white parts only move up and down, there's no problem, but the blue parts have to be rotated, and that's when it goes wrong during animation...

Pic 2) This is where the animation should end. Notice that the spikes marked with a red not never leave the standard plane (the red line).
It looks fine in the first and last frame of the animation, but the time in between go crazy.. doesn't move at the same speed, rotate around, and the spikes aren't at the red line through the whole time.

Pic 3) I said earlier that the blue parts were connected to some of the white parts, but there just connected as you see on this picture... The blue ring just has du stay around the white peak, and don't break the laws of physic by moving in between or through the object.
Pic 4) This is just the full ''product'' so you have a better idea.

Thanks for providing more info. I can see where the blue things start, but where do they end up (on the last frame)?

The first frame is picture 1, the last frame is picture 2... if that's what you meant?

Yes, thank you. So you're trying to slide the marked points along the X-axis while keeping the tops/bottoms stationary?

Stationary along with the white ''lock'', yes

Completely redid the question, hope this helps.


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How to simulate soft-body voucher with bow object connected?
I am new to Blender and haven't worked in a 3D app in a long time.
I am animating a voucher that is floating down gently to an invisible surface. That I got to work perfectly.
The problem I have is connecting a Christmas bow to the voucher that moves with it as if it is attached.
Can you point me in the right direction of getting this to work?
Thank you in advance.
Bird's eye view:

Use tree vertex parent option ... Select bow object than voucher go to edit mode select tree corner vertices and hit Ctrl+P Parent to vertices (or something like that). BTW what is the purpose to use Decimate modifier after Soft Body?

That worked perfectly. Thank you very much. To answer your other question. Decimate modifier was accidentally left on when I was playing around with options. Thank you again for your help. It is appreciated.


text:
Strange dark stripes on procedural texture
I made a wall with a procedural texture on it.
I wanted to bake that texture to an image but Cycles creates some dark stripes on one part of the model which are transfered to the baked texture as well.
I don't know how to get rid of that or what causes this effect anyway.I'm using Blender 2.83.

Fair enough.I edited the image.Unfortunately they are not shadows.I upload the blend file as soon as I find out how to do that on this site.(Should I upload it somwhere and share the link?)Thanks for the reply.

Done.I hope it's working...

OK, I did it for you :) Since this site is meant to be knowledge-base (so others can learn from you) and external links like google drive is not permanent.

You could probably discover it by your self ... just by detaching nodes from tree.
I ended up with this Noise Texture node with Scale 100 ...

... behaviour is weird, but probably values are to extreme, changing Detail from 16 to 15 seems to work.

My guess ... you don't need for such Scale to use such Details even Detail 4 would do the job.
Anyway this is not happening with Blender 3.x

Thank for the soulution. I'm not new to blender but i'm new to this procedural texture thing in it.I've got that setting from a tutorial on youtube from a sophisticated guy who knows what he is doing.In fact that was the only part in the shader I didn't change.But at least you taught me how to debug these things.Thank you.Have a nice day.


text:
Adding a plastic cover over teeth (braces)
I have model of teeth. I need to make a plastic like cover over it as shown in image below. Can anyone suggest how can I achieve this?
Thank you.

There's a chance that the clearcoat option of the principled shader will do the trick. You can set it to > 1 if you type in the value manually.

Okay, I will try that also. Thank you.

Teeth plastic braces
In short - Solidify, Remesh, Boolean modifier

I used model from Blendswap. Teeths on this model are open on bottom part. For remeshing is necessary close the mesh topology (make manifold). Go to edit mode, select all and press Fill (F). Same for Gum object, just here is better to use Grid Fill.
Add modifiers

Solidify desired thickness
Remesh > Voxel > Size 0.01
Boolean > Difference > Object "Gum" (decrease Threshold 0 m)

Copy Object (just for safety) and Apply modifiers (cmd+A)
Because bottom part is after boolean operation filled, go to edit mode search for Sharp Edges > increase to 75 deg, press (V) Split, select one bottom face and press (L) Linked, (X) Delete
(or you can use Edge Split modifier for the same purpose)

Note:

I tried to make smooth transition between teeth, but you can make it more sharpen if you use Solidify only for the final result (so skip first Solidify and start directly with Remesh modifier).
Solidify used only at the end prevent brace to overlap gum as visible on the first image now, or use Solidify for Boolean operation on Gum object as well.
To select bottom part with Sharp Edge is a magic in this case :) Previously I spent several hours by selecting bottom part with Select Similar Co-planar that seemed to be fine but there left a lot of small parts around edge that raised as a lot of issues after Solidify on final mesh.

Thank you so much for your reply.The cover here is the same that we use in real time to straighten teeth. But can you please elaborate more on adding plane. Did you just add in in the object or used a boolean?

And also can you share settings of solidify modifier.


text:
How to make radius of one edge bigger than of a rest
I have a round cube 100x150x100mm with radius 2mm (standard mesh shape). I want to make one edge more rounded than the rest - with radius 10mm. How can I do this?

Select edge you want to bevel 10 mm and Assign to Vertex Group
Add Bevel modifier > Amounth 0.010 > Limit > Vertex Group
Add Bevel modifier > Amounth 0.002 > Limit > Angle

Thank you very much. For some reason Blender crashes when I try to open your .blend file. Could you, please, upload a short screencast on how you achieve this?

which version of Blender did you use here?

Sorry for silent, I use blender 2.92 (experimental). BTW I quickly checked Ramos's answer and that is better way of doing this :)


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Rigging low poly Head

I want to turn my Head with the Head bone. But somehow the Head cannot turn to -180 degrees. Which kinda makes sense but I want my Head to turn 360 degrees. What went wrong?
-Lathano

do you mean you have created 2 keyframes, one at 0° and one at 360°? could you please share your file? https://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/

as Lemon says, you need to remove the neck weight on the head, also, you want your head to rotate 360°, in that case, in the N panel, switch the rotation mode from Quaternion to XYZ Euler, and create 2 keyframes, one at 0°, and later on the timeline, one at 360°. Tell me if that's what you're looking for...

The helmet is weighted on a group named "DEF-spine.006" and to the "Neck".
You need either to lower these weights or simply remove them.
Localize the issue in weight paint mode then switch to edit mode and click remove under the group list.

Negative angle values mean rotation in opposite direction i.e. clockwise/counterclockwise. Hence, -180 deg is back from 180 to 0. A 360 degree rotation doesn't need negative angles.


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Particle System Instances Retaining Dimensions of Original Object

i have used a hair particle system to distribute the mesh on the bottom left as seen here. i want the particle system instances of this mesh to retain the same dimensions as the original mesh. ( i know for this simple example i can use an array modifier but i am showing a simplified situation.)

Particle System properties > Emission > Hair Length 1
Particle System properties > Render > Scale 1

Notes:

If Hair length is set 2, than Render Scale should be 0.5, and so on to keep size equal.
If dimension of source object is not 1 check also if Particle System properties > Render > Object > Object Scale is ON


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Reading Alembic files from disk
Houdini user here. In Houdini when we load alembic files, it just reads from disk.
Meaning when you save your Houdini scene, the alembic won't increase the file size because it just reads it from disk.
In blender when I import my alembic scene, file becomes really big because it is saving the alembic in my blender file.
I found a work around, if I create a default cube and append a mesh sequence cache modifier then find my alembic cache/object path, it will reference rather than import. Once my scene is saved the .blend file will stay the same.
My question is why does this method work, but not the first method? They both do the same thing (assuming you have use mesh cache sequencer modifier enabled on alembic import settings).
Is there a way to get the importer to work in the way I want so I don't have to manually set it up?
thanks!

When you are importing .abc file enable in popup window under properties Always Add Cache Reader.

Like that all imported objects will be linked from disk.
By default only mesh sequences are linked (those are mostly the most memory consuming objects) and the rest of objects (that can be handled natively in Blender) is appended, so you can modify them without any limits.

Yea, that was part of my question. Even after enabling it my scene got bigger. so I was confused on why my scene got bigger when I did file import vs manually setting it up even though the end result of the setup appeared to be identical.

Can you share your file ? For now I can't confirm that. I imported 114 MB .abc file and saved .blend was 0.9 MB ... it works for me ... isn't it that you work with the same file so there is a chance data was kept inside .blend file after delete? Blender keeps for one or two other saves abandoned data still inside a file. Try import .anc into a new .blend.

https://youtu.be/3ppjPGCb9so short video of my doing both methods and saving it. As you can see, using the import causes the scene file to get bigger even when use mesh cache.


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Why are there no key_frames created with Python code?
Thanks to the answer on my question Python convert curve to object, I can now extrude SVG curves and move and rotate the objects in Python.
Now I want to start with animation in Python, and I was hoping to insert some keyframes in a similar fashion as done in the example below which I found here
import bpy

positions = (0,0,2),(0,1,2),(3,2,1),(3,4,1),(1,2,1)
start_pos = (0,0,0)

bpy.ops.mesh.primitive_uv_sphere_add(segments=32, size=0.3, location=start_pos)
bpy.ops.object.shade_smooth()
ob = bpy.context.active_object

frame_num = 0

for position in positions:
    # bpy.context.scene.frame_set(frame_num)
    ob.location = position
    ob.keyframe_insert(data_path="location", index=-1, frame=frame_num)
    frame_num += 10

This works and lets a sphere move around. For my project with movement and rotation I came up with the following code:
import bpy
from math import *

context = bpy.context
scene = context.scene
bpy.ops.object.select_all(action='SELECT')
bpy.ops.import_curve.svg(filepath = "~/tmp/barkruk.svg")
newcurves = [c for c in context.scene.objects if not c.select]
# deselect all
bpy.ops.object.select_all(action='DESELECT')
# create an empty make it the active  object
empty = bpy.data.objects.new("Holder", None) # use filename maybe
scene.objects.link(empty)
scene.objects.active = empty
empty.select = True
# loop thru the curve objects
for c in newcurves:
    print("Curve: %s", c.name)
    # make it selected
    c.select = True
    # make the parent the empty if not already set
    if not c.parent:
        c.parent = empty
    # change some curve details
    curve = c.data
    curve.dimensions = '2D'
    curve.extrude = 0.003
    # sane object names
    c.name = curve.name
    # location
    #c.location.x += 0.332

empty.scale *= 2

bpy.ops.object.origin_set(type='GEOMETRY_ORIGIN', center='BOUNDS')
scene.objects[1].location.x=-1
scene.objects[3].location.x=1

bpy.context.scene.frame_set(0)
scene.objects[3].rotation_euler=(radians(90),0,0)
scene.objects[3].keyframe_insert(data_path="rotation_euler", frame=10)
scene.objects[1].rotation_euler=(radians(90),0, radians(90))
scene.objects[1].keyframe_insert(data_path="rotation_euler", frame=20)
scene.objects[2].location.z=0.12
scene.objects[2].keyframe_insert(data_path="location", frame=30)
scene.objects[1].location.x=0
scene.objects[1].keyframe_insert(data_path="location", frame=40)
scene.objects[3].location.x=0
scene.objects[3].keyframe_insert(data_path="location", frame=50)

But this doesn't do anything more than the answer in my previously asked question. At least I don't see the keyframes appearing on the timeline. Where do I go wrong and how can I generate keyframes?

Each curve object is still in the newcurves collection, hence newcurves[index] can be used rather than scene.objects[index]
The behaviour in the example sphere script you posted appears to rely on obj.location = (x,y,z) being set as opposed to obj.location.x = x etc.
My advice would be call scene.frame_set(f) update your props, insert keyframe, repeat.  The frame argument of keyframe_insert defaults to scene.frame_current.  Also to keyframe in only the x location pass index=0.
# set initial locs / rots here
newcurves[0].location.x=-1
newcurves[2].location.x=1

bpy.context.scene.frame_set(0)
# keyframe in all at frame 0
for curve in newcurves:
    curve.keyframe_insert(data_path="rotation_euler")
    curve.keyframe_insert(data_path="location")

# call frame set (updates the scene as well)
scene.frame_set(10)
# update the properties
newcurves[2].rotation_euler=(radians(90),0,0)
# insert the keyframes
newcurves[2].keyframe_insert(data_path="rotation_euler")

scene.frame_set(20)
newcurves[0].rotation_euler=(radians(90),0, radians(90))
newcurves[0].keyframe_insert(data_path="rotation_euler", frame=20)

scene.frame_set(30)
newcurves[1].location.z=0.12
newcurves[1].keyframe_insert(data_path="location", index=2)

scene.frame_set(40)
newcurves[0].location.x=0
newcurves[0].keyframe_insert(data_path="location", index=0)

scene.frame_set(50)
newcurves[2].location.x=0
newcurves[2].keyframe_insert(data_path="location", index=0)


text:
Automaticly create UV Map with correct aspect ratio
I'm trying to texture my model using a single texture and i wan't to unwrap my meshes so that they overlap and can still use the full texture while keeping their correct aspect ratio and realtive size compared to each. How do i achieve this?

Adding a picture to your question will help us answer best according to your model.

It's a good idea to check UV mapping first on test textures - Color Grid or UV Grid because it's very easy to see any deformations of that texture in the viewport / render. After mapping is checked you may continue with main texture,

Did you apply the scale of the object before unwrapping?

Nope, that solved it, thanks! It's now nearly perfect, the rest can be done manually. Do you wanna create an answer?


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Meshlights darker in final render
It seems like the emission shader lights up other objects stronger in the preview render than in final renders.

I'm using mesh lights in Blender 2.78. The error is reproducible by creating a plane with an emission shader and a subject with any kind of material, that's lit by the plane.

As I didn't find any reports of this issue, I'm wondering if I'm the only one experiencing it, and if so, what settings might cause this.

EDIT:
After resetting the preferences in the System tab this is the render:

It is a bit closer to the preview, but then I noticed that both of the lights are reflected two times. (Which was visible before, but I didn't realize it.)
I also tried to render with CPU, and the result was identical to the preview.
So it's definitely a problem with the GPU (Nvidia).
It's unlikely a driver problem since I noticed the problem some weeks ago.

hmm..here it looks the same. Try File->Load Factory settings. Maybe you have set something in the userpreferences or something..

Have you applied the scale to your mesh lights?

I did now, but it didn't fix it.

I tried Delagone's comment without success,

Have you applied the scale to your mesh lights?

but later I could fix the problem by also applying Rotation and Location.
I don't know what the GPU thinks the lamps looked like, but without all three transformations applied, the rendered image was wrong in some way.


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Invalid Python expression when using driver with Python script
I'm trying to use a python script as an expression in a driver. It was working fine at first and then all of a sudden I get the error message ERROR: Invalid Python expression.

I've tried running the script in the text editor multiple times with no errors, but I get an error in the driver section. Anyone know how to solve this?
Scrip in text
import bpy

prevTime = 0

###
# Rotates the object with the rotSpeed value in radians/s
###
def rotate(rotSpeed, curRot):
    scn = bpy.context.scene
    curFrame = scn.frame_current
    fps = scn.render.fps

    # Calculate total playtime
    time = curFrame / fps

    # Get delta time
    dt = time - prevTime

    # This will set the current rotation value of the object!!
    newRot = curRot + rotSpeed * dt

    # Set new previous time
    prevTime = time

    return newRot

# Add to driver namaespece to make it accessable
bpy.app.driver_namespace['RotWithSpeed'] = rotate

EDIT: The error occurs when I add the line "prevTime = time".

It looks ok.  (preferable if you post code as code rather than image to test)  Have you tried the "update dependencies" button?

Added the code as text in my question. Yes I've tried that, didn't make any difference.

You need to declare prevtime as a global. (although not sure you really need that anyhow since it (frame - 1) eqtn.    One issue is that jumps out now I look closer is that you are using the object property you are driving as an input to the driver as well, might cause issues too.

Isn't prevTime global by default when it's declared outside the function? I need the prevTime since it has to work in both directions in time. Tried to use something else as the input rather than the object property itself, the error stays. Also tried to remove the driver and then apply a new one, no difference.

The problem occurs on the line "prevTime = time". Global variables don't seem to work the same way in Blender as in raw Python. I Still don't know how to solve it though.

Did you put global prevTime in the rotate method?

I found a solution after a while. Seems like global functions don't work the same way in Blender as in raw Python.
I used mini3d's solution found on the blender forum.
Here's a summary of the solution:
import bpy

# Define global variables
bpy.types.Scene.prevTime = bpy.props.FloatProperty()

def getSettings():
    settings = bpy.data.scenes.get("Settings")
    if settings is None:
        settings = bpy.data.scenes.new("Settings")

    return settings

def rotate(rotSpeed, curRot):
    .
    .
    getSettings().prevTime = time
    .
    .

EDIT: Global variables do in fact work the same way. The following solution is much cleaner as suggested by batFINGER
The problem was that I tried to edit a global variable in a function without using the keyword "global".
import bpy

# Define global variables
prevTime = 0

def rotate(rotSpeed, curRot):
    # This will give us the ability to edit the global variable
    global prevTime
    .
    .

Disagree, globals work the same in blender.  Example set up a driver with x(0, 1) as a driver expression ( using http://pasteall.org/210634/python ).  Every time the driver is called the global variable c is updated, and will be by any prop that has f(..) as a driver expression.

No idea why that didn't work when I tried it previously. Your solution is much cleaner. Will update the solution.

This error seems to occur whenever the driver's function raises an exception. It's a shame the error message doesn't contain the stack trace. In your case I think batFINGER is right: prevTime is being written to as a global, so it must be declared at the top of the function as global prevTime. Variables that you only read from don't need to be declared as global.


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Blender and Linux, Which Linux distrubution is best for Blender 2.81
I just bought parts to build a computer for Blender, a Ryzen 7 3800m and RTX 2070 and 32 gb 3200 ram. I want the best OS for running Blender with that system. I understand Linux is the OS that allows blender to work the best. There are so many different Linux distributions though. Which one is best for Blender 2.81?

Hi Janet. Have voted to close as "primarily opinion based" as is with questions like this "best" can turn into a debate over linux flavours.  Sigh, My system is seriously under-powered in relation to your specs.  FWIW I build blender  on  Ubuntu 18. Ubuntu repos can be notoriously slow to upgrade software to new versions. Can tailor a build to your system. Building blender isn't for everyone. Builds downloaded from blender.org have given me no issues.

The best Linux distribution for you is the one you're comfortable working with. Blender doesn't really care. If you've never used Linux before and aren't familiar with working on the command line, then I'd suggest something that has a nice UI and doesn't require a lot of tinkering to get things working right. For that I would recommend Ubuntu.

Although I agree with @batFINGER, I think the prevailing opinion will be unanimous. As possibly bourne out through the comments here.  I have posted an answer to this because I thought there were some good reasons to cover.

If you are new to Linux then go for one with the best support.  That would, without doubt, be Ubuntu ... the user base is so large that it is really easy to find help.
There is a dedicated Stack Exchange site at https://askubuntu.com/ if you like to search these Q&A sites.
I believe they use(d) Ubuntu at the blender institute, certainly I have have seen it in some of their videos.
It is also popular among blender users.  This screenshot comes from https://snapcraft.io ( Snaps are an app package format, which is officially supported by Blender).

While these stats may be biased (more Ubuntu users will use Snap than other distros), it does show that you would at least have some company.
Once you are comfortable with it, you will find it easier to migrate to other variants many of which are based on Ubuntu, so it is hard to avoid.
Reading this article on best linux distributions for everyone, all but one are based on Ubuntu.
DISCLAIMER: I don't currently use Ubuntu
... but then again I have 20+ yrs experience with linux and like to edit text files.  I have used Ubuntu for long periods, over the years.  It is probably your best start point.


text:
Downloading Blender 2.82
I am trying to download Blender 2.82 but am getting and error. The source file can't be read according to Firefox. It takes forever to get the error message.
\AppData\Local\Temp\SgY4o2hI.msi.part could not be saved, because the source file could not be read.
Try again later, or contact the server administrator.
this is the error

Hello :). Works just fine on my end, have you tried other browsers?

Try using a different browser or a download manager.

I got it to work today after restarting my PC. I don't know why it was being an issue, probably something to do with my poor satellite connection.

I'm sure it has something to do with your connection. Can't believe that the best browser in the world isn't able to download something :)


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Blender quiting during render
I have 32 GB ram and a rtx 2070 with 8gb vram, and am working with a 10 MB file. I am rendering a 1080X1080 at 50% and 240 samples with dnoise, and blender still quits on me during the render. It just goes to windows.
I should have plenty of memory for the movie render.
I even turned down the light paths and bounces by half.
Any suggestions on what is causing the problem. I am using 2.81 with windows 10. and using cycles with GPU compute.
The scene is very simple, the only modifier is a subdivision surface set for 2 on render and a quality of 3. Vertices are 23000, faces 21500 both rounded up to the nearest 100 it is basicly only a makehuman character with nothing else after I did some mods to it. I am not getting any errors, it exits in a blink.

I ran Blender with the dbug and it looks like it was my dnoise addon that was the causing the problem. I turned it off and it works fine.


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How can I create accurate Colors and Emission for a computer screen model?
I'm trying to create a product shot with a computer and a screenshot of a webpage. I have some basic nodes set up, but the colors look washed out and dull. Lights are disabled, and I've set the background to transparent. Here is what it looks like
Here's the screenshot of the webpage:

Upon first glance the color might look pretty similar, but the white on the computer screen definitely isn't #FFFF, and in my file Which I'll attach, you'll see what I mean. Can anyone point me to the best nodes to get a good looking computer screen with accurate colors and some nice light emission?
Thank you!!
[edit] removed "add shader"

Why do you have an add shader connected to only one input in your graph. That will definitely wash out the colors.

Hi there, thanks, i just removed the add shader (it was cuz i was trying other things with it.) but the result now is just the same as before. I'll try to upload another screenshot if needed.

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/164677/images-as-emitters-constantly-come-out-dull-white-emission-not-actually-white

@scurest THANK YOU!


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Export object with vertex paint
I am a beginner when it comes to Blender, so bare with me.
I painted my sculpted character with vertex paint. Now I would like to export it to .obj or something like that, and if I have understood correctly it should be possible(?) But the colors doesn't show after exporting.
I have tried .ply too, but it doesn't work either. I have searched tutorials etc. from YouTube and internet and made "Attribute" node to the "Col", but it still does nothing. I really like how the paint turned out, so it would be a shame to start over.
(Hopefully my problem is understandable, English is not my first language. :D)

Hi. Is your question about exporting vertex colors to a file or rendering vertex colors in Blender?

Did you used experimental Sculpt Vertex Paint tool or regular painting in Vertex Paint mode?

For render - ensure Vertex Color name matches with the Name in Atribute node field.
For export -

PLY - exporter works for me (vertex color option is enabled by default)
ABC - exporter can also store vertex color data, just enable it in export options
OBJ - exporter doesn't have this feature. So you can export as PLY or ABC and use free app Meshlab to export as OBJ with vertex color.

Alternatively you can Bake vertex color into texture.

Hi. Are you sure Eevee does not render vcol?

@lemon Ha ... sorry, right. I was on old comp where eevee is not working. Thank you ... edited

ply should work... maybe something else is involved in the question...?

Thank ypu for the answers!
I have tried everything, execpt baking the vertex color to texture, since I am not sure how to do it. I thought the ply should work but I don't understand what is going wrong, hmm

As @lemon commented - are you asking to "export" or "render" vertex colors? For PLY you don't have to Bake image texture.

Oh sorry, I meant exporting it

OK if we speak about exporting to OBJ or PLY does answer solved your issue? Or issue persists?


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Trying to make a stone wall- Cycles has weird glitch where it doesn't "fill in" the image texture even though evee does

Trying to make a stone wall..   essentially a blend of

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWGoOuVFJwc - using cell fracture and various displacement/subsurface modifiers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiBktrx_MdE   - then using this to get the stone texture.

it's so very close to being what i'm after apart from these annoying glitches.
Also, if anyone can add an easy node to lighten the stones that would be great.
Thanks all

Gaps are generated by Displacement node in your shader. Eevee doesn't because doesn't use displacement feature. Changing Scale value to zero in Cycles does the same what Eevee looks like.
I'm not sure, but I would say you can use only Bump Only Displacement type with combination of UV texture. Any edge of UV will generate gaps, because blender doesn't know how to stick these parts of images.

Also it seems quite enough disable Displacement and use only Normal Map node with Strength like 10.

Amazing!! Thank you so much... this website is insane how everyone can answer these questions so quickly. hopefully one day i'll be able to answer someone elses questions


text:
Laserlight - Fog Density?
Trying to make something like those laser lights.
For the laser itself i found a lot of stuff on youtube, but when it comes to the details im not sure. Its just consistent in those tutorials when it comes to the beam. But i want some variations like it is in the pictures. The fourth picture is a really good ref, so you can see the smoke/variation in the light a lot. Would be interested to do this in Eevee & cycles just to learn from it.

Simple one for your last reference image ... procedural texture for triangle object ...

Looks perfect! I will give it a try! Thanks @vklidu !

This shader is not producing the first front rays, what I did is more like a faked solution. To create something more realistic for different kind of laser show you would need to work with Volumetric shader, Motion Blur, and other stuff ... but that is quite complex to achieve and I even know if you need animation or a still image.


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How can I hide a part of an reflection in Cycles
I want to hide the red reflection as shown in the image below. I achieved this in Eevee, and I want to do it in Cycles because it looks more realistic in Cycles. I've tried adjusting light path settings like glossy and diffuse, as well as all blend modes and screen space reflections, but it's not working.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DDNB0hsYgwc599h7QR7H5V7gyV2DL4ls/view?usp=sharing

Hello what causes the red reflection? Maybe share your file? Don't forget to pack your images

We really can't help you if we're not given any clue about red things in your scene.. are you saying there are none, and this is a complete mystery?

check link @moonboots

you have an ColorRamp with orange colors plugged into the Base Color of your Principled BSDF, so it seems normal that the reflection becomes redish?

Is it possible to turn off the reflection setting so that it does not reflect like in the upper image @moonboots

its only reflecting in cycle, in eevee look normal

Yes because in Eevee by default you won't have any reflection of the objects that are in the scene

If you are looking how to eliminate reflection of object in its surface at all like in Eevee try this ...

... or you can go to Object Properties > Visibility > Ray Visibility and uncheck Glossy.

If you need to uncheck Glossy for more objects at once select all participating objects and uncheck Glossy. By hovering over checkbox right click and choose from contextual menu Copy to Selected.

Note: Keep in mind ... by "cropping" the real behaviour of path traycing from render you devaluate realism of Cycles, that you choose for. So you lost all benefits of realism and just increase a render time :)

You are probably experiencing reflection of other objects ...  so do the same for light object ... or  uncheck Glossy in Object Properties > Visibility > Ray Visibility ... btw I just noticed you can plug Reflection ray directly to Mix Factor (World shader is still reflecting).

You could use the Is Glossy Ray output of an Input > Light Path as factor between your current material and a Glossy that is white:

Thanks, buddy, it was greatly helpful @moonboots


text:
Cannot see any object in viewport
I can't remember what keys I pressed on the keyboard but I cannot see anything on the scene. I already checked the layers visibility, that wasn't the problem.
I am using Blender 2.74 on a Mac, therefore no numpad.
I already checked this out:
Can't see any objects anymore

This is what happened after I pressed Shift+C

Here's the file:

Your view seems of-centered. try pressing Shift+C` while the cursor is hovering the 3D viewport to center the view, see if that helps

I can see the grid now but still no mesh. I just added a cube and I can see the cube and the grid but nothing else

Well hard to tell without any more info. Could you edit your question and upload your blend file?

How do I upload a blend file?

You can use http://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/. Be sure to upload a as simple as possible blender file only with relevant data for the problem at hand, and pack all relevant external data before uploading. Then edit you question to add the link and be sure to poke a user in a comment with @Username when you do, so know and get a notification

What you see after you pressed Shift+C means that your cube, if you added it, is not in the center of scene, rather than somewhere else. If it's still selected, press Shift+S > Selection To Cursor. Your question is then related to http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/2113/snap-entire-selection-to-the-3d-cursor-in-edit-mode

                       @Duarte Farrajota Ramos

All your objects have invalid coordinates, and are positioned at infinity.
Don't know how that happened but the bottom line is Blender can't handle it so you can't see your objects.
You will probably have to manually place your objects again one by one, as no other methods seem to be working currently.

Go to the outliner
Set it to Current Scene
Select one of the objects from the list
Go to the 3D view
Open the properties tool shelf N key
Change the values for location from invalid values to 0,0,0or anything else that suits you

Changing for the parent of several objects seems to be enough though, for all others you will have to manually place them in the scene at correct positions again

It's working. I can see all the objects. Thank you so much. @Duarte Farrajota Ramos

This happened to me because I accidentally pressed something and everything except one object has disappeared.
I simply un-checked and checked the box which lays next to "Collection" and it showed up again.

Same thing happened to me, I had a taurus mesh and a plane mesh and the taurus just disappeared, I got it back by clicking View at the bottom left hand corner and then when it brings up the menu I clicked view all and viola it came back. Don't forget to save!

On the keyboard, press button ` which is the Tilde key, and select View Selected


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Exporting to DirectX for Vehicle Simulator with correct axis for each object, Blender equivalent of Xform reset?
So, my problem is when I export to DirectX format (.x), it shows strange in Vehicle Simulator (a vehicular simulator), and my model does not behave as it should. the propeller of my ship, which should rotate in a clockwise way, and the rudder which should probably rotate on the Z axis (up-down). So, my problem is that in Vehicle Simulator, the axis is wrong. As when I try to apply the elements instead of the properties of the ship and it's behaviour, it's all messed up. A friend told me he used the Reset Xform function in 3ds Max to correct the axis, is there a similar feature in Blender?

Please Create another separate post for your second question. Keep it to one question per post.

I seem to have solved this myself, somehow by tweaking the pivot points of the objects in the scene of Blender.

Even though I need to flip the entire model -90 degrees on the X axis to get everything right, and set the propellers pivot point at the opposite side (minus) of what it in fact is to get the blow from it to emit correctly...

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

To be honest, I don't know the answer to the question. I do not know the equivalent of Xform in 3ds Max to something similar in Blender 3D. So, I'm sorry, but I don't know the answer. I have spent days trying to figure this out, to no avail. But rotating the model in the proper directions inside of Blender  seems to work.


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Objects over 100m doesn't show decimals? (Blender 2.79)
So, I saw this when opening my .blend file. I immediately noticed something wrong with the decimals in the Dimensions box. It now says in Blender 2.79 "458m", unlike in Blender 2.78c, where it said "458.45m". Is this a bug? Also, when I left-click on the Y-dimension, it shows highlighted "458.45m".
EDIT: The decimals seems to disappear after 100m.
EDIT2: Same thing with the length set to Imperial. After 100', the decimals disappears.
This did not happen in 2.78c.

It seems so, idk if intentional change or bug. Enabling "separate units" may help a bit, meanwhile.

I think it may be a bug, as there is no way to change decimal count in Blender, as far as I know. But it could, as you said also been done intentionally, as to make it less "cluttered", I don't know...

You can file a bug report at https://developer.blender.org


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MeasureIt won't show actual size of my model, only when the Subdivision Surface modifier is applied
Like the title says, when I am going to use MeasureIt, it says, thanks to the Subdivision Modifier, the correct size. Although, when I turn View Subdivisions to zero, it changes the size to one meter. Is there a way to somehow "apply" the subdivided size, without actually apply the entire modifier?

Could you include some screenshots of the object?

As you can see, the MeasureIt function does extend beyond the bulb of my ship. Thanks to the Subdivision Surface, that is set to one, not zero. The MeasureIt feature only seems to work with applied modifiers, especially the Subdivision Modifier.

Not as convenient as the addon, but could certainly be emulated by adding two empties to scene, snapping them to points, then using basic vector maths in py console.  Or make a copy of your object, apply mods and measure that.  Would either of these workarounds  suffice?

Oh yes! I didn't think of that! Thanks a lot! It works beautifully! You saved me a lot of headache!

The accepted solution, provided by batFINGER. You add an empty to the scene, by either hovering over Add in the 3D View menu, selecting Empty -> Plain Axes, or, you can alternatively, hold Shift+A, and select Empty -> Plain Axes.
Then, a tip is to use the snap function (you find it in the 3D View menu as well, or, by simply pressing Shift+Tab. Then select what you want to snap to. In my case, it was vertices. But you can snap to either vertices, edges, faces or even entire volumes. Or just incremental snapping.
You can choose what to snap to by pressing Shift+Ctrl+Tab to toggle between the different snap modes.


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How to cut out holes nicely, without applying subsurf modifier (in the correct topology order)
Basically, this is what I want, without applying any of my modifiers. I assume I just need to put the modifiers in the right order? I'm sorry if the video is in bad quality, but I used the screencast option in Blender, then used FormatFactory (free software) to convert it to an animated GIF.
GIF animation of problem

The way I would approach this is:
Make the cylinders with as few sides as possible. then add the boolean modifier before the subsurf. And apply it.
Additionally, you should move your surrounding geometry so that it "encompasses" the 3 holes. That way, when you apply the modifier, all the weird lines are going to be in the small space surrounding the holes.
If you can't change your geometry, then try adding a loop cut to do the same thing.
Hope this helps!

Basically, this is what I need. But It only seems to work when the modifiers are applied from top to bottom, like shown in this image https://1drv.ms/i/s!Aor67FEekLdyhJVcq_3x0onW93DqsQ

I would apply the subsurf last


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How to adjust transparency of alpha channel on a png image, without completely making it vanish?
I don't know if I am making myself clear, but the logo should still be visible, but the background removed. Lastly, I would want to make the logo itself transparent, if possible, how do I accomplish this?

This looks very similar to this other question, I think its answer will probably help.

As the other question says you need to take the image data and the image alpha(transparency) and plug them into a Mix Shader as the factor for the mixing is the image Alpha you need something to go in the second input for the Mix Shader. For this use a Transparency Shader. It is one of those things that seems overly complex but when you get the hang of it will allow you to do some truly amazing things.

This is my node layout: https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aor67FEekLdyhvhql7zpfbGMo0bWKg

I basically want to make the logo transparent, and it's background completely invisible. But if you knew, then your answer is obviously correct.


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How to shorten object names?
I was basically wondering how you can shorten your object names automatically instead of going in and do it manually on countless of objects.
I know there is a object renaming add-on, but this only renames all the objects.
So, if anybody knows how I can just shorten the object names, I'd be very grateful!

@Mr Zak My mistake, I've corrected the question to object names. It's for exporting a *.3ds file, which doesn't allow more than a certain amount of characters in object names.

Please edit this detail into question.  Do you know how many is a certain amount?

It's ten characters. It can all be read on the Wikipedia article

I basically have to shorten all objects name's in my scene, to be able to export in *.3ds properly, the batch renamer doesn't support this currently.

This script renames all the objects and assigns a number.
import bpy

objects = bpy.context.scene.objects

for i in range(0, len(objects)):
    print(objects[i].name)
    objects[i].name = "object" + str(i)
    objects[i].data.name = "object" + str(i)

You can do this by using Python:
import bpy

objects = bpy.context.selected_objects

# number of chars you want to remove
n = 1

for obj in objects:
    new_name = obj.name[:-n]
    obj.name = new_name

Just copy this script to a Text Editor panel, select your objects and click Run Script (on the bottom bar).
P.S.: Keep in mind that Blender automatically adds a numeric suffix to the names if you have more than 1 object with the same name.

more on the PS, will have opposite effect re shortening names if run on for example (a not unlikely list of 3 objects):  "Cube.001, Cube.002, Cube.003"  result "Cube.00, Cube.00.001, Cube.00.002" and again "Cube.0, Cube.00.00, Cube.00.00.001".


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V.2.61 - AVI file getting grayscale renderings instead of color
This is a father's desperate call for help.
My son is very much into YouTube, and is now at the beginning of his quest with two more friends to start their channel.
Apparently the first step is to have an "Intro". He has done his research, decided that Blender is the best alternative for a 3d intro (free and very capable), installed Blender, downloaded a Blender intro template (after having gone through hundreds of them), lightly edited the template to match his needs, played, rendered the animation to an AVI file - only to find out that on his Windows 10 PC he is experiencing the infamous "Blender output file not visible in explorer" problem.
I looked into it too, and it seems the only solution is a repair reinstall of Windows, which he does not want to do because of the possibility of messing other things up.
We checked all previous versions of Blender one by one, and found that 2.61 does not inhibit this problem (actually maybe even 2.63 is OK, I am mixing up version numbers now).
We loaded the template into Blender 2.61, made similar selections matching those we did in 2.78, but when we render the movie, all we get is a grayscale version with almost nothing discernible on the display.
Can you please give us some pointers to what to look into? I will appreciate any help very much, and please bear in mind that we know very little or almost nothing about the technology and terminology involved.
Many thanks in advance, Arifi Koseoglu
NEW NOTES:
Today we have continued looking into the problem. It seems that the problem can be traced back to the .blend file having been created with a new version of Blender, and so not properly behaving on the older version we opted for. We concluded this by opening the same file in v.2.76 and v.2.61 with same/corresponding settings on the configuration area. The output of 2.76 was what we expected to see. Can this be the case?
As a band-aid solution (the workweek has started) currently I am in process of rendering the whole project on my PC (which does not inhibit the "file invisible in windows explorer problem") with v.2.76, and they will use this time until we find a solution for their PC.
But, if blender project files are always backward-compatible - then we are at square 1.
I am also attaching a screenshot of the Blender window processing the file.
Best regards and many thanks again.
Arifi Koseoglu
Screenshot:

Adding a screenshot of your settings and output will help.

Also never ever ever render directly from 3D model into a video file format. Always render separate frames to image file format (like PNG) and only then convert to a video separately. Try that  in the most recent version 2.78a and see of the grayscale problem persists. If not it's a some codec or encoding problem

Dear cetagon, Duarte Farrajota Ramos and Leander,
Many thanks for your answers. Very much appreciated. I have edited the question to respond to your comments.


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Recreate to_track_quat with two vectors using python
i've been asked to recreate the to_track_quat function of mathutils to create a quaternion that looks from point a to point b, but so far i've been un successful.
I'm using in blender two objects, being their positions:
object.location = mathutils.Vector((0,0,3))
target.location = mathutils.Vector((2,4,4))
angle = look_at(object, target)
Here is my first function:
def look_at(u, v):
    u.normalize()
    v.normalize()
    dot = u.dot(v)
    cross = u.cross(v)
    q = mathutils.Quaternion()
    q.x = cross.x
    q.y = cross.y
    q.z = cross.z
    q.w = math.sqrt(u.length_squared*v.length_squared) + dot
    q.normalize()
    print(q)
    return q

Returns (w=0.9129, x=-0.3651, y=0.1826, z=0.0000)
The result is something like this:

I believe i'm missing an operation, but i'm not certainly sure what.
Can someone guide me a bit on how to do it properly?
Another attempt that has been suggested:
def look_at(u, v):
    w = (v - u)/math.sqrt((v.x - u.x)**2 + (v.y - u.y)**2 + (v.z - u.z)**2)
    up = mathutils.Vector((0,-1,0))

    q = mathutils.Quaternion()
    cross1 = w.cross(up)
    dot1 = w.dot(up)
    q.x = cross1.x
    q.y = cross1.y
    q.z = cross1.z
    q.w = math.sqrt(w.length_squared*up.length_squared) + dot1
    q.normalize()
    return q

In maths, a vector is not a point, even though we use the same data structure to store both. Normalising points (u and v) makes no sense.

I'm kind of aware since when i did put it in it made no difference, but i comment it in an out just in case to get some hope when i try new stuff.

You have to compute w = (v - u)/|v - u|, and then compute the angle between the forward vector of the object and w to compute the correct rotation.

With that do you mean to subtract the two vectors and divide it by the module of the subtraction of the vectors?

That's the mathematical notation of the normalised vector from u to v.

This got me closer to the result, it looks like it's almost there, but seems that i'm missing something. I'm trying different foward vectors to get the solution. it's giving me  almost the opposite rotations with this one. i'll update the post.

Just know that you also need a 2nd rotation around w, to ensure that the up-vector is pointing upwards again. Without this, you have an underspecified problem, with an infinite number of solutions, resulting in unwanted behaviour.

As a side note recommend using : w = (v - u).normalized()

Based on this tutorial I wrote this function
def look_at(camera_position, target_position):
    """Returns model-view matrix from camera position to target.

    # Arguments
        camera_position: Numpy-array of length 3. Camera position.
        target_position: Numpy-array of length 3. Target position.
    """
    camera_direction = camera_position - target_position
    camera_direction = camera_direction / np.linalg.norm(camera_direction)
    camera_right = np.cross(np.array([0.0, 0.0, 1.0]), camera_direction)
    camera_right = camera_right / np.linalg.norm(camera_right)
    camera_up = np.cross(camera_direction, camera_right)
    camera_up = camera_up / np.linalg.norm(camera_up)
    rotation_transform = np.zeros((4, 4))
    rotation_transform[0, :3] = camera_right
    rotation_transform[1, :3] = camera_up
    rotation_transform[2, :3] = camera_direction
    rotation_transform[-1, -1] = 1
    translation_transform = np.eye(4)
    translation_transform[:3, -1] = - camera_position
    look_at_transform = np.matmul(rotation_transform, translation_transform)
    return look_at_transform


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Help with Dynamic Topology
I have just come into sculpting and I have noticed that dyntopo's detail deteriorates depending on the view distance in the viewport.

Is there a way to prevent this from happening?
Because I would like to have the same level of detail whether I zoom in or out.

Dynamic Topology lets you work with three types of detail.

Relative detail

This method uses a detail size based on the number of pixels, and in turn will create topology in that size. Zoom out big details, zoom in small fine details.

Constant Detail

To keep detail uniform across the entire object, Constant Detail can be used. The Detail is based on the percentage of a single Blender Unit.

Brush Detail

Giving more control over the topology, with this method you can create topology based on the brush size. You can increase and lower topology by simply resizing the brush itself. The detail size is based the size of the brush itself, where 100% will create topology the size of the brush ring itself.

You can choose which type to use in the Dyntopo panel just under the detail size.


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Mesh duplicated itself under current mesh
Hey my mesh duplicated itself underneath the current mesh (somehow)and now you can see the graphical errors through the view-port, I am unable to remove doubles, and even unable to click drag the other mesh since its set as one part, and can not be separated since it is one.I do know selecting linked grabs all the mesh and deletes the whole thing, I need to delete the layer below, which is identical to the original layer

Select linked, ctrl+L

This question is also answered by the answer to question 61697. While the two questions have the same answer, they are not, in my oponion, the same question.

It still deletes the whole project.

so, both meshes are connected... check the selected amount/amount of vertices on the top bar (after ctrl+L), and of course, select only one vertex before ctrl+L

Still Maximum/Maximum can I send you my work on this?

I had this once and the 2nd was in the next layer.  If you can locate each copy/version in the layout list, can you possibly unlink it (right click on it's entry?  Then try and grab it, move it to another layer if it hasn't disappeared.


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Square face texture using texture nodes or so (first filling from the edge or outside)
I would like to create a texture that first comes from the edge, offsets and then fills the area (face, or open [not closed geometry]). I believe we can use proximity vektors but not sure how to connect these together as a mix shader only mixes.
How would I go about this as I have read some material, but it's all more complex than this.

In principle you can't do it in a shader alone,  because it needs more information than is given to it. Even with using geometry nodes, compositing etc. I think it's hard...

What is your goal? Are you looking to create outlines via a shader?

My goal is to be able to apply it to a shield for example, and then suddenly the shield has a boarder on the faces I applied it to.

I think I misunderstood your sketch: I though you want the coloring based on the distance from the silhouette, which depends on the camera angle. But instead you just want to mark some edges, and get distance from that? Perhaps you could operate on the UV space, therefore flattening the problem into 2D, which is the same as this: Procedural Border Detection on a Flat Object


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How do I Make background object (mannequin) transparent or immoveable/locked so I can design armour around it
How can I lock a wire frame mesh to the background and change the wire frame color? Is there a way to adjust the locked objects transparency?

Hello, it's hard to understand, could you please show some screenshots?


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Inverted axis in pose mode
I have this mesh with their bones... the first (upper, called Target) bone is selected in pose mode. The bone next (down) the "Target" has IK.

as you can see the location and rotation are with cero's.
But when need to move or rotate trying to use the location and/or rotation transform... the axis are inverted...

If I modify the axis Z in location, the bone moves across the Y axis... why is that?
NOTE
That bone is not connected with others bones, to be a target bone, with the IK.

Try applying the rotation of the object/bone, maybe? (CTRL+A>Rotation)

No, already did it, but not work.