text:
Setting mesh's origin in python (2.8)
If I create a cube, the origin is originally at the center of mass. I know how to move the origin to the center of one of its faces using the interface, but how can I do the same thing via Python?

This might help you: https://blenderartists.org/t/modifying-object-origin-with-python/507305

Bmesh script
This can be done similarly by using me.transform(T) with a translation matrix T. I have used an edit mode bmesh as it is simple to set  the active face interactively before running script.

Get the local coordinate of the face center.
Subtract it from all coordinates, effectively making face center (0, 0, 0) or origin.
Move the object globally to reflect the local transform of the origin.

Script and Origin to Selected 2.80 addon available here
 https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/134460/15543

Addon from link above, same result as script below
import bpy
from mathutils import Vector
import bmesh

context = bpy.context
ob = context.edit_object
me = ob.data
bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(me)

f = bm.faces.active
if f:
    o = f.calc_center_median()
    bmesh.ops.translate(bm,
           verts = bm.verts,
           vec = -o,
           )
    bmesh.update_edit_mesh(me)
    me.update()
    # move the object globally to reflect
    mw = ob.matrix_world
    t = mw @ o - mw @ Vector()
    mw.translation += t

Since mw @ Vector() is essentially mw.translation the last line could be
     mw.translation = mw @ o

Related:  Set origin to bottom center of multiple objects

ORIGIN TO CURSOR in edit mode
obj = context.active_object
loc = context.scene.cursor.location
me = obj.data
mw = obj.matrix_world

#move verts "back" (in prevision of next operation)
local = mw.inverted() @ loc
ml = Matrix.Translation(-local)
bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(me)
bm.transform(ml)
bmesh.update_edit_mesh(me)

#move origin and verts
t = loc - mw @ Vector()
mw.translation += t


text:
Can this be done by physics in Blender?
I saw this and I'm trying to figure it out how can I make this by physics features. I tested some different ways, but since I'm not advanced in this feature of the blender, I want to ask you if it's possible or not and if yes, could you kindly give me some advice?
Here is the image:

Thank you in advance.

of course not, you cant do that with physics, to do that you have to model it

@MichaelBenDavid I’m guessing the question is about the bulging cushion sections being generated by physics, similar to https://blender.stackexchange.com/q/87424/29586

This is definetiley possible.
I can recommend to check out Curtis Holt's Video on Cloth Simulation in Blender 2.8 The effect you want to have is definetly doable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAswwNpfe0U&t=0s&list=LL_vK2be21gQ3oN11drA3XBA&index=8
You would have to start by modelling your base structure and the plastic in the state of "not stretched out".

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Collapsing windows to the left?
I have only started using Blender fairly recently, and I was trying to model something when I accidentally pressed a shortcut. I don't know what it was, but it opened an (editable) rendered view of my model. I was trying to revert my screen back to normal, but I don't know what I'm doing. Can anyone help me figure out how to collapse the labeled window (see attached photo)? I've trying dragging the corner to both the right and up, but it won't move.
Thanks!

Move the mouse above the line, when the cursor switch to the double arrow, click with the right button and select join area.

you probably changed the viewing mode to rendered. The shaded sphere on the bottom of the left window just above the timeline to the right of the Edit mode drop down list.

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


text:
Video Editing in blender 2.8 - FFmpeg renders nothing
I'm trying to edit a video sequence in 2.8, tried it in 2.79 aswell but same results. I'm importing a mp4 with audio attached to it and the only thing I'm trying to do is to cut it down and render.
When I render to FFmpeg the render just gives me a grey empty render. Doesn't even render a empty file anywhere. I can render single frames in any format just fine and I can render AVI JPEG without problems, but that gives no sound.
Is there something I'm missing? It's driving me insane..

I had the same problem.
Rendering animation from 3d keyframes worked fine, the same as you rendering into avi jpg or raw worked fine but ffmpeg just left a blank render window and nothing happening, no errors nothing.
As input I use a png image sequence of size 4800x6299 [px] (this is important).
I decided to add an effect transform with 2 keyframes at the beginning and the end with position x set to 0 (so no movement, just to get some keyframes to see what happenes) then I tried rendering and got an error saying: output dimension is not divisible by 2.
So I deleted the transform effect, changed height from 6299 to 6300 (1px is not going to make much difference anyway), hit render (this time again only the pure image sequence) and it started rendering.
So not sure if this can help you or not but I'd try checking that your output size both width and height are divisible by 2. If that doesn't work try adding some effect or something with keyframes and check if you get an error message as I did and try to check if yo uget any errors at the bottom.
This is after official 2.80 release so I'm nto sure if it's still relevant with your or not so I'm leaving this here if it helps someone else in the future.

I made an account just to let others know that Vico Lemp's answer in here worked for me, I had to make my resolution divisible by 2 and then I could begin rendering an mpeg-4.

I changed the video codec to MPEG-4 and it worked just fine. I suppose the other codecs were incompatible with the file format.

Worked fine here in 2.80 of 15 of February, I just added the mp4 clip, moved the cursor where I want to cut, pressed shift-k to cut, deleted the unwanted parts, set the output to fmpeg, then choose mp4, compression quality, then press ctrl-F12.
Gilles


text:
Unable to download Blender because of ssl_error_rx_record_too_long error
I'm using Firefox 65.0.1 64 bit and have tried many times to download blender using a standard window, a private window, setting TLS back to 1.2 etc - however I'm still unable to do so because of the ssl_error_rx_record_too_long error I get on the page https://www.blender.org/download/Blender2.79/blender-2.79b-windows64.msi/
Does anyone have any other ideas of how to get Blender to download?
Many thanks
Isobel

I speculate that you might have some anti-virus feature switched on and that might have prevented the downloading of Blender.

Possibly a certificate error. Check the date/time that your computer is set to - I’ve seen similar issues due to the date being incorrect (so the certificate was no longer valid).

I don't think (I accept I may be wrong) that the issue is with my computer. All the information I've read says that the issue would be on the download server itself, which is why I brought it here and not to Mozilla support, for example.
My computer date is correct and I can download other software, so I don't think my anti-virus is causing the issue (it's ZoneAlarm and I've been using it for years).
I'm interested to know if anyone else gets that error message from the download page?
Many thanks

that page redirects to https://download.blender.org/release/Blender2.79/blender-2.79b-windows64.msi for the actual file you can also visit the download lists directly https://download.blender.org/release/Blender2.79/ Also check your systems date/time, had SSL errors before due to clock drift.

@rob, thank you - I can download from the second link you posted. My system date/time is fine, but Firefox and Chrome both have an issue with the "official" download page (same error on both), so thank you for posting the lists.


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How to overlap between centers of edges while maintaining the uv shapes?

I want to overlap the center of the bottom edge of the rectangle uv with the center of the top edge of the square uv.
How can I achieve this using Blender's uv editing tools?

You can get there with vertex snapping.

Use Face select mode, and center the first rectangle
Enable Vertex snapping > Closest and snap the second rectangle
Center the second rectangle

I came up with a way to use the faces of scale 0.

Smart :). Blender should really get a better snapping functionality in UV editor.


text:
How to get the missing library and its collection with Python?

As my project folder structure and naming convention were reorganized, missing libraries and collections occurred.
To recover them collectively, I'm trying append into list the missing libraries and collections, but the API seems to have no properties related to missing.
Maybe I couldn't find it in the API?
Or is there any way to get them with other programming techniques?

Look at the library filepaths.
Iterate over the libraries, for any that do not exist in saved filepath, convert the filepath and reload.
import bpy
from pathlib import Path

for lib in bpy.data.libraries:
    p = Path(bpy.path.abspath(lib.filepath))
    if not p.exists():

        print("Missing:", lib.filepath)
        # convert filepath
        lib.filepath = "/some/converted/path"
        # with new valid path
        lib.reload()

It's very helpful!
Meanwhile, is there a way to detect a disconnected collection? (Marking the red circle of the attached image)


text:
Shadow catcher for curved surface in EEVEE?
I'm using EEVEE as my main renderer and I need to provide a 2D team with a character image with a shadow in translucent pixels.
My character is standing on a curved floor. However, all of the EEVEE shadow catcher methods I found through Googling and YouTube search turned out to only work well on flat surfaces. The EEVEE shadow catcher method seemed to have a limitation of including the shadow of the floor itself when the floor has a slope or when a light other than the Sun type is installed.
Of course I can solve my problem by outputting shadow catcher pass using Cycles and combining them with EEVEE character pass in compositor. But I wonder if there is a shadow catcher method for curved floors in EEVEE as well.

I'm actually in trouble too with shadow passes, different problems arise in cycles or eevee and both are useless.
I have finally created a different scene with a material overide with one white diffuse material applied. Not perfect but worked enough in my case ...


text:
How to check if a bone layer is empty with python

When I run my script, I want to activate only the bone layer that contains bones and mute the empty layers without bones.
Is there an api that can tell if a layer is empty or not?

The layer data in an armature is just a list of bools, so you can't check if it has any bones like that. My solution was to loop through every layer, then check if there were any bones assigned to that layer.
    def check_layer_data(self, layer, context):
        for bone in context.object.data.bones:
            if bone.layers[layer]:
                return True

        return False

There might be a better way to do this considering I'm not the best programmer, but this worked for me.


text:
How to check for broken bindings due to mesh editing after binding a mesh deform modifier in Blender Python?
I have about 300 objects in my scene and I want to bind them all to one deformer object via the Mesh Deform modifier to create a cartoonish perspective distortion.
To accomplish this, I have written the following python script:
import bpy

# Convenience Variables : Blender Python console-style shorthand.
D = bpy.data
C = bpy.context

def add_and_bind_mesh_deform(targets, deformer_name):
    # Iterate through the target objects
    for obj in targets:
        # Check the object type (only MESH or CURVE)
        if obj.type not in ['MESH', 'CURVE']:
            continue

        # Add Mesh Deform modifier
        mesh_deform_modifier = obj.modifiers.new(name="MeshDeform", type='MESH_DEFORM')
        mesh_deform_modifier.object = D.objects[deformer_name]

        # Bind the Mesh Deform modifier
        C.view_layer.objects.active = obj
        bpy.ops.object.meshdeform_bind(modifier="MeshDeform")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    deformer_name = "Deformer"
    targets = C.selected_objects

    add_and_bind_mesh_deform(targets, deformer_name)

However, I need a feedback loop to improve the quality of my scene layout, so I often find myself editing the meshes of objects that are already bound. Each time I do this, I get a warning message that the number of vertices has changed, as shown in the image below.

So I want to conditionally check if the binding state of the mesh deform modifier is broken, and only perform the binding operation on the problematic objects.
So my question is:
How do I check if the Mesh Deform modifier's binding state is broken?
NOTE: States 1 and 2 can be checked via C.object.modifiers["MeshDeform"].is_bound. Not that, I want to check state 3.

before binding
after binding
bound, but the connection is broken because the number of vertices has changed.


text:
Focal Length in Walk/Fly Navigation Mode
How do I change the focal length in Walk/Fly Navigation Mode?

If you'd like to use Fly/Walk Navigation in 3D View and adjust the focal length, open up the Properties Panel N go to View and set the Focal Length property for the actual viewport:

If in Camera, select the Camera go to Properties > Object Data (camera icon) and set the Focal Length property to what ever you like.

Going through the docs of Fly/Walk doc - I think the focal length change is not available.
I think if you can bind a keyboard shortcut with some python scripting, maybe you could achieve that.


text:
My GTX 1060 GPU doesn’t work on Blender 2.9 as OptiX

I understand that the non RTX GPU has also been changed to use OptiX in this 2.9 update.
However, my GPU (GTX 1060) outputs a message when OptiX is selected that it will be rendered as a CPU and actually the rendering speed is slower than Cuda and the same as CPU. I rebooted the PC, but the result was still the same.
Am I misunderstanding this update?

The GTX 1060 should be supported (see release notes). My guess would be that you're using an older graphics driver. Try to update it and check if detects the GPU as OptiX device. The driver can be downloaded from Nvidia's website.

Yes, it was a driver problem. I installed the latest driver and now OptiX is working. It was faster than CUDA in rendering, but it was a very small time difference. And for viewport denoising, it was much faster than Intel AI denoising. Very good.

The Nvidia GTX 1060 is supported for rendering with OptiX (see release notes), but it requires a current graphics driver. Updating it should allow you to select the GPU as OptiX render device for Cycles. The current drivers can be downloaded from Nvidia's website.


text:
White and Chrome ball in material preview mode

I'm using Blender 2.9.
How do I display white/chrome balls in Material preview mode?

Be sure to have the HDRI Preview checkbox checked in the Viewport Overlays menu.


text:
How to make eyes that fit the mesh

I am try to make an anthro fox but the eyes never seem to fit the sockets. Is there any way to model the eyes to fit or do I need to adjust the sockets themselves?

While you will want to shape your eyelids to be more spherical, you can also use a lattice deform to shape the eyes to fit your mesh.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ruQ5uFrSbg check out the beginning of this tutorial. You just need to insert the eyes and work around them. This explains it really clearly.

Look at pictures of a real fox!
You have to model the tear duct.

Same goes for other eyes, by the way. The Spheres won't fit unless you add a tear duct.

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


text:
Transfering UV Map
I'm trying to transfer the UV map from an object to another. The two mesh have the same amount of vertices but it's different in faces and edges (one of them is just triangulated).
I tried to copy the UV from the Link/Transfer Data menu (CTRL+L) and I tried to Transfer UV Mesh Data none of them worked. I assume they work based on faces and not on vertices. If so is it possible to transfer it based on vertices or is there any other possible solution?


text:
Re-Import Exported Armature
After I export my armature and reimport it to Blender some bones have scale problems. Fortunately, basically it doesn't have any effect on the rig because the pivot point remains the same on every bone, but it looks weird. Could it be an import problem to blender? Works fine if it's imported into UE.

The concept of "bone length" only exists in Blender and almost certainly not in whatever format you're exporting to, so you should expect it to be lost after a re-import.

Thanks, so it's natural. The exported file format is FBX.


text:
Openable & Closable Objects for Unreal Engine
I'm curious how people create objects that are openable and closable, whether it is a small box or a car that has parts that can be opened. If I want to create something in Blender (later would be used in UE) should  I use an Armature like for characters, or there is something other, better method for these kind of interactable objects?

The easiest way if the movable part is a separate object and the animation (or constraint) is created in the Game Engine.

And where should the origins of the objects be located? Should they be at the same point as the parent/main object or at the point where it'll rotate?

Probably where it rotates. In UE4 all of the fbx meshes has their origin at the world origin when imported. So don't forget to reset the location (ctrl+a on default) in blender before export them. Or you can export the meshes with all the origins at the same location, then add empties (scene objects) to the hinge points in the blueprints and assign the meshes as children of them. The first method will give simplier blueprints but needs a bit adjustment to place the moving parts. In the second case everything will be at the right place, but needs a few extra object.


text:
Animation Problem
I made multiple animation actions for a character. In every action, I created keyframes only for the bones that are changing from the static pose and so there are no keyframes for the bones that aren't changing at all compared to the static pose.
The problem is when I run an animation (anim#1) that rotates a bone and if I play another animation (anim#2) that has no keyframe for that bone anim#2 will keep the rotation for the bone from anim#1 and not uses the rotation (and other transforms) from the static pose.
Is there a way to solve this problem?
The only thing I could think of is creating a single keyframe for each bone with all the transform at the beginning of each animation action.

I would say you need to create a keyframe for all your bones

you solution is the last sentence of your question...or write a python script which does this for you


text:
Coordinate Texture Equally
I'm trying to figure out how could I make all the vertical gradients the same size around the mesh. It's a simple D form mesh to keep it simple. The upper mesh on the image uses Y-axis and the lower is X. At both of the beginning the sizes are closely the same but as it turns the difference starts to grow between the size of the gradients. I assume I should you somehow that X and Y together. Is it even possible to do this?

I would think UV coordinates would be the best choice here as well.

To have a uniform vertical gradient around an arbitrary shape, we need some notion of length. The easiest way to get that I can think of is to UV unwrap the mesh.
In edit mode, mark one of the vertical edges as a seam, selected all the faces, pressed u to unwrap and then chose Unwrap. Finally, manually scale the UV to fit the bounds will let us make horizontal gradients as well.
Now the Texture Coordinate node's UV output will give numbers in the range $ [0:1] $ around the circumference of the mesh. I removed your Mapping node as it was extraneous. The scalar input of the Scale node is the number of gradients.


text:
Print Enum Value
I'm trying to print the name/second value of the selected enum, but I only managed to print the identifier/first value of the item.
By selected I mean the enum is displayed in a panel and what is selected there.
This is how I did that:
print(bpy.context.scene.printenum)

This is my enum prop:
bpy.types.Scene.printenum = bpy.props.EnumProperty( items=[('A', "Apple", ""), ('B', "Lemon", ""), ('C', "Orange", "")], name="")

With this method, it either prints "A", "B", or "C", but that's not what I want. I'd like to print either "Apple", "Lemon", or "Orange".
What would be the way to do that?

One approach to achieve your goal is by accessing the data via the bl_rna of your enum variable.
import bpy

bpy.types.Scene.printenum = bpy.props.EnumProperty(
    items=[('A', "Apple", ""), ('B', "Lemon", ""), ('C', "Orange", "")],
    name="",
    )

scn= bpy.context.scene

items = scn.bl_rna.properties['printenum'].enum_items

print(f"item [ identifier ] : {items[scn.printenum].identifier}")
print(f"item [ name ] : {items[scn.printenum].name}")
print(f"item [ description ] : {items[scn.printenum].description}")

Perfect, thank you!

Note that this won't work if your enum property items are fetched via a callback. In which case you can use this solution https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/269715/86891

Thank you @Gorgious for the additional information. Is that method works for displaying the items as "label(text=...)" and the text based on each item selected enum values (still Apple, Lemon, Orange)?

Well if I understood correctly @Tsybe you can still get the information by testing the value of the enum and checking if it's the same as the first item of the list of tuples returned by that method. next((t[1] for t in items_callback(self, context) if t[0] == context.scene.printenum)) or something like that I haven't actually tested

I didn't exactly mean it that way. I want to display per item. I created a topic about it if you could take a look at it: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/285402/display-enum-name-for-items


text:
Blender 2.8 - Particle Instance not rendered
I am playing around with the newest Blender 2.8 Build for Windows 64bit
blender-2.80.0-git.a205493426b-windows64
I tried to create a firework scene, where particles emit particles by using a particle instance modifier. The basic animation is a simple explode modifier.
The animation shows fine in the 3D viewport, either with Cycles or Eevee choosen.
But as soon as I try to finally render the scene, the particle system, attached to the particle instances is not rendered at all. To be precise - it seems that the particles stuck to the particle instances and flowing around.
But as I said - the 3D viewport is OK.
The constant issues with the Particle Instance Modifier, that the scale has to be applied to the meshes, has been taken into account.
Anybody else here with similar Blender 2.8 issues? Or has anybody an idea how to solve this problem?

Given that 2.8 is still in development, this is quite possibly a bug...

I know this is kind of old at this point but I just figured out this issue so I'm going to post how to make all the particle instances show up in case someone in the future needs help figuring it out.
In the Particle Instance modifier properties there is a check box for "Create Along Paths". Just make sure that is checked and they will show up. Easy fix that might not have been there in the betas for 2.8 but some of the tutorials I've watched so far seem to have left out this important part.


text:
Matching animation/frames from different scenes in VSE
This question is a bit difficult to explain, bear with me :-)
First thing, let's say I have a cube. I'll call this scene A.
Then duplicate the scene and boolean subtract another mesh from the cube. Call this scene B.
Scene A and B share the same camera flight.
Lets also assume there are other animations going on, like particles flying around, which are also linked. Being synchronous here is essential.
I want to have a crossover from scene A to B. Scene A is covering frames 984-1890, scene B is going from 1870 to 1940 - in their own timelines, that is.
I know basically how to arrange that in the VSE.
Now the problem is, there are a lot of things going on before all that, so the scene frame numbers don't match with the frame numbers in the VSE. It seems hard to adjust the strips in the VSE, including the cross strip, to really match what I have planned.
What I would really like to have is: Set a scene specific marker in Scene A where the transition should start. This should show up in the VSE strip, relative to the specific start of the strip, and other strips can snap to that.
Is there an easy way to do this?

Are you using a "master scene" for your VSE work or do you arrange the strips in one of the scenes A or B?

I do use a master scene. I can never be sure if one of the subscenes will get longer or shorter, depending on client feedback.

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


text:
Plane won't merge into one vertex
I am in the middle of modelling an AK-47, and I'm doing each of the parts separately.
I trace the reference image by adding in a plane, going into Edit Mode, and tapping Alt + M and then clicking Merge at Center, but this is the third plane I'm using and its not working.
I've tried different merge options to no avail, and not only that, when I merge the plane, I can't see or move the one vertex, though it shows up in the object menu still.

https://media.giphy.com/media/3oFzlWU9144SjFQjaU/giphy.gif

Not sure what you are trying to accomplish. But, you can SHIFT + "A" Add a Single Vert.


text:
How to merge two objects in edit mode without shading and UV errors?
So I've been modelling a club chair and i need to connect these two together without causing shading errors:

I tried merging vertices, but it causes shading errors which cannot be fixed via edge split and subsurface and would most likely impact the texture quality:

None of the other suggested other questions really answer what i need, any way i can merge these two parts together without shading issues?

@Sava no i didn't think of that. Thanks for the answer it worked out :)

I'll make it an answer then delete this comment, and you can upvote and accept the answer. I get reputation on the site and people who have similar problems will find the answer. Thank you.

The best way to merge those two mesh is by using a Edge Loop to connect them together. That way you avoid all the shading and UV errors.


text:
How to create a fake fire/flame?
I'm attempting to fake a couple flames on some candles. Since my scene is already pretty intensive, I think that doing a fire simulation would just add more to render times. Trying to use a transparent flame texture with some emission shaders but cant seem to get too good of a result. It ends up either looking too bright or not transparent enough. Here is in eevee (hdri was having issues so this is with just some sun lamps)

I tried adding some glow in the compositor but its not satisfactory. Is there any other way to fake fire? This is just a transparent image on a plane.

For a shader only solution, one way is a simple material such as the following:

Click to enlarge
Blackbody Node is used for color.
See kelvin color temperature for some examples of values to start with. You can adjust these values up and down until you get something you like.
The layer weight node is used for a mixing factor between the two blackbody nodes creating a result like below:

An approach like this should keep resources low and be fairly manageable. Note that also, the flame object is a quad-sphere modeled to a flame and not a flat plane.

Great answer! This works for me. A question though: Would I have to add another emission and blackbody shader to give the bottom a sort of blueish-hue? Also how could i add some waviness/transparency procedurally?

To give the bottom a sort of blueish-hue, use a gradient and a color ramp , Read: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/43248/make-the-flame-of-a-candle-more-yellow

Oh, that's really clever :)


text:
Easiest way to make snow covered leaves?
I'm making a winter scene and there are lots of trees. I need them all to be snow covered, while having some areas still green. So far, the only thing i have found online is this: http://thomas-cairns.com/TreeTutorial.html but it seems like a lot of work and i feel there might be an even easier way..Not to mention i have a lot of trees so baking might not be the best option. Anyone have any ideas how i can pull this off?

There is an add-on https://www.blendernation.com/2015/12/12/blender-market-snowfx-dynamic-snowtool/ or here is something similar to your https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/4907/how-to-create-piles-of-snow-on-a-mesh but anyway I guess you use particle System to generate trees so you would have to crate a separated group of objects (trees) to be generated in some areas or fake it by shader based on object location (it depend on what details of trees you need.

Maybe the Real Snow-add on is something for you? https://3d-wolf.com/products/snow.html

It could be possible to duplicate leaves, join them into one object and extrude a bit upwards, then scale to give them impression of thickness. Or maybe make all leaves as collision object, add multiple meshes with active rigid body and snow material and run simulation (this one is much more resources-hungry)

@vklidu hmm, I could randomly select some leaves and scale them/rotate, then add a snow material, but it won't look good because it will be flat, and i cant affords to use any subdivision surface (in reference to the second link)

For anyone in the future who has the same problem as me, I ended up using a node setup to create the snow effect, which with some tweaking was the solution (credit to jeremy from the blender discord for this setup)
The Node setup:

If you want to use displacement (HIGHLY SUGGEST TO USE ADAPTIVE SUBDIVISION)

Also, here are some guides i have found useful and also will work as alternatives.
http://thomas-cairns.com/TreeTutorial.html
The answer by risingfall: How to add snow to a plant
How to create piles of snow on a mesh?
An addon that could be of use: https://3d-wolf.com/products/snow.html
Was creating semi-low poly trees that were gonna be viewed from a distance and was getting frustrated. glad the node setup worked! it looks 100x better with adaptive subdivision, but for background trees for my scene it wasn't needed.
My result:

Is this something you are looking for?
Conifer trees - shader

Conifer trees - mesh - 3DM Snow add-on

Deciduous tree - mesh - select one top face, Select Similar > Normal (Shift+G), Separate > Selected (Ctrl+P), add modifiers Solidify, Remesh, Subsurf, Remesh, Solidify


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Why does my rig pose change when i render?
i made a rig of some arms and added a pose. But when i hit F12 to render it, it sets back to default. What's the cause of this?

Does it also go back if you change frames? that would be from an animation moving the rig. The F12 render will always show the keyframed pose for the frame while the viewport will only update if you change frames.

Look for keyframe registrations.  If a pose has been keyframed, rendering will set it to the appropriate, keyframed pose.
Following the render, hit ⎈ Ctrl+z to return to your unregistered, unrendered pose, then try advancing a frame (with mouse over the timeline, hit right arrow.)  Does the pose change?  Then you have registered keyframes.  Register your new pose before rendering, or delete existing keyframes.

It is probably because one of the modifiers either has different render settings or is turned off during rendering (the camera symbol of the modifier is greyed out).
The last thing can be that you're rendering a different frame.

Select all the meshes and armature related to the object you want to freeze in the pose mode. Now, in object mode go to Object > Apply > Visual Geometry to Mesh. This will solidify your pose into an actual mesh. Hope this works for you!

You have to apply the modifier for the armature before rendering.
I had the same problem and that fixed it for me.

Going to graph editor and baking the curves did it for me. I think the culprit was the Noise modifier, in my case. Go to Graph Window > Key> Bake Curves.


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How do I wrap a curve around a tube?
I am modeling some kinetic balls ( or a Netwon's cradle) and I have some strings that wrap around the stand, like in this photo:

How would I go about this? I have tried using a bezier circle and Curve modifier method. Mind you I am using a path as the string. any ideas?

the curve modifier didn't work, it turned my path into a very weird vortex-like shape.

play with the object origin point

@eromod please explain

if you upload your .blend, I can make a .gif https://blender.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/344/where-to-upload-blend-files-non-expiring-links

Here's one way:
*This assumes you are using a Subsurf Modifier on your cylinder.
Select your cylinder TAB into Edit Mode select one ring of vertices. Duplicate it by pressing SHIFT +"D". Then separate it by pressing "P" > Selection.
TAB into Object Mode and Press "H" to hide the cylinder (Just to make it easier to see your new circle)
Select the new circle and apply the Subsurf Modifier.
TAB into Edit Mode and select an appropriate vertex then place your mouse somewhere below it and CTRL + Left Mouse Click.

(Obviously only half you could use the Mirror Modifier to complete it).
When finished TAB into Object Mode and convert the object into a Curve.

Then you can use the Curve settings to adjust the curve how you like.

You will have to scale it up slightly so half of it is not in the original cylinder.

i am using a path not a cylinder, no need for subsurf

@ Optimus - If you use this method you do need the Subsurf to achieve "curved" edges between the vertices BUT you will need to "apply" it before converting the mesh to a curve.


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Transparent image planes near each other are black
i am making a plant and i have run into some problems. I have here some grass blade texture:

And since i want the whole pot to be filled with grass blades, i duplicated them until it filled the whole pot:

but as you can see, some of the image planes look like they have a black background:

Here is my node setup:

Go to the Light Paths panel in the Render tab and increase the transparent bounces (you'll probably be fine just setting them to the max value of 1024). Basically Blender is terminating the light rays after they go through a certain number of transparent objects.

Thanks a ton man, it worked...i watched a Blender guru tutorial on speeding up cycles and he said to reduce transparency bounces...that was the problem


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How to make custom face on a mesh?
I want to make a custom face (or what you call it, sorry I'm new to this)
For example I have a plane cube like this:

And I want to make a small face out of it, so I can have separate texturing to it (If you have suggestions on how I can do it on a smarter way, please do tell me, for now, this is the best idea I have)

I want to have something like this. Thank you in advance!

Sounds like you need to start by watching some beginner modelling tutorials first. What have you tried so far and where has it failed? Could you post some screenshots?

There are many tools used for mesh modeling that you can use, the simplest to get you started is probably the knife tool.
In edit mode press K and then click where you want to corners of the new face (also called a polygon) then press ⏎ Enter to confirm the cut or Esc to cancel. During the cut you can press C to help keep your lines straight.
Some other tools used for modeling are the loop cut and subdivide to split a face into multiple faces. You can also add single vertices and make a face from 3 or more unconnected vertices, it is easy to find beginner tutorials on mesh modeling.
Note that simply cutting a face into another will leave you with an n-gon, which is a face with more than four sides (compared to tri or quad faces). While n-gons can be helpful during the modeling process, as you progress you will find times when they can cause issues. It is always recommended to maintain a quad based mesh as much as you can. In your example that would mean adding at least another two edges.

Worked like a charm! Thank you so much that I learned something new! :)


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How do I mirgrate all image textures to a different folder?
I imported an .OBJ that has large amount of image textures onto my desktop but I don't want to keep them there as I want to place the textures into the another folder.
Do I have to manually reassign every texture or is there a better way to change the location of a large amount of texture images?

Normally, in Wavefront, the texture paths are relative to the main obj file. If you move the obj file along all used files, there should be no problem. Is this your case?

Thing is I want to keep textures in their own folder and the prop in another instead of all in one.

Use Find Missing Files after moving folder somewhere and point Blender to that somewhere, http://blender.stackexchange.com/a/5372/1245

If you don't have many Wavefront materials and you are copying all images from the same location to another location (also same for all pictures), open the .mtl file and replace all texture paths manually. You can try to speed this process up by using well-placed replace commands.
Otherwise, you'll need to write a script that reads all the path and edits them manually.

Read the file line-wise
Split each line by space. The first sub string will be the command
on "map_kd" and other map commands, read the rest of the string a path.
Edit the path. In Java you move a path path from path from to path to with the following code: to.resolve(from.toAbsolutePath().relativize(path));
Overwrite the line

You can also import the file as is if the program you used for importing supports moving source files.
And don't forget:
Always back up your files!


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Can a group of nodes be saved?
If I have a material that needs to have a dozen nodes or so attached to it and I hit + in the materials panel the material duplicates but not the nodes.
Is there a way to migrate nodes and their connections from one material to another?

Use shift-right-click to multi-select nodes, or B to border-select a group of nodes and their connections.  Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V (or platform equivalent) will copy and paste nodes across materials.
NOTE: After pasting some nodes, try moving the nodes around with the mouse.  Blender has a bad habit of pasting node copies exactly on top of existing nodes, and it becomes almost impossible to see that anything has changed.  Slide the new nodes away to reveal old nodes underneath.
Also, consider using Node Groups to avoid having a bunch of duplicated nodes. This way, you can fix problems in a complex node structure and have the fixes apply to multiple materials at once.
A node group can have inputs for customizing in different ways, to make nodes more re-usable in different materials.  You can create a node group just by multi-selecting the nodes and picking Make group or Ctrl-G. Then, get in and out of the node group editor with the Tab key. Finally, you can add references to your node group from other materials, with Add -> Group -> {GroupName}.

I tired Ctrl-C and put the mouse over on the node panel and did Ctrl-V but nothing happened. That is why I asked.

Try moving the existing nodes after pasting.  The new copies will be exactly on top of old copies, and you may not realize that anything has happened.

I mean I duplicate a material with no nodes and paste and nothing happens.

Oh.  Turn on "use nodes" before you paste.

I don't know if I understand your question right but I think this is what your looking for.

You can also use node groups like this.

The paste material was exactly what I was looking for.


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How to make just 1 object render backface culling and the others not?
I want to render 2 spheres cut in half one I want backface culling so you only see its normals side and the other I want to see both sides of the faces in the same render.
How do I set render to no backface culling and apply an exception to 1 material?

Isn't backface culling used only for shading in 3d viewport in Blender? I can set that in 3d viewport, but "invisible" faces render anyway... only opengl (viewport) render can show that, but for all scene objects, afaik.

I'll use whatever render will allow me to do this.

@Eric then, see this question, also http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/35805/getting-an-outline-with-backface-culling-blender-render

As mentioned in this Question, if you use the Cycles renderer, you should be able to use the backface output from a geometry node to mix between a diffuse and a translucent shader.
This simulates backface culling.

"use the backface output from a geometry node to mix between a diffuse and a translucent shader." This is too jargony for me to comprhend.

The linked answer has a relatively deep explanation. In short, select the cycles renderer, go into the node editor, and then modify your material to use the same nodes as in the image in the link: https://i.sstatic.net/7SG60.png

With  Cycles render engine you can simply set up a material like this:
The node setup is for the transparent backface.

In the previous answer the nodes are inverted, if you plug a backfacing in the fac of a mix node, the shader of the backface must be in the bottom slot.


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Is there a way to make freestyle less angular?
If you observe the top of the tail it doesn't follow a smooth curve, it looks instead like someone is using a ruler to draw a curve. Is there a setting to reduce this effect?


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Can I achieve orthographic lighting in Blender?
I define orthographic lighting as a single light source that cast a shadow at the same angle no matter where the shape is? Either in front or behind the lamp shading is at the same angle.
Conditions: Blender render, toon shading (non gradient shading), and you cannot node any objects only the lamp.
Can this be done?

Are not describing exactly what a Sun lamp does?

@Duarte Farrajota Ramos Yes for the lighting but sun mode might not be compatible with the conditions I have set.

Which ones exactly does it violate?


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I have yet to get the mesh deform modifier to do anyhting
I tried on a character, with a complex mesh, nothing worked, so tried a new grid that was simpler from scratch, didn't work, now just a cylinder with Suzanne (supplied file) nothing. I checked to make sure scale =1 , location and rotation  are at zero and UV's are pointing out.
The cylinder comes with a shape key to skew it.
I never got the modifier to work once.
What am I doing wrong?

In your file everything would work exactly like it should my friend if you'd add mesh deform modifier to appropriate mesh :). You should add it to the mesh you want deform and as Object choose the mesh you want to deform with, so in this case modifier should go to Suzanne and the object should be Cylinder.


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How do I make a shape key for blink into wink?
I just spent a lot of time making my character blink forgetting that I should have done only one eye and then mirror it.
Do I have to start over or is there a trick to make only one eye blink?

Assign a vertex group to the shape key that limits it only for half the face. Duplicate the shape key and  assign opposite vertex group for the other eye.

@JaroslavJerrynoNovotny Assign a vertex group to the shape key that limits it only for half the face. I don't have a clue how to do such a thing.

Here: https://i.sstatic.net/7Iks5.png

@JaroslavJerrynoNovotny I didn’t know you could do that - never noticed the option. Learn something new every day.

Follow the steps below.

In the part where I go into edit mode, the vertices were already selected, but you may have to go into Wireframe view to select the overlapping vertices before doing Blend from Shape
Also notice in the command list under Shape Keys there is a Mirror Shape Key. You could redo the same steps for wink.L and mirror it instead of Blend from Shape to create wink.R

Could you please update this answer for 2.80, @Timo?

[ F3 ] type Blend from shape dialog box appears in lower corner. I have yet to understand how the one works with its new feature of choosing the key... for now.

What I did was
Duplicate the head twice.
Deleted the original head.
Divided the heads down the middle, kept one of the opposite halves of each.
One side I kept the blink key the other I deleted all shape keys.
I selected one of the head's joining seam and move it just enough to see it separated from the other.
I joined them as one CTRL-J
I then Selected both joining seams and did Bridge edge loops.
I placed the 3D cursor to center.
Set pivot/scale to cursor.
I did scale X=0 overlapping both edges.
Then I did a clean up> remove doubles.
That is still simpler than starting over.


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How do I control the armature in weight paint mode?
When in weight paint mode when I right click a bone it goes into object mode and selects the whole armature but what I want to do is manipulate the bones while in paint mode, as seen in tutorials, to either move a part out of the way or test the weight painting.

The armature has to be in Pose mode, then Shift-select the mesh and go into Weight Paint mode.
If you have selection set to Right-click in Preferences then:

Sample weight (color) with Ctrl LMB
Select bone with RMB

If you have selection set to Left-click in Preferences:

Sample weight (color) with Ctrl RMB
Select bone with  Ctrl LMB

Independently of Select with option:

Paint with LMB
Rotate, Move, Scale bone with R, G, S
Paint gradient with Alt LMB

I managed to enable the bone selection in Weight Paint Mode only after selecting both mesh and armature in Object Mode (the mesh should be selected second). Then switch from Object Mode to Weight Paint Mode and use Ctrl+LMB to select the bone.


text:
How do I calculate an angle of a surface?
I want to angle this cylinder to have the same angle as the top surface of this wedge.
How do I match the exact angle of the surface to the cylinder?

Related https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/80641/rotate-an-ico-sphere-with-20-sidesicosahedron-to-align-with-the-level-grid

Possible duplicate of How do you rotate an object so that a particular face is parallel to the ground?

Besides calculating the angle manually via trigonometry - you can actually snap and align objects to faces.

Turn on snaps, select face. Turn on Align rotation with the snapping target.
After you snap it, the angle should be displayed in the cylinder's transform.


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How do I draw a solid line when texture painting?
I'm trying to draw on my model a bump map of smooth lines to make a hair effect.
I notice that when I draw with a thin brush it starts looking more like Morse code than a line.
So how do I get the brush to draw a thin solid line?

It's hard to say without seeing it, but smoothness will be based upon number of vertices and size of UV map.
So subdividing your model may help, and possibly setting shading to smooth, but more likely than not increasing the UV texture size will be your best bet.
It generally defaults to 1024x1024, but when you draw a thin line, those pixels get stretched over the surface of your model, so resolution can make a big difference.
For broad strokes, small maps are OK... but for fine details, you need more pixels.  Try 2048x2048, or possibly more, especially if your model is large, or you need even more detail.

So it's all to do with scale then. I'll try a bigger image right now I'm using 2048 by 2048 but I'll double it. And I have to draw slowly or else my line becomes a a bunch of dots. I was wondering how to get faster emission of dots as I draw.

Oh, you might check your brush stroke spacing for that.  It defaults to 10% but something smaller, say 2% might do for something so finely detailed.

Just as a note, it is also beneficial to use Full Float when painting bump maps manually so that you get a good result.


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How to decelerate a spinning object?
I want to animate a helicopter land on a landing pad and the blades would slowly decelerate taking about 2 minutes until they stop.
I can only find tutorials on how to keep a wheel spinning forever but I want the spin to slowly over time reduce in RPM (rotation per minute) until it stops.
There must be a physics simulation for this. I have yet to use a mechanical simulations in Blender. I know one thing, calculating RPM to manually keyframe deceleration doesn't look right and is time consuming.
So how do I set up the blades to simulate the engine shutting down and decelerating gradually until it stops?
This is for an animation rendered in cycles not for a game engine.

Maybe you want to link that tutorial so we know what exactly you did to make it rotate.

@ThomasWeller https://youtu.be/jqaB13ekn6I

Related: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/67171/how-to-get-a-rigid-body-to-rotate

Related: https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/39421/1832

You only need 2 keyframes to control the way the rotor decelerates. Insert the keyframes, then go to the animation view. There you can adjust how the rotation shall behave over time. The default is an S curve:

But you can change that e.g. to an exponential curve:

What makes that curve determine rotation speed instead of rotation angle?

@EricHuelin: a certain angle in 100 frames is faster than the same angle in 250 frames. And the curve gives you the angle over time. You can specify 720000 degrees if you need to.

The angle is proportional to the rpm, isn't it?

Oh! Right! The total amount of rotations required to complete the whole deceleration process is the curve. Got it! Thanks!


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How do I launch software to edit a texture image used in a node?
I wanted to edit a texture used in a node but could not find where to launch it to Photoshop from Blender. I had to open and navigate folders from Windows.
With 2.8x I can't find such a thing. Where is it located?

Have you set the image editor in preferences > FilePaths > Applications > Image Editor?  then from the image editor can Image > Edit Externally

@batFINGER Right! The UV editor of course! But strangely at the time I was looking for a way to edit my nodes in the shader editor. I was opening the folder but then you could not launch it from the Blender file browser or even have the browser launch the OS equivalent file browser. I'd love to see a little arrow in the node that would launch the texture image editor of choice. Or even better have a thumbnail of the image in the node that you could click on to edit.

@batFINGER New problem has occured I added photoshop.exe failed to open. I'll have to find out now what is causing the error. Controlled folder access was in the OFF position. Any suggestions?


text:
How do I give Blender rights to launch software to edit images in Windows 10?
I wanted to edit a texture.
I go to preferences file path image editor select the location of Photoshop.exe
I go to the UV editor > Image > Edit externally
I have other software that can and do launch Photoshop.
I have tried to open files that Photoshop cannot open it still launches Photoshop, then shows a warning that it cannot open. I cannot even get that far with Blender.
How do I give rights / permission for Blender to open Photoshop?

These are the correct steps, works as expected here. Have you tried with factory settings? Perhaps some other add-on or something else is causing a conflict?

@Timaroberts I am using Blender 2.81a, Windows v1903 maybe mine is different than yours?

No, I'm running the same with Photoshop 2020. Any version of blender works as expected actually, whether installed 2.81a or other portable versions.

@Timaroberts If I find Photoshop.exe manually it doesn't work. If I right click on the shortcut for Photoshop and copy Target location address. then it works.

@Timaroberts I wrote the address wrong or added the quotes from the target box or something. Now it works as it is suppose to. Thanks for your help.

The docs specify here
You go to preferences > file paths.

While this link may answer the question, it is better to include the essential parts of the answer here and provide the link for reference.  Link-only answers can become invalid if the linked page changes. - From Review

Hello, emotional, and @HarryMcKenzie.. I think we have to rely on official docs links not breaking, that's fine. And, if you substitute 'latest' for the version  number in a link to the docs, then the link will  point to the most recent version. Sometimes wanted, sometimes not.


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2.8 Can I automatically remove all vertex groups that are not influencing any mesh?
When I assign Apply Automatic Weights I want to then delete all unused vertex for simplicity sake when my character to rig is composed of many mesh parts.
The Delete Unlocked Vertex Group option helps but I wish I didn't have to delete hundreds of vertex groups by hand to begin with. I know sometimes a character to rig is one mesh but for when it isn't I wish there could be a way to just have vertex groups created only if they are influencing the part of the mesh.
eg: I don't need feet and finger vertex groups for the head mesh.
Ideally, if I can remove all vertex groups that are not influencing any mesh with one click would be optimal.
Is there a script or add-on that can help me speed up removing unwanted vertex?

I am of the recollection that in <= 2.79 you could select pose bones then shift select the mesh (or vice versa) and reset / adjust the bone weighting on a selected bone basis.  Couldn't find how to do similar with 2.8 since it swaps the mode of all objects.  For separate meshes could look into separating your armatures accordingly and bone parent them to other armatures, eg have a face rig parented to head bone. There are of course pros and cons.

There's an addon that does this job: https://gumroad.com/l/Gxkbp

You can just:

select your skeleton
get a Text Editor window
paste the script below & run

import bpy
bpy.ops.object.mode_set(mode='OBJECT')
skeleton = bpy.context.object

for object in [object for object in bpy.context.scene.objects]:
    if object.type == 'MESH' and len(object.vertex_groups) > 0 and skeleton == object.find_armature():
        for vGroup in object.vertex_groups:
            if skeleton.data.bones.get(vGroup.name) is None:
                object.vertex_groups.remove(vGroup)

I still think the first answer is valid for those searching & do not feel comfortable running scripts to just mass delete everything in advance.  Hence the 2 answers. The question was a year old, and I also assumed the original asker had moved on.

The first answer was not valid as it solved a problem that was never asked. I dunno how I stumbled upon this page but I'm glad I did. Now I got a proper answer to my question. This answer is very appreciated. Thanks!

Selected the skeleton (rigify) Pasted the script RUN. My character's eyes has vertex groups for toes. So it's not working in my case.

There is an operator bpy.ops.object.vertex_group_remove(all=True).  Since you are going to be adding all new vertex groups when the Armature modifier, seems like just deleting them all BEFORE would be a lot simpler.
I do not know if there is user interface, which will get this called or not, though.

I didn't ask for your opinion, I was asking if there was a feature.


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How do I make the pattern angle match the direction of the brushstroke?
I just want the pattern for my brush to follow my brush strokes.
How do I make the pattern do the same thing as in the example? (On)

Possibly similar answer here https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/143829/how-to-achieve-this-kind-of-custom-brush-in-blender/143941?noredirect=1#comment245633_143941

Craig D Jones is almost right, the answer is Rake.
Both sculpting and UV painting both have the same option that will do what I'm looking for.
The Rake option when checked makes the pattern follow the brush direction.


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Will there ever be support for audio speed control?
My question is simple: I can change the speed of video in the sequencer, but not audio. Will this feature ever be supported in Blender? If there is no such plan, is there some hints of implementing that in plugins?
I haven't looked a lot into Blender API yet, but I would like to do it "the Blender way" if there is one. Currently, I have to render only the audio, edit that using other applications (eg. Audacity), and import back. This is tedious. The simplest way might be just automating this, but I would prefer not to touch the core of Blender (i.e. modify things like Blender source code).
Update
I now have a procedure of simulating this. First, assume I have a segment of audio/video to be accelerated 2X. First, I hard cut out both the audio and video (try to get an even number of frames, call it F. The beginning of the cut is B, and the end E), then do the speed effects on video as usual. Then, on the cut out strip of audio, I change pitch to 2, and change the Start frame of Trim Duration(hard) to the half of current value, then hard cut again at B+F/2 (or change its length to F/2). This will allow you to speed up both the audio and video to twice, but without the need to render the audio strip separately. Very tedious, but very procedural, using only Blender functions. It might be easy to either automate it using a plugin or implement it right into the core. I will check Blender API and code, too.
Note: It seems that I must change pitch first, then change starting point, then change duration

If it's not there, asking that feature should help this to happen... :) see http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/1190/best-place-to-put-feature-requests

It seems you can automate your workflow in python.

I am not satisfied since it doesn't change speed AND pitch -- Python + Blender cannot do that, at least not with a bunch of temporary files. I am digging through blender and trying to hack in this feature by hacking Audaspace, which is what Blender use for audio fx/mixdown

Rather than updating your question with your answer you should answer your own question. ;-)

You can change an Audio Strips speed by changing/animating it's pitch. Though it has to be done independant from your videos Speed Control strip.

And it will (as it is labled) change your pitch. So if you want to maintain the pitch but only change the speed that has to be done in another audio editor like Audacity.

This doesn't seem to work in Blender 2.8

Maybe you should open a bug report then...

In Blender 4 or later versions, simply press I to add a retiming keyframe to the selected strip within Video Sequencer Editor.
Otherwise, click on Strip on the menu bar, then click on Retiming > Add Retiming Keyframe.

authors: Ростислав Романец


text:
How long does it take to render a 10 sec long YouTube intro in Blender?
I just want to know!
Please help!

It could be 1 second or 100 hours, it depends on... Well, everything you could use in 3D software and also hardware used for rendering.


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Blender App for iPad os
I am sure this has probably been asked many times over in different ways over the years.
However with the new iPad Os are there any plays to port or create a cut down iPad version of blender?

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it belongs on the official developer forum and not on Blender Stack Exchange

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is speculation and not about using Blender

There isn't an iPad-compatible app of Blender.


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Blender 2.8 Undo History
I'm trying out Blender 2.8 and can't find Undo History. The online manual for Blender 2.80 > User Interface > Tools > Undo & Redo says"There is also an Undo History of the last actions taken, recorded by Blender. You can access the history pop-up with Ctrl-Alt-Z."
Ctrl-Alt-Z does not produce the History box.

Somewhat Related

In v2.80.44, Edit > 'Undo History'

And if you want to use the Ctrl+Alt+Z shortcut, just right click on Edit-> Undo History -> Change Shortcut.


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Add AVI to Blender Animation
I have an AVI file rendered from an animation. I would like to play it on a "TV" in a different animation. I have added it as an image texture on the "TV" and if I step through the frames I see the animation. But when I run the animation (Alt+A) there is no animation on the "TV", only the first frame. If I stop the run (Alt+A again) the "TV" shows the correct AVI frame.  I haven't tried a full-up render of the new animation because each frame takes about 8 min.
The question: how can I get the AVI "movie" to play on the "TV" in my "living room" scene?

as @DuarteFarrajotaRamos said in comments (and his answer to the linked question) it's a current limit in viewport implementation, and it should work when rendered.
While the animation, though the video will not be updated in the 3d viewport, you can click on the viewport (anywhere) to see the "current" frame. Not so useful, but it shows at least what is shown at that frame...
But there's a (silly) temporary workaround if you need to see that video really playing in the viewport: start playing the animation with the shortcut (ALTA) while hovering the mouse cursor in the right-side texture preview panel, like shown here (note: my screen capturing tool doesn't show the cursor, just the clicks):

so, if you need to see something, at least you have some way to go...


text:
Use an Empty to control a property
I would like to use an Empty to control color of a material, strength of a light, etc.  I know some things can be controlled by Keyframes, but can they be controlled by empties or object positions.
Intended uses: Light dimmer switch on a wall; character's eyes change color as empty gets closer.
Additional: Eye color changes from blue to brown (bottom up) as coffee is consumed.
I would greatly appreciate any help.

Everything you are talking about should be doable with drivers.
For example to make a dimmer switch, right click on the strength on the light, go to add driver, and select manually create later.
Now go to the Graph editor and switch from F-Curve to Drivers at the bottom menu. On the right, your light should be listed. Open all the menus until you reach 'Default Value(Strength)' and click on that. Bring up the properties panel with N, and switch to the drivers tab.
In the drivers tab, change Scripted Expression to Average Value, set the object to be your empty, and change the Type to Z Location.
Now you will have to adjust the curve on the graph to make the dimmer work as you want. The x-axis is the empty position and the y-axis is the light strength. Set the x-axis of the first point to be the lowest the empty will go on the z-axis, and the y-axis of the first point to be the strength of the fully dimmed light. Set the x-axis of the second point to be the highest the empty will go on the z-axis, and the y-axis to be the strength on the non-dimmed light.
Now if you go into rendered view with the empty selected and move it up and down the light intensity should change accordingly.

Perfect, took me a while to get the curve set, but it does just what I wanted.


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2.80 install wiped out 2.79
I just installed Blender 2.80. Went well, new version looks good. BUT... it wiped out my existing 2.79 exe and won't let me reinstall 2.79.  I need 2.79 to do scenery development for Xplane 11.  What must I do to get back to Blender 2.79?  Would be nice to have both 2.79 and 2.80 installed, but MUST have 2.79!
Please help.

Download the archive version of 2.79b for your platform, which doesn't require installation.

Windows 64-bit
Windows 32-bit
Linux 64-bit
Linux 32-bit
macOS

Once extracted you should be able to run Blender 2.79b normally. Unlike the installer the archive doesn't give you a start menu entry or shortcut. You will need to create that shortcut yourself or start it directly from the directory the binary is in.

Thank you, rjg, that worked! Now to get back to work.

@JamesC. You're welcome. Please mark the answer as accepted using the checkmark next to it, if this answer solved your problem.


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Object relationships appear intact for some child objects, non-existent for others
I have an object hierarchy that looks like this:
Head
|-> Eyebrow
|-> Nose
|-> Mouth
|-> Eye_Left
|-> Eye_Right

Some of the child objects have a relationship line drawn from the center of the object to the origin, while others don't.
Three objects have relationship lines being drawn to the origin:

all 'face' objects are children of the head (I'm 'grabbing' the head object and translating it to demonstrate this):

What the heck is going on here? I've observed that the objects without relationship lines have the local transform set to (0,0,0), while the objects that do have relationship lines are set to some non-zero translation.  I really want all the objects to behave as the (0,0,0) ones, but I can't figure out what I need to change to get them to behave that way.
I've tried variations of clearing/resetting the parent and it doesn't result in what I want.

Ok, I figured this out and I feel (kind of) dumb now.
Some objects were positioned in edit mode, while others were positioned in object mode.
The ones that were positioned in edit mode still have their object origin at (0,0,0) with vertices positioned away from the origin.
The ones that were 'misbehaving' were positioned in object mode, and had their origin at some non-zero position.
In both cases, the relationship line was drawn from the origin to the object position, but in the first case, it wasn't visible (since the object position and origin were the same point).


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How to create a seamless blender day to night transition using hdr
I making a short animation clip for my website, the video depicts a scene of a mountain across two days an nights.Using a transition between 4 HDR the problem is the transition isn't seamless and highly noticeable I've searched the web but haven't found much more than demonstrations of the transition. Is there a way to seamlessly transition between dawn, morning, noon. evening, night, twilight and dawn again

Please add images of what your current result is and images/explanation of the setup that isn't working.


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How to remove glossy reflections from enviroment texture on the floor only
I am using Blender 2.90.1 and I can’t find any simple tutorial how to remove glossy reflections from enviroment texture just from one object. Is it possible make that, without rendering more layers and mask them in the end?
(How to remove reflection from enviromental texture marked as red on the screenshot)

Enabling the render layers doesn't cost you anything while rendering, it just exposes them as outputs in the compositor.  FYI :)


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Create a mesh ellipse
How do I draw an ellipse in Blender? I am a new user (actually VERY old user) and need a simple question like the one above answered.

You could add a circle  (SHIFT + "A") and scale it down on one axis (SHIFT + "X" "Y" or "Z"


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Appendage Problem

Hello Blender community, I am attempting to complete a table setting in which I want to place my goblet (image 2) in the table scene in (Image 1). Note, the goblet is it's own separate file however whenever when ever I appendage it to my table scene (Image 1) I get what you see in the table image (a gray un texturized goblet) How do I get the same texturized goblet  seen in image one to appear in image one Additional info: the table image is blender rendered where as the goblet is cycle rendered. Thanks so much any thing helps!

Why are you mixing materials from two different render engines?

Blender renderer cannot read cycles materials, you'll have to build a Blender Internal material for the goblet: just create it from scratch and assign all the previous textures in the right slots.


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Animations with extra objects
I'd like to make multiple animations for a game character, but some of the animations should use extra objects like weapons that the other animations and the base character doesn't have by default.

Things I thought of as solutions:
1,
Merging the object with the character and making it hidden in the animations where it's not in use. - but I fear it'd be affected for the performance
2,
Using a completely different object (hidden by default) with its own rig and snapping that object to the required character bone.
What would be the best solution? Do you have any other ideas?
Is there any standard method that is used in this situation?

2 is quite the standard method. Except you don't really "hide" the object, you invoke it when needed and delete it when no more useful (ie, when you change weapon or throw it). Of course, it depends of the game engine, but that's more or less always how you do it.

Thanks for your answer!
How should the animation process look like in Blender?
Should I just select the two armatures of the character and the extra object and just like in any other animation process inserting keyframes? So the only difference here is there are two armatures instead of one?
How is the invoke part looks like in Blender? Does it even a thing in Blender or is this only exists in the game engines?

You don't need two armature ! A single armature can have many Childs objects.Let say you have an armature already deforming the character. Select the weapon, then select the hand bone (in pose mode), press ctrl+p and choose "Bone"

The "invoke" (also called "instantiate") part isn't a thing in Blender, you should hide/unhide instead. Or better (for performances), disable it (in the outliner, the "screen" icon which is hidden by default).


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Normal Map Bake Problem
I'd like to bake a normal map for a simple object, but unfortunately, after the bake, the edges of the low poly model are visible on the normal map.
The image size is 1024x1024px, if I increase the size it's better, at 4096x4096px it's barely but still visible. Auto Smooth turned off for both objects and set to Smooth Shaded, also there are no sharp edges.
Is this how it should look like or there is something that I didn't take into account?
Images: 1024px normal map, image of the problem.

When setting up your bake texture, did you enable 32-bit float (highly recommended)?

I tried with and also without it. The result is the same.

One option here is to add holding loops to the low poly.  The triangulation won't matter if we're interpolating between vertex normals that all point in the same direction:

I just selected the top faces and 'i' inset.  Now you can see that the artifacts in the low poly's normals disappeared.  Note that they didn't go away entirely: they still exist on the edge.  We've just confined the artifacts to a small enough portion of the mesh that we'll never ever notice.  When we bake, that inset portion will be 100% okay:

Thanks for your detailed answer!
If I understand correctly, these edge lines on the normal map can't be removed totally, it just can be reduced to a level where it's hard to notice, right? Is it true to any normal map and just I didn't notice it yet or just to flat surfaces like in this case?

I tried your first advice, to reduce the extrusion value. I baked a normal map with the same value you used, but unfortunately, I couldn't see any difference between this one and a map baked with a higher extrusion value.
Can it be caused due to some settings?
Also thanks for sharing your technique to estimate the extrusion value.
The second advice works pretty well, but of course, this requires more vertices, that is in this case wouldn't mean that much, but I'd like to avoid it if it's possible and try to figure out the first option, or maybe some alternative.

Yes, there are basically always going to be some artifacts, and the best you can do is minimize them.  You make stuff to the quality you need, not to some unattainable perfect.  It may be possible that I'm misunderstanding your problem; I couldn't see the issue in your pics, and focused on the issue that I could see in the file.

Based on your useful answers, I believe you understand my problem correctly.
One more thing that is unclear: when you reduce the extrusion value, in this specific case, do you get a visible better result with the value of 0.005? Because I get the same result even if I use a lot higher value like 0.2.

It looked better to me, but your issue was subtle to begin with.  Don't look at the image; look at the normal map in use on your mesh.

Yes, I checked it on the mesh. The problem is only visible from some angles. So to check if there is a difference I baked two separate normal maps with different values and changed them on the mesh. I kept the same angle the same view, the only thing I changed is the two normal maps vice versa, but unfortunately, I couldn't see the difference. If you had any idea why is your bake result better, I'd appreciate it!

It might be in my head :)  I'm not sure my reasoning holds up.  I mean, I believe the altered normals, combined with distance to mesh, is reason for the lines.  But now my thinking is that ray extrusion wouldn't do anything to fix it.  I may do some more testing and edit the answer.

I've done some more experimentation.  I was wrong about the ray extrusion (and deleted it from the answer.)  However, simply increasing the texel density-- either by baking to a 4k, or by increasing the space taken up on the UV map-- seems to reduce the problem.  With a 4k bake, I can't see the triangulation until the point that I can also see the quantization from using an 8 bit-per-channel image.  Strangely, downscaling that 4k back to 1k-- either as a normal bake or as emission-- has the triangles coming back.  Hope that's of some use to you.

Thanks for the correction and your effort in trying to find a solution. I think I'm going to stick with the second solution and I rather use some extra vertices than a very high-res image.

An alternative is an object space normal map, which is baking fine.  Unfortunately, again, rebaking that to tangent gets the same issue.


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How can I run a function when opening Blender that requires context?
My initial attempt was to call that function directly from the register part. However, I soon realized that this isn't possible for a function that needs context.
I also tried using a load_post handler, but it appears not to fire with a new Blender session, it only triggers when a new file is loaded into an already open Blender.
My latest attempt involved using a timer to call the function. Unfortunately, even though it was successfully registered, the function was never called.
Does anyone have an idea why the timer isn't calling the function, or what else I could try?

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/320853/automatic-actions-after-starting-addon/

Add a Cube when registering Add-on
Worked:

Normal blender startup
Reload event
Re/enable add-on

Failed

Indirectly open blender

For directly open a blend file to start the blender, please use
bpy.app.handlers.version_update.append(..)

def register():
    # register_class(...)

    bpy.app.timers.register(test_fn)

def test_fn(): # make sure your start up file have a 3D viewport
    area = next(a for a in bpy.context.screen.areas if a.type == "VIEW_3D")
    region = next(r for r in area.regions if r.type == "WINDOW")

    with bpy.context.temp_override(area=area, region=region):
        bpy.ops.mesh.primitive_cube_add(size=2, enter_editmode=False, align='WORLD', location=(0, 0, 0), scale=(1, 1, 1))
        # or test your ops

Valid for both cases
def register():
    # register_class(...)

    bpy.app.handlers.version_update.append(after_scene_code)
    bpy.app.timers.register(after_scene_code)

def after_scene_code():
    if after_scene_code.is_register is True:
        return

    after_scene_code.is_register = True
    test_fn()
after_scene_code.is_register = False

def unregister():
    after_scene_code.is_register = False

    if after_scene_code in bpy.app.handlers.version_update:
        bpy.app.handlers.version_update.remove(after_scene_code)

def test_fn(): # make sure your start up file have a 3D viewport
    area = next(a for a in bpy.context.screen.areas if a.type == "VIEW_3D")
    region = next(r for r in area.regions if r.type == "WINDOW")

    with bpy.context.temp_override(area=area, region=region):
        bpy.ops.mesh.primitive_cube_add(size=2, enter_editmode=False, align='WORLD', location=(0, 0, 0), scale=(1, 1, 1))
        # or test your ops

Does this also work instead of using a timer? https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/320853/automatic-actions-after-starting-addon/

In my case, I use timer method to run a develop Operator when press a button to reload my add-on, instead of bpy.app.handlers Since bpy.app.handlers doesn`t trigger reload event.

@HarryMcKenzie McKenzie  Yes this also work

@HarryMcKenzie  I tested again and it sometimes doesn't work without bpy.context.override .if your operator check the bpy.context.area, and the value is None.

I could make it work using the recommended version_update handler. I also had to set the function to take two arguments, which I don't really know why or where they came from, but I saw that you also did that in your linked post, @HarryMcKenzie so I guess it has to be like that. Thank you both for helping me out!

version_update run when blender start, load_post run when load a blend file. https://docs.blender.org/api/current/bpy.app.handlers.html

@Tsybe Yeah I think the reason functions like version_update and load_post (among others in Blender's API) require specific parameters, even if they might not use them, is due to a shared interface or function signature requirement imposed by Blender's event handling system.

Thank you for the additional information!


text:
Displaying buttons
I'm trying to display my buttons, and what I'd like to change is the middle button to take up more space. Like double or triple the size, because right now the 3 buttons are evenly spaced.
This is the current code:
layout = self.layout
row = layout.row()
row.operator("mybutton.button1", text="Button 1")
row.operator("mybutton.button2", text="Button 2")
row.operator("mybutton.button3", text="Button 3")

If you look at the ui_panel.py template in the text editor, you can see this:

Adapting this to your code, it would look like this:
layout = self.layout
row = layout.row()
row.operator("mybutton.button1", text="Button 1")
sub = row.row()
sub.scale_x = 2.0
sub.operator("mybutton.button2", text="Button 2")
row.operator("mybutton.button3", text="Button 3")


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Parameters for Multires Bake
I'm trying to find the parameters for the Multires bake command bpy.ops.object.bake_image() but in the documentation, none is listed. So there isn't any or are they just not listed? Thinking about like the type, switching between Displacement and Normals, etc.

As indicated in the docs you linked, bpy.ops.object.bake_image() only runs the baking. As you can guess by it being within bpy.ops: it is an operator. The baking settings are part of the scene's data.
If you enable the python tooltips, you can see the settings' pythonic paths:

You can also  RMB > Copy (full) data path.


text:
How is adaptive subdivision different from dynamic topology?
I love adaptive subdivision. For those that don't know, its a really cool feature that lowers subdivisions to meaningless values as an object increases its distance from the camera and increases it as the object gets closer. This saves up to 90% RAM usage and can slash rendering time in half!
While this feature is cool and all, I use dynamic topology a lot while sculpting, and I was wondering if anyone could explain to me the difference on both a mesh/code/render level?
For reference (i.e. the research I've done):
Adaptive subdivision
Micropolygon displacement
Dyntopo

The difference between Adaptive subdivision and Dynamic topology is the way the surface gets subdivided. Both triangulate the mesh but use different algorithms.
Adaptive subdivision:

each polygon is divided into a number of micro-polygons based on camera distance and screen pixel size
these micro-polygons are displaced at render-time with texture
the subdivision algorithm makes it easy to increase/decrease the density
resulting triangles are nice (a quad results in smaller quads that form 2 triangles each)

Dynamic topology:

the division algorithm divides the mesh based on brush size while sculpting the mesh
the created vertices are created at their final destination
decreasing/increasing resolution is done by collapsing/subdividing edges locally with brushes and globally in tool panel under Dyntopo settings
local subdivision and collapsing of edges usually create nasty geometry with long thin triangles and triangle fans.

I agree Jerryno may have the better answer to the question.

Adaptive Subdivision
A operation to optimize what is happening in a real-time environment like in a game engine. What is happening there is that game probably have a lot of high-resolution models or high numbers of models going on during execution. So Adaptive Subdivision is a way to cut down all the polygons from showing up all the time. If it's not important or far away don't show them. Like pycoder said, it's a level of detail (LOD) system. Design to display real-time environment efficiently.
For the adaptive option on the open subdiv tool however, it's also included as a tool for real-time surface tessellation at cpu/gpu render time. Especially in an animated sequence where your camera will be moving closer or further away from the objects in the scene.
Dynamic Topo
It's more like a tool for 3d content creation. In the past, they have multi subdivision to do the job. What happens is that we end up with a sculpt that has lots of polygons, regardless if there are any necessary details on the surface. The whole model is ramped up with polygon every other higher subdivision steps.
Dynamic Topo solves that problem by adding only necessary polygons density to necessary parts where there are actually details or sculpted area that really needed those extra polygons to display them. Resulting in a more efficient workflow, and saves you more resources, money and time.
Conclusion
They both does one thing in common, that is to make rendering 3d object on screen more efficient. The difference is adaptive subdivision is purely a real-time environment display mechanism and the other a tool for 3d artist.
I am afraid at the coding level, I know too little to help with that. But that's all I know about the 2 topic.

Please add a comment if you downvoted. So I can see how I can help to answer your queries further.

Hi hawkenfox, I think the answer misleads the reader. Both methods have real-time performance, adaptive subdiv is not limited to environments or game-engines. It is also not culling and does not cut down polygons from showing up - it increases polygon count. You answered the difference of usage more than how they really differ.


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Other side of the world seemingly reflected in Fresnel layer; only shows in render, not in viewport
I am very confused right now. I am making an Earth. The scene has two layers, atmosphere and ground/clouds. Rendering them individually gives me the results I want for each layer. Specifically, here is the atmosphere layer:

But when I render both layers together I get something hideous like this:

Do you see that hideous fog on the image? That is actually a mirror image of Africa and Europe, somehow being reflected onto the fresnel. I have no idea what is causing this, and would greatly appreciate any insight.
You can download the blend from here: http://pasteall.org/blend/index.php?id=47222
UPDATE1 Turning diffuse bounces down to 0 worked. I am not happy with this solution.
UPDATE2 Keeping diffuse on and turning glossy bounces does NOT work. Neither does turning off the "Glossy" option under Ray Visibility in the Object tab. Again, I am not happy with this solution.

I had that problem too. Here is how I fixed it. I went to User Preferences and I click on system and disabled Mipmaps
Hope this helps


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Delete multiple objects in the Outliner
Is it possible to delete multiple objects in the Outliner? The way I delete objects now is by Shift + Left Click on them on the Outliner, then Right Click then selecting Delete. However, this only works on the active element, not on all selected objects.
How do I delete all the selected objects?
EDIT: I tried selecting the objects then pressing on X on the 3D Viewport to select Delete, but it doesn't seem to be working. Please see the GIF below:

You can be excused for being confused as it would seem logical to click the names of the object - rather you should click further down the bar and you will see the row colour change tone. You don't even need to hold down shift to select more items. Note that selecting items this way has nothing to do with the selection in the 3D window. Once selected you can just right click and select 'delete'.
Other keys that work here - A toggle (select all/ deselect all) note colour tone difference. Also B box select, and then middle box to remove select, work here.
Once you see how it works ...it is pretty efficient.

Clicking on the name in the bar is different to clicking on the blank space at the end of the bar? I didn't realise it worked like that and that is quite confusing - especially for newbies - but I see how that works.

Oh god, I feel so dumb now. I hope I'm forgiven!

Don't feel dumb. Blender is so not intuitive when it comes to small things like this...

Once you've selected multiple objects in the Outliner, move the mouse over the 3D window and press X to delete.
There are other methods of selecting multiple objects - such as holding shift and right-clicking objects in the 3D window, which has the same effect (and if you accidentally select an object you didn't want selectied you can hold shift and click the object again to de-select it). If all the objects are around the same location you could use the 'box select' tool in the 3D window - press B, click at the top left corner of the selection then click at the bottom right and all objectswithin that boundary will be selected (then press X to delete them). Also, try pressing C when in the 3D window - this will give you a circle and you can use this to click each area to select, once happy with the selection press right mouse button and can again press X to delete (or any other action you might want to do to the selected objects - rotate R, scale S, hide (H - use Alt+H to unhide), etc.).

Please use  tags around keyboard keys, e.g. "press B"

@RayMairlot - how would I write Alt-H with this? Nothing I try looks quite right.

Not everyone does, but most put a '+' sign inbetween: Alt+H

Hm... I actually just tried this and it doesn't seem to be working? Please see the edit!

Do you have multiple scenes? Could be that the objects are not in the currently selected scene - in which case, you'd be able to select them in the outliner but not in the 3D view (as they would not be there). When you seect them in the outliner can you see the actual object get selected (and highlighted as if selected) in the 3D view?

Blender 2.8:

Blender Preferences > Keymap > Outliner
Find Delete Collection  — with Backspace
Change command to object.delete, uncheck ‘Confirm’

Select an object in outliner and press Backspace. Works with multiple objects selected too.


text:
Realistic Rigging with real skeleton?
I am sculpting a human model. I want to eventually rig it, so I am planning ahead with good mesh topology etc. I want it to be as realistic as possible so I was brainstorming on some ideas for the rigging. Lets say I have a human skeleton rigged with all the muscles that stretch and contract according to joint positions and rotations. Is there an efficient way to overlay the body mesh around the skeleton and muscles? The idea is to give it accurate movement and mesh deformations that simulate real flesh and bones. The problem I've had with other rigs is certain positions and rotations of joints just don't look right. Has anyone ever tried this?

I will share my technique for muscle deformation:
You can use shape keys. However, there is a difference in the approach between a hinge joint (elbow, knee) and a ball and socket joint (shoulder, hip). In the first case you only need one shape key (if you ignore forearm pronation / supination).
When dealing with shoulder however, it is necessary to have a shape key for every extreme pose and then blend between them.
In the image are some of the poses that need to have shape keys, but there can be more (arm raised in the back + rotation)

The way I’m applying the shape keys is to reduce one to 0 and to raise the other one to 1 at the same time. Blender will calculate the transition. Then it’s up to the user to estimate the “arm’s”
position relative to the extreme and to blend the shape keys.

I posted this because I don’t think a more complex rig or muscles system will make the difference. I hope it helps.


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Blender 2.8 rig not fully updating on render
I know 2.8 is still in beta mode so I was just wondering if anyone else is having this same issue and if it will be fixed at some point. My rig has lots of drivers attached to it. For some reason the 2.8 version of blender is really slow at updating the location of the mesh around the armature when it moves. Sometimes I have to double click the time line for it to fully update dependencies. When I go to do a render, it can forget sometimes also. Like I said, I know it's a beta, but has anyone else noticed a slow armature registry and is this a known issue? If so, I hope they fix it because my rig works great in 2.79 Didn't they do a full rebuild of the bone system?

The problem is caused by collision, if you have multiple collision on a armature it causes this problem. normally the armature should have priority but something gets mixed up there.
As soon as I remove all collisions it worked like expected.


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Problems with Fluid Simulation baking / cache
Recently today, I created a fluid simulation.  I baked through it a few times, updating the settings to get to what I wanted.  I reached a desirable effect.
Then the fluid simulation baking stopped working.  The bake itself would hardly take any time at all.  When I play through the simulation, the mesh switches between its original state as a fluid domain and the first frame of the simulation.
I've researched the question but haven't found any problems that looked like this.
Here is what the simulation like, played in the viewer:

Here are the settings of the fluid domain and the inflow:

I'm not the most experienced in Blender fluid simulations and hardly have a lead to why this is happening.
Thank you, in advance, for your time!


text:
Multiple versions of autosave files
Very recently, blender crashed and deleted some of my work.  I looked into the autosave directory after I tried to reopen my file.  The reopened older version (without my recent changes) was the only version available in the autosave directory.  It disappointed me that my changes were gone in the very recently autosaved file.  In the user preferences panel I saw some autosave settings, none of which seemed to change how many previous versions of autosave files there were.
My question is this:
Is there a setting in the user preferences that will alter the amount of autosave versions saved as seperate files?  Is there an addon that will work to the same effect?
Cheers

Related https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/14101/how-to-recover-overwritten-files-in-blender and https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/14413/how-to-setup-auto-save. Autosave versions and their amount are setup in the User Preferences > File

@Mr Zak But the "save versions" value is for saving manually (I know this setting deals with the blend1, blend2 etc. files), the true autosave settings only include frequency, not number of previous versions.

Save versions is something automatically saved in addition to the main saved file but this occurs only in time of saving file with Ctrl+S.This is the amount which can be setup. No way by default to enable autosaving mutliple versions of the file. Autosave depends on time period setup in the Timer below Auto Save Temporary files

There is an addon now. You can find it here.
The Save on open option lets you go back to the start, while Save before close covers you for forgetting to save when opening another file or starting a new one, it doesn't get triggered before closing blender so that can still get you. While they do sound good, they can be a bit much if you just go quickly looking through a lot of blend files.
File copies are saved with a timestamp prefix in the name, so you can easily see how old any copy is or choose how far back you want to go.

Thank you! I installed the addon, still yet to use it in order to access Blender-crash-lost work in the future.


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Texture mapping problem on a cone
I have problem with texturing cone. I tried to do UV with Mark Seam the texture imposed vad. I tried Cylinder and Sphere projection, bad too. I need to improse tile to cone. How I can recive this problem? Thanks!

I think one method or the other could be better depending on which texture you're using, where are details etc. If you can give at least an example of it, or of the desired result... that would get you a better answer.

Thank you, I add one pic more for better explain. See please. Its tile in SP. U can see bugs in 3d view.


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What would be the better hardware to use in cycles?
So, i have a dilemma. Do i use my i3 4160 or the soon to be mine gtx 960 to render out scenes and animations in blender cycles, please any answers would be helpful
EDIT thanks for all the advise guys, ill look into this a bit more then.

The difference between rendering speed depends on the scene itself. Some scene will render faster on CPU and other on GPU and viceversa. See related question: GPU slower than CPU? I would suggest to render some frames with both hardware and see which has the best performance.

The description from Amazon of my video card is "EVGA GeForce GTX 960 4GB"  I had no idea what all the different options were.  My cpu is described as "Intel Core i7-5820K Haswell-E 6-Core 3.3GHz."  For simple stuff it's definitely faster using the GPU.  Use the Auto Tile Size add-on so that the GPU renders use an optimum tile size.  While it's rendering the mouse movement is jerky and not as responsive. In the User Preferences -> System you can also turn on Multisample for antialiased stuff in the 3d view, but read the section on that in the blender docs (I found it with a google search).

I think a Intel Core i7 is faster on rendering than a GeForce GTX 960 4GB. If you had A GTX 980 I may had some doubt.


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Edit Presets in Calculate Mass
In the documentation for Rigid Body physics we are told "There are many useful presets available from the menu..." However, I find many of them are not so useful or are completely redundant. It's also very annoying that the custom value is at the bottom of an overly long list of these presets.
Is there an easy way to edit this list? (where easy means I don't have to recompile Blender)

Usually are Presets stored inside Blender app ... on PC /2.9x/scripts/presets/ (on Mac on right click Show Package /Contents/Resources/2.92/scripts/presets ), but I don't see any related to RB, so sadly not.

Search the scripts folder for “mass” or “density” and if nothing turns up, try turning on “file contents” and searching for some of the material names.

I grep'd the blender folder for 'Asphalt' and only found it in blender.exe and blender.pdb, so it looks like its hard-coded.