text:
How to dynamically load a .dat icon (toolshelf icon)?
Using documentation here 2.80/Python_API/UI_DESIGN, I've managed to create a custom .dat tool shelf icon for use with an operator in my addon. The icon will display from my addon when registered from a class like this if the .dat icon file has been previously pasted directly into the active Blender installation datafiles directory (.../2.92/datafiles/icons/my_addon.operator_icon.dat):
class MYADDON_some_tool(WorkSpaceTool):
    bl_idname = "my_addon.some_operator"
    bl_label = "My Operator"
    bl_space_type = 'VIEW_3D'
    bl_context_mode = 'OBJECT'
    bl_icon = 'my_addon.operator_icon'

As far as I can tell, this will not work if simply including "icons/my_addon.operator_icon.dat" or "datafiles/icons/my_addon.operator_icon.dat" within an addon, nor any other area of a user settings directory as can be done with contents within the scripts and config directories. Is there some location within a user settings folder (or even better an addon directory) that Blender will detect an icons directory from? If not, is there some way to dynamically load a .dat icon file within an addon? Strangely, the doc I linked to is, in general, talking about addons in Blender 2.8. But there doesn't appear to be a way to load a .dat icon file from an addon without pasting into the core instillation of Blender.

Turns out the datafiles directory is accessible via user settings directory. Shows up in user settings when installing an HDR via preferences > lights menu (for example). Blender doesn't appear to run a sweep for contents of icons folder within the datafiles directory from user settings directory as with the core install directory though.


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How can I bake semi-transparent blue-ish glass of my car on to texture?
So I have my car which I would like to import in RoR game but I cant bake semi-transparent glass on to texture, I'm just getting black texture when I chose transmission ...

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Merge 2 objects and appending theirs texture's and UV in to one
so let say that I have 2 objects which are imported to blender and I want to add them together so I have one solid mesh but how can I append theirs textures and UV's in order to have everything in one texture (so merge 2 texture's in to one) and merge UV's also ?

You need to bake the 2 image textures on one

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/57944/ https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/168511/2214 https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/218408/2214

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


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When I save rendered image with transparent background I get white png picture, blender 3.0
I guys, I have my "volumetrics" scene in blender 3.0 and when I render image with transparent background in Eevee render engine  in viewport it has "check board" shown but when I save it its all white.
I have set in render properties under "Film" to transparent I have set color "RGBA" and File format to PNG under Properties. What Im doing wrong ?
here is my .blend file https://we.tl/t-DbNMkuwWnY

When I rebaked everything and hit render, this is what I got
 Is this what you were looking for?

Yes I got same result but try to save it is it with white background ? @Aswin

Oh yea, I didn't try saving it
you're right, it's kinda invisible
but when you put it on a 100% black background, I could see it slightly
I'm not sure I can help, but I'll try looking into it


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How to import data for fluid simulation?
I'm trying to import in Blender some fluid simulations, created externally with other programs (e.g. Fortran..), in order to give a 3D feedback to the estimated data. I know that it's possible to do and that it's very easy too.
Anyone can suggest me any solution??

What external program(s) are you using for the fluid simulation? What file formats do those external programs offer to save the 3D model of the fluid?

You might want to look at what has been done with dualSPHysics. See https://blenderyard.wordpress.com/2014/12/28/dualsphysics-fluid-visualization-with-blender/ , http://dual.sphysics.org/vanilla/discussion/522/dsph-to-blender-pipeline/p1 ,  and https://wiki.manchester.ac.uk/sphysics/images/Blender_for_SPHysics_v2.2_GUIDE.pdf .

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


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Rest position doesn't get stored
I've been working with a model with some poses. After I was done posing, I decided to jump into doing some texture work with it.
Since Blender can't help me with the textures, I use 3D-Coat. So I decided to use 3D-Coat and exported the model as OBJ, however, when I loaded it, it had some vertices moved around, so I went back to Blender to check and I exported it still posed.
I then cleared all Rotation, Location and Scale to put the armature how it was and it worked. So I exported again to OBJ, and once again it exported it as it was posed.
I removed every single Shape Key and tried to use the cleared armature as the Rest Pose, but it didn't work and it comes back to the last pose.
How can I fix this issue? Thanks in advance

I'd suggest making a "zero pose" action or pose, (select all pose bones, clear all, insert locrotscale for all ) and export using that.  Clearing rotation etc from pose bones doesn't clear the keyframes which (by the sound of it) are being used by the exporter.

Apply armature modifier and then export the model. Use a duplicate though or after exporting, back to previous step with CTRL+Z.

Have you tried Pose Mode Ctrl +  A > Apply Pose as Rest Pose?

authors: Александър Златков

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


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Export Vertex weights as an image
I have this model I'm trying to export to a posing software, which has its own IK system.
I'm porting this model with a custom outfit, in which I decided the best approach for it would be using "Transfer Weights" from the source model. It worked like expected.
Now, I want to fix the weights according to the IK deformings, and my question is Is it possible to export the weight paint colors from a mesh?
My idea is looking at how the mesh deforms with the IK, and if it deforms wrongly, then change the weights of that given segment instead of blindly painting weights on them.
Thank you in advance for any help!

So is your rig created in blender or the external program?

It was made on an external program

There is a script that will convert weights to vertex colors.  These can then be baked out to a map.  See Turn weight paint(vertex groups) into vertex paint? for script and instructions.

When rigging an object in blender and parenting it to the correct bones using weight painting, these values will be exported when using the FBX export option in blender...

I'm talking about the weight paint mesh, I mean the weight paint colors baked to an image, like for example, an arm, instead of having the arm texture, it would have the arm texture "tinted" with the weights and that "tint" being exported into a PNG or TGA


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How to retrieve context after a outliner.orphans_purge()
I've got a script that joins several object into one at every frame and then do several operations on the duplicated object.
However, I know that when a object is deleted in blender, meshes are stored as orphan data until next start up of the file. We can force the use of blender's garbage collector but I have a strange behavior when the script is interpreted. Here is the script :
def main(context):
    selectedOBJ = context.selected_objects

    for i in range(context.scene.frame_start, context.scene.frame_end+1):
        context.scene.frame_set(i)

        for obj in selectedOBJ:
            obj.select = True

        bpy.ops.object.duplicate()
        context.scene.objects.active = context.selectable_objects[0]
        bpy.ops.object.join()
        bpy.ops.object.visual_transform_apply()
        bpy.ops.rigidbody.objects_remove()
        bpy.ops.object.transform_apply(location=True,
                                       rotation=True,
                                       scale=True)
        context.selected_objects[0].name = "mergedRigidBodies__" + \
                                               str(i).zfill(5)
        selectedData = context.selected_objects[0].data
        bpy.ops.object.delete(use_global=False)
        bpy.data.meshes.remove(selectedData)

        context.area.type = 'OUTLINER'
        context.space_data.display_mode = 'ORPHAN_DATA'
        bpy.ops.outliner.orphans_purge()
        context.area.type = 'VIEW_3D'

After line bpy.ops.outliner.orphans_purge(), i've got an error that "Nonetype" doesn't have an attribute type, so I guess I've lost the context somehow. However I tried to print something after the orphan_purge() and it worked so I know that the script is not stopped after the said line.
Thanks for your help,

Were you able to find a solution to your problem eventually?


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Why does my creature look like this when I try to skin it?
I have a student who when trying to skin her creature, it looks like this. I am not sure why one half of it can be skinned while the other half can't get selected. Any help would be appreciated.
http://www.pasteall.org/blend/37658
Thanks!!

Its because there is a Mirror modifier still unapplied on the mesh. Just click Apply for the Mirror modifier (While in Object Mode) and both halves of the mesh will be editable.


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Bone Heat Weighting Failed
I am trying to figure out an issue for my student who is having a problem with parenting and skinning his creature. He sent me what he had and I went back and redid it by adding the bones again. When I try to parent it, the message, "bone heat weighting failed" comes up. I have tried removing the double vertices, recalucating the outside, turning on and off the x axis, rotating, scaling, turning on subsurf and I cannot figure out why it isn't working.
I also tried to skin his creature that he originally sent to me following the directions the course gives, but nothing happens and I am not sure if it is because it isn't parented correctly? When I try it doesn't select part of the body like it should.
Any help would be great!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZPqxADetWE

I looked at this post, but can't figure out how to connect the mesh. I tried removing the double vertices and it still doesn't work.

please upload you blend file for checking : http://www.pasteall.org/blend/

http://www.pasteall.org/blend/34455


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skinning a creature
I am trying to skin the creature for a student who is having trouble. Every time I try, nothing happens. I am not sure if it is parented correctly or not and if that is the reason why it isn't work. I have been trying to get it to work for days and am stuck.  I copied the steps it says to do as well as the students work. Any help would be appreciated on how to fix it and get the student to the next step.
http://www.pasteall.org/blend/34459
Skin the Left Thigh
The second part of skinning is to assign the bone to the part of the body. Complete the following steps to assign the left thigh bone.
Right-click the character to select it and deselect the bones.
Switch to Edit mode.
Left-click the Vertex Select mode button.
In the Object Data mini-window, in the Vertex Groups menu, left-click UpperLeg.L.
Under Vertex Groups, left-click Select.
You’ll see an orange outline on parts of the left side. Press the B key and use Box Select mode. Hold down the B key and drag over all of the orange vertices using the left button on your mouse. Then press the Remove button. Then press the A key in the 3D View window to deselect everything. Press the B key and use Box Select mode. Hold down the B key and drag over the UpperLeg.L bone.
TIP: You may need to repeat this step to get all the vertices selected.
Under Vertex Groups, left-click Assign.
Press the A key to deselect everything.

The steps are excessive and lead to confusion. The first part wants you to remove vertices from the group that you don't want deformed by the bone, you don't have any extra vertices assigned to vertex groups so can skip the first part.
The second part is what you want to do -

Then press the A key in the 3D View window to deselect everything. Press the B key to [start] Box Select mode. [left click and] Drag over the UpperLeg.L bone. TIP: You may need to repeat this step to get all the vertices selected. Under Vertex Groups, left-click Assign. Press the A key to deselect everything.

So you want to select all the vertices near the Upperleg.L bone that you want to move with that bone. You can also press C to paint select vertices, use the scroll wheel to increase/decrease the size of the circle you select with, press Esc to exit paint select mode. Once the vertices are selected, ensure you have Upperleg.L selected in the vertex group list (also check that the weight slider is at 1.0) and click the assign button. Now if you go into pose mode for the armature, moving the Upperleg.L will move the specified vertices with it.
Repeat for other bones.
I would recommend you have a look at weight painting for an easier method to what you are doing.

Thank you so much! I believe I got it to work and will be sending to my student. You are the best!


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Issues with cycle render using 3 GPUs - Possible problem with one of the cards?
I am having a problem relating to Cycles Rendering. I have 3 970s (not in SLI) and one of them seems to not like the Cycles rendering. In every case I have tried it will throw out a

CUDA error: ILLEGAL_ADDRESS in cuCtxSynchronize()

and will not render anything.
I am using the BMW test .blend available on the demo pages. I can render the file with the other 2 970s using the same settings, however if I try and use either 970x2 or x3 in the compute options it will render 1 or 2 panels respectively (presumably from the other cards being used) and then give me the same error.
I have also tried it on Windows 7 and Ubuntu 14.04 and receive the same error each time.
Is this just a case of an RMA for the card giving me errors? Is there some logging I can turn on to give me more details? I can't find anything online about this kind of error.

Thanks for your suggestions. With only the suspect card in the PC booted fine but still gave me CUDA error: ILLEGAL_ADDRESS in cuCtxSynchronize(). I also tried a GPU test program and it locked up with minor artifacting immediately.
We have a Corsair HX1200 for power so that shouldn't be an issue, plenty of airflow in the case too. I was monitoring temps and they were barely getting above 50.


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How to change appearance of an Empty
I have a complex scene with lot of Empties. For a better survey I would like to change the appearance of an already created empty.
Just in case:
How to change the appearance of several Empties simultaneously?

Change a single Empty

Select the desired Empty
Go the Properties Panel
Click on the Data tab
Change the Display property

Change multiple Empties

Select the desired Empties
Change the Display property (this will only effect the active Empty)
Right-click RMB on the Display property and choose: Copy To Selected

You can also adjust the size of the Empties in exactly the same way
Note: You can also have other 'object types' than Empties in your selection while changing the Display Type. Copy To Selected will only effect objects of the same 'object type'.

In addition to using Copy to Selected to change the empties' size and shape, you can also Alt+Left-Click on a property to change if for all selected objects in real time.

In this clip I am holding down Alt as I change the icon shape and size.

useful addition thx

Wow, that's really trick.  I wish I'd known that a while back.

This changed my life :)


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Why won't my creature parent to its armature
When I try to parent my students armature, an error occurs that says, "Bone heat weighting error on more than one bone" I'm not sure how to correct this. I looked to see if it was symmetrical and it seems to be. Any help would be great. I copied the link so you can see the file.
http://www.pasteall.org/blend/36448
Thanks!

To increase clarity please include one or more screen shots. Please show some success and the failure in your images.

If you could add the steps you take in the .blend file to trigger that error, that would help as well.

Switch to Object mode.
Right-click the creature to select it.
Press and hold SHIFT and right-click the armature.
TIP: Zoom in to make it easier to click on the bones.
Press CTRL + P to make the armature a parent of the body. In the Make Parent menu that appears, left-click Armature Deform, With Automatic Weights entry.
Select just the creature, go to Object Modifiers, and make sure Bind to Vertex Groups is checkmarked.
@atomicbezierslinger these are the instructions the students have

@ToddMcIntosh i listed the instructions above

Your armature's shape is extremely different from the creature's shape: so the algorithm that should assign weight automatically can't decide which vertices to assign to which bone.
In this case you should choose the "with empty groups" option: it will create an empty vertex group for every bone of your armature.
Then you will have to weight them manually. Using weight paint; or selecting a vertex group, in edit mode selecting the vertices you want to be moved, and click assign in the vertex group mesh tab of the properties panel.
The corrispondence between bones and vertex groups is made by names.

I haven't used wet paint before, what would be the steps to do that?

I am not sure if I am doing this right. Everything I try, I still get that error

I've been testing this file, and there seems to be more than one problem with the mesh and the armature.
I've been able to bind the mesh to a single bone with automatic weights, but haven't been able to find a step by step process to get your mesh bound to the current armature as of yet.
Some of the issues with the mesh are:

poor topology including a lot of pinching
many doubled vertices
too many vertices, should have a simpler base mesh with a subdiv modifier instead
the face has a lot of separate small pieces
there's no root bone
the bone sizes don't match the arm/leg sizes

If you redo the armature, it's important that the first bone (hip or root) shares the same origin point as the mesh. If I figure out an exact fix I'll let you know.

Thank you so much for looking at it. I have been spending hours trying to figure it out. I will try to redo the armature for him and see what happens. Any help would be appreciated!


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How can these textures get fixed?
I have a student who is working on a project, but is using other source to complete it. I am not an expert when it comes to blender so I am not sure how to answer his questions. I was wondering if anyone would know some of these answers. I copied his email to me with the images he attached.
"Alright, so here's the screen shot

The things are tinted blue (fence and roof are odd exceptions) from the blue sunlight. I don't know how to un-tint it. The sun is blue because a blender video said it would make shadows more realistic. That random white line is a plane that somehow got in there and I deleted it after I took the screen shot. I don't know why the house is green-- I'm pretty sure I made it yellow so that's a problem. I think it's green because it's reflecting the grass.
I downloaded a bunch of textures for the wood, garage door, metal, and roof. I also followed a youtube video on how to make grass that was awesome so I think I learned a bunch from that.
My questions are:
How to make the textures apply properly, edit them, and not be diagonal?
How to prevent structures from reflecting so much of the light around them?
I have a third question as well: Anyway I can connect the gaps between these two planes? I want one of them to be the road."

could the blend file be added?

I think that the video would talk about the "environment". Shadows must be bluish, not the sun. See this article on the argument

About the other question, I think that they are not strictly related to the main question, one involves Materials and the other Modeling and they both probably need long answers. It will be difficoult to find someone who can cover every aspect you mention.

By UV-unwrapping them correctly.

Without UVmap the textured object appears all made of one color (a sort of average color of the texture)

By unwrapping the geometry in proper way (in this simple case, just a basic unwrap is enough) you'll be able to se the texture cover the plane as expected.
Notice that the Uvmap in the uv/image editor has the two triangles located in a way that reflect the faces topology.

Resetting the UVmap brings all the faces to cover the whole texture..so the triangles are both in the same location, overlapped. So each faces show the same part of the mesh, leading to the behavior you step onto.
Notice how the vertex order of the faces determines an unexpected rotation of the textures on the geometry. This brings a discontinuty in the textures which now don't follow anymore the mesh. Every face has it's own UV.
You have to re-unwrap them.

The diagonal weirdness in the textures is probably because the UV map was not unwrapped well.  My first instinct is to go into edit mode and u to unwrap : Follow active quads.


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Finding Bezier Curve Line
I'm trying to adjust/change the bezier curve and the blue line is not in the f- curve editor window like the instructions say it should be. Is there something I am missing or is there a way to get it back? I copied the instructions below and attached an image of what it looks like from my point of view. Any help would be great!!
In these steps, you'll move the whole Bezier curve to change the door-opening animation.
In the 3D View window, make sure that the house's door is still selected. If not, right-click to select it.
With the mouse pointer located in the F Curve Editor window, rotate the mouse scroll wheel upward to zoom in on the Bezier curve.
TIP: If you can't see it, rotate the scroll wheel downward to zoom out.
Right-click and drag the Bezier curve to unstick it. The Bezier curve will follow the mouse pointer wherever you move it in the F Curve Editor window.
TIP: Right-clicking again will return the curve to its starting point.
When you've moved it to a new spot, left-click to stop moving the curve.
TIP: You can always press CTRL + Z to undo the movement and return the curve to its previous spot. If you want to undo something in the F Curve Editor, make sure the mouse pointer is in that window.
Press ALT + A to see the new door-opening animation.

At what point and how did you add the keyframes?

I think you missed a step, see the triangle beside the Rotation, under Plane.001.action in the F-curve editor, if you click that triangle it will expand downwards and show the beziers for x, y, z

It may just be out of view, with the mouse over the graph editor press Home to bring all curves into view. If you don't have a home key the menu is View->View All

Thank you all so much! I will try these options and see if they work!


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sky background not rendering with scene
I am trying to render a scene and when I render it, my background doesn't show up. It should be a sky that is blue, but it shows up black still while the hills and other features render fine. Does anyone know a reason this happens?
Thanks!

related: http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/31050/blender-render-cant-render-a-background, sky enabled?

Can you send an image or the blend file so we can take a look I to it


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Are there Shadow Groups" like there are Light Groups?
Im having a problem where I only want an object cast shadows on itself, with one light group. I have two separate light groups, and two light source, but the objects still seem to cast shadows onto other objects. I have no idea how to fix this.

I'd recommend using renderlayers to split up your scene, then use the compositor to recombine the results. The exact setup will likely depend on which render engine you're using


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How to orbit previously weight painted vertices in Blender?

Is there a way in blender to orbit around the vertices or vertex that was previously painted in Weight Paint? Like in the Add-on section?
Im trying to clean up this hind leg mesh, but im having trouble positioning the camera to paint well.

You are looking at this operation here :
Weight Paint mode

Go to Navigation panel on the 3d View
Go to View Section.
Turn on lock to cursor.
I suggest installing the "Enhanced 3d Cursor" add-on so you can snap the cursor to the mesh surfaces.
Now your viewport camera is locked to the location of the 3d Cursor.

In Edit Mode

Go to View Menu on your 3d View Panel
Look for "View Selected"
Now your viewport perspective/orthographic view will rotate around the selected object.

Thanks! Now I know a useful tool! But it doesnt work for me in Weight Paint mode as I have a specific bone selected to paint on, so the camera rotates around the bone, not the vertex I put to :view Selected" :/

Thanks! :D but still... I just wish there was a more convenient way in Weight Paint mode than resetting the 3D cursor's location onto the vertices every sigle time :/


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Update 3d model through blender
Basically I want to start learning Blender so I have some question regarding that. So please give me reply for these questions.
If I have fbx file then can I import that file in Blender?
If importing of fbx file is possible in Blender then modification related to that model is possible?

Welcome Siddharth :) Of course, more information you can find here: How to import an FBX file into Blender

The answers in order are for the most part and definitely.

Yes, you can modify your model in blender, after importing it from an external file supported by an import plugin (fbx is shipped and enabled by default) See the File > Import menu. Other formats could be enabled through the user preference menu, or even added to the standard blender distribution through separate plugins.
After importing, you should have a regular model as if you modeled it into blender from scratch. An then you can save it as .blend or export it to other formats.
Just keep in mind that import/export plugins may have sometime limitations, due to their update status, sometimes unsolvable differences between different modeling programs, or their own good implemetation, but in general they get better and better, in blender, in particular most widely used ones (as fbx).

Thanks for your reply. Can I use animation exist into that model  in Blender or I have to create new animation from scratch?

According to the docs, it should, at least at some level:
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Extensions:2.6/Py/Scripts/Import-Export/Autodesk_FBX


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Certain colors not showing on Cycles Render
I was recently working on a character model, and I encountered a problem while using the Texture Paint mode.
I unwrapped and assigned a texture to every piece of the model, and then went to the Texture Paint mode to work on it. When I finished the work I rendered it to check the result, and then I noticed certain colors of the texture didn't appear at all in the render.
The flat texture and the model in 3D view look like this:

Whereas the render looks like this:

For further reference, I'm using Cycles Render, and used the node editor to apply several shadings and displacement.
For the scene, I'm using two spotlights, both white in color, and black background.
Also, while in Texture Paint, I used the Multiply and Lighten blends for adding contrast, and the Overlay blend for applying the purple hue.
I'm using Blender 2.74.
Here is my node setup

If you have painted and saved the texture and that contains the purple color, I think that the problem can't be due to something you have done in texture painting. If the texture looks good, it is more likely that is your node setup that leads to the BW result. Could you post it? Or uplad a file?

Please show your material nodes in the node editor, this will help others to understand the situation.

http://postimg.org/image/3puxgkyf5/  Here's the node setup, the image texture is on the upper left. The two other images are used for displacement and reflection, they're both on a grayscale.

It would be helpful to others to post your node image in the question.  Not the comment.

I know, but since it's my first time here, I can't upload more than 2 images on the same post, apparently.

Fortunately someone has graciously extended a forum courtesy.  Sometimes you can take two separate images and combine them. Such as the first two images.

You are using a mathematical multiply. You should be using an RGB multiply
You can get the color multiply in the add menu Shift-A>Color>MixRGB and set the drop down the multiply.
The reason the math multiply doesn't work is that it simply multiplies a single value (per pixel) together, giving one output channel. The Color multiply multiplies each of the three channels (per pixel) and gives a three channel output.
This is how a multiply RGB node works, using the mathematical multiply:

Each color channel on the first image is multiplied by the corrosponding one on the second image. They are then added together to make a new image.
The factor merely mixes the multiplied image with the un-affected image.

That did it. Thank you very much for your swift response.

@RobertoGarcíaPeñuelas If you found this post helpful, please mark it as accepted via the checkmark next to the vote buttons.

Isn't it 4 channels?

@someonewithpc Depends whether or not the image has alpha. I'm not sure if the alphas are multiplied in blender (but don't think so), and have no place to check.


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Using Blender to animate CAD mechanisms?
I want to try and use Blender to animate a CAD drawing that I've made (for a visualization).  Is blender capable of this?  I can get a CSV file with time and an angle from the differential equation analysis (using Octave with ODE45), so if I wanted to import the list of values into blender, could I do that (an example would be a pendulum with values returned for angle)?  How would the different parts of the assembly be made to interact?

Keep to one question at a time. Yes blender is capable, start by looking through some tutorials on animating pistons/cylinders like this one and ask a more specific question when you get stuck. Blender has many import addons that can be enabled, compare this list against what you can export from octave.

When I get a pointlist from octave, I'm talking about a list of x-positions or a list of theta (rotation angle) values which describe the motion, not the 3D object (sorry if that was unclear).  Basically I can get a list of values with respect to time

You can do all of these things, but you have to implement the mechanics using blender's various features such as drivers, modifiers, constraints, etc. Blender is not a parametric program like solidworks, which makes simulations like this more complicated to achieve but still possible with a bit of work (as @sambler mentioned in his links).

You can use python to translate the input into keyframes. But as said your question(s) is/are too unspecific to answer.


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Is there any way to select all the "edge faces" of this cut-out sphere?
I have this object:

I want to select all the faces on the edge of the squarish cut-outs of sphere, so I this desired result:

That was done manually, but there must be an easier way.
Essentially, I want to select the faces that have normals that point tangential to the curve of the sphere. Phrased another way, I want to deselect the faces that are facing inwards/outwards, leaving only the desired faces.
I know if I hit SHIFT-G, I can select by similar normal, but that gets me the global normal of the face points, not the local normal.

In the mean time, you can use a vertex group. Also, I don't think what you want is possible without scripting.

Since your current object can be mirrored. As in it's symmetrical ... applying a mirror modifier will half the amount of time you spend selecting those faces. and if you mirror it twice you will cut down your selection time to a quarter. and so on... and on.

I suggest using select similar > perimeter. Press  Shift  + G to bring up the selection menu after selecting a face loop similar to the desired loop with  Alt  +  RMB , then adjust the threshold until you have the desired results. Double check your model to make sure there isn't a missed face anywhere, but this should get all of them. In my example, the threshold was 0.030

Lol ... I used co-planar at threshold of 5.10 and it gave me the result I wanted as seen from your video ... strange but anyhow it worked on my end.

Ok! I understand now ... basically you don't want the perimeter of the edges that you wanted to select be relatively close or similar with the perimeter of other faces you didn't want to select ... got it. Thanks.


text:
How to scale dimensions of a model while keeping the other dimensions proportional ??

I want to make my model "4cm" in order to be able to 3D print the model. I've applied the scale of my model, and I am trying to change the dimensions of the Y-AXIS from 11.817 m to 4cm, while the other X and Z axis scale proportionally.
But, I the X and Z dimensions don't scale to their proportional sizes to the Y-Axis of 4cm, and turn into X:0 and Z:0 .
Is there anything im doing wrong? or another way?

Well.. The quick & dirty method is to just press S and move your cursor until the Y dimension is what you want :P.

Then how would I correctly apply my scale? And I know that method, but i want it to be as accurate as it can be.

Alt + A makes my Timeline start to play. :/

I did that, and selected "Scale" but it still wont scale proportionally :P

Here are the steps you could follow:

Select your model in Object mode, Hit CtrlA
Hit S and start scaling.
Scale close to the value you want, and then hold the Shift to fine tune the scaling as you move your mouse.
LMB to complete the scaling operation.

Thank you! Wow! The Shift helped alot!!! xD I actually got the Y dimensions to be 4cm!! While the rest scaled proportionally too! :D Thanks!!!

It's still a dirty workaround... is there maybe some plugin that's just able to lock axes for proportional scale? It's so weared that sometimes Blender misses some most basics, simple and so needful features...

@ LDCO are you refering to scaling in a single axis? Then it's definitely a feature in blender. If you want to only scale on say x axis hit "x" after you hit "s" for scaling operation. If you want to only scale on say y axis hit "y" and so on. Now say you want to scale in both X and Y but exclude Z axis. You hit "Shift + Z" to exclude scaling in Z. Hope that helps.

Blender have become my production tool. I suggest looking into blender as blender has a workflow far more superior than software like 3dsmax in some of the basic modeling sense. As I came from 3dsmax production environment in the past, I can attest to that.


text:
How to completely remove an Animation Node tree from a blender file?
I do not want to keep the animation node trees in the blender file, however, even when I remove the fake user from them, save, and restart the file, the animation node trees are still there. They won't go away no matter what I've tried.

Open the node tree in the node editor.
While hovering over the node editor press space bar.
Search for Remove Animation Node Tree.
Execute the operation.

This should remove the tree completely.
I know it is a bit weird that you can't just delete the tree like others, the reason for it is a bit more technical. I don't want to go into details now.
The next version of AN will have a button in the footer/header of the node tree to remove the tree.

In nowadays version  "Remove Animation Node Tree" is gone and  now is on the upper right corner (somehow I missed it first)


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Making particles wander around on a plane
How do I make particles exist on a plane and make them move around on the plane by using a force field?
I want to create something similar to this, but in blender so I can change the properties of the particles:
http://www.local-guru.net/blog/2016/6/23/processing-noise-crawler


text:
How do i know if rendering my animation is finished,
So I know my percentage goes from 0 percent to 100 percent and keeps repeating I don't know if its finished or still rendering? SO when I do watch the video that pops up on my windows, its only like a split second of the animation. I've tried clicking render animation but I'm not sure if it ever finished. My problem is I don't know if my rendering works.

I know on Mac OS X (or macOS) there is a handy notification that pops up when it's done rendering in notification center, maybe Windows has something like that as well?

There are three things you can look for.
Most of the information that will be useful to you is in the Render Result view of the Image Editor window. The Render Result usually comes up automatically when you start rendering. You can also bring it up by pressing F11.
This is by far the best place to get information about a render process.
At the top of this window is a row of text that has information about the render. As a frame is rendering, it will show the number of the last tile that finished, or the number of samples done/remaining. It will also show information "between" frames about loading images, synchronizing geometry, calculating BVH caches, and stuff like that. That should give you some indication of whether the render is busy with something or not.
In the image below, you can see the bar I'm talking about says:

"Mem: 17.09M Peak:17.09M | Time: xxxxxx | Done | path Tracing Sample 10/10"

That text will be a little different depending on a number of factors (like image vs. animation), but that's what you're looking for.

Another thing you can look at is the render progress bar. It will show the progress for each frame (not the whole animation), but if the progress bar isn't being displayed at all, then Blender isn't rendering.

Blender provides pretty good feedback while rendering, so the previous two solutions should be plenty. If, however, you want to look at something else, the last thing you can check is the output file. You should be rendering the frames as individual images (for a host of reasons). You should be able to look at the creation time of each image and determine how long to wait for the next one. If the next one takes too long, you can use that to determine if it's still rendering.
If you're rendering to a video file, you can still look at the size of that file, and it should be increasing regularly as each frame is finished.

You could always use the Render Music addon which might be a fun solution to your question.
https://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Extensions:2.6/Py/Scripts/Render/Render_Music
The wiki page describes the addon as:

While rendering, "elevator" music automatically plays. When the render
  job is complete, a bell rings.


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The rendered image has nothing to do with my animation
so today I tried to make an animation got it finished, then started rendering it and it would load a image that had nothing to do with my animation, so there I waiting for like 3 hours to find a 10 second video of that image. Ok so it might be corrupted file but then I rendered it as an image and the images were that odd image... here is the video of what keeps happening:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmg9wnbbu6ghelp!

What is the field of view of the camera, and when you press 0 on the number pad, what does it show you?


text:
How do I fade music in and out using Blender?
I am creating a youtube intro and I cannot figure out how to fade music in and out using Blender. I do not know how to do much with this program and I am not literate with this type of program. Can anyone explain in extreme detail how to fade music in and out??

I trust your  using the video sequence editor in Blender? Load your video strip and sound/music strip into separate channels. Select the music strip press the N key to access the properties panel on the right hand side of the screen. Under the Sound tag you'll see a Volume slider. If you wish to fade the music in at the start, go to frame 0 and set the volume to 0 in the slider. Hover your mouse over the slider and press the I key to set a keyframe. The slider background should change colour, colour depends on your Blender Theme.
Now go to the point on the time line say frame 60 and set the volume to 1 or what ever level you would like at this point and hover the mouse over the volume slider and press the I key to set another keyframe. The music will fade in from 0 - 1 over these frames.
Fading out is the reverse process, go to where you want the fade to start; make sure the volume is level 1 hover over the slider and press I to set a keyframe. then go to the end of the clip set the volume to '0' and set another keyframe.
Note if you don't set the key frame to 1 near the end of the clip the volume will fade from the first keyframe set to 1 at the beginning down to 0 for the keyframe at a the end.

Hope this helps.

Actually the easiest way is to:
1) Make a soft cut of ANY audio (can be the one you want to fade).
2) Move it to another layer, and make sure it overlaps the frames of the audio you want to fade.
3) Edit the moved audio strip so the sound is muted.
4) Shift click the audio strip you want to fade, THEN the muted strip.
5) In video sequence editor, click "strip" icon, then click "cross fade sounds".
You basically just created a black track, and used blender's built in cross fade effect.


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video editing: add mask has no menu
I'm trying to add a mask to my clip in the VSE but the menu stays empty.
Am I doing something wrong?

Did you create a mask in the movie clip editor first?

The first thing that you have to do is create a mask.
There are two places where you can do this:

In the Image Editor.

Or it can be created on the Movie Clip Editor
Go to the Motion Tracking Screen Layout and load in your movie. Select Mask in the bottom options panel where it probably currently says Tracking.
 -->

Click  to add a new mask, or select the one you already made from the dropdown. Make sure your mask is named, so that you recognize it:

Key Ctrl +  LMB to add a new control point. Keep clicking to mask your object. When done, key A once or twice until everything is selected and key Alt + C last to connect the polygon. If you want the mask to move, key I to insert a keyframe, move the time cursor in the Timeline, move the control points, and key I again. They will glide in between.
When you are done with the mask, go back to the Video Sequence Editor, and your mask should be there.

@ideasman42 I didn't know that Image editor masks worked in the VSE. Thanks!

@cetagon Thanks for the edits! It always makes me happy if someone can improve upon one of my answers.

I prefer to create masks in the UV Image editor for the VSE. You can simply hit F12 which creates a render from the VSE this allows you to edit the mask on top of the output from your edit.


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Adding the percent symbol on the end of a number sequence in animation nodes

The picture above shows the animation node setup I have currently. It is controlled by the movement of an empty. But I want to add a percent symbol on the end of the number. How can I do that? TIA

Why not just create a new text object that is a percent symbol, and move it off to the right of your animation?

10 Replies. The 100% moves. Plus, It goes from 1 digit to 2 to 3.

You can use the Join Texts node (maybe "Join Strings" in your version) to concatenate multiple texts.

It looks like Jacques Lucke has a more elegant method that mine.  Here is what your tree looks like with Jacques' addition.

Good luck with your project.

Jacques Lucke (@jacques-lucke) already gave the direct answer, but you can still spare some nodes/space:

(Using a "Join Texts" node, with the percent character as separator and with 2 strings as input - the number and an empty one.)

Not knowing exactly how you have your number and the empty related to each other I was playing around with the animation nodes addon.
I set up my tree to look like yours and parented the TEXT object with the EMPTY.  When the empty moves around the text object changes the number shown.
As 10 Replies suggested, I was able to add another text object to the scene with just a '%' sign.  I parented that to the same empty in a position just to the right of the text object controlled by the animation nodes.  In order to get the two text objects to stay in relative position, the text object displaying the number needs to be set to RIGHT in the HORIZONTAL ALIGNMENT section of the PARAGRAPH settings for the text object.

authors: Константин Ганов


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Help with shrinking creature
In Lab 1 of Unit 8, I was asked to shrink the creature after I already appended it. It wont allow me to select it, it keeps turning blue. I tried everything. I pressed the "s" key but nothing worked. Thank you. I appreciate any help.
These are the instructions I am told to use:
Shrink the Creature
In these steps, you'll shrink the creature and move it to the front of the house.
Make sure that both the creature and its armature are still selected.
TIP: If the bone names are yellow or orange, then the armature is selected.
Press the S key to turn on scaling for all axes.
TIP: Press CTRL + Z if you need to undo a mistake.
Move the mouse pointer toward the creature to make it smaller until it's smaller than the house.
Left-click to stop scaling the creature.
Make sure the creature and its armature are both still selected.
Make sure that Translate Manipulator mode is selected. If not, left-click the Translate Manipulator mode button.
Move the 3D creature until it's next to the front of the house. You may need to rotate the creature using the Rotate Manipulator button.
Press the A key to deselect the creature and its armature.

What Lap of what Unit? Are you refering to an online tutorial? If so, please add a link to your question. Also make sure you haven't enabled Manipulate center points. You can toggle it by pressing [alt]+[,].

If you append an object, you can not edit it. You need to import the object to be able to edit it.

I teach a 3D art class that uses blender and this is the first time I have ran into this issue so I figured I would ask what others thought. I will try these things and see if they work.


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Filling in the arms
I am trying to fill in the arms of my creature, but I can't seem to do it.  Was there a mistake I did while make the creature? I am not sure why the arms and legs are not hollow 3D forms.  I attached a screen shot of what it looks like.

From your screenshot I'm guessing your model is very non-manifold. This would likely cause a lot of tools to apparently not work, as their requirements for surrounding topology are not met. Without a .blend it'll be hard to say precisely where and how the geometry is non-manifold.

It looks like the normals of the arms of your creature are inside out. Every Face has 2 sides, one side is the side for the outer face, which you see, the other side is the inner face which you should not see. The inner face has slighty different shading, it looks a little darker and kind of blueish.
To change this, you should select the face you want to change in Edit Mode, then press "Space" and type in "Flip Normals", then click the command "Flip Normals". It will then flip the faces around.
Basically it looks like there would be a triangle face at the "hand" and the rest could be quads. Just go in Edit Mode, Vertex Select, then select the 3 vertices on the very end of the arm which are on the upper side of it, then press "F" to fill them with a face. Continue by selecting the 4 vertices next to it (2 up 2 down) where the right 2 vertices should be at the edge of the face you just created when speaking of the right arm. Press "F" to fill again, then just continue like that.


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Missing vertices when skinning
I am trying to skin my creature and I can skin one side. However, the other side doesn't have the vertices and I am not sure how to get them or what when wrong. I parented the bones to the creature and then hit box mode to select the areas where need skinned, but I cannot select one entire side. I attached an image for it to be seen.
Thanks in advance!

you should apply the mirror modifier first

What should I do that before? Trying to skin it?

because the other half is a reflection ( not real vertices yet ) they do whatever the other half do

Ah I see. So when do I add the modifier? And how? Should I select the vertices?

Go to the properties window.
Select the modifiers tab.
Apply the mirror modifier.
Then you can do the skinning.


text:
Mirroring a mesh
When I try to mirror my image, it turns out to be the second picture. The first picture is it before it is mirrored. These are steps I did before to get it ready to be mirrored and to mirror it:
Prep for Mirror:
Make sure that everything is deselected. If not, press the A key.
Make sure you are in Edit mode.
Left-click the Face Select mode button.
Right-click the face on the flat side of the tail that's highlighted in the video.
Press the X key.
On the Erase menu, click Faces. The faces on that side of the creature's tail should be gone.
If you accidently delete the wrong face, you can always undo by pressing CTRL + Z. You can then go back and redo the steps above.
Press and hold SHIFT and right-click the faces on the flat side of the character's head.
Press the X key.
On the Erase menu, click Faces. The faces on the flat side of the creature's head should be gone.
Press and hold SHIFT and right-click the faces on the flat side of the creature's chest.
Press the X key.
On the Erase menu, click Faces. All the faces that you need to remove should be gone.
To Mirror:
Switch from Edit mode to Object mode.
In the Object Modifiers mini-window, left-click Add Modifier and left-click Mirror.
Left-click Merge Limit and type 0.1010. Press ENTER.
CAUTION: Do not click the Apply button yet.

Any help would be great on why it isn't the same or not proportionate.
Thanks!

It is all about the origin . . .


text:
First Vertex insert
In Edit mode I can insert Vertices with Ctrl-Click. The new Vertex will be linked to the previously selected one by an Edge. Great.
But how do I insert the FIRST one ? I cannot enter Edit mode with an empty scene, and Ctrl-Click doesn't work in Object mode. What's the trick to have my first Vertex on scene in Edit mode ?

There is a way to add a single vertex as any other objects: http://blenderartists.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=316285&d=1403282030 Here's a tutorial showing how to do it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LRfiBN8H5U It isn't a simple one though :).

You could add any object (mesh) Shift-A,

Change to Edit Mode
Select all vertices A
Use Alt-M (merge).

There's an add-on which ships with Blender called Extra Objects. If you enable it you will get extra options in the Add Mesh menu. One of the new options is Single vert. It's made for exactly this purpose; quickly start making meshes.

You can set a shortcut for that operation, by right-clicking Add Single Vert menu item and choosing Add Shortcut

I don't know why, but I installed the Extra Objects addon and I don't have the options you have: http://gfycat.com/AnchoredGloriousFlies

I just installed the latest Blender from builder.blender.org and that menu appears the same as in my screenshot. It's entirely possible that another addon you have enabled has manipulated the add_mesh menu but not considered that other addons might be present, and not accounted for them.

I'm using Blender 2.75a and I couldn't enable the Mesh/Extra Objects add-on. Moreover Documentation refers to a few extra objects only, not to Add Single Vert … Maybe this is no longer available ?

@Stephane it's more likely that the docs aren't updated as frequently as the code in the add-on. I get blender from builder.blender.org , which has two scripts folders addons and addons_contrib. Add-Mesh Extra Objects is located in addons. The content of addons should be the same as official 2.75a releases, if they are different it is because the builder.blender.org builds contain updated addons..

see : https://i.sstatic.net/GBjfk.png

Typically to do this you would start by adding a plane and deleting all but one of the vertices.

Being in Edit Mode go to Mesh and check the Auto Merge Editing box. This function automatically merges vertices.

Now add a plane (or every other object you like), go to the Tool Shelf (T) options and change the Radius to 0.

Please note, that if you add the same object again (a plane in this case) it will have the same settings as previously added one, so you'll have to adjust them in a Tool Shelf panel.

Yes, but, how do I enter Edit mode with an empty scene ?

You have to add any object first, then go to the Edit Mode and enable Auto Merge Editing and then delete the object. It's quite strange but you can't enable this function with an empty scene. I should have written about it in my answer.

Youd don't even have to leave or merge any verices, you can just create a plane and then delete it completely in edit mode by pressing Delete key or X key, and now you can create vertices including the first vertice by pressing Ctrl LMB.


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How can I see the normal data of a face in Blender 2.9?
I'm looking for a way to see the normal data of a face, represented as x, y and z in Blender 2.9x. Sounds simple, but I can't find the option anywhere. I seem to remember having the option in 2.79.
Just to clarify: I don't want to see the normal. I want the data.

I’m not sure you can have it display the numeric data in the viewport, but you can probably get to it with the python API.

Like ZargulTheWizard said, scripting was needed. It turned out I had the script saved in a file from years ago. I'm a bit reluctant to post the script as I'm fairly certain I didn't write it myself, but I can't find the source when searching. So in order to help others I'll post it here. If you are the author, please let me know and I'll give credit accordingly.

This script will create an additional property in the "Normals" menu of the "Object Data Properties" tab:
import bpy
import bmesh
from mathutils import Vector

def draw_func(self, context):
    layout = self.layout

    me = context.object.data

    if me.is_editmode:
        bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(me)
        if bm.faces.active is not None:
            row = layout.row()
            col = row.column()
            col.prop(context.window_manager, "active_face_normal", text="", expand=True)
            row.prop(context.window_manager, "active_face_normal", text="")

            if context.window_manager.active_face_normal != bm.faces.active.normal:
                context.window_manager.active_face_normal = bm.faces.active.normal

    else:
        p = me.polygons
        if p.active is not None:
            row = layout.row()
            col = row.column()
            col.prop(p[p.active], "normal", text="", expand=True)
            row.prop(p[p.active], "normal", text="")

def upd_normal(self, context):
    bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(context.object.data)
    bm.faces.active.normal = self.active_face_normal.normalized()

def register():
    bpy.types.DATA_PT_normals.prepend(draw_func)
    bpy.types.WindowManager.active_face_normal = bpy.props.FloatVectorProperty(subtype='DIRECTION', precision=3, update=upd_normal)

def unregister():
    bpy.types.DATA_PT_normals.remove(draw_func)
    del bpy.types.WindowManager.active_face_normal

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()


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Samples has changed to path tracing tile
Hi when I was rendering earlier I set my samples to 150 and then in the top bar of the render pane it would show samples 150. Then I reset my user interface and when I render, I still have the samples set to 150 but at the top it now says Path Tracing Tile and it's increased the samples to 240, this has made it so that now my image is rendered in 2 minutes whereas before it was rendering in 1 minute.

 Square Samples
You have Square Samples feature turned on, which squares specified amount of samples.
This means that if you set 150, it will calculate 22 500 samples (not the task you should try imho).
In case of using Square Samples you'll see exact amount of them to be computed in the bottom of Samples scroll (it will be shown there only if Squares Samples turned on):

In your case, you have 12 samples specified in Render samples quantity, thus it'll render 144 samples.
Tiles or What is shown in the top of the rendered image
When rendering, in the top of the UV/Image Editor screen you have shown:

elapsed and remaining time,
memory usage,
current scene and Render Layer which is rendered,
and amount of tiles - already rendered / remained to render.

Tiles are those small boxes which appear on the rendered image where calcualting is being done at the moment. They are the amount of work which Blender is able to calculate at once taking into account saved user preferences, scene specifics, and hardware.

So taking this situation, it calculated 570 small orange boxes of 2125. Tiles' quantity will change in several cases:

changing output resolution;
changing Auto Tile Size in Performance scroll

You can read more about tiles quantity vs. performance here. Generally, most likely you won't have to change Auto Tile Size setting, which is turned on by default.


text:
it's possible to save materials in cycles node editor to reuse them in other project?
instead of copy and paste them from other projects I'd like to store them somehow and load them directly

You can create a .blend file that is a master collection of your finished materials, and then Link (not Append) this to your various other .blends.

Be cautious with this kind of workflow though, because if you change anything in this master file it means your materials in all other .blends may render differently - so for example, re-rendered frames of animation may look different.
It's generally best to work with Linked files on a project basis, not a global basis.


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Extracting key frames from long animation
I've bought a number of animated 'game-ready' models. I need to modify these in Blender and export them in a different format.

The Blender versions (at least) of the files have all of their animations in one long sequence. A text file is available with the start frame for each animation. I cut these up manually into actions based on start frame and length.
The animations also have their transforms set each frame. This creates very large files, so I try to extract a number of key frames, say every 10th, and interpolate. (It's not perfect and may require some tweaking afterwards, like adding more key frames)

My problem is that doing this manually is very time-consuming. The process requires a lot of steps and is error-prone. Working with a model with 3000-5000 animation frames can also be slow.
My question:
Is there an existing way I can automate any or all of the process (step 1 and 2) (barring writing my own script)? Tools? Built-in functionality?
Thanks

Bake your animations

Make a backup copy
Select all the bones involved, then in Pose mode go to Pose > Animation > Bake Animation.
In the pop-up window:
Set Start Frame, End Frame, and Frame Step (in your example set it to 10).
Check "Only selected" (only selected bones will be baked); "Visual keying" (the position after all modifiers and constraints will be baked); "Overwrite current action" (you've made a backup copy, right??)
The "Clear constraints" option will remove all constraints from the armature after baking, making it perfectly animatable by the new baked action.
"Clear parents" involves object mode only, so it doesn't apply here.
Set "Bake data" to "pose"
Bake!

I think this is as close to an ideal solution I will get, thanks!


text:
Extrude edge and slide
Is there a way to slide along edge after extrude an edge, similar to slide when loop cutting.
Currently one need to slide selected edges and after that use loop cut to recreate previous geometry.

I'm not sure I understand what you are asking, are you wanting to repeat an extrusion, or loop cut and slide while extruding? Maybe adding images to show an example highlighting what you are after would help.

I am not quite sure I understand, but you can recreate the edge slide from a loop cut by selecting the edge, keying G, and then G again, and moving the cursor. This gif shows the difference between G and G, G:


text:
in Blender 3D, is there any function like 'Flow along surface' in Rhino 3D?
in Blender 3D, is there any function like 'Flow along surface' in Rhino 3D?
I know the 'move along curve'. but it's modifying a mesh according to curved line.
I need to deform some meshes along irregualar terrain. I never used Rhino though, I think 'Flow along surface'in Rhino is what I'm looking for.
Can I find that kind of thing in Blender?

welcome Yk_Y ,I don't use Rhino but after seeing an example i think there are modifiers and 'tricks' that can do this but it depends on the specific case you are in, if you could add an image illustrating the exact case it would be better

If you activate 'Snap During Transform' as well as 'Align Rotation with Snapping Target', you can reproduce the behavior of Flow Along Surface's alternate mode.(The other mode being the one 'user:cegaton' showed)

Looked for this feature too, very nice solution with the torus, i tried the same steps but unfortenately it failed,

the torus stretches to the edges of the lattice and squishes as if the shrink wrap modifier was used, it looks that there is some changes in blender 2.78.
Anyway I have found alternative solution using mesh deform.
Lets assume that you already have a deformed plain 1 and a torus.
You just have to create a new plane (lets call it plane 2) for mesh deform add solidify, then add mesh deform on torus object and bind to the "plane 2", after that add shrinkwrap to the "plane 2" and move this modifier to upper stack, then select "plane 1" in shrinkwrap target chose projection mode (works best for animation) and that's all the deformation mesh should attract torus to the plane 1, also if you need to move torus around you need to move both torus and deformation plain or to parent plain 2 to torus. This is not perfect, but helps if the lattice method wont work.

Try the shrink wrap modifier. It will "shrink wrap" a mesh around another object.
Create a plane and subdivide it a few times for best results. Apply a shrink wrap modifier, and select the ground object for the "Target".
See the wiki for more information on this modifier.
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:2.6/Manual/Modifiers/Deform/Shrinkwrap

Hi, please add some extra information to your answer, such as screenshots of this in action and/or steps on how to set this up.


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Trouble with making a wing on a dragon
So I am trying to recreate a dragon called Toothless from the movie How To Train Your Dragon. But i'm having some trouble connecting his inner wing plate thing to his back. The vertices have five connections where it connects the wing and back, but I need that - as far as i know - so that I can give the wing plates physics, and make it look right.
Here's a look at the body in Object mode:

I do have a subsurf as you should on almost anything, and that bends but hiding that and then normalizing the geometry. No changes. Tried sculpting it away. No result.
Here's a look in edit mode with Limit selection to visible disabled:

I am in now way an good at blender, so i'm just looking for some advice :)
I have a felling that it's something to do with the subsurf, but i'm kinda lost :/

You have to delete the interior faces:
https://i.imgur.com/k3zok4C.png

Well, they are not interior, they are the dragon's body.. So you need to model the wing as it has volume - top and bottom surface. What you have is non-manifold surface and it will produce artifacts.

@Jerryno That sounds extremely cool and sounds so logical when i thing about it. Thank you a lot :D


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is there any cpu gpu hybrid render addon for blender
is there any cpu gpu hybrid render addon for blender similar to luxrender hybrid path but more gpu optimized? If there is I would like to know

possible duplicate of Cycles hybrid rendering

No I want to find a add-on that's not cycles

I don't know of any besides Cycles and Luxrender. There is Octane, a commercial renderer with a blender addon, but it doesn't support CPU rendering AFAIK.

AFALK, commercial render engines that have addon for Blender include: Octane render and Thearender (Vray for Blender might support GPU rendering feature but I'm not sure yet).


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what type of rendering engine is cycles
I don't know what type of rendering engine cycles is. is it path tracing ray tracing
Raydiosidi ray casting photon maping? I would like to know

Cycles is a Monte Carlo path tracer

@GiantCowFilms Shouldn't that be an answer, instead of a comment?

@And jerryno got the answer!

Cycles is a ray tracing renderer.
Can use different tracing strategies (under integrator option):

Path tracing: pure path tracer.
Branched path tracing: path tracer with branching on the first bounce.

It uses Monte-Carlo for sampling, that means repeated random sampling.
Soon Metropolis Light Transport should be also available which is a variant to Monte-Carlo, it uses Bidirectional path tracing and Metropolis sampling.


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Only the collision portion of the cloth sim is being simulated
I was preparing to rig a dress to a character model, but when I added a cloth modifier, something strange happened: The cloth mesh would receive a collision impulse when touching a collider object, but no actual cloth simulation would occur. This results in parts of the mesh moving in the direction of the collision, but without any cloth physics. I should also note that this only happens to the dress object (or any duplicates). all other objects behave as expected when given a cloth modifier.
Some things I have tried (which didn't fix the problem):

Removing duplicate vertices (there were none)
Removing all other modifiers
Removing all vertex groups
Clearing all unused data blocks
Unparenting the object from the armature
Making a copy of the object
Manually sifting through the object/mesh data for any anomalies (I could have missed some though)
Restarting Blender
Restarting my computer
Using a newer Blender version

Here's the .blend file:

I have found a solution:
In edit mode, select "Mesh > Clean Up > Degenerate Dissolve" This removes any edges with length 0, which I had one of in my model. Why this single edge had such a strange effect on the cloth sim is still unknown.


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Which gives better performance in render/viewport: mask modifier or assinging a transparent material?
I have a character model where a good portion of the skin is covered by clothes. To prevent the skin from clipping through the clothes, I assign a transparent material to the areas that aren't supposed to be visible (I can't delete these areas, since the character has multiple outfits with varying lengths of sleeves/pants). I recently came up with the idea of using a mask modifier instead of a transparent shader for this purpose in order to get better performance. My question is: would this actually improve performance? I think the answer would be different in the viewport than in rendering, if this is the case, I'd like to know how it effects both.

A transparent material still costs vertex transformation, BVH calculation, and fill rate, so a mask modified mesh will have better performance.  The difference between the two will probably not be large enough to notice.
Viewport vs. render doesn't matter-- a viewport is a render-- although you'll have slightly different costs depending on rendering engine (and a solid view is workbench, a mat view, Eevee, and a rendered preview, whatever you have set.)  For example, only Cycles does BVH calculation, and fill rate is really a rasterizer (workbench or eevee) characteristic (as far as I understand it, I'm not a raytracing guru.)

When you say "vertex transformation" does that include modifiers? If a mask modifier prevents any modifier after it from effecting the masked area, It could save quite a bit of time (assuming the mask itself doesn't take too much time).

"Vertex transformation" does not refer to modifiers, but yes, masked vertices do not need to be calculated by later modifiers, and this can save a large amount of time.  Even a noticeable amount of time :)  I was talking about the raw case of transparency vs masking without other modifiers, or wtih mask at the bottom of the stack, as otherwise, mask can affect the behavior of modifiers.


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How do I set a different material in the viewport from the one used in the final render?
I made a material consisting of a Fresnel-weighted mix between a Principled BSDF and a Translucency node. This material looks as intended in Cycles, but in the viewport it is excessively darkened. Ideally, I would like to have a separate version of this material, without the translucency, for use in the viewport, while still using the original in the final render. This would also be useful when working with the Principled Hair BSDF, which doesn't currently work in the viewport.

Another method is one object, two materials and use GN to set your material:

...which has the advantage of not increasing your polycount/memory usage.

Would the node setup be the same if I was applying it to a hair system?

"should" work i hope - but i never tried that.

This is a variation where IsViewport is stored as named attribute in Geometry Nodes and used as mask in the shader. This allows switching between shaders using a Mix Shader Node within the same material, so no new materials must be created.
Image 1 shows the GN Node tree, the mask setup for the shader and the Viewport view. Image 2 shows the rendered result.

You can have 2 seperate objects.

One object for the viewport with your viewport-only material.
Another object for the render with your render-only material.


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How do I set seperate shapes for negative and positive values of a shape key?
I'm making some facial expressions for a stylized character, and I've run into an issue where, in order for the eyebrows to adhere to the surface of the face, I need to have a different shape for the negative and positive values of a shape key.
I could split these shapes into multiple keys, but that would be hard to animate, as I would have to make sure that one key always transitions linearly into the other. Alternatively, I could use drivers to control the two keys with a bone, but this would be inconvenient, as no other facial expressions are controlled by bones. I'd really like to keep this expression controlled by just one slider.

"Alternatively, I could use drivers to control the two keys with a bone, but this would be inconvenient, as no other facial expressions are controlled by bones. I'd really like to keep this expression controlled by just one slider."
You can drive from anything, not just bones-- for example, you can drive from another shapekey.

Here, I have two different shapekeys (one to represent your positive value, the other your negative value) as well as a third, empty shapekey, which is used as a controller.  Both positive and negative shapekeys are driven by scripted expressions: -min(value, 0) for the negative shapekey, as shown, and max(value, 0) for the positive shapekey.  You can control either shapekey via the controller shapekey (and not in any other way.)
In either case, notice the property and path.  In order to get this path, I right clicked in the value field of the controller shapekey and selected "copy as new driver" then right clicked in the controlled shapekey and selected "paste as new driver"-- followed by editing the driver to be what I needed.

This works, I've just got one more question: is there any way to hide the non-controller shape keys? It's not necessary, I'd just like to keep things organized.

@SupaKoopaTroopa64 Not that I know of, sorry-- other than, say, driving them from different values, like the shapekey values on a different mesh, and then only looking at that list of values.  But that's much more work than is worth it for what you want.


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Problems with Solidfy Modifier for 3D Printing; creating a gap
I'm having an issue with the solidify modifier. First off, all of my bodies are manifold so I've already been through that drill. However, every time I use the solidify modifier it adds thickness to the model but it doesn't "fill-in" the model. It seems to leave a void gap between the outer layer and the inner layer (see attached images). Can someone explain to me how I create a model that is "filled-in" and why it does this? Trying to 3D print an alien.
Thanks!

I think you forgot to upload the images…

I think you have a misunderstanding on how the solidify modifier works. It basically takes your model, scales it in, and reverses the normals. So you would model the outside of a glass, and then the solidify modifier generates the inside. It doesn't fill it in with some sort of actual material, it just creates another surface to make it look solid. From my understanding, A piece of software for converting a 3D models into something that can be printed will make things solid. So if we where to go back to the cup example, the software would make the parts of the cup that were solidified solid.

Oh that makes sense. So as long as the model is manifold the pre-printer editing software should fill in the bodies?

I added the image as an attachment to my original message but I'm not sure where it went...

@catlover2 how do I upload an image in the comments? I'm new to the forum. Thanks in advance.

You can edit your question and add an image to the question. Remember to actually post it - a preview gets generated as you edit, but it's not visible to anyone else until you post it.

For what it's worth, if you really want to post an image in a comment, you can use the answer box below to upload an image but then post the URL in a comment.

Have you tried remesh modifier? This might be able to do what you are looking for


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Drivers not working when running blender in the background from command line
I am trying to animate a Blender file from the command line that is using a couple of Python functions for Drivers. However, the command gives the following error, and consequently does not perform the animations.
    $ blender -b QCM.blend -y
read blend: /home/brent/Downloads/QCM/QCM.blend

Error in Driver: The following Python expression failed:
    'crystal_driver(frame)'

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<bpy driver>", line 1, in <module>
NameError: name 'crystal_driver' is not defined

Error in Driver: The following Python expression failed:
    'film_driver(frame)'

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<bpy driver>", line 1, in <module>
NameError: name 'film_driver' is not defined

If I run the file without the background switch, the animation works as expected:
$blender -y QCM.blend
read blend: /home/brent/Downloads/QCM/QCM.blend

Here is a screen shot of the script file in Blender, which shows the register box is checked.

Someone else appears to have a similar problem, but no solutions were proposed. https://www.reddit.com/r/blender/comments/2xhouc/driver_function_not_running_from_command_line/

Hi, it appears to be the order of loading when running in bg mode.  The registered text block is run after the drivers , which invalidates them.  In my sound drivers addon I have a drivers manager that seeks out all drivers in a blend, and have discovered you can re-validate them.  Addons are run before the drivers even in bg mode, so one solution is to move your code to a simple addon and enable it, or re-validate your drivers in the text-block, eg ob.animation_data.drivers[0].driver.is_valid = True, or if you are interested comment here & I'll upload addon with fix

Ran it past Aligorith and ideasman42 on IRC reported as bug https://developer.blender.org/T45926

They move quickly.  Get a  build from https://builder.blender.org/download/  & Bob's your uncle.

Thank you for the quick reply. I tried to make the script an addon by making a class and putting in the register()... etc function, but got a "NameError: name 'ob' is not defined" after enabling the addon and restarting blender. The error seems like it is probably related to the "ob" in your other method. I'll have to read more on addons, and start another question if I can't get it. I'll also try the most current build when it finishes loading. Lots to learn from your suggestion, including the phrase "Bob's your uncle". Thank you again.


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How to merge textures into single image
Hi, beginner here.
I have some mesh with 4 different UV maps. Each map has assigned a texture. Is there any way to join this textures into single image without changing their position?
Im working in Blender render.

Look up Blender Texture Atlas.
also,
You can create a new image, in the image editor, large enough to hold the resolution you want.
Then, create a new texture layer, to use the new image, and bake the original textures to the new Texture. You will just have to move the UV maps around so they don't overlap during baking.
Info on that here and here.


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Is there a way to smooth a selected patch of vertices but preserve the contour?
It is really irritating the way that Smooth shrinks the entire selected contour, especially after several applications.  For me, this almost always introduces additional distortions that can be almost as hard to fix as the original irregularity of the surface I was trying to smooth.  Is there no version of the Smooth tool that will maintain the border vertices/edges in their exact position while smoothing all the vertices inside these borders?

Well, what if you deselect the contour?

Perhaps Laplacian Smooth will suit your needs better. Access it via the Specials menu (press the w key while in Edit mode). The image below indicates the menu placement and (in the lower left) where to alter the parameters for Laplacian Smooth:


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How close is fluid simulation to being able to influence rigid bodies?
I embarked on a project to use Blender to simulate the behaviour of a wave energy device in order to establish its performance, only to find while learning fluid simulation that fluids cannot affect solid objects. This is fatal to this project, and disappointing as Blender has everything else. How close is fluid simulation to being able to influence rigid objects (eg, chairs and cars being washed away by a flood, or water turning a water wheel)? If not currently in development or scheduled, where is the place to start to pursue enhancing Blender to incorporate this capability myself?

AFAIK there is no active development in this area, but as a blender user I can say that such a feature would be a more than welcome addition! You might ask on the development mailing list, see this.

Thanks for that. Have emailed one of the fluid simulation developers as a next step.

authors: константин казачков


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FPS Problem. Can't run 60 FPS intro (youtube intro)
How come when blender is done rendering my intro in 60 fps, when i run it in any video player it is choppy. The intro is 10 seconds and it says it is ten seconds but lags and takes longer to get through the intro? I'm not professional so try to answer simply please.


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Bones wont deform mesh in real time
It happened after I saved a pose to a pose library, when I move the bones, I have to click again to see the mesh deformed. I can't figure out how to get it to move in real time without clicking again. This is in 2.77.

Your question is to vague to find a clear answer to your problem. you should give us more information (gifs/screenshots) and or upload your blendfile. But my first guess is, that you might accidentally hit the "Delay Refresh" Button. It can be found under "Properties->Armature->Display->Delay Refresh".

Ok, silly me somehow toggled "delay refresh", i didn't know about that feature it until Demon's Fate pointed it out.


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How do I set a material in renderman to use a specific UV map?
My model has 4 separate UV maps for the head, arms/hands, legs/feet, and body. But i can't find a UV map node equivalent in Renderman.
After converting the node setup to Renderman, it doesn't have a set UV map to use for that material and i can't find anything to match.


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How to make this dress animatable with White on top and Green on the bottom?
I'm at an impasse here, I'm making the dress part of Gardevoir where the inner(green) and outer(white) faces will be visible, But i am also trying to use Cloth physics to animate the dress as well. But so far none of my own methods have yielded any satisfying results. One where creating the faces for the bottom part so each can have its own color would cause horrible clipping when put to the physics.
I really need help with this. I could just keep the single color and call it a day, but no, I really need to know how to do this for any future projects.

Sounds like you need to do something like this http://blender.stackexchange.com/a/39601/29586

Ok, this is what i was looking for, thank you very much.

In Cycles materials you can use the Backfacing output of the Geometry node to mix different shaders on the inside and outside of a surface. See https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/39601/29586


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Combine a Mat map and a Normal map in Blender?
So I have this model, which came with two maps:  that I just now learned that the colored version its the albedo map and the blue one its the normal map, now, I want to combine this two into just 1 Map, Is it possible to do it? I've read things but none of them make what I want to do.
The reason why I want to do this its because the software I'll (Pepakura Designer) use doesn't apply Normal Maps as they should.
I'm hoping someone can help me.

Yes you can ,will try to post the steps

The answer is yes you can do that. I am assuming you are working in the Blender Render Environment and not cycles as their material workflow is quite different.
Attached is the file for your reference. The material is an old 3dsmax metallic material and the normals map has been generated using shadermap3.

For Blender Render workflow.
1. Create a new material on the material Tab on the properties panel.
2. Next go to the texture Tab on the properties panel.
Settingup Albedo/Diffuse Map
3. Select an empty texture slot and click on "New"
4. Select open and point to your Albedo map on your harddrive.
5. Under Influence Header make sure "Color" is checked.
Setting up Normals Map
6. Select another empty texture slot and click on "New" again.
7. Select open and point to your Normals map on your harddrive.
8. Under Image Sampling Header make sure "Normal map" Option is checked.
9. Under Influence Header make sure only "Normal" is checked.
Here on out you should be able to see the normals texture in the viewport in "Textured Mode". Remember to add some light source or else your scene will just be blackish and dark.

Happy Blending!

Hey, that improved the look of the object, I'm almost there, now, is it possible to "bake" (I think its the right term) and just have one uv map looking like it looks on the viewer? So when I use Pepakura Designer, I only apply one map that would make it look like it has the albedo and normap map. I have been using Blender for some months but I'm not so skilled, and I don't know if I'm using the right terms.

Ok, so I guess I was right, I baked and it baked the two of them together, now... I'm still messing with the mesh and all of that, final details, but now I can't seem to see the object when in texture view, now it all looks grey, and before I could see the texture if i just selected the uv map...¿? Anyway, thanks for your help.

The way diffuse map and normal map are interpreted by the software is different. When you bake the texture out, you are essentially creating a 2D texture map and the normal map are now static and no longer dynamic. Dynamic means that when I move a light source, the surface of the material reacts to it's angle and changes the way the tiny grooves and crevices react to the light angle.

The whole point of normals map is that it should remain dynamic when applying as a material. With that said, there is normal map baking which is for another purpose really. Usually, baking normals are done for the purpose of transferring a high polygonal detailed model surface to a low polygonal version. Often used in the game industry. Because of real-time 3d games, models needs to have really low polycount ... but in order for them to look good, normal map are baked and apply on the model so the game engine knows how to interpret its surface.


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Can I change the sampling importance of a portal?
When using portals in a scene, is it possible to increase the importance of a portal relative to other portals and lights in the scene, so that light coming through it will be sampled more often than it would be otherwise?


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How to model a ribbon
I've got to model a minnie-like ribbon to put it on a character, but I can't find any tutorials on the web.
Have you got some tips on how to do it?

Start with a bezier circle.  In edit mode, scale along Y-axis so that it is squashed.  Add an extrude factor to form the main part of the bow.  Add another circle for the centre part of the bow and a bezier curve for the bottom strands.

Convert all three objects to a mesh with ALT+C.  In Edit mode, add some loops lengthwise to all three objects to support the deformations.
For the main bow, add a simple deform set to Twist to give it a more realistic look.  Create a new Lattice at the origin and add a lattice modifier to the bow.  Modify the lattice in edit mode to create the distinctive bow shape.
Add a subdivision surface, solidify and bevel modifier to the object to give it some thickness.
Repeat the process for the other parts of the bow.  You may need to tweak the modifiers to avoid any intersecting faces.

Add a "Bezier Curve" and in the curves
"Object Data" under "Geometry" extrude the curve.


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How to assign vertex group to single bone
I'm trying to animate a simple character in blender. I made a very simple armature, with a bone for every moving part of the mesh. Each moving part is "stored" in a vertex group, and I would like to parent every vertex group to it's corresponding bone. I searched very much on the internet but I didn't find anything useful, even though it seems to be a simple task. Don't tell me to separate the vertex groups into split objects, since I want them to remain connected.
Thanks in advance for your help!

Try this: http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?248419-Parenting-Vertex-Groups-To-Bones Otherwise, it seems as if you have not simply parented the mesh to the armature. It seems you have done manual weights before parenting. This is generally not the advised course of action.

^ Nope you can actually do the weights whenever it suits you. You just need armature modifier and the vertex groups that match to the bone names.

I know you don't want to be told, but if you have non deforming seperate parts I'd parent them as individual objects to the bones.

Just name your vertex groups the same as your bones. The bone named "hand.left" will animate the "hand.left" group (by default the weights are set to 1).
Then both select the mesh and the armature (in this order) and parent it (ctrl+p) with empty groups.

Thank you for this! As a new user of Blender I found it quite unintuitive that bones are linked to vertex groups solely based on their name.

If you already have the vertex group of the mesh and you want to weigh that part to bone, first, in Edit Mode select the vertex group you need, then go to Weight Paint, choose the bone, click on the vertex selection button

and select vertex group that you need.
Now you can paint or fill that vertex's with shift+k


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How to make a specular child copy on an object
Let's make it clear, I need to create a specular copy of my object which gets modified if I edit the original one.
How can i do this?

Can you explain better? Do you need to have in the same file blend, 2 copies of the sam mesh?

make 2 separate objects in the same scene which are linked,I mean, if I edit the first one, the second one gets modified too.
furthermore if I can get them to be specular, it would be even better.

What do you mean make it specular? Blender can create object instances which have linked mesh data, I.E. changes in one are automatically reflected in the other. Just copy the object with Alt+D to clone it

Are you talking about a global specularity value regardless of material?
Such as:


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Updating to latest Blender version
I currently have version 2.74. How do I update to version 2.76? I do not see any links in the UI to update my version of Blender

Related - https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/269/is-there-a-way-to-update-blender-without-deleting-it-and-downloading-the-new-ver

You can install Blender via Steam, which has a built in auto-update feature.
This should keep your Blender installation up to date automatically.

great! And seems like the latest version is released on Steam the next day after the official site release

There is no automatic update feature inside Blender that I'm aware of. But getting the latest version is very simple - just go to the download page of Blender.org and download the latest version.
Another easy method is to click "Blender Website" under the "links" section on the application splash screen.

ps - in my haste, I used the 2.76 application splash screen. However, the "Blender Website" link is there on the 2.74 splash screen as well.

Thanks for the reply. Seems like there would be an Update link in the app. This is about the only application I have seen that does not provide an easy way to get updates :-)

Yeah, it would be nice to have an auto update feature - most software does. But with the simplicity of downloading a single zip file or .exe to get a fully working new version, I can't say I mind too much.
Enjoy!

If you're on a Mac and using Homebrew you can install/update Blender via:
# Install
brew cask install blender

# Upgrade
brew cask upgrade blender

# Upgrade (all casks)
brew cask upgrade

You can find any official Blender verison here.
Just select the version you want and the system you are running it on.

If you have installed Blender using Snap packages on a Linux machine.
( Step to use snap package can be found here: https://snapcraft.io/blender)
To install using Snap you can use the following command on terminal:
sudo snap install blender --classic
Note: We need to have 'snapd' package already installed.
And, to update Blender using Snap you can you the following command:
sudo snap update blender --classic
Note: If you already in version 2.80, there would be no update available as 2.80 is the latest stable release.

I have been using Dotbow's Blender Launcher for years.
However, this project has been discontinued and replaced by Blender Launcher V2.

A lightweight open source software that allows you to easily manage Blender installations, notifies you whenever a new version is published and downloads/installs it in a single click. Can work with stable, daily, experimental and custom builds, and is especially handy when you want to have multiple installations at once.

I downloaded the .zip file from https://www.blender.org/download/ and it works. I now have two versions on my system and they work without interfering each other.

on windows run the following command:
winget upgrade BlenderFoundation.Blender

This is a script to quickly install/update Blender to the latest daily build.  Note that these builds are likely to be somewhat unstable and buggy but will provide the newest updates available.
mv blender* previous_blender
blender_beta=head
blender_alpha=tail
xz=https://builder.blender.org$(wget -O - https://builder.blender.org/download/ | \
  grep -io '<a href=['"'"'"][^"'"'"']*['"'"'"]' | \
  sed -e 's/^ $HOME/.local/share/applications/blender.desktop
update-desktop-database $HOME/.local/share/applications/

The binaries from builder.blender.org are the experimental daily builds, likely not what the average user wants/should be using.


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Is there a way to delete specific parts of a baked fluid simulation?
I'm working on a fluid simulation right now. At some places the fluid is seen through the obstacles. Is there a way to select those "false fluids" and remove them?

It should help increasing resolution of the fluid simulation in the Domain's settings - https://www.blender.org/manual/physics/fluid/domain.html#options. You could also add subsurf to the Domain object to smooth baked simulation. Take a look at this (probably) related - http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/6561/how-to-avoid-fluid-appearing-outside-collision-objects

Boolean modifier?


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Rigging and bone orientation
So, this is more of a practice and method question rather than a technical one; I've found some information on the subject, but I'm not sure I understand the system. To give you a quick background, I've exported the default character model from Unreal Engine 4 and am creating a rig for it in blender so I can do my animations there.
As I was mucking with bone orientation and pole targets and such, I realized I didn't know the philosophy behind this question: how should I orient my bones?

In this example, the bones which form the spine have their Z axis pointing towards the front of the character. This changes for the highlighted head bone, which has a Z axis in line with the global Z. As I was setting all this up I realized I didn't know if every axis should be facing uniformly, if they should all try and orient globally, if some should face some way and others should face differently, and so on.
Phrased specifically - what systems or rules of thumb can I adhere to when adjusting bone orientation in a rig, or where can I find more information on this subject?
Any help is appreciated, thanks everyone :)
P.S. This is all hopefully headed back into UE4. I don't know if the destination software of the animations has to do with how I should handle all this, but that's my plan in case it does.

There was some good input from Nathan Vegdahl on this exact subject in the bf-animsys mailing list last year. This is all subjective, of course, but it makes it easiest for animators if the axes throughout your rig are consistent first and foremost. This is a copy/paste from his email(s) to the list:

The main rules-of-thumb that I try to follow are:
  - The x-axis should be the "primary" axis of rotation for any given control.
  - Rotation in the "primary" direction on the x-axis should result in a
  positive rotation angle (meaning that if it were euler, the x component of
  the rotation would be positive).
  - For bones that are free-floating and/or don't have any particular
  relationship to other controls (the root control is a good example), align
  all of their axes with the world axes.
In the first two rules, "primary" is often subjective or ambiguous,
  depending on the control, so you just have to use your best judgement and
  experiment what it feels like to use it as an animator.
It's important also to note the reason for doing any of this at all.  In
  all 3d animation software, keeping bones aligned well helps keep the rig
  better organized for the rigger.  It's also important for animators when
  e.g. working in the f-curved editor.  But in Blender it's particularly
  important for animators, because one of the major interaction models for
  tranforms is via hotkeys, using the x, y, and z keys to specify axes.

Oh, I should also say: the choice of x vs z axis as the "primary" rotation
  axis is arbitrary.  I choose x because it's the first letter in "xyz".  But
  z is just as good.  What matters is consistency within the rig (or within
  the project if it's a larger project).

I generally follow Nathan's conventions when I rig in blender, although the same principles follow in any software I use. Again, this is all subjective, so your mileage may vary and you might find a better convention for your particular rig. It is also important to take into account your rotation orders on your controls. XYZ might be better suited for a primary axis of Z+ in your rig, whereas an order of YZX might be better suited with X+ as primary axis.
bf-animsys January 2014


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Texture Painting: brush wants to be dragged from a site to another
i was painting in blender using a stencil brush to paint bump information on my model. it worked great until i hit some button i think and now instead of freely drag the brush around i have to drag it from a side to another and it shows a little white line from the point I start to drag it to the point i relase it. i'd like to return to my free drag mode without having to create a new brush. anyone knows how to do it?

Looks like you enabled Smooth Stroke option:

The smoothness of the brush is driven instead by its shape.
It can be customized by defining points (or choosing one of the six a presets) in the editor of the Curve panel:

On the right, the different result you can get by using each preset.


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Texture painting showing UVGrid when coloring
I modeled a human figure and i have UVMapped every part of it. Now i am trying to TexturePaint it but when i draw the color a UVGrid appears under the color. I would like to paint my model whithout that Grid showing. Does anyone know how to get Rid of it?

You might have set an UVgrid image as Brush texture.

The brush texture is color-multyplied by the brush color. If you remove the brush texture you'll be able to paint the color only.