text:
Can I control the generation of UVs on geometry genertated by curves?
I've been getting into using blenders curves to generate hair and other long tentacle-like shapes.  I'm finding I'm running into problems with UV mapping.  By default, the generated mesh has UVs that map to the {{0, 0} - {1, 1}} square.  While this is fine if your hair texture is a single independent image, it can cause problems if your hair texture is part of an atlas (for example, when you're creating a texture for an entire character to be exported for a game and you want to have a single texture map for the entire character).
One work around is to convert curve geometry to a mesh, but this is destructive.  Another is to use the Texture Space properties of the curve, but this does not seem to do anything useful (best I can tell, it uses the bounding box of the curve to do a cube projection to create generated UVs, which you then need to add to your shader using an Input/Texture Coordinate node.  The generated UVs are neither useful nor exportable).
Is there some way I could apply a simple transform to the UVs of the generated geometry in local space?  That would let me position my texture map correctly without having to convert it to a mesh.

You can use a mapping node in your materials, but that's cumbersome and not going to export.  An alternative is to use mesh objects with curve modifiers instead of straight curves.  That lets you do almost anything you can do with a curve (and what's left, won't export anyways), and gives you a way to control UV or other vertex data like vertex color or weights.

Mesh object with curve modifiers is what I'm doing now.  Unfortunately, they're harder to use since you need to make sure that your mesh and curve objects always have their original lined up.  It becomes really chaotic if you have multiple objects near each other.  You also lose the ability to use the geometry of the bevel and taper objects.

Yeah, I'm not going to say they're an ideal solution, they're not.  But there are workarounds for your problems.  I parent both my curve and curve-deformed mesh to an empty, then transform lock the curve and mesh, and never, ever move the first control of the curve.  I rarely care about bevel or taper for these, because the mesh lets me control these factors much more carefully than a curve would anyways (yay for proportional editing), but if it's important, it's possible to set a mesh object up to get its shape from bevel+taper objects via more curve modifiers.  Not ideal, but doable.


text:
How to use texture alpha with Eevee?
In blender 2.79 I was able to create textures with and alpha channel and use them to make partially transparent materials.  I'm trying to figure out how to do the same thing in 2.8.
Some online tutorials (about a year old) suggested using a mix shader to combine a transparent shader with a BDSF shader and using the alpha as a mask to blend the two.  Most of these tutorials want me to set the 'blend mode' in the material settings to 'alpha blend', but this setting does not appear to be present in the latest release.

How would I set up a basic shader using a texture with alpha?

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/115159/alpha-channel-in-eevee

I saw that.  My problem is that there is no Options/Blend Mode showing up in the Materials tab.

It's "Settings" and now you are in cycles render mode, that's why you can't find it.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
How to make a Panel accessible while modal operator running?
In my script, I've created an Operator, a PropertiesGroup which holds the properties of my operator and a Panel which lets the user change the properties and start the operator running.
My operator uses mouse input, so it returns RUNNING_MODAL for the LEFTMOUSE event (and many other events too).  Unfortunately, this prevents the user from using the Panel while the operator is running.  If I return PASS_THROUGH from the left mouse event instead, I can use the panel but it has the side effect that my operator never gets the RELEASE event should the user click within the panel.  This has the effect of leaving my operator in a state where it thinks the mouse is permanently held down.
What would be great was if there were some way to make sure that the Panel got to handle the events first and only passed them onto my operator if they weren't used.  Maybe there's some way to make the Panel a 'child' of my Operator?
In the below program, if you start the operator, you cannot change the panel controls until you press enter to exit the operator:
import bpy

class NormalToolSettings(bpy.types.PropertyGroup):
    normal : bpy.props.FloatVectorProperty(
        name="Normal",
        description="Direction of normal in Fixed mode",
        default = (1, 0, 0),
        subtype="DIRECTION"
    )

#-------------------------------

class ModalDrawOperator(bpy.types.Operator):
    """Adjust normals"""
    bl_idname = "kitfox.normal_tool"
    bl_label = "Normal Tool Kitfox"

    dragging = False

    def mouse_move(self, context, event):
        mouse_pos = (event.mouse_region_x, event.mouse_region_y)

        ctx = bpy.context
        if self.dragging:
            print("mouse drag to " + str(mouse_pos))

    def mouse_down(self, context, event):
        if event.value == "PRESS":
            self.dragging = True
        elif event.value == "RELEASE":
            self.dragging = False

    def modal(self, context, event):

        context.area.tag_redraw()

        if event.type in {'MIDDLEMOUSE', 'WHEELUPMOUSE', 'WHEELDOWNMOUSE'}:
            # allow navigation
            return {'PASS_THROUGH'}

        elif event.type == 'MOUSEMOVE':
            self.mouse_move(context, event)

            if self.dragging:
                return {'RUNNING_MODAL'}
            else:
                return {'PASS_THROUGH'}

        elif event.type == 'LEFTMOUSE':
            self.mouse_down(context, event)
#            return {'PASS_THROUGH'}
            return {'RUNNING_MODAL'}

        elif event.type in {'RET'}:
            return {'FINISHED'}

        elif event.type in {'PAGE_UP', 'RIGHT_BRACKET'}:
            if event.value == "PRESS":
                brush_radius = context.scene.my_tool.radius
                brush_radius = brush_radius + .1
                context.scene.my_tool.radius = brush_radius
            return {'RUNNING_MODAL'}

        elif event.type in {'PAGE_DOWN', 'LEFT_BRACKET'}:
            if event.value == "PRESS":
                brush_radius = context.scene.my_tool.radius
                brush_radius = max(brush_radius - .1, .1)
                context.scene.my_tool.radius = brush_radius
            return {'RUNNING_MODAL'}

        elif event.type in {'RIGHTMOUSE', 'ESC'}:
            return {'CANCELLED'}

        return {'PASS_THROUGH'}

    def invoke(self, context, event):
        if context.area.type == 'VIEW_3D':
            # the arguments we pass the the callback
            args = (self, context)
            # Add the region OpenGL drawing callback
            # draw in view space with 'POST_VIEW' and 'PRE_VIEW'
            self._context = context

            context.area.tag_redraw()

            context.window_manager.modal_handler_add(self)
            return {'RUNNING_MODAL'}
        else:
            self.report({'WARNING'}, "View3D not found, cannot run operator")
            return {'CANCELLED'}

#-------------------------------

class NormalToolPropsPanel(bpy.types.Panel):

    """Properties Panel for the Normal Tool on tool shelf"""
    bl_label = "Normal Tool"
    bl_idname = "OBJECT_PT_normal_tool_props"
    bl_space_type = 'VIEW_3D'
    bl_region_type = 'UI'
    bl_category = "Kitfox2"

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

        scene = context.scene
        settings = scene.my_tool

        col = layout.column();

        col.operator("kitfox.normal_tool", text="Start Normal Tool")
        col.prop(settings, "normal")

def register():

    bpy.utils.register_class(NormalToolSettings)
    bpy.utils.register_class(ModalDrawOperator)
    bpy.utils.register_class(NormalToolPropsPanel)

    bpy.types.Scene.my_tool = bpy.props.PointerProperty(type=NormalToolSettings)

def unregister():
    bpy.utils.unregister_class(NormalToolSettings)
    bpy.utils.unregister_class(ModalDrawOperator)
    bpy.utils.unregister_class(NormalToolPropsPanel)

    del bpy.types.Scene.my_tool

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()
```

Could you please expand on  "Panel got to handle the events first and only passed them onto my operator if they weren't used. "

I'm thinking of windowing systems used by other APIs.  If you were to think of the viewport as a modeless panel and the Panel I'm creating here as another modeless panel sitting on top of it (and a child of it), the priority would be for the child panel to get the events first and then mark them as 'consumed' if they should not propagate further or leave them alone if the window the next level up should get them. (Blender uses the term 'modal' quite differently that other APIs I've used).

Use a modal timer operator.
The idea of a modal is to lock the UI to it, often reporting to area title bar until it is finished or cancelled.
Instead could use a modal timer operator https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/69599/15543
Store session variables in the window manager.
here is an example of using a property to start / stop operator.
https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/165750/155437
which can also be used to poll the panel.
The property is added to the scene, but in hindsight would be far better as a prop defined on  the window manager bpy.types.WindowManager.  Use the window manager to store session variables to share between UI and operators.

I've read through the example you linked, but I don't think calling my operator on a timer will help.  The problem is that if I return PASS_THROUGH when the mouse button is pressed and the Panel captures it instead, I never receive the coresponding mouse released event.  This makes it impossible to tell what state the mouse is in.

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


text:
How to get operator object from id?
I'm writing a script that contains both an operator and a panel.  Both the operator and the panel are created in the script's register() method.  In my panel's draw() method, I'd like to be able to get a reference to the operator object so I can access its properties.  Is there a way to look up the operator object using its ID?
--- Edit
To elaborate on the above - I'm trying to create an object picker field.  The idea is that I have a string field called 'target'.  I want my NormalToolPropsPanel panel to display a string field representing the target field of my operator.  Then when the user clicks on the eyedropper icon, they can pick an object in the scene and its name will be filled into the field.
class ModalDrawOperator(bpy.types.Operator):
    """Adjust normals"""
    bl_idname = "kitfox.normal_tool"
    bl_label = "Normal Tool Kitfox"

    prop_brush_type : bpy.props.EnumProperty(
        items=(
            ('FIXED', "Fixed", "Normals are in a fixed direction"),
            ('ATTRACT', "Attract", "Normals point toward target object"),
            ('REPEL', "Repel", "Normals point away from target object")
        ),
        default='FIXED'
    )

    prop_strength : bpy.props.FloatProperty(
        name="Strength", description="Amount to adjust mesh normal", default = 1, min=0, max = 1
    )

    prop_normal = bpy.props.FloatVectorProperty(name="Normal", description="Direction of normal in Fixed mode", default = (0, 1, 0))
    prop_target = bpy.props.StringProperty(name="Target", description="Object Attract and Repel mode reference", default="")

    def mouse_down(self, context, event):
        #Do the work here
        pass

    def modal(self, context, event):
        context.area.tag_redraw()

        if event.type in {'MIDDLEMOUSE', 'WHEELUPMOUSE', 'WHEELDOWNMOUSE'}:
            # allow navigation
            return {'PASS_THROUGH'}

        elif event.type == 'MOUSEMOVE':
            pass
        elif event.type == 'LEFTMOUSE':
            self.mouse_down(context, event)
            pass

        elif event.type in {'RIGHTMOUSE', 'ESC'}:
            bpy.types.SpaceView3D.draw_handler_remove(self._handle, 'WINDOW')
            print("norm tool cancelled")
            return {'CANCELLED'}

        return {'PASS_THROUGH'}

    def invoke(self, context, event):
        if context.area.type == 'VIEW_3D':
            # the arguments we pass the the callback
            args = (self, context)
            # Add the region OpenGL drawing callback
            # draw in view space with 'POST_VIEW' and 'PRE_VIEW'
            self._context = context
            self._handle = bpy.types.SpaceView3D.draw_handler_add(draw_callback, args, 'WINDOW', 'POST_VIEW')

            self.mouse_path = []

            context.window_manager.modal_handler_add(self)
            return {'RUNNING_MODAL'}
        else:
            self.report({'WARNING'}, "View3D not found, cannot run operator")
            return {'CANCELLED'}

#------------------------

class NTTargetPickerOperator(bpy.types.Operator):
    """Pick object with the mouse"""
    bl_idname = "kitfox.nt_pick_target_object"
    bl_label = "Normal Tool Pick Target Object Kitfox"

    def mouse_down(self, context, event):
        mouse_pos = (event.mouse_region_x, event.mouse_region_y)

        ctx = bpy.context

        region = context.region
        rv3d = context.region_data
        view_vector = view3d_utils.region_2d_to_vector_3d(region, rv3d, mouse_pos)
        ray_origin = view3d_utils.region_2d_to_origin_3d(region, rv3d, mouse_pos)

        viewlayer = bpy.context.view_layer
        result, location, normal, index, object, matrix = context.scene.ray_cast(viewlayer.depsgraph, ray_origin, view_vector)

        if result:
            print("--picked " + object.name)

            #This doesn't work - I want to set the property 'target' on my operator
            bpy.ops.kitfox.normal_tool["prop_target.set"] = object.name

    def modal(self, context, event):

        if event.type == 'LEFTMOUSE':
            self.mouse_down(context, event)
            bpy.types.SpaceView3D.draw_handler_remove(self._handle, 'WINDOW')
            return {'FINISHED'}

        elif event.type in {'RIGHTMOUSE', 'ESC'}:
            bpy.types.SpaceView3D.draw_handler_remove(self._handle, 'WINDOW')
            print("pick target object cancelled")
            return {'CANCELLED'}
        else:
            return {'PASS_THROUGH'}

    def invoke(self, context, event):
        if context.area.type == 'VIEW_3D':
            # the arguments we pass the the callback
            args = (self, context)
            # Add the region OpenGL drawing callback
            # draw in view space with 'POST_VIEW' and 'PRE_VIEW'
            self._context = context
            self._handle = bpy.types.SpaceView3D.draw_handler_add(draw_callback, args, 'WINDOW', 'POST_VIEW')

            context.window_manager.modal_handler_add(self)
            return {'RUNNING_MODAL'}
        else:
            self.report({'WARNING'}, "View3D not found, cannot run operator")
            return {'CANCELLED'}

#------------------------

class NormalToolPropsPanel(bpy.types.Panel):

    """Properties Panel for the Normal Tool on tool shelf"""
    bl_label = "Normal Tool Properties Panel"
    bl_idname = "3D_VIEW_PT_normal_tool_props"
    bl_space_type = 'VIEW_3D'
    bl_region_type = 'UI'

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

        obj = context.object

        props = layout.operator(ModalDrawOperator.bl_idname)

        row = layout.row()

        #Not working - I want to refer to the property in my operator
        row.prop(bpy.ops.kitfox.normal_tool, "prop_target", expand=True)

        pickOp = layout.operator(NTTargetPickerOperator.bl_idname, icon="EYEDROPPER")

#------------------------

def register():
    bpy.utils.register_class(NTTargetPickerOperator)
    bpy.utils.register_class(ModalDrawOperator)
    bpy.utils.register_class(NormalToolPropsPanel)

def unregister():
    bpy.utils.unregister_class(NTTargetPickerOperator)
    bpy.utils.unregister_class(ModalDrawOperator)
    bpy.utils.unregister_class(NormalToolPropsPanel)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()

Related https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/203747/addon-how-to-make-blender-run-check-redraw-when-option-changed  or look at the code of a number of importers in recent versions, where it has become common to use a panel referencing context.active_operator

I looked at the linked comment, but saw nothing about looking up an operator by id.  Also, the operator will not necessarily be the active operator.

Can you elaborate what you're trying to do with your script (what it's for)?, are you trying to imitate functionality you saw in blender?

Please add some detail and clarity to question. In a panel draw method props = self.layout.operator("foo.bar") is a reference to its properties, which can be set in draw method with props.prop = 33 , trying to use layout.prop(props, "prop") however will not work. (Given your since deleted answer) Please elaborate on what is the expectation here.

Thankyou for the edits. Only ID (and bones) objects can have custom properties. ID objects have bpy.types.ID as a subclass. An operator bpy.types.Operator is not an ID object.    AFAICT this could be replaced by having a "kitfox tools" property group with the target object as a pointer property to bpy.types.Object which can be set via eyedropper see https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/159155/15543

I made some revisions, but it's still not working.  I've posted a new question which makes progress on what I posted above:  https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/209199/how-to-get-panel-to-use-properties-from-a-propertygroup

Ok going around in circles a bit here. Have used other one I closed to demo what I mean re pointer property here.  Took out the operator, but as mentioned prior if I run the code with reference to ModalOperator or some class I havent defined and use layout.operator(ModalOperator.bl_idname) it will run and register without error, however it will start spitting errors to the console as soon as I try and see the panel. and the panel will show no more after any error.

Make a settings group and use a pointer property for target object

With regard to edit

To elaborate on the above - I'm trying to create an object picker
field. The idea is that I have a string field called 'target'. I want
my NormalToolPropsPanel panel to display a string field representing
the target field of my operator. Then when the user clicks on the
eyedropper icon, they can pick an object in the scene and its name
will be filled into the field.

as commented feel this is better done with a pointer property.
import bpy
from bpy_extras import view3d_utils

class NormalToolSettings(bpy.types.PropertyGroup):
    brush_type : bpy.props.EnumProperty(
        items=(
            ('FIXED', "Fixed", "Normals are in a fixed direction"),
            ('ATTRACT', "Attract", "Normals point toward target object"),
            ('REPEL', "Repel", "Normals point away from target object")
        ),
        default='FIXED'
    )

    strength : bpy.props.FloatProperty(
        name="Strength", description="Amount to adjust mesh normal", default = 1, min=0, max = 1
    )

    normal : bpy.props.FloatVectorProperty(name="Normal", description="Direction of normal in Fixed mode", default = (0, 1, 0))
    target : bpy.props.PointerProperty(type=bpy.types.Object)

#---------------------------

class NormalToolPropsPanel(bpy.types.Panel):

    """Properties Panel for the Normal Tool on tool shelf"""
    bl_label = "Normal Tool Properties Panel"
    bl_idname = "VIEW3D_PT_normal_tool_props"
    bl_space_type = 'VIEW_3D'
    bl_region_type = 'UI'
    bl_category = "KitFox"

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

        scene = context.scene
        settings = scene.my_tool

        col = layout.column()
        col.prop(settings, "strength")
        col.prop(settings, "brush_type")
        col.prop(settings, "normal")
        col.prop(settings, "target")
#---------------------------

def register():
    bpy.utils.register_class(NormalToolSettings)
    bpy.utils.register_class(NormalToolPropsPanel)

    bpy.types.Scene.my_tool = bpy.props.PointerProperty(type=NormalToolSettings)

def unregister():
    bpy.utils.unregister_class(NormalToolSettings)
    bpy.utils.unregister_class(NormalToolPropsPanel)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()

If you wish to set this to something else in modal then when you know the object
context.scene.my_tool.target = hit_object

and it will update in the UI.
Tip: Look at the subtypes of FloatVectorProperty for other options to keep the value normalized.


text:
How to have Blender run my script from the filesystem rather than the script window?
I'm trying to figure out a workflow to allow me to develop addons in Blender that doesn't require me to use the Scripting window.  The scripting window is great if your script can be done in a single page, but breaks down when you need to break your code into more than one file.  It also causes problems because what you have in the script window may get out of sync with what you have saved to disk.
The only alternative  I see is to keep recompiling/uninstalling/reinstalling my addon.  (By recompile, I mean running a script I've created to bundle my source files into a zip ready for deployment).  However, it takes a lot of mouse clicks in the Preferences dialog to remove your old addon and then install the latest version.  That's a lot of work to do every time you make a change.
I'm seeing some references to 'reloading addons' by pressing F8 in other posts, but I don't see how that will help since I would still need to rebuild/reinstall my plugin.
Is there a more developer friendly way to go about developing an addon?

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/158775/having-trouble-creating-an-addon-with-multiple-modules/158787#158787  Reload is also available via Blender > System > Reload Scripts menu. Top RH corner icon.

see https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/183773/trying-to-make-a-menu-using-multiple-modules/183817#183817  If you use an absolute import based on your addon name can (in many cases) run scripts individually from the text editor.

Have a look at Blender's add-ons folder for many examples.  C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender 2.91\2.91\scripts\addons if you are on Windows.
Let's have a look at MeasureIt add-on for example. It has multiple files:

If you open the __init__.py, you can see that measureit_main is imported

and if you open it, you can see other imports:

.zip files that you use to install the add-ons are just simple zip files containing a folder named after the add-on and all the files in it.
You could also have a look at How to run a python script external to Blender to run bpy commands in Blender'spython console

Okay, but how would I install that?  As far as I can tell, the addon installer only accepts zip files.

I edited the answer. They are just simple .zip archives that you can make with utilities like 7zip or similar and they contain a folder named after the addon and all the files in it.

Well, that's the problem.  What I'm looking for is an efficient way to write/debug where I can have Blender reload my code every time I make a change.  If I have to rebuild my zip, uninstall the old version and then reinstall the new one every time I change a line, it is a huge drag on my development time.

I see. Don't install a zip file, just have a folder in %appdata%\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.91\scripts\addons with your files. If the addon is enabled in the preferences it will be reloaded every time you use Reload Scripts operator in Blender. Search for it with F3 by name or make a hotkey maybe. Once you are done developing, pack everything to a zip. It's here as well: https://i.imgur.com/UZFcjx7.png

Please post scripts as text.

These are only to illustrate where the info can be found. I would like to encourage the OP to study the add-ons as examples and find whatever suits his situation best instead of necessarily using this what I found in 30 seconds without much thought.

But sure here are the two words for someone who might want to copy and paste them without typing: from and import :D

Please read https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/285551/why-not-upload-images-of-code-errors-when-asking-a-question/285557#285557


text:
Does Cycles use a Camera Frustum check?
So, in a random tutorial (I can't find it atm) Andrew Price mentioned that Cycles will render all geometry/particles, even if they are not visible to the camera; This suggests that Cycles doesn't use a frustum check, that is, check whether or not(yay redundancies!) an object is in view.
I would assume using it would improve performance, since all games do it, so:
  Is it true that it doesn't use it?
  Why doesn't it use it?
I can actually see a potential problem, a reason not to use it; That would be Global Illumination, where objects out of view would create bounce lighting. Is this why?

No, Neither Cycles nor Blender-Internal use a camera frustum check when rendering.
While it could work in some cases, but would obviously fail with reflections. Also the chances of flickering in animations where the camera moves is high, objects outside the camera may cast shadows or emit light.
This feature could be useful for preview renders (an additional simplify option).

It doesn't. Cycles is a backwards ray tracer, which means a that, in each sample, for each pixel, it sends out a ray into the scene, which then bounces off any object it finds in it's way, depending on it's materials, or it goes on into infinity - the background. When a ray reaches the background, each surface it hit get a proper color, depending on it's material and the bounces the ray did. So if a ray was to bounce out of the view and get clamped, then most things would fail, including shadows and reflections.
The way it works on games is entirely different, because they use a different rendering technique, and a lot of Baking.

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


text:
"Minecraft Properties" tab is not showing up on rig where the tab is supposed to be there
I found a Minecraft rig for Steve on this video from YouTube as a Blender Minecraft tutorial for Minecraft animations.
The video
The rig download
The video said and showed that this rig had a tab in the properties bar called "Minecraft Properties." However, this tab did not show up on the properties when I downloaded the rig.

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is about a tutorial about using Blender, and not about using Blender itself.

@brasshat I do not understand why that is a valid reason for voting to close. The question is simply about why a panel is not appearing. Why would it matter that it's mentioned in a tutorial?

@RayMairlot, first, I reviewed the video referenced, and saw no reference to the "minecraft properties" panel; I don't know if I missed it, or if its in a different video in the series., or what. But I do know that the panel that the OP claims is not appearing, "Minecraft properties" is not part of the standard Blender distribution, nor a packaged add-on, nor a theme, at least not the I can find. Further, this seems quite similar to question 33145 in asking a question about a tutorial, for which there were several close votes when I saw it.

The panel is visible in the properties panel 40 seconds into the video. The user in the question you reference was having problems interpreting wording rather than having a problem with blender. I think the issue I have is the reason to close. The question isn't about a tutorial, it's about blender, it just happens to be mentioned in a tutorial. Whether this should be closed as 'too localised' is perhaps another issue.

Regarding the on-topicness of this question, I've posted a relevant meta question here.

The 'Minecraft Properties' panel is not a panel that appears in Blender by default and will only appear when you have run a script to enable it. You will either need to write your own Python script to create it or obtain an existing 'IK/FK UI' script.
The tutorial maker doesn't seem to have included the script for the panel in the downloads they provide, but they do link to several tutorials in the video description on how to create your own UI such as this one by CG Cookie.

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


text:
Problem painting objects in blender game engine
I can paint any model in blender internal render But mistakes occurs while trying painting in blender game engine. The following are the steps taken by me to paint a model in blender game engine.
1) Switched to blender game engine with ramps, nodes and shaders deselected.
2) Spited window into two parts and changed one window as UV image editor.
3) Unwrapped the model and add texture to UV image editor.
4) Switched from object to texture paint mode and view port shading to texture.
5) Added a paint slot.
And after doing all these steps when I start painting, nothing happens. So as a solution for now, I decided to paint my model in blender internal render and use that image in blender game engine. I just want to know where I am going wrong. It would be very helpful if anyone would write the correct steps to paint a model in blender game engine.
I'm using blender 2.75a

The BGE does not provide any "painting" support. You need to implement them all by yourself. - If you mean the "Texture Paint" mode -> this is Blender not BGE. The engine setting in the main menu just toggles some UI elements of Blender. Btw. you need to setup a texture in the texture tab too.

I tried my best to find a way but what you said was right


text:
How to make an object bulk when it folds after rigging
I want to make an arm of a model bulk as the forearm folds. Is there any way to do it? Actually I was trying to use shape keys for bulking the arm muscles but it didn’t worked for me. I know it works only in animation.

have you tried any tutorial? any search with "blender riggingm uscle" keyword should point you to some example...

This is what I wanted. Actually I was trying it by myself using shape keys. But I am fully satisfied with the method that you mentioned. Thanks


text:
How can I enable or disable bone constraint in blender game engine
Actually I want my bone to target an object when it comes near so I want the tracking constraint to be enabled when the object comes near. And I want to keep it disabled rest of the time.

Use the "run armature" actuator. you can even set it to enable/disable individual constraints like the one in your example!

heres a simple setup with a  cobra lashing out at a cube.

I tried it before but it didn't work for me. I don't know where I am going wrong.

may you upload a .blend or a screenshot of your logic?

I have posted my image above. can you send me your blend file.

adding blend to post


text:
Have particles come from faces
I'm using an emission particle system to create a forest. For the most part it's working fine without problems.
But I do have a little problem. Some of my trees tend to float over the plane rather than coming straight from the face.
Here's an image of what I mean.

I'm using an emission particle system
Here's my settings.

I'd just like the trunks of the trees to come straight from the faces of the plane, and not have some of them float above.
I'm using cycles if that's actually necessary.
EDIT
This is what it looks like if I change from grid to random or jittered.

Do you have any other modifiers on the object?  If so, does checking use modifier stack help?

I did have a modifier, but checking the use modifier stack did not help. Neither did applying the modifiers.

How about changing from grid to random or jittered distribution?

If I do that, the trees end up on their side like the picture  I'm adding in.

Actually, I just did that and changed the rotation to "Global X" and everything worked. Thanks a lot for the help, I'm still trying to wrap my head around the particle systems.

@Axi0m Could you post the .blend for experimentation, it is hard to figure it out just from screen shots, you can use a service like pasteall.org to host your blend

Select Rotation and rotate your duplicated mode as desired.

Yeah I've since fixed it. I've actually even said in like the 5th post. But thanks for the added information, at least now I know what the problem is and how to tackle it should it arise again.

Whoa. don't use jittered. looks like a tornado whipped through. :)

When you are planning to make those kinds of particle systems, you should use a Hair system instead of an Emitter one.
In your system the particles are being thrown from the faces and, despite you have the system freezed at frame 0 (I think Blender don't use negative frames in any simulation), it looks like some particles had enough velocity to be outside of the faces.
So the best approach to achieve your work is using a Hair Particle System. It's very simple for your purpose:

Create a Particle System and set it to Hair. The Hair strands are perpendicular to the surface, just what you want.
Change the Number of particles. The Hair Length is not necessary for you.
Under the Render properties of the particle system, select object and then set Dupli Object to your tree. Then change the size at your will.
Maybe you need to re-orient your tree in Edit Mode to align the vertical axis.

Additionally, you can create a group of a few different trees and set the Render particles to Group. The particle system is going to randomly select the trees for every strand.
Regarding to your actual situation, maybe if you set the Normal Velocity to 0, those trees would not float. But the Hair System is the best choice in this case.


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Particle Rendering problem (looks like a texture rather than particle)
I'm trying to create a mountain in the distance that has a bunch of lights on it randomly to simulate populations of people. I'm using Blender's cycles render.
To do this, I'm using 3 different types of icospheres with a shadeless material to act as the light points.
Here is the nodes for the shadeless material, I have one in a yellow, white, and red variant.

I have these icospheres being used as children on a particle system on the mountain. So that they can be placed at random spots on the mountain.
I had assumed they would just be small points of lights on the mountains.
Unfortunately, upon rendering, they come out looking like a bad texture applied to the mountain, rather than just the small points. They render fine on the first few passes, then on the last, it squashes them into the weird looking texture thing.
Here's an example. (The circled area is just where I had placed the parent icospheres next to the mountain to display how it SHOULD look).

I don't think it's due to the samples, although I have been rendering at a pretty low sample size (around 50) just for previews.
It might be a problem with the actual particle settings, I just can figure out which ones.
Here's an image of my settings.

If anyone could help figure this out, I would be really grateful.
Thanks.

Is it possible you could upload your .blend?

Sure thing man, here you go. https://www.dropbox.com/s/ileoc3iy121czc3/Mountains.blend?dl=0

The particles are underneath the mesh, is that what you want?

No, I'd like them above it. Was that the problem?

The issue is that you have the particle size set way too small. I changed it to a size of 1.00:

And got a result like this:

At a size of 0.020 the particles are less than 1 pixel across, making some of them invisible to the camera, and blurring others. By changing the size for all of the particle systems, I got this result:

I feel like such an idiot. I kept brushing over it like that was fine, and thought it was something else. Thanks for the help.

No problem! Always glad to help :) If this solves your question, the checkmark under the voting buttons is used to show that your issue is resolved and which answer was correct.

I'm still getting some issues, but it's nothing I cant handle now that I've figured out the cause. And yeah, I'll click that checkmark.

Is there any way I can keep the particles the same size as the original parents? As in the same size as the object that's defined as the particle.

I always just adjust the particle size.

Alright, one very last question. As it turns out, many of the particles are actually underneath the mesh. Is there a way to force them to stick to the faces on the front side of the normals? I've tried the radius option, but that doesnt seem to be the correct parameter.

They display that way in the viewport, do they render that way?

Yes. They appear that way.Unless the particles on the regular side of the faces are halfway into the plane, but I dont think so. I'm not going to worry about it though. I'll figure out a way to make it work. Thanks


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Video Speed Changes when rendering
I'm fairly new to blender. I mainly use it for video editing. This project is the first time I used the "speed" effect strip. In the project, a video plays, then a clip of it plays again faster, then a third clip plays at normal speed. When I run this in the editor, it runs fine and seems to work. However, when I render it, it seems like my first clip is also effected by the speed and ends up playing twice as fast. Then the video is blank until it hits the second clip, and from then on it seems normal. Im not sure what exactly I'm doing wrong. Here is a screenshot:

Thanks for any help!
EDIT: Removing the speed section did not seem to have any effect in final rendering. The video runs fine in the editor, but the rendered file plays much faster than normal.

Blender may be buffering the source video differently at render? Try transcoding the source files to another codec first, as it looks like a screen capture and they are notorious for having strange FPS (frames per second) values.
I'm afraid that Blender's video function is handled by a limited version of ffmpeg that may not recognize your file correctly.
Otherwise check your output settings, there might be something odd about those codec settings too?


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Python importing nightmare
I'm having the hardest time trying to import a few things. I have an addon that has multiple files all under one folder with an __init__.py in the base. I'm performing all of these imports from this __init__.py. The addon folder resides in my addon folder as scripts/addons/RLD_Toolkit
My directory hierarchy looks like this

The part of the script where it errors
def register():
    #These imports do not work
    from . import rld_panel
    import rld_panel

    #This import does work
    import RLD_Toolkit.rld_panel

The error I'm getting is
Import Error: cannot import name `rld_panel`

Why won't it perform the relative imports (or even the straight up import) from my __init__.py?
Edit:
Here's a printout of my globals() variables and sys.path

My guess: Blender screws up the pythonpath. Print it and see if it makes sense.

@user277143 Updated post with printout of globals and sys.path

As you can see, the folder you are in isn't in the import path. As addons is in the python path, saying import RLD_Toolkit.rld_panel imports from the module (that is the whole folder with your init.py) the file rld_panel.py. I would advise you to add the current  folder into the path.

I'm confused?  You're talking about __path__ right? That's the folder with all my stuff in it.

Nope. path is the path of the file. When you try to import things, python looks in sys.path, which doesn't contain the folder.

Have a look at this answer, especially #2: http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/33603/importing-python-modules-and-text-files

To answer the question, you will have to add the line:
sys.path.append(__path__)

before importing anything. This will add the current folder into the path Python looks in for imports. Then you can import files  with:
import foo

instead of:
from bar import foo

.

This fixes it. Can you provide any insight as to why this won't work for me yet I have two other addons that perform normal relative imports and it works? Python + Blender is kind of a mystery to me sometimes so some speculation on the inner workings would be helpful to know.

No living being can hope to understand what happens inside Blender. Turn around, mortal. Your quest is hopeless.

I need to publish an update to this with code samples, through browsing the Blender Python bindings and trial and error, I've kind of come up with a home brew relative import system that even supports reloading (as long as your code is written in a specific way that doesn't reuse globals and unregisters everything properly).

This doesn't work with currently Blender / Python. It doesn't recognize __path__ anymore.


text:
Operator class retrieval
I'm trying to get the class of the operator I made. The operator's bl_idname is "object.primitive_manipulator" and it's class is Object_OT_Edit_PrimitiveManipulator.
What works (Give the correct operator as type()=bpy.ops.BPyOpsSubModOp)

bpy.ops.object.primitive_manipulator works fine.
getattr(bpy.ops.object, "primitive_manipulator")

What doesn't work (Gives the wrong class as type()=bpy.ops.BPyOpsSubMod):

bpy.types.Object_OT_Edit_PrimitiveManipulator
getattr(bpy.ops, "object.primitive_manipulator") (hasattr() returns true but it doesnt show up with dir() on bpy.ops, only object does which is odd)

Both of these last two are the actual methods I need to use to programmatically iterate over an array of operator strings to then get their classes and do stuff (I can use string manipulation but I'm still curious to my below question).
What type is this being returned by the two methods described that won't work, why don't they have any parameters, and what is their purpose?

The actual operator class is only accessible if it's defined in the same script, or imported from another file. It's not a standard Python class however, because it is derived from the Operator type:
import bpy

class PrimitiveManipulatorOperator(bpy.types.Operator):
    bl_idname = "object.primitive_manipulator"
    bl_label = "Primitive Manipulator"

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

type(PrimitiveManipulatorOperator) # returns <class 'bpy_types.OrderedMeta'>

Upon class registration of an operator class, it is made available as type as bpy.types.OBJECT_OT_primitive_manipulator (which is the bl_idname transformed from Python to C notation):
def register():
    bpy.utils.register_class(PrimitiveManipulatorOperator)

    # returns <class 'bpy_types.OrderedMeta'>
    print(type(bpy.types.OBJECT_OT_primitive_manipulator))

    # fails, the class name isn't used in case of operators
    print(type(bpy.types.PrimitiveManipulatorOperator))

The interface to call operators is via bpy.ops:
bpy.ops.object.primitive_manipulator()

# returns <class 'bpy.ops.BPyOpsSubModOp'>
type(bpy.ops.object.primitive_manipulator())

What can be confusing about bpy.ops (which is <class 'bpy.ops.BPyOps'>), is that hasattr() will always return True:
hasattr(bpy.ops, "object.primitive_manipulator") # True
hasattr(bpy.ops, "foobar") # also True

This is caused by the design of this module-like class and presumably necessary to make proper calls work.
The correct way to programmatically get a reference to the operator for a call is to getattr() twice, as you want to retrieve a property and its sub-property:
op = getattr(getattr(bpy.ops, "object"), "primitive_manipulator")
op() # equivalent to bpy.ops.object.primitive_manipulator()

getattr(bpy.ops, "object.primitive_manipulator") can't work because there is no property "object.primitive_manipulator", there's only "object", which in turn has the property "primitive_manipulator".
>>> type(getattr(bpy.ops, "object"))
<class 'bpy.ops.BPyOpsSubMod'>

>>> type(getattr(bpy.ops, "foo.bar"))
<class 'bpy.ops.BPyOpsSubMod'>

>>> type(getattr(getattr(bpy.ops, "object"), "primitive_manipulator"))
<class 'bpy.ops.BPyOpsSubModOp'>

You may want to resolve the operator name in a loop like this:
def get_operator(idname):
    op = bpy.ops
    for attr in idname.split("."):
        op = getattr(op, attr)
    return op

get_operator("object.primitive_operator")()

# if there's a poll() classmethod, you can also:
get_operator("object.primitive_operator.poll")()

# return a blank function to suppress AttributeErrors
# in case the operator idname does not exist
def get_operator_failsafe(idname):
    op = bpy.ops
    for attr in idname.split("."):
        if attr not in dir(op):
            return lambda: None
        op = getattr(op, attr)
    return op

get_operator_failsafe("foo.bar")()


text:
How to animate dynamic scaling and z offset in Array modifier
I want to achieve an effect simmmilar to one in THIS video. Basically I want to animate the scale of the specific (e.g. top ones) parts of objects' "layers"  created via Array modifier as well as the z value of them, so they appear as they are not all the same distance one from another...

You can use an empty as Object Ofsset, and animate the scale of that empty over time.

I know, but that's not what I mean. This is linear. I want to be able to make it so say - top object scale faster than bottom ones, as well as they have bigger gaps between them.. see the link


text:
How can I subdivide this plane into even squares?
I have a plane that has a scale of x: 100, y: 5, z: 1, and I want to split it into squares that have a scale of x: 5, z: 5, but when I do subdivide, I get a result like this:

When in reality, I'd rather have something like this:

How can I do this? (Sorry for the badly sketched pictures.)

You could also subdivide the individual edges and then manually connect them into faces. However, loop cuts are much better in a simplistic situation such as this.

Am I missing something?  Why not just add a grid instead of a plane?  It's right next to Monkey in 2.80.

Use loop cuts, press Ctrl+R and use the scroll wheel to select how many. Hover over the edge you want the cuts to intersect, then double-click to finish the action.

@Ethan Bierlein Note that you will need to create 20 loops for perfect squares if the dimensions you listed are still true.

As far as I can see, the loop cut is applied to the ONE face. What if I have multiple faces selected and want it to be applied to EACH of the selected faces in the same way?

Add a plane (in object mode) ShiftA > Plane.
Tab in to edit mode, and scale the plane up by 5, S 5.
Add an array modifier, all setting at default except Count, change the Count to be 20.
Apply the modifier, must be in object mode to apply modifiers.
Tab back in to edit mode, and remove doubles with WR or Tool Shelf > Tools tab > Remove Doubles

Now you have a perfectly sized plane evenly split in to 10 unit squares.

You can actually do it this way:

Select the two edges you want to cut between.
Click the subdivide button once. A menu appears that looks like:

Increase the Number of Cuts amount.


text:
Will a straight edge with 4 vertices create ngons?
I'm using Maya but figure you guys will know the answer and didn't know where else to ask. I couldn't find an answer to my question by searching:
I've attached a screenshot below. Basically I want to know if the highlighted faces are Ngons. The edges are straight but each face has one edge that has been subdivided but not edited in any other way.

And another pic this time with the vertices highlighted in yellow

To me, it sure look like they are Ngons. However, if the two vertices of the subdivided edge with the 4 vertices is not part of the highlighted face, then no they would not be Ngons.

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because this is a Maya question. This will be more suited to http://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/maya where you can get a Maya-specific response.

This question also applies to my blender projects, it's just that my example came from the project I currently have open in Maya. Does the software matter if question needs an answer for any software? (please don't banish it to an unused section of stack exchange ^^)

Well, if I were personally going to answer, I would have mentioned a blender addon which helps detects ngons, but that would be specific to blender and not to Maya.

it is an ngone since it has more than 4 vertices, it does matter if they are on the same line

Technically if it has more than 4 verts it is an ngon, even if some of those verts are co-linear. How various mesh engines deal with this under the hood might vary, but that's beyond the scope of this site. In Blender that's an Ngon.


text:
Texture Node in the cycle render
I am working  on cycle render using MakeHuman model. On MakeHuman , model has some texture images.  I remark for example when I do a person with t-shirt that there is two images shirt_normals.png and shirt_texture.png. In the Node mode, I rely these images as mentioned in the below image. What is the difference between these images? And is my work is correct? Because, I could not remark any effect of the shirt_normals.png  image.

Did you UV unwrap it?

@NoviceInDisguise,Yes I did. I edit my image.

You have to attach the texture to both images...

You mean Nodes? ^^

@GiantCowFilms, Yes I did. I edit my image.

The texture (usually called a diffuse map) simply affects the color of the object.  The normal map affects the normals to create a bump-mapping effect.  This works by converting the red and green channels of the normal map to x and y (or y and x, I forget which) rotation of the surface normals (0.5 being straight up, or no change) to simulate small bumps and surface details for added realism.  (The blue channel is actually ignored, though it is usually set at 0.5 as well which makes for the distinctive pinkish/bluish color of a normal map.)
As for your setup, you have two problems:

You need to send the normal map through the color input of a vector > normal map node and the normal output of that to the normal input of the shaders.
You are giving the normal map normals as mapping coordinates, all texture maps should have the same mapping coordinates.  In this case it looks like you are using generated for the diffuse so you should use generated coordinates for the normal map as well.

Credit to @Vladimir for image, this is a croped version of his screenshot as I don't have Blender available at the moment.

Could you put an image?

@startingBlender I am on my tablet now, so I don't have Blender available to take a screenshot.  But if you give me a couple minutes I can probably find one on the web! :D

Did you mean like that? (I edited my image)

@startingBlender Sorry, but I don't see any difference.  Did you upload the right image?

@Vladimir If you don't want me to use your screenshot feel free to remove it.

@startingBlender I added a screenshot.

I remark that UVMap did not appear in the Normal Map.

@startingBlender If your mesh is unwrapped then you choose the appropriate uv map in that slot, otherwise leave it blank.


text:
Edit IPO curve does not work
I want to edit the IPO curve on blender. In the Graph editor,I select Ylocation curve then I hit T and I choose linear but the curve does not change to linear (image 1 vs image 2). I have tried other interpolation mode, but the result is the same.


text:
How to generate a synthetic data similar to the real image
I have a real image and I need to generate a synthetic image that is very similar in term of shape (I do not need to be very detailed). I am wondering how someone can do this using makehuman and blender. The background is not important. I want just to synthesize the person. Here is an example.

Here is a basic answer for such a broad question...
Since you say detail doesn't quite matter, you may find something like this interesting. for this approach I used meta spheres, and then  converted it over to a mesh.
Just so I steer clear of any trouble, here are is my source of the image used:
Pixabay Image Reference
Here are the results, and the Blend File:

Blend File:

Thanks! It is an interesting answer! Could you put more details how did you do it ?

Yeah would like to see a tutorial video on that surely there should be interest in making a low res model from a photograph.

It might have to wait until I can put some Blender time in, but once I do, I'll get it on YouTube, and post the link back here in the comments.

Grrr. So frustrated, I tried screen capturing, but for some reason my video capture stopped working. I'm going to have to see if I can get on another machine to make this happen - Sorry.

Woohoo - I got my screen capture finally working - You Tube


text:
How to obtain the fisheye model from blender
I am using a fish eye camera to do some animations. Next, I want to validate a 3D reconstruction algorithm. So, I need the projection matrix of the fish eye camera. I know that it not possible to approximate fisheye by as a perspective projection. I need some tutorial and what I understand is the coordinate (u,v) of a 3D point X (x,y,z) in space is linked with the radius r which is the distance between the center of the image (circle) and the coordinates (u,v), and the angle theta defined by the incident ray define by the point X and the center optical (or the center of the sphere). Any comment? Any help?

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is about fisheye lens reconstruction algorithms, and not specifically related to blender.


text:
How to simulate a real camera with blender
I have a camera with a fisheye lens. I need to simulate it on blender to get the same images
camera properties:
sensor size: 2/3".
image resolution: 1360*1024
fisheye focal: 1.8mm
H*V (FOV): 185*185 (with 2/3").
here is the link for the fisheye lens fisheyelens and the camera GC1380
My problems is how to fix the V field of view ? I have chose a fisheye equisolid and I set a focal length as 1.8 and the FOV =185 as H filed of view. But the horizontal field of view is determined by the W/H image resolution which different to 1 in  the real case. Any help?

Which camera and what lens do you use?

@poor, All details are in the question (line 2).

Yeah, but I meant which real camera (model, manufacturer), lens (model, manufacturer)?

@poor, sorry, I added the links

Might be worth having a look at http://www.luxrender.net/ - it isn't officially supported for latest Blender 2.7x but I have seen forum posts suggesting that it does.

@Neil, Fisheye is supported by 2.7x in the cycle engine!!

I see you really want this answered, can you post some picture from the camera and some render you are getting and how they differ? This will help a little with answering (I don't have that camera). These images would be best of some grid like pattern.

In addition to @cegaton's nice answer: It really depends on what do want to achieve - as always... But if you have to match it with a plate, I suggest you to consider lens distortion for accuracy.

@poor, what is the difference between what I did and the solution of cegaton. He just put the images that describe my solution.

Sorry for the delay, What else you need?


text:
Run blender on GPU is as low as CPU
I am running blender on GPU. I remark that there is no high difference between CPU and GPU as not expected. What is the problem?
CPU information:
*

>     Architecture :        x86_64
>     Mode(s) opératoire(s) des processeurs : 32-bit, 64-bit
>     Boutisme :            Little Endian
>     Processeur(s) :       8
>     Liste de processeur(s) en ligne : 0-7
>     Thread(s) par cœur : 2
>     Cœur(s) par socket : 4
>     Socket(s) :           1
>     Nœud(s) NUMA :       1
>     Identifiant constructeur : GenuineIntel
>     Famille de processeur : 6
>     Modèle :             26
>     Nom de modèle :      Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           W3520  @ 2.67GHz
>     Révision :           5
>     Vitesse du processeur en MHz : 1596.000
>     Vitesse maximale du processeur en MHz : 2661,0000
>     Vitesse minimale du processeur en MHz : 1596,0000
>     BogoMIPS :            5320.06
>     Virtualisation :      VT-x
>     Cache L1d :           32K
>     Cache L1i :           32K
>     Cache L2 :            256K
>     Cache L3 :            8192K
>     Nœud NUMA 0 de processeur(s) : 0-7

*
**GPU information:**

> *02:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation GF104 [GeForce GTX 460] [10de:0e22] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
>            Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Device [1458:34fa]
>            Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 53
>            Memory at bc000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=32M]
>            Memory at c0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=128M]
>            Memory at c8000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=64M]
>            I/O ports at 2000 [size=128]
>            [virtual] Expansion ROM at be000000 [disabled] [size=512K]
>            Capabilities: <access denied>
>            Kernel driver in use: nvidia
>
>     02:00.1 Audio device [0403]: NVIDIA Corporation GF104 High Definition Audio Controller [10de:0beb] (rev a1)
>            Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Device [1458:34fa]
>     --
>     03:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation GT218 [GeForce 210] [10de:0a65] (rev a2) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
>            Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device [1043:8354]
>            Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 54
>            Memory at b8000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
>            Memory at d0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
>            Memory at ce000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=32M]
>            I/O ports at 3000 [size=128]
>            [virtual] Expansion ROM at b9000000 [disabled] [size=512K]
>            Capabilities: <access denied>
>            Kernel driver in use: nvidia
>
>     03:00.1 Audio device [0403]: NVIDIA Corporation High Definition Audio Controller [10de:0be3] (rev a1)
>            Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device [1043:8354]*

Path tracing sample is 1000.
I tried the GPU with tile size=256, 512, 1024 and with 500, 250, 150 samples but I remark that for 2hours or 3 hours, it rendered only 66 frames. It is very slow!!!

What GPU and what CPU?

what GPU do you have?

That is almost the same GPU/CPU that I have, and my GPU is definitely faster. What tile size are you using then? GPU's generally go faster on larger tiles and slower and smaller tiles. CPU's tend to do the reverse.

@gandalf3, path tracing sample is 1000.

@gandalf3, How can I specify the path tracing tile in blender 2.72

@startingBlender The tile size can be set in Render settings > Performance. Try setting it to something like 128 or 256 and see if the GPU render times decrease.

@gandalf3, it is necessary to check the progressive refine option ? What is the utility of this option

@startingBlender No. See http://blender.stackexchange.com/a/4981/599 for an explanation of that option.

@gandalf3, I tried the GPU with tile size=256, 512, 1024 and with 500, 250, 150 samples but I remark that for 2hours or 3 hours, it rendered only 66 frames. It is very slow!!!

Well, to be honest problem is that you have a nicely powerful CPU and low price GPU. I wouldn't wonder why it's same time, have in mind that GTX 460 is NOT the best CUDA performance. To get decent speedup, you need to go for something that costs at least same as your CPU.

@Migol, I have not exactly understood what you said. You mean that I have  that GTX 460 is not the best graphics card? What the best GPU then?

@startingBlender you should take a look at specifications of different NVIDIA GPU's. your GTX 460 (http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-460/specifications) has 336 CUDA cores. These are like cores in a CPU, only many many more. Top 4 series GPU - GTX 480, had 448 cores (50% more). And GTX 780 which I use has 2304 CUDA cores, hence why I get a lot of speed up. Remember also that CPU core is A LOT more powerful than CUDA core.

@startingBlender one more thing, to get a bit of performance, experiment with tile size in rendr options.

On my CPU, I have 8 cores each one has a speed of 2.67GHZ. But GPU has 336 cores but I do not know what 's their speed? What do you mean size in render options (size of what?). If I fix a low samples, I will have a lot of noise.

What kind of scene are you trying to render? 66  frames might be pretty good..

@gandalf3, here is my work .blend http://www.pasteall.org/blend/35315 . Can you try it on your computer and tell me about the result.


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Number of bounces does not reduce the time of rendering on GPU
I am rendering a complex scene as here http://www.pasteall.org/blend/35337 . I am using GPU GTX 460 on linux machine. I read a lot of tutorial of how to reduce rendering time and noise. I remark that number of bounces in my case does not reduce the time as expected. I am wondering that in my case, I did not use a lot of glossy materials may be!! And an other trick is In the node menu I setup the light as mentioned below. Does it the best way to do? Moreover, I remark that there is some noise even I used samples =100. Any expert of blender help me?

That is because your glossy and diffuse bounces are already limited to 4, limiting your max bounces below this number works. And 100 samples are not many if only they are not square samples.

@Vitaliy As mentioned in the file, I am rendering just one light source. the other 3 light sources are disabled. I did not understand what are you saying "That is because your glossy and diffuse bounces are already limited to 4" I try to put max bounces to 2 or 3 in the light path panel but it did not reduce the time

Yeah i've just seen it and edited my post but you already answered to it :).

@Vitaliy, yes I reduced them from the light path panel but it did not make any change about the time rendering as suggested in many tutorials.

In my case reducing max number to 2 decreases render time for 10 samples from 12sec to 9 and setting max bounces at 0 decreases time to 5 sec

@Vitaliy, What's your GPU?

Nvidia GTX 850M


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Animation on blender 2.72 does not work on blender 2.71
I have done some animations on my Mac pro using blender 2.72. However, my laptop has not GPU. So, I am using an other linux pc to do the rendering using blender 2.71. Unfortunately, the animation does not work as expected on linux machine.
I remark that the armature animation is the same and work as on my Laptop, but the clothes and body does not follow the animation. What is the problem and How can I fix it ?

It's always risky mixing version numbers for the same project, in my experience. Is it not possible to install a newer version of Blender on the Linux machine?

Blender is quite compatible between versions.. I suspect you have drivers disabled and/or missing physics caches.

@gandalf3 I have resolved this poblem.

I have resolved this problem by checking this option


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How to make NLA strip pick up location based on previous action?
I am progressing on my complex animation model. Now I have just a small problem. I have create 3 action strips: walking, movingstraight and crouch.
In the NLA editor, i try to compose these actions.
In the first test, I did like this image and the animation correctly works

Now, I need that the person continue to walk form the current place. I add walking and moving action like this

the problem that the person return continue to walk but form the first place. I think that i can resolve this by creating an other moving action from the current place to the next place but i think it so complicated if i need to move the person in different place. I hope that the question is not confused.

Oh boy . . . I think this is too broad, Blender.SE is pointed towards short, specific Q&A style issues, maybe try BlenderArtists with this one. If you run into a specific issue, you can post it here.

@NoviceInDisguise, I will try to make my question short.

@NoviceInDisguise, I edited my question. Hope to be usefull

Sounds like this might help

@startingBlender Could you please go through your earlier question and mark some as answered when you got a helpful answer.

@stacker, Thanks for your help, but my objectif is not to get moving and crouch in the same time. As in a real case, I need to get the person walking then crouch for some time without moving then stand and continue to walk.

@stacker, I correct the error of scaling and update the file.

@startingBlender then you could simply key the same position in the motion action.

@stacker, I did not understand what did you mean ? However, in this new version http://www.pasteall.org/blend/34731 how can I force it to continue to walk from the same place instead of return back. It is what i did not understand.

I added a new image to my post. Complete file here: http://pasteall.org/blend/34732

@stacker, could you help me to fix this problem. in this file http://www.pasteall.org/blend/34781, i would that the person turn left and continue to walk but it there a little bit problem that i could understand

@startingBlender please post a new question, continued discussion of several issues in one post does not fit the Q/A format here. But a quick peek, it seems that you keyframed the rotation of the master in the person1Action (try muting channels to debug)

@stacker, I mute rotation channel but it does not work. I post my question here http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/26527/how-to-make-nla-strip-rotate-based-on-previous-action

You can blend the actions in the properties of the Action Strip:

The extrapolation and blend settings are important.
Result:

You have keyframed the scale some bones of the upper body in the crouch action (perhaps accidentally) in case you wonder why this looks like this.

To stop movement while crouching simply keyframe the same position for the frames:

Thx very much, so it is equivalent to add a new mouvement action?

@startingBlender yes you could also create two movement actions and have gap between them.


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How to remove the effect reflection of shadow
In this image, why the shadow is strongly reflected on the person. How can I fix that problem ? I am using a direct lighting by setting  the rendering parameter as:

Did you limit the light path bounces?

enable ambient occlusion

Is it possible you could upload a .blend which shows this behavior?

the shadow is not reflected , just  there is no light bouncing of other objects

@Chebhou, How can I enable the ambient occlusion?

it is in the world tab

@Chebhou, it generates a lot of noise in function of distance.

@gandalf3, it difficult because it contains a lot of image texture

@Denis, yes, I am using a direct lighting method as mentioned in the first image

The light will not reach the areas that in opposite direction of the light, you need to add more light bounces, and for faster rendering I would suggest to use Blender Internal instead of cycles.

@Denis, thanks for your response. I am obligate to use cycles engine because as you remark,  i am using a fishe eye camera that is not enable in internal blender.

@startingBlender are you allowed to use some nodes ( material or composting ) ?

@Chebhou, yes, I am in cycles engine.

This is because you appear to have one light source and no bounces/indirect lighting.
So the only faces to receive any light will have to be facing the light source.
In the real world light is reflected and transmitted everywhere, resulting in almost everything getting illuminated at least a little bit.
You have several options to simulate this:

Increase the number of bounces in Render settings > Light paths, allowing light to reflect off surfaces and illuminate "around corners" in a physically correct fashion:

Enable ambient occlusion or add some ambient environment lighting:
In the real world there is always ambient light coming from the sky. Even with indoor renders this can make a difference (light coming through windows etc.)

Note that AO is an approximation of actual environment light, but as it's all based on distance it will illuminate things even inside closed shapes where environment light cannot normally reach.
Add more light sources with different sizes:
If you still want to stick with 0 bounces and no global illumination, try adding a few more light sources. Vary the strength and size to prevent it from becoming too "flat":


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How can i get MakeWalk working
I am doing a big animation project. I am doing some animation scenarios and I need to apply each one on different MakeHuman character (different men and women). So, once I finish the scenario, I export it under .bvh file. After that, I use the MakeWalk tools to load and retarget this scenario on a new person. Unfortunately, Mocap could not auto-detect aramture and show me this message .
I try with the proposed solution in MakeHuman website but they did not work. Here is my file .blender


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How can I make two objects interact
I am making an animation where a person sits down on sofa. I need to make it such that when the person sits on the sofa or presses it with his hand, it deforms. However in my case, when he presses on the sofa, his hands goes trough the sofa. How can I fix this problem?

You can use Dynamic Paint simulation, which is the recommended way, and generate very vivid result.

Set Sofa as Canvas object, and choose Displace for Surface Type.
Set character as Brush object, and choose Mesh Volume for Paint Source.

Example File

I try to do this but in when I click on the person (it is a .mhx file exported from MakeHuman)in object mode. I remark that there is no Dynamic paint option. I edit my example.

According to your updated screenshot, you are currently selecting amarture, not the object itself. You can try select the mesh object correctly, then you'll find it. Good luck. :)

I discover that when I export the .mhx, I did not used any mehs for this raison I did not see the mesh in layer 4. Thnx

Cool, glad you figured it out. :)

For the records, I like raisins too.


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Snap FK/IK does not copy the motion
I have had an amazing problem about IK and FK mode. Snap is used to copy the animation from IK to FK or from FK to IK. So, normally, When i do an animation using IK and FK mode, I can finally run it in each mode without loss for any motion. but in http://www.pasteall.org/blend/34672 , I remark that when i run it in IK mode for all bones, the hands did not move. What is the problem?

Not quite sure what type of panel you are using. If you're only asking about how to do the animation(and not whether you're using the panel wrong), you can keyframe(press "I") and select "Visual loc/rot/scale". This will keyframe the position the bone is in, regardless of parenting/IK-solver/etc.

So in IK-mode, keyframe visual LocRotScale, then change to FK. Bones will stay put.

@NaioaiStudios, I edited my example.

When editing the walkcycle action alone (file has the same issue as in this question) you haven't properly keyframed the IK-arms. In the timeline set the VisualLocRot as keying-set:

Go to the keyframes in IK mode and place the hands where you want them to be. Thereafter you can switch seamlessly between IK and FK mode.

Sandler answered your question on point. Blender cannot "automatically" set key frames for everything. You simply need to set one key frame (try pressing keyboard key "I" over the bar that adjusts the ik/DK influence). After that, blender should record changes to that value.

A rig that has both IK and FK controls will have two separate bones that may control your character, the setting to switch between each determines which one is in control at any given time. You also need to keyframe these settings to ensure the right bones are in control.
You don't appear to have any keyframes on the IK/FK settings.
To keyframe a value you can right click and choose Insert Keyframe or press I while the cursor is over the value. You may want to change the interpolation to constant in the graph editor or set keyframes on two adjacent frames to switch between the two.

But i used the automatic key frame, so why did I need to add key frame.

You will need to manually add at least one keyframe to the IK/FK value (for each arm/leg) after that it will record changes as you make them.

Can you explain me more why I need to do that because I understand by clicking on the red button frames are saved automatically.

as expected your solution did not give any new results

It is a big problem


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How can we explain texture effect on the point light
My scene is a home consists of 4 walls(4 cube). I placed a light source at the same distance from the corner that joint wall 1 and wall 3 (45 degree). If I applied texture on walls, I obtain this image where the light reflected not exactly  symmetrically

but when i delete the texture of walls, I obtain this image where the light is reflected symmetrically. How can we explain this phenomenon ?

What do you mean by the light is not reflected symmetrically? What I see is that the light is absorbed more where the colors of the texture are darker.

And as cegaton said, diffused light will be distributed evenly, and reflection on glossy surface will change depends on the view angle, like if you are looking in the mirror.

I think this might be because the texture is actually grey, even in the lighter parts, while the plain diffuse is a consistent white.

Please accept my answer if it answers your question. If not, please comment and explain why not.

This is caused by the color of the Diffuse surface. A whiter surface reflects more light, while a grayer surface reflects less. The only difference between the below planes is the color, the distance from the light source and the other material options are identical.

As you can see the difference is quite pronounced. The whiter plane (right side) reflects much more light. When you use a texture to drive color, you are mixing the two of these, resulting in a more broken up diffuse shading.


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When moving the object along a given axis, the coordinates change along others axes
I have a problem that I can not understand. When moving the object along an axis x, y or z, the coordinates are changed simultaneously along others axes. Here is my file blender

It would be helpful to have a full screenshot of the Blender window, on the one hand, and a copy of your ~.blend file uploaded to Blend-Exchange or comparable facility, on the other.

@brasshat, I have added my blender file http://www.pasteall.org/blend/40820

The coordinates you're reading are referred to the bone's local space: if your bone were exactly aligned to the world coordinates (in edit mode, during the rigging) you would have your translation matching; if, more commonly, the bone is oblique, a translation along one axis is, relative to the bone local space, a movement along more than one axis.
This is the reason why it's common, during rigging, add "extra control" bones aligned to the world coordinates, to act as parents of real control bones, making editing easier, expecially with the graph editor.

Your object seems to be parented to some other object, or at least using some sort of constraints.
Even though visually it moves only along the Z axis internally Blender is probably trying to solve all the constraints thus resulting in motion in more than one axis, I think.


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Why Blender change the number of vertices when exporting .STL file
I am working on Blender and MakeHuman. I import on blender a *.mhx file generated by MakeHuman. I take the file and I change the pose of the human (from stand to walk, bend, etc) after that I export the file as.STL. I remark that the number of vertices changed from pose to an another. I am wondering that changing the pose will allow just the modification of some vertices coordinates. So, Why the number of vertices changed. I think that blender redo the triangulation  each time when I export a file as .STL? any comments and how to resolve this problem
make human file .mhx
File imported to Blender
File : pose changed
here the vertex number have been changed

While exporting to STL, overlapping vertices are merged. Could be your case? If not, could you provide pictures of the two poses?

@Carlo, I edited my question.

I'm sorry, but it seems to me that both STL have the same number of vertices (14444, in both Blender and MeshLab). How do you count them?

@Carlo, I am using Mathematica Import[*.stl,"VertexData"]. 111.stl have 86211 vertices and 112.stl have 86215 vertices. However, they are the same polygon number 28796.

If I import the objects with automatic merging disabling I can get a total of 86388 vertices for each object. Try to scale your object 100 times before exporting it and see if something change. My guess would be that Mathematica is running some kind of automatic merge

@Carlo, Yes, When I scale the model 10 times of the same model, the vertices number increases!


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Import .mhx and export .stl on blender
I am working on animation project using MakeHuman, blender and Mathematica. I use makeHuman to model a person and get .mhx file. I import this file into blender, I do some modification on pose and export it as .stl to use it on mathematica. I remark that exported .stl file seems empty because its size 84 bytes and when I import it on mathematica it does not work. So what is the problem and How can I deal with? thanks.

Are you using the File > Export menu or the 3D printing toolbox to export the STL? The 3D printing toolbox bit exports selected objects only AFAIK.

@TLousky, I edited my question.

OK, apparently even when you export to STL through the File > Export menu, you must select all before exporting. If your mesh is not selected, it will not be exported.
Do note that non-mesh objects will not be exported either (curves, armatures, etc).
In short, select all objects in your scene (A), then export to STL.

To export correctly the mesh, I think that we select just the first layer as mentioned below. I tried it and it works correctly on mathematica.


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How to make a real mirror on blender with cycle engine
I need to add a mirror object in Blender. I'm looking for the existing objects, but can not find any object. I am wondering how I can add such an object.

Are you using internal or cycles?

I am using a cycle and I have found the solution.

I felt this was a good question, so I've added an answer for future users. Also, maybe some of my info will add to what you've already discovered.
To make a mirror in cycles, use a glass shader (for obvious reasons), a fresnel shader (to ensure that the light hitting the mirror is complimented by the angle at which it’s shining, as described here), and a glossy shader at low roughness (which is similar to a glass shader but will bend light in a slightly different way, adding to the realism). These can all be easily found by hitting Spacebar and typing the node name. The base object is a simple mesh plane.

I’ve added two glass shaders with 2 different colours, for additional realism.

Be sure to add another coloured plane behind the mirror, so the light rays stop at the mirror glass (and are then reflected) instead of passing right through.

I'm not sure I fully uderstood your proposal: why shaders are the input of a shaders's color socket? And why fresnel-minxing with an empty shaders?

Oh my gosh, thanks for pointing it out. I'll fix it

@cegaton The socket mistake didn't make a difference, which is probably why I didn't notice it. I rendered it out and it still looks the same. I threw this together really quickly (one might say I was going for convenient realism). I appreciate your tips though since I'm still fairly new to shaders. Do you mind if I incorporate your comment into my answer? I know there was some discussion on meta about "stealing" comments.


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Rig Changing Poses By Itself
I'm animating an action in blender using a rigify metarig, but it's acting weird. There are screenshots for each step so you can follow along and see clearly where things go wrong.
This is the first frame:
Ok, so far so good. Then, I move some bones and add another frame on frame 5:

Still good so far. Then it starts breaking. Without changing anything, if I go back to the first frame, the left arm bones are in a new pose I never made, but the loc/rot values are still the same as before:

If I move the left arm bones to a random position but don't overwrite the old keyframe:

Then it arutomatically goes back to the pose it's supposed to be in:

But then if I go back to frame 5, that one becomes broken instead!

I've made tons of animations on other model's before using rigify metarigs and this is the first time I've ever seen this. It's super frustrating and I need this for a class assignment. Does anyone know what the hell is going on here?

Image 1 and 3 show the rotation values of the lower arm which appears to be correct. I would have been useful knowing the rotation values for the upper arm /shoulder, which changes as you pointed out.

You add a metarig, resize it to fit your model and then generate a rig, the original metarig is not needed after that. You appear to be animating the original armature, If you have generated a rig and also using the original metarig then you would have two armatures deforming your mesh.

Nevermind, I fixed it. So, even though I was applying each keyframe with "whole character" I only ever had one bone selected while doing so. I tried doing the same thing with the entire rig selected and it didn't mess up. I'm not really sure what the correlation is between my issue and applying keyframes like that, or why I didn't need to do it that way for all my other animations, but what's fixed is fixed.


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Blender glitchy animation export fbx UE4
I'm trying very basic stuff here.
I have made a running animation on a armature rigged soldier model. The animation plays all fine in blender , but glitches out a horrible mess after export to UE4 as FBX.
All IK bones (colored sticks) are orphans and have unchecked Deform option
I have tried this like 50 times in last 4 days with different animations, Some time some animations will work and some time they suddenly start to glitch if I make a change and some are just already glitched. However inside Blender They all work fine
Animation in blender

Aniation in UE4

Export settings for Mesh

Export settings for Animation

observed points:
1.The animation worked fine earlier when I exported it halfway in its making to test.
2.It looks like the action editor may be responsible as sometimes cleaning all keyframes and making a new animation from scratch fixes it but this is not feasible.
3.This mostly happens if I change any keyframe (like move a bone and replace the keyframe with that pose using I key)
(Attached .blend and texture file)

No one has a clue?

This is a known issue with FBX exported by Blender and UE4, investigated since months now… :/ See https://answers.unrealengine.com/questions/98704/fbx-import-wrong-application-of-animations-to-bone.html

@user1062760 is it possible that i have the same problem:https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/122689/weird-bone-axis-rotation-problems-from-blender-to-ue4/122690#122690 ?


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Exporting fbx animations to ue4
I am using blender to animate a skeletal mesh and then export it in FBX format.
I exported with Z axis as up and positive X as forward
There are certain problems with it.
Importing only the mesh complains for some missing bind poses. I use t0 for bind pose.
The mesh orientation is correct but when importing with animations the warning says imported bone transform is different from original
Then when i play the animation the whole skeleton is lying down while it is standing up in blender.
what am i doing wrong?
Also I would like to choose which animations to export exclusively! how do i do that?
EDIT: When I import the animations there are some other weird animations that get imported each of them just 2 frame long, what are those?
Also please  guide me to a learning resource on NLA and actions editor.

You have three ways to control how animations are exported in FBX:

NLA Strips and All Actions disabled: only 'active' actions in scenes will be exported (i.e., actions assigned to objects/armatures/etc.).
All Actions enabled: all existing actions are exported for all compatible objects (because there is no way by default in Blender to restrain a set of actions to a specific object).
NLA Strips enabled: each strip of the NLA of each object is exported as a single action. This is the best way to get precise control over which action is exported for a given object.

As for orientation and armature issues, this is a well known issue of current code (at least with UE4, for some reason Unity seems to work much better), which is being investigated - it is still completely unclear whether issue is in UE4 reading code, or Blender writing code, or both…

So you mean there is no fix for that other than rotating stuff in the ue4 (which is possible) ?

Currently, yes. Just be sure to never use 'Apply Transform' when exporting with armatures, since this is known can of worm. But it does not prevent all issues with UE4.

I am completely new to Blender, so I haven't even tested this yet, but here's a solution for the skeleton lying down problem.
"Could anyone find a solution to the rotation problem, other than rotating the character by 90° around X in Blender? Whatever I select in the exporter, my character appears face-down in UE4." asked by Daerst
"Just don't scale in the exporter. Use scale = 1.0 in the exporter and scale the model in Unreal Scene, use Blender default unity as cm or blender world scale to Metric and change to 0.01 but don't scale in the exporter." answered by vBalbio
Answer from vBalbio on the Unreal Engine forum.
https://forums.unrealengine.com/archive/index.php/t-128.html


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Animation nodes - How to make an object face camera yet let the object rotate around its normal?
Imagine an object, for example a Cube.
Now Imagine the Camera.
Imagine that, whatever the position of the camera is, you always want (a certain face of) the Cube to face the camera.
This means that the normal of the Cube's pointing-towards-the-camera-face will change.
Now at the same time I would like the Cube to rotate around its (Z-)normal ... such that it is spinning around at a constant speed (the input can be the animation's timeframe).
I have been trying for days but I can't make it work.
Also note that non-animation-nodes dynamic ways to let an object face the camera (e.g. Object constraint and Track to) do not seem to make it easy to let the object, at the same time spin around itself ...
MWE

Please download the MWE-blend file ->

Use a combination of parenting and constraints. An empty with a trackto constraint can point to the camera, a cube that is a child of the empty will follow the location and rotation of the empty but as a child, it can also have its own rotation animation.

Starting with a cube, that has an identifiable face, set it up to rotate on its z-axis

Add an empty and position it on the face, in this example I used a cone to visualise the direction.

Now when you move the empty, the cube follows and continues to rotate.
Add a trackto constraint to the empty. Set this to track the camera. Now as you move the empty,  the cube follows and the specific face is always facing the camera.

Now the camera can move anywhere, the cube will keep rotating and its face will always be facing the camera.

If you also want the camera to track the cube, you will need two empties, the other to be the parent of the camera, with both children having trackto constraints to follow the opposite empty. This is how a piston can be setup.

You wrote "Now when you move the empty, the cube follows and continues to rotate." How is this so? As from your explanation, they are two different objects.

@VincentMiaEdieVerheyen While at worlds origin the cube rotates. As the cube is a child of the empty, it follows the empty's movements. After the parents movement and rotation is followed the childs animation allows it to rotate as if the parents current position is the world origin.

Parent the camera to the object, in this case, the cube.
Simple as that.

This is interesting. In your GIF, are you rotating the cube? What I need is, while the cube is spinning around its Z axis, the camera can certainly not rotate around the scene like that. There are many other objects and lights and so on in the scene.

I am rotating the cube, and the camera is following the cube's motion as a result of the parenting.

Please note in my original question that I want the Cube's orientation (even though it has to spin around its axis) to be camera-dependent, not the other way around. I don't want the position of the camera to be automatically adjusted to the rotation of the cube.


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Cycles: pixel problems, not on first frame ... How to solve?
See here the first rendered image (Cycles engine). You can notice that the background does not look very pixelated at all. This quality is fine:

However, in my renders (same Cycles engine, same render ... just some frames later), in subsequent frames, the background (and everything else) suddenly becomes very pixelated:

I hope this question can be answered. I have not found any other answers on this website, because this question does not relate to fireflies, and the render dimensions stay the change.
@Yohello1's comment -> Here are my output properties:

I render the video via my Mac's terminal:

Are you putting it directly to a video format or putting onto individual frames?

@Yohello1 I have now updated the OP to answer your question. Please help.

It looks like video compression artifact. That's almost impossible to avoid with the codec you use (divx). You can try a more efficient codec like H264.

As @thibsert implied, it seems to be the video-codec which creates the problems. If you change it to e.g. H.264 the problem is solved.

Too add to this I would recommend using a MP4 container instead

@Yohello1, Why?

Just because it's more supported (from why I know )


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Strange pixelation when previewing a material
I am trying to add a basic color to an object. But whatever Suface I choose, I end up having these strange colorizations/pixelations.

By the way, if I turn to e.g. Viewport shading, my whole viewport is showing the same symptoms...
Maybe my hardware is too old? I only noticed this after installing Blender latest version.
I basically get something like this in my Viewport:

Might have been the Render Engine ...

This look like an issue with your graphics driver or GPU. Install the latest graphics driver for your GPU and check whether your hardware is supported by 2.80. https://www.blender.org/download/requirements/


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Object floating on heavy sea - how to make shocking rotation less sensitive?
So I have an object floating on a heavy sea. How to make it a bit less sensitive to sudden rotation and location changes, and make it look more fluid instead?
I used the technique such as described in  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvKQrXMypsM which uses object contraints (copy location and copy rotation) on a plane that has been srinkwrapped to the fluid.

The way I am solving this now is, unfortunately, by baking the action of the floating object (take a smaller baking step interval) and then smoothing the transitions with bezier curve transitions.


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continuous sequence of frames with multiple cameras with each camera starting at start of animation?
I have baked a fluid simulation that runs for 300 frames.  I have 3 cameras, one from the left side, one from the right side, and one from the top.  Can I render a sequence of 900 frames where the first 300 are rendered from the simulation from the left camera, then it uses the same simulation and does the next 300 frames from the right camera, then uses the same simulation for the final 300 frames from the top camera?

Why you don't want to render 3 times then сonnect the three parts together in VSE?

Related: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/62387/render-an-animation-with-2-different-cameras-but-at-the-same-time

You could use the Multi-View Render Layer functionality to simultaneously render from multiple cameras to files and then stitch them together in the compositor.
Start by creating and positioning your cameras. Ensure they all have the same name with the exception of a suitable suffix - eg, 'Camera_L' for left, 'Camera_R' for right, 'Camera_T' for top. In the Render Layers tab, enable Views and create an entry for each camera with a matching suffix for each view (ie, '_L' for left, '_R' for right, '_T' for top).

Now when you render the scene Blender will render a separate image for each camera. To view the individual images you need to disable the Stereo 3D option and select the channel using the selection box.

When rendering the animation you will now get multiple renders per frame - each will be produced with a filename including the camera suffix. For example, rendering to EXR :
0001_L.exr
0001_R.exr
0001_T.exr
0002_L.exr
0002_R.exr
0002_T.exr
0003_L.exr
0003_R.exr
0003_T.exr
0004_L.exr
0004_R.exr
0004_T.exr
....

(rendering to PNG produces similar filename output)
The separate frames can now be used in the compositor using Image nodes with suitable filename and offset, along with logic to mix between them based on the frame :

The compositor nodes have three separate images, each set with a different start frame so, in this case, the first 50 frames are using the first set of images (from one camera), after frame 50 the Mix nodes select the second set of images and after frame 100 the third set.
Note the maths nodes use the presence or not of an Alpha channel to determine which image to merge into the output to automatically select the relevant image. If the alpha channel is in use for transparency then you will need to use the frame number via a driver (enter ‘#frame’ into a Value field) or another method (eg, keyframes) to determine which image to use.
Here is the final result :

Note that Suzanne is only being rotated once through 360 degrees, but rendered from each camera and combined to show each view in turn.
Blend file included (note that there are two scenes - one for the render and a separate one for compositing (required due to the different number of frames - 50 for the render and 150 for the compositor pass)).

just a hint for newer Blender versions:
you can find in Output properties -> Stereoscopy

Hi Rich. Could you please take a look at my question here? I need some urgent help and I think you might be able to help me with it. Really appreciate you.

Yes you could complete a pass then select and change the active object to the active camera, then render again.
Or you could place a series of Scene Strips in the VSE (one per camera) end to end. Open each Strip's properties panel and change the active camera attribute. The scene strip will always play from its embedded time value, starting at frame 1.
Be aware that switching the active camera in this way can also affect the compositor scene input node. So you would get better color rendition from this output (instead of the VSE output).

Heres an example of offsetting time with VSE scene strips http://youtu.be/fBZDSeVf49w