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Transparency removes glow effect
Hi I am trying to render my Picture with glow on a transparent Background. I dont get why it does not work. If i set up any background the glow effects works, if i make the Background transparent it does not work.

I think it's because the add node will use the alpha of the upper input and so in your first picture the glow effect is invisible, but for the second picture the glow should work since the blur node is plugged in as the first input.

Yes but on the transparent one, the particles that are on the flower got the blur effect. So i dont get it why the other particles does not have the effect

To know why this is happening, first you have to understand how alpha works. A transparent image(image with 0 alpha) doesn't mean it doesn't have any color(rgb values).
For example: A pixel can have red value of 255, green value of 100, blue value of 0 and alpha value of 0 (RGBA=(255,100,0,0))
In the both of your image, the RGB value is the same, but they have different alpha values.
In the picture below, both of the green areas have the same rgb value, the only different is that the right one doesn't have an alpha value. Which makes it seems like the glow effect didn't work, but in truth, the glow is just transparent, you could verify this by unchecking use alpha in the composite node, and you will see the glow (unless you have premul on, but that's another thing).

And for the particles on the flower, the reason why the glow effect is visible there is because the flower is completely opaque. It forces the pixels around the particle to have an alpha value of 1.
More information on alpha: https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/glossary/index.html#term-alpha-channel
Edit: You can still do it but you may need to add a little more nodes.
In the picture below, I added the alpha values of the unblurred image and the alpha values of the blurred image together, then set it as the alpha of the final image using the set alpha node.

Oh, ok thank you. So i think it is not possible to make the glow visible in Video editing software? Sorry if this is a stupid question, maybe i just understood something wrong.

@RawRaven it is still possible, i edited the answer and added how to still achieve the glow effect using the set alpha node.


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Why do i have different normal directions? (ascii stl)
Why does the blender show that the normal directions are different?

B.stl
solid B
        facet normal -1 0 0
                outer loop
                        vertex -5 5 -5
                        vertex -5 5 5
                        vertex -5 0 0
                endloop
        endfacet
        facet normal -1 0 0
                outer loop
                        vertex -5 5 -5
                        vertex -5 -5 -5
                        vertex -5 0 0
                endloop
        endfacet
endsolid

Thanks for your edit .. got it, now, see edit in my answer.

It's because the vertices of the faces are listed in different orders.
The first face (red) is listed clockwise, and the second face is listed anti /counterclockwise, when viewed from this side.
The normal of a triangle can be calculated from the cross-product of two of its edges. The function is not commutative, so the order in which the edges are taken matters.
In Blender, and most other 3D applications, the vertices of a face are ordered in an anticlockwise direction, when the face is viewed with its normal towards you.
Whatever the 'Facet Normal' variable is doing.. (is it actually a scalar? 1 or -1?) it's doing the same to both facets, so does not alter the inconsistency in vertex order.
Edit: On further reading, it seems that facet_normal is intended to be a redundant, pre-calculated normal of the triangle, measured in the same space as the vertex coordinates. If not used, it's probably best set to (0,0,0).
In the example given, it's correct for the blue face but inconsistent, (actually inverted) for the red face, as defined by the order of its vertices.

There is a use_facet_normal option available on import.  However it spits the dummy for me with Mesh' object has no attribute 'show_edge_sharp'  Notice that rather than anticlockwise I find it is more commonly notated counterclockwise.  Wonder if it's UK vs US english.  I'm in Oz and grew up using anti.

@batFINGER Cheers! I've already given way to 'color' and 'normalize'.. oh, well ... is facet_normal a vector? I wonder what space that would be in?

@batFINGER ..  np, got it.

Was hoping it set the normals as in file.  Editing code to remove error and setting the use facet normal to true, doesn't change the outcome in this case anywhow.  RE the error https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/126707/change-edge-information-display-in-blender-2-80-with-python

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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How to remove triangular edges that appear after subdivision
I’m new at blender, and I decided to model a magic lamp as a start. I started by modeling the base of the lamp. I made it disk shaped. when I made the loop circular and used a subdivision modifier, those strange triangular edges appeared. How can I remove them? thank you, and sorry for bad english :slight_smile:

Edit: after removing n-gons, triangles disappeared! but edges became sharp.

Hello and welcome :). The triangles appear, because Subdivision modifier doesn't like the two n-gons (faces with more than 4 sides) in your model. Get rid of the n-gons, and it will work just fine.

Thank you,
I subdivided edges and used triangulate faces, then  I used tris to quads, It worked fine and the triangles disappeared! but it made the shape of the lamp sharp (like a cuboid) instead of round (like a cylinder).
Thank you anyway, but do you have a way to return the round shape?
@JachymMichal

Hi :). It will require some manual tweaking, but this thread could help with making your loopcuts into circles.

Start with a lowpoly geometry and try to keep the mesh as regular as possible.
We don't know the final shape you want to obtain, but what I'd do is starting from a circle with few (8) vertices and extrude it along Z and scaling these extrusions.
Here is the geometry (in edit mode below with the starting circle selected), and above the same with a subdivision surface set to 1.

The main part is done simply extruding and scaling the base circle.
Then, when the shape looks ok for you, You can make the 'nose' part by selecting faces on the side and extrude them along X.
The hole (where the genius will come from) is done selecting top faces of the previous extrusion and insetting these faces using I and delete this inset.

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


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How would I go about modelling this building/structure?
I have been trying to improve my skills in Blender and I would like to try something a little more complex. To say I have hit a wall may be an understatement.
Here is what I would like to replicate. (More to come after images.)

I am stuck on what I believe to be the first step of recreating the structure. I have tried creating the rounded-rectangle shape of the example structure with a Bezier Curve; modeled a segment, then added an Array and Curve modifier to it. I get this:

The spacing on my recreation seems to be way different to the reference structure. The reference seems to have far more "evenly sized" segments.
I have no idea how the reference I am using was achieved. I can't ask whoever created it, as I don't remember where it came from.
My guess is that it wasn't done how I am trying to do it, and there is another way of doing things I am not familiar with. I'm sure many people would like to know how to approach a problem like this, if someone with more knowledge and experience could weigh in.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.

I'm not sure if this is totally in line with some particular method you had ion mind, but here's how I would go about making that kind of shape.
First, start with a cube, select it and press Ctrl + 2 (add subdivision surface level 2), and then apply it - this will give you a quad based, "boxy" spheroid:

Select the whole resulting mesh in edit mode and "flatten" it by scaling it on the Z axis by 0.2 or so:

Select the top and bottom inner faces, inset them slightly, then delete them:

Because your object looks more rectangular, select the whole mesh in edit mode and scale on the Y axis by 1.2 or so:

Add another subdivision surface modifier - to preview the resulting mesh geometry correctly, enter wireframe mode, and disable Optimal Display on the modifier settings - choose a level of subdivision that looks good to you. While it is not identical to your sample images (especially the triangles in the corners), I argue this mesh is just as much, if not more, topologically sound.

It also seems from your images that the mesh "bulges" in the center. If this is the case, select a vertex on the top and bottom center of both sides, turn on Proportional Editing (O) and scale on the Z. You can use the mousewheel to control the influence size of the "bulge":

Thank you! That's really cool. I've made a note for future use. It may have been achieved in a similar way, though I still suspect it is an Array + Curve modifier stack.
I would really like the "rim" of the structure to be even in width, and try to get as close to the reference shape as possible. The bulge should be easy regardless of how I get there.
In the blend file I attached, you will notice support struts that are centered on the edges radiating outward from the center of the structure. If I did use your idea, I'm not sure how I would then space the struts. Thanks for weighing in!

Yeah, ok. I'll play around with your method and see what I come up with.


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How do I get rid of the black lines in my ground plane texture?

this is my current eevee render I just want my render to look like this one below

Nodes for the ground plane:

The Blender file: Blender file

hello could you please share your file? https://pasteall.org/blend/

I've added the file, thanks

You need to edit your post and put the link to that pasteall into your post so we can see it too.

oh right!, apologies, very new here

it looks like it's caused by the Displacement, I thought this node only worked in Cycles no?

so the creator pointed to his old video where he uses this node in cycles and says he has used the same, although the result is completely different. Should I completely remove the displacement? and what should be the new node setup?

yes it works in Cycles but probably not in Eevee. If you want the same effect you can use the Noise Texture for example, I can try a setup if you want

yes please, I just want to get rid of those black lines and have water type reflections for my ground plane

From what I know the Displacement node doesn't work in Eevee so it may be just a kind of buggy artefact. There are many ways to make water:
You can plug a Musgrave Texture into a (Vector) Bump into the Glossy node to fake real 3D. To animate, keyframe the W value or the Mapping location values:

If you want real displacement you need to subdivide your plane and give it a Displace modifier with a Clouds texture that you animate with an empty (in the modifier choose Coordinate > Object, Object > Empty):

Of course you can combine the solutions.


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bad normal smoothing in blender versions > 2.91.2
im not even sure how to word this let alone search the blender bug reporter for every trace of the word "normal"
but any smooth shaded low poly mesh in any blender version greater then 2.91.2 suffers from this

left is blender 1.92.1, right is 3.1.2
it looks like they tried to fix the weird fresnel effect that 2.91 had while simultaneously screwing up low poly modelers
my question is
is this a bug worth reporting?
or would i just get a "works as intended" despite it obviously not looking correct?
edit:
heres a blend file ive setup with a rotating camera to showcase the weirdness
https://pasteall.org/media/a/4/a49e1b88ac0e0bb8603987277f48f6ab.blend
just hit play on the timeline / space bar

More likely to be due to bad topology, but without seeing the underlying mesh in Edit mode it's impossible to say. I assume you've checked Auto Smooth Normals? (Green triangle > Normals > Auto Smooth.)

this mesh is just an icosphere with 1 subdivisions
and moved around a bit to bring out the funky sharp edges
and yes this is with the auto smooth normals set at 30
and either way same deal
if i can figure out how to upload a blend file
i can do and give an active example

https://pasteall.org/blend/ and paste a link to the file here.

thanks
added the example


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Animate a circular deformity moving across the edge of an object
Can we make a circular deformity move across a plane as a wave like those characters from Toy Story:

Can we make the same effect in blender between two planes?

I realized how to make the effect. I made a spherical texture, then I made a displace modifier to the plane, I selected the spherical texture, and I changed texture coordinate to an empty object. I changed the direction of displace modifier to X. Then I moved the empty object along the edge and it worked. I'll upload a GIF to illustrate This.

One way is to use the Wave Modifier.

Subdivide the plane a bit (5-6 levels of Subdivision Modifier)
Add the Wave Modifier and play with different values
Use the Video Sequencer slider to preview the animation

Thank you for the answer, but it's not the same. The wave has to be moving across the edge of the plane to make the effect, not on the surface of the plane.

Well, then please add it to your original post :). It says "circular deformity across plane". And perhaps a different gif would illustrate it better.


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Method of getting the best Texel Density?
To be clear, I know how to unwrap and I've watched quite a lot of content on how to do so in efficient ways.  However, I have been putting together some decent-sized buildings for an urban city project I am working on and I am having a lot of trouble with texel density.  Most tutorials on the matter end with the person taking all of the different objects and then combining their UV maps into one.  For me, it feels like even if I get the islands as efficiently packed as I possibly can, my texel density just isn't where I need it to be.
You'll find a screenshot of the project at the bottom of the post.
I am currently keeping each wall section separate and then putting all of the windows together into one map, then applying separate materials to each section so that they come up as separate texture sets in Substance Painter.  I am getting good results doing this, but I am wondering if there is something I am missing...?
Read more below the screenshot for more details on what I've been doing to this point.

Thanks for any help you can give in terms of larger projects and what the standard practices are.  In fairness, most tutorials on UV mapping are working with small objects, so I'm having a hard time gleaning any further information from them.

What size texture maps are you exporting from SP? Texel density is more about texture consistency rather than texture detail. You could get a very detailed texture map for that building with a set of 4K textures, but if that building isn't a "hero" asset, what's the point? This doesn't directly answer your question about UV unwrapping strats - there are lots of those already available, but just be sure that you're not stressing over the wrong thing.

@Electric_Wizard I'm working in 4k in SP, but my textures were always blurry at closer inspection until I cut the building up into about 6-8 UV's (I could get this down to probably half) so that I could have more room to get a higher density.  Now I get the type of fidelity that I would expect but I am concerned that I am missing something, b/c everything I've seen in UV tutorials combine the entire mesh in one single UV. This could just be b/c all of the tutorials user smaller scoped models, but if my workflow is off I'd like to solve that now rather than after I've created dozens of assets.

Appended to above comment - There is also the issue of seams that comes with cutting a model up like this.

My advice is, instead of using one map for everything, you could use multiple UDIM tiles. This way the textures will be less grainy when viewed up close. It all depends up to what zoom the model will be displayed.
Also you could subdivide the various meshes in the UV maps by material type (concrete, wood, glass, tile ceramics, etc...) or by object type (roof, walls, windows, etc...).
In this way with the same resolution you will have a higher Texel Density (which will have to be the same for all the UV islands) and the textures will be sharper.


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is there a way to get boids to fly at max air speed WITHOUT locking them to a altitude?
im trying to get a reaction from boids that involves overshooting a moving goal
setting min airspeed to max gives me that overshooting behavior.
but also seems the boids cant fly up or down to meet their goal anymore
is this just a limitation of blenders implementation of boids?
cause it sorta sucks if so
espcially for non natural flocking behaviors (think syfi stuff)
im guessing the boid sims flight is based on actual in atmosphere flight
so speed = lift = flight
so going max speed all the time = 100% lift = never going down or up?
id post an example blend but its 30MB and the problem is simple enough to reproduce if you know your way around the particle system
example blend file (let me know if it actual works since im not sure what i did to shave off 15mbs)

It might be helpful to people trying to help you if you uploaded an example blend file to the site https://blend-exchange.com and add that link in the question. A simple example blend file demonstrating  just that issue should limit the size.

You should be able to create a toy version of your problem with a small file-size? ... at least, please include a screen-grab of the 'Movement' settings of your Boid system.

i think i got it? i messed with some settings for the particle cache and that got it down to 15mb. uploading


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How to export/add a single animation into Unity
I have a spaceship, with a lot of animations (using a rig/armature) already working inside Unity. Now I wanted to add a new animation, I do so in Blender, but can't figure out how to add just that one new animation (action) from Blender to Unity.
I've tried exporting the FBX with the new animation, and replace it with the FBX inside Unity, but doing so the new animation does not appear (it does if I do add it as a new FBX with a different name instead of replacing it).
How can I do so?

Hello and welcome! BSE is a question and answer site. It works more like a library than a common forum. If you have found a solution to your problem feel free to post it as an answer. After 2 days, you even can accept your own answer. The accepted answer has a checkmark and is linked to the question in the search result. This way other readers can easily find it. If you do so there is no need to add "(Solved)" to the title.

Hi. Please don't add "Solved" to your question or title. Instead we encourage you to post an answer below with a short description of the solution and what steps you took to reach it. Perhaps add a few images illustrating the workflow and final results. See How do I write a good answer?

Replacing the file is the way. Animations will not show up straight ahead. Once replaced the file, open the fbx (top right corner in inspector, click "open"), go to the Animations tab, then the + icon, and then select the new animation, and on the dropdown below Source Take select the newly added animation.


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Hinges - how they make to follow rigid body?
I'm still confused with Physic and Constraints.
I'd like to have two bodies - connected together by hinge (let say vertical beam on a platform
, connected to horizontal beam). I'd like to move the platform from one place to another, keeping vertical beam on top, and have hinges working).
I've tried hook modifier, a few constraints - but it does not work somehow. Either vertical beam follows the platform and hinge stop working, or hinge is working and beam does not follow the platform.
I animate platform (with keyframes) and move it from one place to another.
Frame 1:

Frame 2:

can you pls show us (either by a video link or a gif or a sketch) how the animation should look like? what parts should move and how?

I edited the question, adding frame1 and frame2

The hinge "empty" must look like this (orientation is very important for hinge):

I animated the block that you can see, the hinge works.
Blend file:

Result:

You can quickly create a hinge by selecting the two objects, then "object" -> rigid body -> connect. Then correct the empties rotation and position (if necessary).

here an example where the platform itself is animated:

in that case you have to keyframe the "animated" checkbox and of course the location of the platform.

Awesome, thank you. However, I see that you are pushing this by another passive block. Can you have the platform at the bottom animated, or does the whole block (platform + two beams) have to follow physic only?

of course you can animate the platform it by its own.

i updated my answer. If my answer helped you, please click on the checkmark left of my answer. thank you.

Cool, so it's all about having second empty with correct orientation. Thank you

You are welcome


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How to make a cloth affect a rigid body and simultaneously follow the rigid body?
I'd like to connect a rigid body and cloth for a sail animation, so when the rigid body is moving to the right when wind is blowing and the cloth is moving to the right I'd like for them to be connected and move together - like cloth is dragging the rigid body rather them moving separately.
How can I achieve this? I've tried solutions with hooks, and a few other things I've found here, but without success :(
I have an example, of what I'd like to get, but not sure how I can attach it here :(

maybe the cloth should be attached to the rigid body (with a parenting to vertex)? Also do you really need the object to be rigid body?

I'm not sure, maybe not if there is a way to drag not rigid body object by attached cloth sail

You can add a child of constraint to your cloth sail and add the rigid body to the influence object. That way, the cloth will move with the rigid body. If you want the rigid body to be affected by the cloth, so then you're probably using a force to make the cloth move: so definitely the rigid body will be affected by that force, so it will visually look like the sail is affecting the movement.
Edit: You've done two things wrong. First thing, make the sail the child of the stick, not the stick the child of the sail. Second thing you have to do is to hook the vertex of your object to an empty like this: Pin cloth to model

That sounds awesome, I'll give it a try, thanks

@Larumis Don't forget to give the cloth a hook/pin group so it doesn't fall dawn and result in a torn-up destroyed sail !)

Unfortunately, it doesn't work or I have done it incorrectly - the lag between cloth and rigid body is huge and also rigid body is not connected to the right side of the sail. Also constraints moves around origin, meaning that I cannot have box collision shape I think :(
Blender example file

Hmmm wait, let me test it practically on your file and I'll update you soon, @Larumis

Check my edits @Larumis

Amazing - it works ! Thank you !


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Render not showing active changes in movement of object I've tried almost everything
Basically I finished everything in the scene but the final posing and rigs won't show up in the render. The specific problem is the hand, it keeps going behind the phone after I move it and adjust is in front. I changed the mode l, deleted the layer even played with the post processing and specular, I am using a set pose downloaded for my Sim but that shouldn't be the problem right? I should still be able to edit the posing and have it stay in place for the final render.

And this is the render image as you can see it's showing the fingers before the positioning ere]3]3
I'm using a downloaded pose from the internet and wanted to adjust the hand to make it fit but it continues to go and only show the previous pose I did model the hair bc it was also clipping with the hand and phone but how do I get the render to be the same as the camera?? ere]4]4

[![more of my settings][6]][6]

We need further information to answer, including a screenshot of the problem and possibly a blend file. The difference between viewport and render often comes from modifier stack, that's what I would check first.

It's definitely has something to do with the pose bc when I click on the rig vs the pose it switches to something else and then I go back and the pose is reset back to the hand being behind and clipped

But I will check that

Also it's blender 2.8 btw

You have to insert loc/rot/size keyframes for the bones before rendering or else they will revert to the last (keyframed) pose
It's a bit of an annoyance/bug


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Color management affetcs video sequencer
I try to match my scene to a reference video (which I have loaded into the Video sequence editor) by changing settings in the Color management tab such as contrast, exposure or gamma. However, this also affects the clip in the Sequencer. How can I prevent this or use another color management for the video sequencer?

Press N in the Sequencer and in the Side Panel Just head over to Modifiers and add any modifier you want to add to manage your look of the clip
Hope this may Solve your Problem


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Background Image (Movie clip) appearing purple
I want to add a video as a background "image" in blender 2.8 to match my camera movement. Blender is however only displaying a purple solid (like when the source file cannot be found). I've tried multiple videos, both as mp4s and image sequences (png). All of them do not work.
Background images work as normal, so this issue is only with videos.
Update: Apparently, this issue was just related to my working file. I could just copy all my objects to a new .blend file where everything worked as it should. I would still be interested in an answer though.

I have now figured out what the issue is (or more precisely, how to solve it). When I scrub through the timeline, the purple color only appears at the first frame. If I then go back to the first frame, the video does not disappear.
Additionally, if you are using your active clip as a source, make sure that it starts at the first frame.

Pink always mean that the image used is missing or cannot be displayed.
If the frame you are trying to use does not exist in your video file you can instruct blender where to start the video file.
as described in this link:
How can I make a "Movie Clip" node start at a certain frame of the scene?
use the frame, start frame and offset for the video or image sequence.

Now why would your video be missing the first frame?
It is likely that you are dealing with video that has been compressed with an interframe codec using P or B frames and the reference keyframe at the beginning of the Group of Pictures is missing or cannot be read, so the first image displayed is the first keyframe of the next GOP. For more info on this read: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/video/tips-and-solutions/compression-a-basic-understanding

Magenta .mp4
If you load your .mp4 and the image source defaults to Image Sequence, click the drop-down selector and set it to Movie instead.
Additionally, the total number of frames may have ended up in the Offset field instead of the Frames field. Cut/Paste that number into its correct place.

Other issues
If a non-magenta solid color is shown, the video is probably loaded but not mapped correctly. Try using the Texture Coordinate node. Finally, the Image Texture node and the Environment node look nearly identical, but offer different options in the projection type drop-down, so make sure you're using the appropriate one for your intended purpose.


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Weird rendering issue: "Rendered 387/390 tiles"
I am experiencing rendering issues in my current Blender project (V 2.83). When I star rednering, after updating the object flags, Blender displays it has rendered 387/390 tiles (as shown below) although in the image, it is currently rendering the first 3 tiles. I have experienced this issue before and could usually solve it by simply restarting Blender, but this does not help anymore as the issue persists. Is this a bug in 2.83 or what can I change about it?

I have rendered previous frames of the animation which are almost identical without problems.
My system specs are as following:
CPU: Intel i7-6500U 2.5GHz
GPU: Nidia GeForce GTX 950M, 2GB VRAM
RAM: 16GB
If I let the rendering run for a while (about 10 minutes), it stops with an error message ("Launch exceeded timeout in cuCtxSynchronize")
Interestingly, when encountering this issue, my CPU is only at about 40% while when rendering normally, both my CPU and GPU are at aroun 100%! (I think this eliminates system problems as the cause of this issue).
Thanks in advance!

It turned out that after restarting my computer and blender a few times, the issue disappears; it was probably just an error of blender. I would however still be interested in what causes this and how it can be avoided.


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Only break object when colliding with another?
I have recently been getting into some physis simulations with blenders rigid body. I have a basic understanding of cell fracture and rigid body constraints.
Here is what I don't know how to approach: Let's suppose I have a large wall and want to break a comparably small hole into it (for example with some bullet). What I would do is cell fracture the wall, connect the particles with constraints and setting the breakable threshhold to such a value that only the desired area breaks. However, there are still seams between all the other parts of the wall which are in no way affected by the simulation.
How can I do a simulation in such a way that only the relevant particles are fractured and the rest remains untouched?

What I mean can be seen at about 8:57 in this great video (I didn't make it, just my opinion): The part of the cube that isn't shattered still has fractures which shouldn't be there.

@Edgel3D Your two links show exactly what I want to achieve. Maybe you could go into some more detail in an answer?

If you're unfamiliar with masking, read up what you can for your particular version of Blender.  See Here for a general description.
The example here is using a 3D mask and rendered in OpenGL but plain ol' vanilla 2D masks work just as well.

As for the cell fracturing, that was simply a cell-fractured cube the same size as the mask and hole.  It was placed inside the wall. A few particles were emitted from the same area for small debris effect.
The hole in the wall can be any shape you wish.  This one came from a subdivided cube.  It was given the 'Randomize' beauty treatment so it ended up jagged on all sides. (Tools panel)
That was then sliced in Edit mode so it ended up like a thick slice of bread, two flat walls (the bread) with it's crusts still jagged.

The flat front face was removed and used for the mask, the back one deleted and the jagged sides left as they were to give the hole it's depth.

The front face (removed) is moved to a separate layer which is designated to be the Masking layer.
Anything placed in there automatically becomes a mask and will cut a hole through the other layers .
This particular hole will obviously need it's walls but the mask is going to take them out.
We get around that by doing two renders to mix in the VSE.  One overlaying the other.
The 1st is called 'Top'.  That is alpha layered so the hole is rendered as transparent.
The 2nd is called 'Bottom' and that doesn't need (or want) an alpha layer, nor does it include the mask layer.  (An extra brick was inserted in the wall for effect)
.
When the two are mixed in the VSE, 'Top' on the upper strip, 'Bottom' underneath, we get the result shown at the top of this answer.
Note - the Top strip has to be set to "Alpha Over" in the VSE at right.  (Press N)


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IK Stretch problem with character's feet: mesh distorts when the bone moves, despite IK Stretch = 0
I was trying to fix this problem by myself 8 hours straight, but haven't succed.
Your help really means a lot to me, if you'd decide to take a look:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LVfNcs-NJGTxYVFaW6c4rezDgfIcV909/view?usp=sharing
My rig has some problems with IK Stretch and I have no living idea how to fix it.
The problem is when you move bones foot_ik.L and foot_ik.R down along the axis Z,
And toe_ik.L and toe_ik.R along any axis, the mesh wierdly distorts.
In the same time, while you move hand_ik.L or hand_ik.R everything works perfect.
I tried:

Reparenting all of the feet bones to each other
Changing different parameters in the bone properties bar
Restructuring the metarig and regenerating it

Thank you for your effort, waiting for your advices or solutions
Notes:

mesh destortion by foot_ik https://i.sstatic.net/ibpMu.jpg
mesh distortion by toe_ik https://i.sstatic.net/rGXjm.jpg
the bones, which seems to me to be the origin of all the problems https://i.sstatic.net/uvOi3.jpg
that bone is the only one, which expands, despite of that its IK rig https://i.sstatic.net/UiAde.jpg
hand_ik works perfectly well https://i.sstatic.net/ErL3W.jpg

It distorts because DEF-foot.L (and .R) stretch to a bone that is copying transforms from toe_IK.L (or .R).  The hand does not stretch at all.  If you want the foot to behave like the hand, then disable the "Stretch To" constraint on DEF-foot.

"It distorts because DEF-foot.L (and .R) stretch to a bone that is copying transforms from toe_IK.L (or .R). The hand does not stretch at all. If you want the foot to behave like the hand, then disable the "Stretch To" constraint on DEF-foot."
– Nathan
yesterday
Dear Nathan, you don't know how mush I'm thankful to you
For some reason your comment isn't showing in the answers block, so I copied it and pasted it here
For anyone who had the same problem as me - Nathan's solutions works perfect, follow it


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when I extrude Edges, It creates new edges
when I extrude Edges, It creates new edges.
EX.
BUT I want like this

what should i do when i want like 2nd piture.

That is what the extrude tool is supposed to do, but I’m glad you added that last bit and the screenGIFs. It made it very clear what you wanted and what was happening unexpectedly.

You just move the edges. You can press G, you can click the Move icon in the toolbar on the left of the 3D viewport to bring up the moving gizmo, etc.


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Custom Bone Property
I'm trying to add a custom property to a bone using python.  I think I can add the property using
bpy.types.PoseBone.customProp = bpy.props.FloatProperty(name="customProp", default=0.0, min=0.0, max=1)
bpy.context.active_object.pose.bones["BoneName"].customProp = 0.0

However, in the bone's 'Custom Properties' panel the property doesn't appear.

Can anyone help me please?

Add Custom Properties to bone
bpy.context.active_object.pose.bones["Bone"].bone["my_prop"] = 0

Thank you.  It definitely appears in OBJECT mode, but not in POSE mode.

Saving/Restarting Blender results in the property appearing btw


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How do I change material render preview?

I want to change the render material preview by removing the floor in the preview and replacing all the lighting and environment in it with an hdri image, and setting an image as a background, so that the render preview changes from this:

To this:

I also want the material shown in the preview to look the same in Blender's file browser when I use append, like this:

So how do I do all this?
I do not mind using programming with Python if there is no other than this solution.

I think you would have to compile blender by yourself. According to: https://developer.blender.org/T57683 it's just a blend file, located here: release/datafiles/...

This seems especially difficult for a beginner like me. Can't I use Python inside Blender to create a panel that contains two layers of images (background image - static topped by an image layer of the material with a transparent background) as a material preview?

Had the same question found your then just worked it out by pick things.
Top right hand corner of the 3D viewport there is a drop down arrow.
In viewport shading you can select scene lights and scene world.
I didn't try to see if this would give you the result your looking for but it has worked for me.
Regards


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How do I make a hollow sphere?
So my journey here is only days old, but am already struggling. I am trying to duplicate this:

I've watched countless videos and repeated the best I can learn so far. So on my first sphere I've created this:

At a different angle:

As you can see, I've created the hole, but the cylinder I used is now sticking out the other side, which I'm not sure how to remove, any thoughts?
Is this really the best way to create those hollow spheres, similar to the planets picture I pasted?
I downloaded blender yesterday (V. 2.83.1). Many of the YouTube videos I've watched are difficult to follow and often only relate to older versions, so finding one that will be 2.8 specific has proved to be difficult (might be that I'm so new to Blender so finding it difficult)

you can either extrude inwards or use a Solidify modifier

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/50252/can-i-fill-an-empty-object

It looks as if you already used a cube with subdivision surface modifier to get your sphere. While not a bad idea, i'd recommend to use at least subdivision level 4 for a cleaner sphere, otherwise it's not really as spherical as you'd want.
Thanks to Trey Harper for pointing out the cast modifier, i barely use, which in this case though really improves the result.
That said, going from your (cube)sphere:

Apply the subdivision surface modifier on your cube(remember lvl 4, for a more spherical sphere) and a cast modifier with the factor of 1:

Marked red, important before going on is to apply these modifiers in order!
Go in front view Num 1, activate edit mode Tab
and x-ray mode Alt+Z, select half of the sphere like this:

when selecting, leave the center deselected to keep a half
With the selection, press X and choose Vertices
In the Object Data Properties we need to activate the Normals>Auto Smooth:

Auto Smooth is needed for the next step to look clean at the cut
Go back in object mode Tab and add a solidify modifier.

Adjust the modifier to your needs and you have one shell done.

You can now copy Shift+D the created shell and adjust it's size to gain the other layers of the planet.
Here a little visual demonstration:

The thickness of each layer can easily be adjusted in the modifier
As the core looks like a full sphere, you should have all needed means to your cause now.
Happy Blending

Amazing!! Struggling with Step 2 tbh. My circle is as you described, thanks for the "level 4" tip. I've tried your instructions but all I get when I press "Tab" is a square box with a circle in the middle. If I select half the circle, half the square ends up being selected. Then pressing the "Delete" key on the keyboard, brings up a "delete" menu asking if I want vertices, faces etc... to be deleted and that I have to pick one. The result is nothing like your step. Any advice?

I believe you did not apply the subdivision surface modifier, as the modifier shows the sphere inside the cube cage when entering edit mode without applying.

For a perfect sphere (note the spheres created from a cube with a sub-surf are NOT perfect spheres) try using the Cast modifier after your Subsurf.  Choose Sphere with a factor of 1.0.

@TreyHarper thanks, i used the addon quad-sphere but will update the alternative, as it is only one more modifier for a better result without the need of the addon.

Here's my take on this problem using modifiers as much as possible.
Start the same, with a roundcube found in the Extra Objects add-on, and cut it in half.
It is helpful before going any further to snap the cursor to the roundcube with Shift+S>cursor to selected and then add an empty which is the object of interest for the array modifier. Keeping the empty and quadsphere at the same origin will simplify the process greatly.

Next, we need some modifiers.
Solidify for thickness, Edge Split to sharpen things up some, Subdivision Surface to smooth things out, and an Array.
This is the stack in the image below:

(note that the object offset is ticked in the array modifier)
Next you can simply scale down the empty and translate in the x direction.

Here is an example .blend to inspect:

Brilliant and inspiring. Thank you. I’d be really interested in how you scaled the other hemispheres in that proportion. When I press “S” the whole range of hemispheres shrink equally. Also I can’t select an individual hemisphere. It’s like they are one group.

The empty is what controls scale and translation. When you are satisfied with position you may apply the modifiers and adjust further.

Just tried this. When I click "Object Offset" the value field below the tick remains void. Clicking in the box reveals only two options ""Camera" and "Light". I decided to manually type the word "Empty" but the box won't take it. Any thoughts?

@Dan, see my edit. There is a sample file you may inspect

Thanks. I'll review offline. Appreciate the effort.

the best way to create a hollow shpere is to use a solidify modifyer, which will add a layer to the mesh, making it hollow on the inside. hope this helps!

Hello and welcome, thanks for the answer. Could you illustrate how to achieve this?


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Auto-subdivide path
I created a simple animation of an airplane flying around things. I noticed that the airplane's speed is not constant, it changes over time. Is there any way that I can make this speed constant?
Note: I'm not asking to make the speed between two keyframes constant (which can be done by using the graph editor and the keyframe's interpolations) but how to make the whole animation (with many keyframes) happen at a constant pace.
Update: I chose to recreate the animation using a path (as this makes things such as smooth curves a lot easier). I noticed that when using the Follow Path Constraint, the object's speed is determined by how many "Subdivisions" there are in each segment of the path.
I want the object to have a constant speed so is there any way to make the "subdivision density" the same for all segments?

I found out that the simplest way to keep a constant speed over the course of the animation is to simply keyframe the Offset value in the Follow path constraint of the object. You can insert two keyframes so that it goes from 0 to 1 and adjust the interpolation to be linear.

When you select all of the keyframes in the graph editor, and press T to adjust the keyframes' interpolations, it adjusts all of them, not just two. However, if that does not work, you may have to re-keyframe the animation of the airplane, because the animation speed itself in the keyframes is different. You can't automatically make the animation keyframes constant, if that is what you are asking.
If your animation is lagging, it may also give an appearance of slowing down on some keyframes, but that is unlikely.


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Archviz animation - skip every frame and use FlowFrames or temporal data denoising?
I’ve been having trouble with the best method to render an interior archviz animation scene in Blender, using Cycles.
In my opinion, there are two methods:
1 - Render every other frame (resulting in 15fps, for example), and then interpolate with Flowframes, getting a result of 30fps Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mt3ppld1vAc&list=PLnxIfcSg1evy1YOQRmk4pBBqvHXGSjBNS&index=337&ab_channel=MediaWay
2 - Render every frame traditionally, and use temporal data denoising like the one that exists in Super Image Denoiser or with K-Cycles.
I can’t decide what’s the best method. The first one seems faster (because we’re cutting the rendered frames in half, and I’ve had great results), but I don’t know if it’s necessary to keep the number of samples high to compensate the lack of temporal data denoising…
The second method is the traditional one, and I think that by using temporal data denoising one can get good results with lower samples.
Using the first method I tried to use temporal data denoising with K-Cycles, but an error message appeared that said I didn’t have a sequence. It might have been because the numbering became 0001, 0003, 0005…I’m wondering if I change the sequence numbering to something like 0001, 0002, 0003, 0004… I can make the temporal data denoising work…
What’s your opinion with all of this?
P.S.: I know that each scene requires different values, but what’s a good rule of thumb? Maintaining the samples at 4096 and change the threshold or lower the samples and keep the threshold at 0.01 (for example)?


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When I switch to Cycles from Eevee, the details in my texture are lost
Link to the blender file[I'm new to blender.
I did all of the 3d model and materials with Eevee, and when I change it to cycles, I have a problem. In the rendered image, it looks like the bump isn't showing in the render.
When I do the render using Eevee, the bump/detail from the materials looks great, but when I change it to cycles for a better rendering, there´s no bump/detail in the shoe's strip material. Check the comparison in the shoe strips:

Thanks in advance!

Hello and welcome. Could you kindly attach a screenshot of your materials or provide your .blend file so we can know the problem?

Sure thing, I´ve just added a screenshot of one of the materials, I did practically the same process for all of the materials. Thanks!

Check my edits, it works! (By the way, the top part is not important, just look at my part about changing the bump settings :)

In cycles, you have probably set the settings of the material to Displacement Only. Change it to Bump Only or Displacement and Bump to view it properly in cycles.
EDIT: @BCussi the bump appears at my end: https://i.sstatic.net/Y7581.jpg You just have to zoom in a little, the denoising blurs it out at such a distance. Your image texture is not on my computer, so I can't see the colouring properly, but yeah, it's okay. Try giving it a render and also increase the strength of your displacement if you want, and instead of a distance of 0.005 on the bump nodes, try 0.01 or 0.05. And it also looks like you have plugged the bump node into the height of the other bump node and the wave texture into the strength of that bump node, connect THE NORMAL OF THE Bump Node to the normal input of the next bump node, and the wave texture into the height, not the strength like this:   In Eevee, it appears okay because Eevee automatically tries to guess what it will look like. Cycles however, is more realistic, that is why it uses everything according to real life values.

Thanks, I  checked and it has in bump only, I am changing it to bump and displacement to check if anything changes but the render looks the same as before. But thanks anyways!

@BCussi can you switch to cycles and show me your material settings?

Sure, there you go.

@BCussi Check my edit, solves the problem :)

Update your blender. I remembered I had the same problem 6 months ago when using 2.91. I dont know problem with blender version or not, but you can try sometimes there may be glitch

I´ve added a link to my file! Please leet me know if you kind the error. Thanks!


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Python: how to set given curve object to `EDIT` mode?
When I go to EDIT mode using one of these two commands:
bpy.ops.object.mode_set(mode='EDIT')
bpy.ops.object.editmode_toggle()

I can see in the Outliner → Scenes that a curve object is selected.
But how to set another given curve object to EDIT mode ?
=== EDIT ===
When selecting a curve from the menu as active curve and then playing with these commands:
bpy.context.view_layer.objects.active = bpy.data.objects['BezierCurve.001']
bpy.ops.object.editmode_toggle()
bpy.context.view_layer.objects.active = bpy.data.objects['BezierCurve']
bpy.ops.object.editmode_toggle()

It seems I'm getting a little display bug misleading about the active object

you have to select the object first before calling bpy.ops. either by manual selection or select via python with obj.select_set(True)

Actually you have to set bpy.context.view_layer.objects.active = your_object since edit mode is based on the active object, not necessarily the selected object.

ah good point, i forgot that line thanks!

@HarryMcKenzie if I set another object as active, I will see both objects in EDIT mode.

only 1 object can be active, the rest is only selected. all selected objects will get into edit mode. question though is what is your goal, what is the problem u are trying to solve?

@HarryMcKenzie I'm new to Blender and just trying to undestand it through a little project, Blender seems easier for me to understand through the Python API.

@HarryMcKenzie I think I got it now. It seems there's a little display bug when selecting an object from the menu then playing with the Python API (I have updated my post to show it).


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Image Texture Help
I click on my object, then I select the materials tab (small red sphere). Everything is great except when I go into the Node editor (with "Use nodes" turned on) I can't add an Image Texture. In fact the "Texture" group isn't even in the Add menu.
Any thoughts? I'm sure it's a setting.
Normally I open "diffuse" and click the plus sign next to the default white color and then choose "image texture". But the color has no plus sign next to it.

Are you using BI or cycles?

Can you add a screenshot of the entire window? It'll be easier for us to tell what's going on.

The materials display for cycles changes dynamically based on what nodes are used. the plus sign is used to show/hide options of a node, it isn't visible unless there are options to hide. When a diffuse shader is shown by itself all of it's options are visible and not collapsible. If a diffuse shader is shown as input to a mix shader then a plus sign will be displayed to show it's options.

To add an Image texture as input to a colour input of a node you click on the little dot to the left of the colour swatch to get the menu with Image Texture.

As for the options available in the add node menu of the node editor, check that you are using the right settings for the node editor. The node editor is used for materials, textures and compositing, each has there own list of nodes that can be used.
The option for which nodes to display is shown in the header

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


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Re-assigning the meshes vertex groups the way they where before joining all the meshes
I like to create my characters in Blender with lots of individual meshes instead of just one large.
However, when I am finished, I need just one mesh, as I use the result for gaming.
The problem is that rigging and posing works fine, but then when I select all meshes and join them.. all binding is gone. (I can re-assign manually, but it takes for ever)
I'm fairly new to all this, but I can see that the combined mesh has been arranged in vertex groups, so the information is still there..
Do you know a way of re-assigning the meshes vertex groups the way they where before joining all the meshes?
Or joining while keeping the binding?
Thanks a bunch!

If all the parts have distinct materials then you can use the Materials Property editor in Edit mode to select the parts individually and reassign the vertex groups.  Make sure that the materials are assigned when the Vertex groups are still working and selectable. If errors show up I'd make sure all the groups are unassigned first then try again.

Thanks a lot MarcClintDion! Thank you :) This wort of gives me issues later in the flow, when I want to have the complete mesh using only one material.. but I think I should be able to make a work flow to fit this. THanks.

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


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Rotating liquid
Having a sphere of liquid, no gravity, animated to be rotating, I would have expected the sphere to turn disc shaped.
But it does not, is just keeping shape till eventually parts are ripping off.
Any tips to make a rotating sphere of liquid with no gravity adapt natural donout / double drop shape?


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Curve modifer has unusual inversion
I'm trying to deform a "chain" to follow a NURBS curve, but there's a weird inversion at the bottom of the loop.

I've tried various applies, scales, subdivisions, but the basic issue remains.
Thanks for any insights, I'm stumped.

This is similar to my question here: http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/8235/why-does-this-strange-deformation-occur

FWIW When I deleted everything and started again with what as far as I can tell was exactly the same arrangement it worked as expected. But I still have the old file, I will try checking the centres as suggested. Tx.

As suggested in answer to this question that 'stacker' pointed me to below, I did indeed manage to fix this by ensuring the curve and target geometry shared the same origin.


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switch back to previous view
I was looking at the normal screen. I wanted to import a .bvh file to put on my armature. I realized that I had not selected "MakeWalk > Load and Retarget" but I am in the Import file selection screen.
How do I get back to the previous screen so that I can select "MakeWalk > Load and Retarget"?
I tried everything in the upper far left Editor Type menu. Nothing
I tried Alt + Z. Nothing worked.
I restarted the program but I would prefer not having to do that if it can be avoided as it slows the speed of my work down.
(I also don't think this is a blend - mode question but it was the tag I found that came closest, please tell me what it is so I can tag it properly and make it easier for the next searcher)

Edit:
It looks like "Cancel" will do it. So instead of loading you cancel out.

As far as I know, you can't go back.
You have to delete what it imported and re-import with the new settings.


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How to make fog/ Fog is not showing?
So I watched a tutorial on how to make fog and it showed just to add a volume scatter node, but when I do this nothing shows up, it's just blank. I'm basically trying to recreate the PS2 intro fog and need to be able to see it from a far distance looking downwards.
There are screenshots from my project:

Are you in eevee or cycles?

evevee @Yohello1

Try increasing your density and see if it does anything?

Your scene seems to be very large. There are some things you should check / try:

in the rendering "Volumetrics" tab: usually the visibility starts at 0.1m and ends at 100m - probably you got to adjust those values
increase density of your Volume Scatter node
you need light to make your fog visible, probably increase the light strength if you already have lights in the scene

Could i add a glow node to the fog?

When I increase the density nothing happens, my end is already at 50000 for volumetrics, and I tried the light but nothing :/

His scene is fairly big but the object to which volume scatter node is applied is small

afaik you cannot add a glow node to your fog. Currently I can think of two things: The object itself could be displayed as bounds in the viewport, or it is just disabled.

maybe just create a cube with basic dimensions and add your material to it, if everything is as described you should see the fog. Maybe the issue occurs when scaling up (at a certain point)...

It will still work if the object is displayed as bounds in the viewport

Make sure that if you are using an older version than 2.8 to check volumetrics in render properties tab and adjust the end clipping if you scene is large.

It doesn't give me the option to check it

Then you must be using newer blender version .It is enabled by default.Make sure your volumetrics settings are same as mine.If still the problem persist share your .blend file

How do I share the file?

https://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/ -use this to share you file.Also try tweaking the strength if your lights

I tried to upload it? Im not sure if it worked. Yea I checked the cube and it just straight up disappears/ becomes see through. @nxdhin2005

Your file isn't uploaded

I just add in the url and hit upload right?

Don't forget to drag and drop your file

Let us continue this discussion in chat.


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Edge softening with cycles material
Is there an edge softening option for rendering? I don't have the time to model a high poly model and I want these soft edges only for renderbut not in the geometry. This possible in rhino 6 render and vray already; is it also possible in blender?

Welcome to Blender Stack Exchange!
Cycles has a Bevel node (found in the add menu under Input>Bevel) that does exactly what you want. Simply plug the output of the Bevel node into the normal input on your shader/material and that's it. The example below shows a basic setup. The radius can be increased to make the corners look even more rounded.

Blender also has a Bevel modifier that will add the geometry very quickly as well. Depending on your model it may be an option too.


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How to create a slinky animation in blender?
I tried using mesh deform, and using the curve modifier. I am a total beginner so please forgive any obvious things I might've missed.
Here's the link to what I want to recreate in blender:
https://youtu.be/Dyn4O6WP3Jc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VooYlKaqnQ I found this tutorial on youtube. Maybe it can help you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kldKlTZeoIE another fun tutorial that I just found. It's a bit (ok, extremely) fast, but maybe it can help some advaced blender users.

You can generate the mesh of your slinky using the screw modifier on a crossection mesh. Then you want to use a Bézier to deform your slinky.  You can animate the whole thing by applying shape keys to your curve. You can simply key frame these.
You will encounter a problem regarding how far your object stretches along the curve. I have no solution but key framing the z scale yet. But I think you can calculate the length of your Bézier and write a driver for it if it is too much to animate. Which is way more difficult for a beginner.
a lattice might improve the destribution of your slinky along the curve.


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Geometry is wrong for UV Mapping?
I would like to ask your help regarding with my problem. I was following a tutorial on how to create a realistic bread and I cannot really figure out why the slice looks smudged and blurred, after trying to use quadrats as geometry and using a separate UV map and material for the slice.
Does anyone have a tip how to fix that? Thanks a lot in advance! :)

Here is the blender file I was making and the maps that I used, provided by blenderguru. :)

Hello, it would help if you showed the UV map  ;)  maybe even share your file (after packing the images)

@moonboots thanks for the help! I uploaded the blender file and the maps that I used as well. :)

In the Properties panel > Object Data > UV Maps, you need to activate the UV map you want to use, which is supposed to be Slice:

Omg! Thanks a lot! You really helped me out! :)


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Set cube origin (0, 0, 0) to its first first instead of cube center
When I add a cube, it's centered by default, instead I'd like to set its position x,y,z according to its begining point.
Like in the image below:

But I need to set lcoation x,y,z to 1 to get this result instead of origin point 0,0,0 and when when I scale it, it's scaling from the center, not from origin (0,0,0).
How to change this behavior ?

what do u mean by "beginning point"?

@HarryMcKenzie I would like to add many cubes and position them from first edge's first point at (0,0,0), not from their center.

can u post a screenshot showing what u mean by "first edge's first point"?

@HarryMcKenzie I rephrased my question, I'm sorry I don't have the words to express it clearly, I hope I'm clear enough.

press Ctrl+A in object mode then Apply Transformation.

If you find yourself doing this a lot, there is an Add-on "Set Origin in Edit Mode", which you can download HERE
With this, you can simply right-click on a vertex to set it as the origin.
(Make sure you download the .py file in RAW mode and then install via Edit>Preferences>Add-ons>Install...)

Aside from their side and default location/alignment, you can't change how the Add Object tools will make the objects, including their origins. What you can do, is add a cube, set their origin where you need it to be, and then duplicate that cube.
Edit origin
There are several ways to change an objects origin, but for your specific need, the simplest might be to go in Edit Mode, select the vertex where you want the origin to be. Then press ⇧ ShiftS → 3D cursor to selected.
Switch back to object mode, press ⇧ ShiftS → Origin to 3D cursor.
Another way is, first enable the option Affect Only Origins in the top right Options popover:

Then set your snapping to vertex:

Then select your cube, press G to move your cube's origin, hold down ⎈ Ctrl to enable the snapping, move your cursor to the vertex you want to move your origin to, and validate by  LMB or ⏎ Enter.
Don't forget to disable Affect Only Origins after you're done.


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What is the most efficient technique to render a sequence with 80% non animated images?
I have a VSE with 100 images. Every 5th image will have a Fade-In transition. Every 5th image is 2 seconds long while the others are only 1 second long.
If there were no fade effect, I could have rendered at 1fps. Since there is fade effect I need to render at 24FPS. Right now, I am rendering entirely at 24fps making it time consuming.
Is there a more efficient way (faster) to render this setup.
Basically, my query is can Blender skip rendering of intermediate frames and simply show the first frame until a new image is encountered.
Thanks.

Hi Please use a title that reflects the content of the question. It should be descriptive but succinct, unique and identifying, summarizing the issue so that users can at a glance understand what your post is about. Use the [edit] link below your post and avoid anything not strictly essential to the post. Remember, your title is the first thing potential visitors will see, and makes your question findable for future users. See "What is the problem with posting an image or link and asking “How do I do this?""

You say you have images loaded into the VSE, so you've already rendered all these images.  Are you talking about render time rendering your VSE timeline to .mp4?  I mean that is basically what it's doing, processing each frame and doing compression to give you the smallest file possible while maintaining quality.

@AllenSimpson yes, I am referring to the render time rendering to .mp4. If I decide to go without any fade effect, I am left with 100 images each image 1 second long. Now, I could generate .mp4 video blazingly fast by setting FPS to 1. Since I have fade effect every 5th frame, I will have to  render that image at 24fps. Right now, I am rendering every single image including those without any effect at 24FPS, leading to too much delay. If I could set every 5th image to be rendered at 24FPS and all other at 1FPS I could save a lot of processing time. Is it possible to achieve this?

I don't think Blender has any options for variable frame rate, but maybe someone else knows.  In general Blender renders video slower than other applications, but I can't speak to quality or filesize.

@AllenSimpson thanks


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The Armature Is Hidden
I literally can't unhide it.  I don't know why it won't let me. I've tried ALT+H, but that won't work, I've tried selecting it, and a few other things.  If you know what to do, please let me know.
P.S. I also can't edit it.

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

Hello please share your file: https://pasteall.org/blend/

If your armature is hidden, I guess you're selecting it in the Outliner? Is it inside a collection which is hidden?

You might have accidentally moved it to a different Skeleton Layer.
e.g.
Before

After

Notice that while the armature has both 3D Viewport + Render visibility enabled in the Outliner Editor, it's still hidden if on a different Skeleton Layer.


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Something strange with material slots
I have an object with a material in the active material slot. When i add a second one an d bring that above the first one, noting happens i still only see the material that was first applied, it seems as the order of the slot doesn't matter. Why does this happens?
Best regards
Asta

Hello, you change the order of the slots but in order to change the color of a face you need to change the material in the slot or assign it another material that is in another slot

When you first add a material slot to an object, the material you put in there automatically shows on all faces by default because it is the only one.
But this is not like an override material which is put on the object surface regardless of the faces. So as soon as you add it, it gets assigned to all faces.
Adding a second material slot does not automatically assign this to any faces, you have to do it manually. And in the same way as the order of multiple material slots does not matter (just imagine the chaos if you want for some reason change the material order in the slots and it messes up all the face assignments on the object), now after the first material slot has been assigned to the faces, you have to manually assign the other material to them if you want to change the "base" material.
Of course a simpler way to do this would be just change the material in the first slot to the new material and put the first material in the second slot.
To say it clear because using the term "material" can be misleading: if you have an object with no material and no material slots, the first slot you add will be automatically assigned to all faces (yes, even if there is no material in it), all following material slots have to be assigned manually to faces.
Changing the order of the slots later is just a matter of for example organizing your materials on a multi-material object, maybe you want them in a specific order like alphabetically, or first all plastic materials then all metal materials, or first all shades of blue then all shades of red etc. And you most likely don't want this order to change the materials on the mesh.


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How to apply all geometric transformations given by modifier but without modifier itself?
I now watching tutorial on the low poly airplane creation from PolygonRunway: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkaVtOkLJoI
I stuck with creating the stone. He firstly created the cube on 15:13, then applied modifier with CTRL + 1 then ... IDK what happened and what he actually pressed but it looks like transform applied to cube "natively" and modifier just disappeared.
Looks like he pressed CTRL + A but when I press it, nothing happens.
How do I repeat this? Because of without this trick I can't cut it with Bisect tool as he shows on 15:17. I got some uneven ugly surface instead of straight cut.

You may want to play that section back slowed down.  What he has actually done:

Added a subdivision surface modifier (Shortcut: Ctrl–1)
Applied it (Shortcut Ctrl–A)

but what is hard to see is that he has moved the mouse from the 3D viewport to the Modifiers panel, where the Ctrl–A shortcut causes the modifier to be applied.
You can accomplish the same thing by clicking the down arrow on the modifier and selecting "Apply" from the menu:

What a weird feature of blender. I would never have idea. Thanks!

@Axel all of Blender's shortcuts are sensitive to what window the mouse is over when you type them.  This is common in many programs that have multiple windows/areas and huge sets of shortcuts.

CTRL + A is Apply, but your Mouse have to be on top of the modifier panel not on the 3d Viewport

You'll also see a blue outline round the modifier settings to show which modifier is selected.


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Always getting negative Y front view (on gizmo) by default when pressing 1 on the NumPad
Preface: the course I'm watching now is covers Blender 2.8, but I going through it using the latest 3.3
Course side:
I'm watching the Blender Launch Pad course. I've noticed that when the author switches to the front view, using the [1] on the NumPad, gizmo in the top-right corner of viewport is always shows non-negative axis. Regardless of the side. So, no matter does he pressed just [1] or [CTRL + 1] or [2] or [CTRL + 2] etc. it always appears as non-negative in the video:
User Interface Fundamentals - Viewpoints tutorial - 01:32

My side:
On the my side if I press for example [3] or [7] it by default shows me first the non-negative side of view, X and Z respectively (it's alright). When I press [CTRL + 3] or [CTRL + 7] it shows the negative ones. But in the course this is not happens (it always appears non-negative).
Also the annoying thing is that when I press [1] to switch to the front view it always switches me to the negative side by default firstly:

Then I should press [CTRL + 1] to switch to non-negative Y side.
Generally I have the two questions:

Is that what happens on my side with the front view a bug of blender?
Why on the authors side, in the video, it always non-negative regardless of actual side of view? Maybe I can do the same in preferences, somehow? Or does that confuse is caused by blender version difference?

Sorry for being boring with such a stupid questions but I'm new in blender and that questions is pretty important for me now

it's normal to see -Y if you press 1, as -Y is pointing towards us, I don't know why it's not the case in the tutorial, maybe a developer mistake for this version?

@moonboots oh, I've just now downloaded the old 2.80rc2 version from the blender website and noticed that there minus just didn't appears at all in gizmo. The negative sides was denoted as a circle with a small border. It's not such a obvious and very hard to discover in the tutorial. It looks the minus for that purpose just appeared since the 3.0 version. And in the video it starts with the negative Y by pressing [1] too. Thanks for your commentary.

oh ok it explains

Axel, you might post this as a self-answer

I've downloaded the old 2.80rc2 version from the blender website and discovered that there minus didn't appears at all for denote negative side in gizmo.
The negative sides was denoted as a circle with a small border. It's not such an obvious and hard to discover in the tutorial. It looks the minus for that purpose appeared only since the 3.0 version. And in the video it starts with the negative Y too by pressing 1.
Also now, thanks for @moonboots commentary I know that it is normal to see -Y when press 1.


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Issue with Collada export on Mac OS Catalina
did any of you experience a problem with Collada (.dae) export of bigger files? I have a blender project with a number of animations (11 MB in total). I've recently updated Mac OS from 10.14 (Mojave) to 10.15 (Catalina). After the update, I'm not able to export this project to Collada. When I try app freezes on the export window and stays that way forever. Collada file is created but the size of the file is 0B. I've checked console and Blender is getting notification from the system:

RESOURCE_NOTIFY trigger for Blender [2375] (90009223113 nanoseconds of
  CPU usage over 127.00s seconds, violating limit of 90000000000
  nanoseconds of CPU usage over 180.00s seconds)

I was testing versions 2.80, 2.81a and 2.82 (alpha) - problem stays with all of them. Do you have any idea what can be done with this?

Welcome to Blender Stack Exchange. If you can consistently reproduce this bug then it is better if you report a bug on the tracker https://developer.blender.org/maniphest/task/edit/form/1/ or use the report a bug feature from within blender's help menu as it fills in most of the required information about your system.

Thanks @SamirRahamtalla for the advice. Doing that as we speak.

Quick update on the front - I talked with the designer working previously in the project I was struggling with. It looks like it's freezing for quite a long time (around an hour) as there are tons of animations in the file and take this long to handle them in export. I think the outcome of this is missing progress on the export process - what is surprising progress is shown when exporting to eg. .obj.


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Why use hair instead of emitter as particles?
So I was watching Blender Guru's Donut tutorial and for the sprinkles on top of the donut he uses hair and not emitter as a particle. Why does he do that? What is the difference between hair and emitter?
Here is the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNmnPXY9UQA&list=PLjEaoINr3zgEq0u2MzVgAaHEBt--xLB6U&t=0s

If you use the Hair particle then a fixed number of particles will be created and their number and position won't change over time as your animation plays. So this is good for hair, sprinkles, or grass.
If you use the Emitter, the number of partciles will change over time. So if you play your animation, you'll see the object starts emitting particles that move away from your object and then disappear. You would use an emitter more for water, smoke, or sparks.
For demonstration, look at how the emitters of these 2 cubes change while the animation is playing. The one on the left uses Hair, the one on the right uses Emitter.


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there is "flickering" in my short animation
so here is the video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_ZOoBg1XBId-OWaVMTW0I0_e0kgNNW6T/view?usp=sharing
there is some kind of a problem with the render, the ground floor until the 8th second, there is kind of a flickering (i dont know what to call that).
i used sheepit to render.
anyone know what might be the reason and how to fix it?

Please in the future don't make people download the video if possible.

how else can i show the problem?

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1lMo2JeiQJAWL6sH_eApmjyHd_jS68qwm Here is a google drive link

there it is, but now the flickering is not so visible because on google the quality is low, so do  u know what might be the reason?

It would help if you could share some more info, like the render settings. Did you try to render some frames yourself maybe limited to only the floor (making it faster and limiting it), to test if it appears there too?


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How to unlink Object Texture (material) in blender
[![Hello.
I'm trying to create a wood texture on fence plank in Blender(3.1.2).
I'd put the texture on one plank, and then linked the rest of the plant to the one with the texture to copy it's materials. But the catch here is that, what ever changes I made on one plank, it reflects on the other making all planks look similar. I know this is because I had linked all planks to the same texture, but is there a way I can:

Unlink the planks texture from the others but still retain the texture so I can make changes on one without it affecting the other?

I do not want to start a new texture afresh on each plank.]2]2

Thank you.
(If anyone can help rephrase the Title, I'd be grateful)

Make the fence using Array modifier first and texture the whole fence next. Blender treats the arrayed fence as one object and applies the texture the way each plank looks different. In fact it's one texture but with different parts visible.

If you want to link-duplicate the same plank and the same material, and make each plank look different, it means that the UV location of each plank is randomized, I don't know if it's possible, maybe someone will tell.
Another way would be to use an empty as reference to project the image texture on the plank:

To do so you need to use the Object output of the Texture Coordinate and select an empty as object. Also select Box instead of Flat in the Image Texture:

Another solution would be to link-duplicate the plank but unlink the material (to unlik the material, click on the Link Material button and select Object, see below), then move the UV a bit in the UV Editor:

But it looks like you want to keep only one material...
In my opinion the simplest way to create a bit of variety would be to join several planks (like for example 3), unwrap and give them the wood material:

Then link-duplicate and rotate on Z to show the other side, now you have 6 planks that don't look the same. If you link-duplicate these 6 planks the repetition won't be noticeable imho:

yes. You should be able to have the look you looking for by using a Node Group. by doing so you will retain the look of your "parent" plank as the default setting then a little tinkering with your randomization (I'm assuming your using a noise node to get the wood look). and you should have a different pattern with the least amount of effort.
I hope this helps.


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Dark shading on glass material - EEVEE
I followed this YouTube tutorial on how on how to create a glass material with Eevee. (https://youtu.be/JYyUMMboZFk)
After following the tutorial step by step, I realised there is this dark shading on the top of my object - a smoothie cup container.

Now moving farther away from the cup, the shading seemed to disappear.
But it still shows in the final rendered file.

How do I get rid of the Dark Shading?

I remember looking at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYyUMMboZFk for a real nice realistic glass shader without all the weird stuff.

@AnsonSavage Apparently, it is the same video tutorial I was following, but after watching it again, I found the adjustment. Thanks

I eventually fixed the shading.

Select on the object with the dark shading
Head over to the Material tab on the Properties Window.
Scroll down to Settings
Make sure Screen Space Refraction is toggled on
Increase refraction from 0m to 0.1m

Bonus: Make sure to reduce the roughness of the material


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Material on object not visualizing in Cycles/Evee, except workbench
I have downloaded this Car blend file from the Internet a long time ago, and chose to use it today.

It's completely dark in cycles (even with lights)
It's completely dark in evee as well
Its yellow/materialized in Workbench
The main material color from external folder seems to be blue.
And the nodes are all in red.

I can't work with a black/dark mesh. How do I fix the problem.
Blend File: https://workupload.com/file/r2BeaZKpYgF

hello please share your file

@moonboots I had tried to. The file size is 46.8mb, and Blend.Exchange says I can't upload a file size more than 30mb.

use another platform like workupload, or only share a piece of the object

@moonboots I've included the Blend file via workupload link.

It looks like the material was made with node groups but they are not working anymore, their color is red and if you press Tab they are empty, they may have been created with an old version of Blender?

It looks like the material was made with node groups but they are not working anymore, their color is red and if you press Tab they are empty, they may have been created with an old version of Blender, maybe the old Blender render engine?


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Auto Mirror add-on error 2.8a
I couldn't find any fix anywhere for this error:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender 2.81\2.81\scripts\addons\mesh_auto_mirror.py", line 167, in execute
    threshold= bpy.context.scene.AutoMirror_threshold)
  File "C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender 2.81\2.81\scripts\modules\bpy\ops.py", line 201, in __call__
    ret = op_call(self.idname_py(), None, kw)
RuntimeError: Error: Zero normal given

location: <unknown location>:-1

Any ideas how i can fix this?
edit: i was trying to mirror on the x-axis(positive side), then this error popped up
so i tried again in object mode and it works fine. i don't what's wrong with edit mode.
and sorry for my english

Please describe what exactly you're trying to do and under which circumstances this error occurs.

Try object unselected or delete object and try create again


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UV Unwrap Dirty - How to fix?
When I use smart UV unwrap in Blender for a cube with 6 sides, each side's mesh in the UV map is messed up and broken uneven. How do I fix this?
My concern is because when I bake the mesh, I get these weird black spots on the maps, is this because of the original UV map or something else?

Smart project works for a lot of things, but it's not perfect. For more complex things (such as your mesh), you will have to unwrap manually in order to have full control. Place seams as necessary to define the "chunks" you want to keep together.

Do you know if the black spots on the baked maps are because of the UV map or something else?

Not sure. Lots can go wrong during the bake process. It could be the result of some overlap - maybe try increasing your island margins slightly?

Thanks I'll give that a try!


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- Fail Error on FBX Export, Cannot Export Model
Keep getting this error when I attempt to export the FBX, this model doesn't have any UV's. All it has are basic materials assigned (no textures) and rigging. I tried removing parts of the model and when I remove the highlighted segment type (in orange in the SS) the export works. But I don't understand why that segment is causing a problem. I have never had an issue like this before. This is on Blender 2.91. Does anyone know how to fix this?

Please show your FBX export settings

added FBX export settings and extra details

Just a guess here:
I suspect this was based on something like the cube mesh, which comes with its own UVs even if you don't do anything with them, and that is what's causing this. Or maybe you built that side from scratch so it really doesn't have any UVs but everything else does, and FBX export is looking for a UV even though it won't end up being used.


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Imported .FBX file won't pack as resources
I downloaded a Free Wheat.fbx file and imported the content into blender.
I have toggled the Automatically Pack Resources on.
I try to save the file as a blend file, but it gives a warning that an image is missing (I believe it's an Image that was used as texture for the wheat)
Report Error: "Unable to pack file, source path......"
But the folder/path indicated (as missing) is not available in the downloaded folder.
My guess is that whom ever had made the Wheat.fbx file did not include the texture image.

I am not sure of what you mean by Blender not packing an FBX. When you import an FBX, it adds the objects and its data blocs in the scene. The only data it could pack are for example texture files used in materials. These should be able to be packed. But the FBX file itself is not needed by Blender after import.

@L0Lock I will re-edit my question immediately. Please help me see to it again.

If there is an image your FBX file calls for but isn't provided, you can't do much about it. If you save your .blend file, then do file > Revert, do you get a "missing file" warning ?

I'm guessing (since you haven't posted any pic) that when the original author created the file, he packed the textures inside the blend file properly. But when he uploaded it to another site, it might have gotten messed up if the site tried to read the blend file (for optimization) instead of just storing it as it is.
Most authors in anycase send textures in a separate folder as well (besides being inside .blend file). If you have those textures, just edit the image node in your material (which shows up pink in viewport) ..to the point it to the correct texture.

This is what happens if Blender cannot find an image on your storage drive. This is not uncommon when importing files and textures are missing. You can try using File -> External Data -> Find Missing Files to point Blender to a directory with all the textures. FBX format does not work perfectly with Blender so it is also likely some information about texture files might not import correctly and you might have to recreate materials manually.
See: .fbx export why there are no materials or textures?.
As it is mentioned somewhere there, you can try using GLTF format instead of FBX if possible. A lot of software supports it and importing/exporting materials do work surprisingly well with it(as for something that usually doesn't work at all).


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baking normal from procedural causes odd scretching around different materials
I have a mesh with three different materials. I applied different procedurals to each. When baking the diffuse texture give me no problems, but the normal maps are giving me strange stretch patterns around where the materials change.(I will post the file if someone will tell me how, but for now, on the image is the set up of one of my procedural normals with its result in the top two images. The bottom two images show the generated normal image and how it looks on the model.)
(someone let me know :
(You will have to hit the bake button as apparently the downloaded version decided it would be great to make the image blank- thanks blender.)
[1]: https://i.sstatic.net/NglD0.jpg

hello maybe share the part you are trying to bake

I'm not clear what you mean. You're looking at it. It's a procedural normal texture applied to the part of the mesh you see. If you mean I should provide the file, again, how do I do that?

It might be helpful to people trying to help you if you uploaded an example blend file to the site https://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/ and add that link in the question.

Thanks, one of the things I wanted to know was that. Figure the image would only go so far.

@ZackHound Just go to File > External Data > Automatically Pack Resources on your .blend file to ship the files with the file automatically and now when you upload your file, we will have access to your images/textures :)

It unbaked the image, but just hit the bake button and it should give you the normal I'm getting. Sorry, ya'll know blender is finiky.

I mean I did what you said, but it still unbaked the image.


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Composite image with shadow catcher
So, while compositing a scene, seeing as DAZ models are kinda resource intensive, I tried to break it down into layers. The layers are combined using alpha over nodes and seem to be in the right order.
I cut out the floor of my set and put it with my model, making it a shadow catcher. Trouble is, when rendering, it doesn't catch shadows. Am I using the wrong nodes or something?
I'll upload the file here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/16TbsgbjojzedQ3enh2H4CbfOtqO3LOeG/view?usp=sharing
I have the shadow catching object set as a shadow catcher but when I render I see no shadow being cast by my figure, in fact watching the render, it never even tries to render a shadow- what's going on?
Also, how do you get the render view to render tiles?

Please don't make your questions depend exclusively on others
downloading the file, or reading links, just to understanding the
issue. Please use the [edit] option at the bottom of your question
(https://i.sstatic.net/lXFuK.png) and add more information on how
you set up your project.
Add images
that might help others understand your scene and settings.

Alright- I fixed it, best I know how. Sorry, last time I tried to ask no one would even consider trying to answer till I uploaded.


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Help with Texturing a tapered cylinder
I'm working on my exploded golf ball some more and want to add a similar golf ball dimple texture to a stand that is a tapered cylinder. This is my current workflow with the shader nodes similar to what I did with the head. Any tips here to keep the image from distorting? Is there a way to wrap this better than what I'm currently trying?
Thanks!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dayw2xpze1rj5u2/Golf%20Ball%20Test.blend?dl=0
Side note: Apologies I'm still pretty new here, is there an easier way to share files here? I seem to remember people embedding blend files directly. Thanks

so you want those dots (dimples?) to be round and not oblong at the tapered part correct? can you share your file? https://blend-exchange.com

@HarryMcKenzie that's correct! It seems to wrap around the part vertically strange as well. I had also tried using the same bump map I used for the spherical ball but that was much worse so I instead created a simple repeating cylindrical pattern that you see here. I'll edit my post to include the blend file.

couldn't see the texture i think you forgot to do a File > External Data > Pack Resources. btw you have overlapping duplicate vertices. in edit mode select all vertices and press M > Merge By Distance. And i think you have to add some seams so you can have the UV map in square grids.

@HarryMcKenzie thanks. I packed the resources and edited my download file if you'd like to look again. Thanks for the tip on seams as well. I didn't do that so I'll take a look and see if that helps


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Golf Ball Texture Node!
I'm trying to draw an exploded view of a golf ball with texture applied. I've been playing around with these settings for a while and finally found a good bump map that mapped perfectly to my quad sphere (sub divided 3, with cast 1) It looked perfect.
Next step was splitting the ball and applying a solidify modifier and this is where things messed up again. The pattern no longer wraps properly and instead squishes down towards the bottom edge.
Prior to this step I had created one additional edge loop near the bottom and separated the parts so that I could shade the inside of the ball differently than the outside.
Any idea what could be causing this or how to rectify? Happy to hear any and all suggestions about a better workflow as well.
Thanks!

Edit_07.29
Per Joachim's request adding additional images of UV map with solidify modifier as well as evidence the wrap was correct prior to that change.

Maybe not exactly on-point.. but https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/196566/35559

Can you upload a screenshot of your UV map? That will probably immediately clarify why the mapping changed.

Hey @Joachim sure here you go.https://imgur.com/a/hcVvBmC

When you have the ball before deleting one half, uncheck auto texture space in object data:

After that, you may remove half of the ball, texture space will remain untouched

Thank you so much! I knew there was some unassuming option I had to select hidden somewhere. Thanks a ton :)


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How do I morph two complex objects? Is it possible for them to end up with the same Vertex and Polygon count?
I'm new to blender and I wanted to understand how I can morph two different complex objects. Mainly I would like to find a way to make the vertices and polygons match so I can morph them in Unreal engine. The tutorials I've stumbled upon only worked for non complex objects like simple shapes and I couldn't really find much on how to make two different objects have the same amount of vertices and polygons.
Any guidance would be appreciatedI attached a picture to show the amount of vertices and polygons if that helps]2

Have you tried shape keys?

Hi I have and it seems to only turn into the back legs of the model and I'm not sure why. Also its my first time posting and not too sure how to add another picture but I'll try editing the post to show the results of me using shape keys.

I would mix a rigged character (parent each limb to a bone) with shape keys, so that you can both move the limbs (so that you can switch from a pose to another) and morph them

Thanks! This does sounds like something that would would work but also a little complex since I'm still learning blender. But I guess I will try and figure it out. The Cougar model has bones but the humanoid model I've imported doesn't so I'll reimport one that has bones and try to figure out how to implement what you just said.

you need to use one armature only, and create a Rest pose, either for the human, or for the animal, depending on which one will be the main character

It's not necessary to do it in Unreal Engine unless you want to do it there when you can do it in Blender.
You have two options to do it in Blender:
The Boolean Union
Select one of your objects. Add a boolean modifier to it. Set the boolean modifier to Union. Then, select your other object as the target object. This will join the objects together.

Remesh
Select both your objects in Object Mode. Press Ctrl + J to join. Now go into sculpt mode. On the top bar, you will see a dropdown menu called Remesh. You can play with the settings (The lower the voxel size the higher polys your mesh will have) and then press the Remesh button to get your result.

Thanks for the response and I did try both suggestions but they don't achieve what I'm going for.
Also sorry if I wasn't very clear in the outcome I wanted. So I mentioned unreal engine because I would like the player character to be able morph into the cougar and they would also be able to morph back into the humanoid character.
I've seen a post where someone achieved doing what I mentioned and they stated both models MUST match with same Vertices and Poly count. I've also tried shape keys and the morph didn't work at all. The Humanoid character only morphed into the back legs.


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How to make material that recieves shadows but has no self-shadows?
I am looking to create a stylized material that receives shadows from other materials, but has no self-shadow / shading. I created this image to communicate what I mean by self-shadow, the image on the right is a photoshopped concept to show it without self-shadow.

I managed to get rid of self-shadow by just connecting the RGB color directly into the surface, but I lost the shadows cast from the other object. Ran into the same problem using emission shader.
Since I was struggling, I tried looking up solutions. One of the first options said to mix a translucent and diffuse shader using the light path node's "Is Shadow Ray" output as the factor. I found out this only got rid of the cast shadow, which I already achieved by setting Shadow Node to "None" in Eevee (Or setting Shadow Ray Visibility off in Cycles).
The second solution I found was REALLY close to my desired effect; It said in Eevee to take a regular Principled BSDF shader, create a geometry node, and plug the output of incoming into the normal of the shader. This creates the intended effect ONLY when the camera is positioned similarly to the light, otherwise the entire material would go into self-shadow. I tried fixing that by making a simple alteration and plugging in a value of 1.0 to the normal instead of the geometry node. This was so close to perfect but I noticed something strange, the cast shadow from the other objects passed right through like the shader was transparent. This is what it looks like now, notice how the shadow from the cube appears on top of and underneath the sphere. (I only want it to appear on top, as if the sphere was opaque)

I'm almost to my desired result I just need help preventing the cast shadow from other objects oddly phasing through my special material. Though I feel like I'm a bit out of my depth as I have no idea what to do next. My render idea depends on this effect, so I could use Cycles or Eevee for it, I'm currently using Eevee but if your solution works in Cycles I will switch to Cycles.
Edit: Forgot one important detail. A lot of the models I'm using this material on will actually have flat planes with textures that have transparent alpha. So it has to work with that too.

In cycles, under the Visibility section of the Object Properties tab, you can enable "Shadow Catcher".

Depending on what you're trying to accomplish, you may be able to use view layers to composite this over an emissive material to get the effect:


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IK weird behavior
I always use a simple IK setup for the arms :

Wrist IK ( Target Elbow ) + Elbow IK ( target Shoulder 2 )
Wrist + Copy rotation modifier with Wrist IK as target

It always worked on thousand of model but not this one , and i don't understand why...
When i apply the first IK ( Wrist IK > Target elbow chain 2 ) , it works as planned , but as soon i add the second IK ( Elbow IK > Targer SHoulder 2 Chain 1) , the IK setup becomes unusable.
On all other models , the arm will remain straight , and the Elbow IK position will lead the direction of the elbow , but in this case , it breaks everthing.
I am not looking for another IK setup , i do know other more advanced setups , i just need to understand why it works on 99,99% of my models , but not this one.
The file: https://filetransfer.io/data-package/o129NwJV#link
PS: Add an IK contraint on Shoulder 2 targeting Elbow IK , chain 1 to see the problem.

Please upload your file to the official site at https://blend-exchange.com/ following the instructions there to copy the link on that page. Then edit your question here and paste the link into it. At the moment the file will be deleted as soon as anyone downloads it which means that anyone reading your question in future will be unable to see your file.

That's how some of those external file sharing sites work. I presume it's done so that they can keep their storage requirements down.

I don't see a problem.  Once added, the upper arm tracks elbow IK and the forearm tracks the wrist.  Is it possible that you targeted the wrong bone with your upper arm constraint, or set the wrong chain length?  Targeting elbow IK is okay because elbow is unparented, doesn't depend upon upper arm.

The problem once applied ( IK elbow targeting Shoulder 2 ) IK elbow then moves the wrist , and it's not supposed to do that , it's wrong. It's not a mistake on my part , i did this hundreds of time.

"IK elbow then moves the wrist" Sorry, I cannot reproduce that problem using 4.0.1.


text:
Material based on pixel coordinate of an image texture
I've got a scene with a landscape built up of blocks, this is actually made up by instancing a lot of objects onto a mesh.
What I'd like to do is use an image to give each block a specific color without having to apply/separate everything and create and apply materials for each colour.
The image will be like an aerial view with rivers, roads, grass colours, and the blocks will be coloured so together, they look like the image
eg, using this texture:

would be used to give the blocks colours:

I think this is exactly what you're looking for https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05HFa3jNBH0

@Gorgious you think correctly! Now I just have to slow down that video and figure out what's going on!

@JonathanShutt You can slow a youtube video down to 25% of original speed.

Yeah these videos are more entertaining than educational for newcomers. Basically, project your UVs from view in edit mode while looking at the mesh from the top, then in the UV editor, scale all uv faces to a singular point so each face only has one single flat color associated with it

There was a similiar question: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/131607/if-each-cube-here-represents-a-pixel-what-is-the-fastest-way-to-change-its-colo/131638#131638