text:
OnEditFinished listener or something equivalent?
I'm looking for a sort of event listener that triggers after a transform has finished.
So far i found this:
def scene_update(context):
    if bpy.data.objects.is_updated:
        print("One or more objects were updated!")
        for ob in bpy.data.objects:
            if ob.is_updated:
                print("=>", ob.name)
bpy.app.handlers.scene_update_post.append(scene_update)

I need to add something so that the print only happens after the translation of a vertex is completed (not while i'm still dragging the vertices around).
Any idea what ?

his could help : http://blender.stackexchange.com/q/44971/5113

This is a mix of the answers here Find out if Mesh Operator (bpy.ops.mesh...) was cancelled or not via python and How to get the active vertex within a Handler?
Looks for bpy.ops.transform.translate as the active operator and if used prints out the selected verts and amount transformed.
import bpy, bmesh
from bpy.app.handlers import persistent
from mathutils import Vector

def check_operators(bm):
    op = bpy.context.active_operator
    if op:
        if op.bl_idname == 'TRANSFORM_OT_translate':  #bpy.ops.transform.translate.idname()
            #print("bpy.ops.transform.translate(%s)" % " ,".join(["%s=%s" % (k, str(v)) for k, v in op.properties.items()]))
            print(op.name)
            v = Vector(op.properties["value"])
            if v.length:
                print("value", str(v))
                print("verts", [v for v in bm.verts if v.select])
            else:
                print("operator canceled")

dic = {}
@persistent
def edit_object_change_handler(scene):

    obj = scene.objects.active
    if obj is None:
        return None

    if obj.mode == 'EDIT' and obj.type == 'MESH':
        bm = dic.setdefault(obj.name, bmesh.from_edit_mesh(obj.data))
        check_operators(bm)
        return None

    dic.clear()
    return None

def register():
    bpy.app.handlers.scene_update_post.clear() # for testing
    bpy.app.handlers.scene_update_post.append(edit_object_change_handler)

register()

authors: ธิดา โสมสุภาPANDA


text:
Batch Selected to active Baking
I have to bake several objects, in combined type. Each (lowpoly) object take baking information from a selection of another (highpoly) object(s). Here is my bake panel config:

My problem is that i can only bake one object, wait for the texture to be baked, save it, then redo the task for the next object (with a new selection). So i can't set a list of render task to calculate by night 'cause it's not automate.
So :

is there a plugin (free or not) which can do that ? (I buyed the baketool plugin which is very great, but don't support selected to active option [edit] finally, it can, see answer below [/edit])
can this task be send to network render ? (network renderer addon, render.st, etc)
i don't know python at all but i have already write little script in another programming language : do you think it will be a pain to script a task like this ?

FYI, i've just seen that renderstreet don't support selected to active option https://render.uservoice.com/knowledgebase/articles/660826-texture-baking-in-blender

I am coming here from your comment in my previous question. Even I had to bake multiple objects one after the other in my project. All I had to do was select all the objects to be baked and hit the bake button. I could do this in GUI and through script. I was using cycles engine and I set up all the nodes, UV maps, and images before hand in the node editor for each object. So, can you try that and check once.

Thanks for come here. In the next days i'll try to learn basic python for blender, it can be very usefull in any case, i'll keep you informed.

BakeTool addon can handle it !
There is a mode that i haven't try yet, which is the Atlas mode (default is individual).
The support of baketool answer me :

There’s a “Target” option in the Atlas Mode. It works as the “Selected
  to active”. On this mode all the objects in the Object List are used
  as sources and the target is the “actived” one to be baked. See that
  in this case the target need a valid non overlapped UV.

I definitively love this addon, anyone who use blender and make realtime 3d should have it :)

Bake Wrangler can do batch baking.  It is free.
It is a 2019 add-on, so not many people discovered it yet.
I tested it and it can also bake from objects to another object.
The batch bake is in :-

Editor type = Bake Node Editor (must download & enable this add-on first)
Top bar > Add > Bake Wrangler > Batch Bake

Download at : https://blenderartists.org/t/bake-wrangler-node-based-baking-tool-set/1187732
For batching tutorial, you can see https://youtu.be/1QpybXsNcsw?t=965

source: Stack Exchange

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

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

sort: votes


text:
Only part of the object rendered in viewport cycles. Not a border problem. What is it?

I cant figure out why only part of his face is being rendered in viewport in cycles. Border is much bigger. The object is much bigger than rendered. You see on the picture. Any ideas? Bottom left is rendered in cycles.
All other objects are rendered fine, just only his head has this. When I rotate camera rendered is only part between observer and the same part of the face.

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


text:
Cycle render noise wont change
i have watched many tutorials on how to reduce noise in cycles. however, no matter what i do its still grossly overflowing with fireflies. i must be missing something basic but i dont know what it is. i was watching a tutorial where he put the emitter plane in a hallway and changed its location and size and it made it crystal clear. i tried this and it just makes it worse. i have no idea what i am doing wrong.
Here is the tutorial i was watching.i was just trying to recreate the first example.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81k22ijYiIw

In a addition to that, you're trying to light a large space with a small light source. This will give noisy results.

I see that You set render samples to only 10 but used an emission node.. so I suppose You are trying to get a shadeless material..
the correct node setup for this kind of result is this:

don't really need for a 100 emission size, just 1 to 3 ^^
If You are trying to reach a different kind of result so... raise up your samples to 200 up to 1000 to archive much better results in cycles :)

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


text:
How do i export .dmx animations using blender source tools?
a) When I export mesh it exports giving warning https://i.sstatic.net/4QS2q.jpg ,but when I export animations I get error message https://i.sstatic.net/XhhQh.jpg. Software created an anims folder on specified location but it was empty. Blender file link :http://www.mediafire.com/download/ggm4tb1is5r10bt/ep.blend.
b) For exporting .dmx its mandatory to give address of folder containing resourcecompiler file. Do i give address for Dota 2 beta or Dota 2 test as i am interested in attaching particles to my custom ward mesh.


text:
How to add shadows for transparent materials?
How to remove the darkness of water droplets, By adding receive transparent to  "soft drink can" material resulting in a more natural looking
 water droplets, adding Fresnel etc.?

You should get a decent effect with default glass material and multiple importance sampling enabled for your lights

That render looks very grainy, increase the samples in the render panel.

Also, you should include an image of your material setup for the droplets.

These are the materials for water and can label http://imgur.com/rIJzjLR http://imgur.com/IhCp4x4 respectively sorry for delay was out of station


text:
How to get a good light bokeh using compositor in Cycles?
How to improve quality of bokeh especially lights?

share the blend file so we can help you better http://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/

the link https://www.mediafire.com/?9crrwp8hv3do73d


text:
How would you go about modeling this cosmetics packaging?
Ever start modelling an object that you think will be fairly simple but then you end up going down about 8 different paths trying to get an accurate shape but for one reason or another your mesh ends up crashing into wall of bad shading and unnecessary geometry?
That's me right now - I'm trying to model the pump cap section of this bottle - I've been down the subdiv route, boolean route, 2 object and loft route etc, but no matter what i end up with too much geometry and about 50 support loops.
What would your approach be for a mesh like this? My sincere thanks in advance.

Begin with a cube that you subdivide (Number of Cuts > 3, Smoothness > 1):

Cut off the bottom, extrude down, mirror with a modifier:

Extrude and scale to create the beak:

Inset the top faces (press B for Boundary so that the new faces stick to the mirror axis):

Work the topology to sharp some edges:

You should be able to get something like that:

ABSOLUTE HERO OF A LEGEND


text:
Mirrored UVs not fixed by inverting scale - how to fix
Making a packaging box, i started out with a flat plane and used a reference image of the packaging dielines to create cuts and folds. I've proceeded to fold the box just as you would in real life ( no scaling throughout ) but when i come to apply the image texture i can see that the UV's are mirrored. I've tried inverting the scale value in the mapping node, but that throws the texture out completely.
I feel like im missing something super obvious here - please help! Thank you
Edit: Added the Blend File

in the UV Editor, select the inverted UV and scale with a SX-1? Or please share your file so we can give a try, don't forget to pack your image

Select all these side faces in the 3D view, it will select them in the UV Editor:

Then in the UV Editor press SX-1, it will mirror all these faces and fix your problem:

Moonboots my hero


text:
How do I fix the black and white?

kind of new to blender, not sure what to do exactly could someone help me?
[![enter image description here][2]][2]

You will need to include more details, is it a problem with your material? Is it something to do with texturing? (which it looks like it might be) Is it a problem with baking the lighting? Do you think its a problem with blender itself? Add more pictures too, that always helps.

I believe it has something to do with the textures of materials, yes. Making pictures now

ADded one more picture since I cant add more than two

maybe normals problem (in edit mode select all and Ctrl+N)

Also try removing doubles, (Edit Mode > W > Remove Doubles). You could also add your blend file here so we can have a look at the file itself.

You may have duplicated your mesh on top of itself.

Tried all of it, as for Chebhou, this happened: http://i.imgur.com/3aRSCEW.png

For Matthew, it was the same result

Eh one more question, im trying to change the texture to metal, however nothing is happening http://i.imgur.com/Lpjw1yg.png

@gape write an answer of what worked for you


text:
Another Arduino Programmer trying learn to control Blender
I need help with a try with Blender3D, I'm using the Blender 3.4.1 and I need change the text of the Text Object using Arduino.
I created at Arduino a simple code to send a Number to Serial, and at Blender I searched on the Internet and make this code...
arduino part:
/*
Another Ordinary test
*/
int x=10; // a simple number...
bool direction; // increase number or decrease

void setup() {
 //Initialize serial and wait for port to open:
 Serial.begin(9600);
 while (!Serial) {
   ;  // wait for serial port to connect. Needed for native USB port only
 }

 // prints title with ending line break
 Serial.println("Testing!");
 delay(1000);
 direction=true;
}

void loop() {
 if (direction)
 {x++;
  if (x >80) direction=false;
 }
 else
 { x--;
   if (x<11) direction=true;
 }
 Serial.println("Next item: "+String(x)); // Print the String
 delay(2100); // Dramatic Pause
}

into Blender I create a Text and created this example code:
serialport = serial.Serial('/dev/ttyUSB1', 9600)
obj = bpy.context.object
curve_text = obj.data
print('Texto atual eh ')
print(curve_text.body)

for i in range(1, 10):
    x = serialport.readline()
    print(x)
    curve_text.body = str(x)
else:
    serialport.close()
print('Finished!')
serialport.close()

This is a print of the Blender:

The question is:

Why I cannot see any update of the Text, just when the Script is finished?
Why I see b' text \r\n' if I used str?

an Update: After the hint from @markus-von-broady, I fixed the Str problem.
Now about the update, the Blender3d Stop Respond until the script Finishes... Here a gif:

I'm using Blender on Ubuntu Linux.

It's not clear how you test your project: you say you don't see the update of the text, but also you say you see the text b' text \r\n'. So you see the update, just not immediately? Or do you test your code in two separate circumstances, in which the problems arise separately? The first problem might come into a need to refresh viewport, or update view layer. The second is about the bytes being converted to a string in this way by default - use encode function instead.

About the update, The blender stop to respond until the script finishes, so I can see only the last result.
What I need to see a refresh of the viewport?

About the String... Thanks for your feedback!
After your hint, I found the solution for the byte string here:
curve_text.body = x.decode('utf-8')

Now I need fix the refresh problem...


text:
Are there any viable ways of using the particle system with micro-displacement?
I've watched a couple of videos dealing with micro-displacement. On one of them, the author had mentioned that it doesn't support the particle system as of now. I know this is an experimental feature and would possibly solved by the next major release of Blender. Are there any suggestions for substitutes or any other methods for adding a particle system to such a mesh?

I had figured out how to solve that problem. I used a duplicated mesh without the adaptive displacement modifier and scaled it to a point where it barely beneath the mesh. However, I used that technique on a standard human mesh, so it may not work as properly on a highly irregular mesh unless that mesh matches the projected displacement.


text:
How to feed seams to blender as an input file
I have a mesh whose seams have been detected (and saved as a file) using some algorithm (not Blender). The edges which represent seams are stored in the file.
Essentially all the face edges (represented using the vertex indices) which are seams have been stored together in a n*2 Numpy matrix .
[[0, 1],
 [1, 3],
 [3, 6],
...]

Then I need to feed the these edges (representing seams) to blender to then unwrap the mesh.
my question is: How do I feed edges (from a file) into Blender for unwrapping a mesh?

Given your format it can be done this way (Edit Mode):
import bmesh
from bpy import context as C
seams = [
 [0, 1],
 [0, 4],
 [4, 5],
 [1, 3],
 [5, 7],
]

me = C.object.data
bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(me)
for v1i, v2i in seams:
    v1 = bm.verts[v1i]
    v2 = bm.verts[v2i]
    for edge in v1.link_edges:
        if edge.other_vert(v1) == v2:
            edge.seam = True
            break
bmesh.update_edit_mesh(me)


text:
Make part of a texture transparent
i need to add a logo to an intro. i have put the psd onto a plane but need to get rid of the white cube around the logo so that it is just the logo with no bg. how do i go about doing this? i am yet to try and solve this alone because i found nothing online to help me do it. I have added a pic of the logo i need to be cut out.

Does it have an alpha channel?

what do you mean by that? i havent been using blender for so long

added picture of nodes.

Alpha channel is an extra channel in some image formats to store transparency,you can add an alpha channel is photoshop or any other photo editing software then use it in blender.

so i must edit the image outside of blender, i see.

You will just use the alpha output as a factor between your shaders and a transparent shader.

In Photoshop, since this is the software you're using, put your logo on a layer other than the Background, select all the areas that you need it to be transparent, which means everything except for the logo in your case, then delete it, hide the Background, you should be able to see the transparency grid in Photoshop "the grey checker", then go to file menu > Save for web and devices, choose PNG 24 with transparency enabled, and save your image, now in Blender you can use the Alpha in the Image Texture Node as a factor for Mix Shader.

Does the answer in this link answers your question?http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/35127/how-to-make-transparent-material-in-cycles/35165#35165

Solution 1
If your image has alpha channel or you can create it¹, you can use it to mix your original shader with a transparent shader.
Your node setup adjusted:

¹Since you mentioned psd, I assume you use PhotoShop. Use the magic wand or (polygonal) lasso selector tool to: Select and delete what should be transparent; or add a mask and fill those parts of the mask with black. You may have to setup the image to enable the alpha channel.
Solution 2
If your image has black background, and is only black where the logo should be transparent, you can use that as a condition for mixing your original shader with a transparent shader.
Your node setup adjusted:

You may use other values (between 0 and 1) in the Greater than node as the threshold for masking the darkest parts of the image. Also, you may use Less then node insted to mask white areas of the image (in case your background is white).


text:
Ease camera acceleration which follows a path
I let a camera follow a round path which also tracks an empty (see reference). There is no problem in animating this, however I want the camera to start moving slowly and generate more speed and also to come to a halt slowly (ease in & out). But when I take a look in the graph editor there is no curve to edit.

Edit:
Also if I choose the curve there is no graph to adjust.

The camera isn’t parented to the path. Also I used the follow path and tracking constraint.

@cegaton
blender.stackexchange.com/a/23384/1853 is very useful, thank you.

If you've used either a 'Follow Path' constraint or parented the camera to your path with the 'Follow Path' option, the keyframes you're looking for are on the path itself, not the camera.

Unfortunately not, see my edited post above.


text:
Bevel vertices on a flat plane
I imagine there’s an easy fix but at the moment I just don’t have any idea how to do that.

I made a flat plane, made some loopcuts to divide it and now want the corners to be round. It works for the corners which are "outside" but for the corners which lie "inside" the form it does not work. My aim is that the bevel looks like the red marked curve in my example.
How can I solve that?
Edit:
To make it more clear: when I try to bevel the "inside" vertex I get something like that, but not a curve.

I deleted my answer which wasn't correct. You can bevel single vertices by pressing V while in bevel mode ; it works well with "outside" corners, but with "inside" corners it don't allow to curve the profile, just do a straight bevel.

It's dependent on the internal edges.

Starting as shown
X > Limited Dissolve (selected) internal edges
CtrlShiftB Bevel (selected) corner vertices

Works perfectly, thanks…though the loopcuts are gone now.

@faybn I suppose you could extrude the boundary edges up, then bevel the newly-formed vertical edges, then delete the new  top vertices ..

It's pretty hard to get a shape like that. But with a little work around you can do something like this:

First, I just created something like you did. Just a plane with some extrusions:

Next I just beveled the outer edges with ctrl shift b

Select the respective vertices and duplicate them. Move them to the required location.

rotate them on the z axis 180 degrees

move them to the required location
subdivide the connecting edges

Now merge the end vertices of the duplicate with the subdivided vertices

now select these vertices and fill them with f

Getting out of object mode will now provide you with this:

There is probably another way but at the moment this is the one I came up with. Took a lot of time to do all the images. Thanks for asking.


text:
How to make a number or letter just out of dots (emitting light)?
I'd like to build a number just made out of dots.
Or as a variant, the dots can also sit on the surface.
I made a workaround and built the dots separately, then deleted all the ones I don’t need, but I guess there's a much more elegant way.
Is it somehow possible to arrange all dots within a certain form (in this case the number 0)? How would you do that? With Dupliverts?
Thanks for answers!

You can use dupliverts or a particle system. See TLousky's answer to my question here, but replace metaball with emission dots. http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/51623/why-is-there-no-option-to-convert-a-mesh-to-metaball-object

Can you make that into an answer before someone else does and claims the rep? ;-)

@Matt Happily, I just felt since there are many similar questions, that it'd be better to simply reference.

...Ahh ok ;-), I will add an answer

If this is a duplicate of another question, then you should "flag" it as such so that all the answers about questions like this live in one place. It sounds like this is different enough, though, that it's not a duplicate. In which case,  you can reference the other answer in your question, while providing enough detail that if the other question goes away, this answer is still useful. That's how StackExchange works ;-)

Add "text", change it to your desired text, then "convert text to mesh".

Subdivide a few times using W > "Subdivide".

Add a sphere, and resize it, making sure the sphere's diameter is smaller than the distance between vertices. (This is for later if we choose to use the "0's" vertices as the sphere distribution control point.)

Add the sphere's material.

Extrude the text to give it some depth, and add a particle system.
In edit mode, I can see the number of vertices for the mesh; use that number as the number of emitted particles.

Playing with the "start" and "end" will change the placement of our particle spheres.

It looks a little awkward though (since the vertices aren't evenly spread), so you can choose to use "volume" and "grid" instead. Don't forget to adjust the resolution.

Convert the particle system in Properties> Modifiers, then head back to Properties> Particles and remove it. You will then have thousands of separate little glowing spheres making up your text.

Rendered View:

Choose whichever placement suits you best (vertices, volume, etc.), using a particle system gives you lots of flexibility.


text:
How to model the needle/spiral of a badge/button?
I try to model a badge/button and now I’m having some trouble to model the half-spiral of the needle (see picture).
My result is ok I think, but it was hard to get there via two circle paths, then deleting just a quarter of one and finally merging the two circles together. I also tried to build it via Curve > Curve spirals but there is no basis from which a good result could be achieved.
So I’m interested now to know how some of you would solve it, perhaps there is a much easier way to do it.
EDIT: the first picture is not my result, it’s just a reference.

You can use a Circle and a Screw modifier :

Note that the object origin will be used as the screw axis, that's why I offseted it in my picture. But you can also use an Empty as an axis, just use the AxisObject field for that.

Because the whole object, to work, is not geometrically perfect (nothing is quite parallel, there are slight bends everywhere,) You might be tempted to model the whole object as one curve, starting with an Curve > Spiral, and E extruding from there. Even though, in Blender, it is a bit more awkward to model curves than meshes, most of the time. I think your method looks pretty good...
This is a pure curve, with its native bevel, and a taper object for the tip:


text:
Animating Curves for Arms and Legs

Here's a design by a man named James Curran. Now James uses After Effects (you can watch how he does animations here and here, which is the long way in After Effects by animating and manipulating paths).
However, I do know that this animation of his (as well as many others) can be replicated in Blender. However, I've found the process to be more annoying and time-consuming than I initially expected (semi new to Blender animation).
Every course I've ever got always talks about animating Blender characters via armatures never curves (while I do mostly cartoony 2d animations).
The problem I've had with animating an armature for curves is it distorts the curve very badly (it even gets worse when I add more cuts) which weight painting doesn't ever seem to help with fixing that curve distortion.

character-arm-test.blend (1.1 MB)

character-arm-test-w-cuts.blend|attachment (4.1 MB)
For these type of character animations, I've found an armature isn't the best method (or maybe I just have more stuff to learn which if you know of anything I'm all ears I'm always wanting to improve.
That being said when I go to animating the character's arms and legs via just a curve. That's when I start to have another annoyance.

curving-arm shoulder.blend|attachment (577.8 KB)
I want my curves to always have rounded ends/caps.

They don't by default and the only way I've found aside from using a mesh+armature I've found us when adjusting the curve I have to move a cut UV sphere to what would be the end of the curves position which is fine as long as that end side doesn't move. If I was making a walk animation then moving that every time and animating frame my frame would be very time consuming for a looping animation.
I've tried even using a taper for the rounded end/cap as mentioned in this post but I still cannot seem to get a tangible rounded end. I get more of a growing vine result.

curve-armnshoulder-w-taper.blend|attachment (584.6 KB)
Lastly, another problem I noticed is how curves look in Blender.

weird-curve-shape.blend|attachment (505.7 KB)

Notice the difference between the two photos (top is designed in Blender while bottom is with Gravit Designer). Blender, when curves are adjusted and manipulated it, shrinks the curve when the curve is curving while Gravit doesn't which is how I want it to look in Blender with a stroke.
Necessary explanation completed now, I have a 2 part question.
1) What's the most effective way to add a rounded end/cap to a curve? (that doesn't move the cap when the curve is moved)
2) Also is there anyway, in Blender where I can move the curve without it shrinking the curved portion as seen in this photo (from above)?

When I do 2D stuff, I use armatures, which work well when the mesh has evenly distribuited quads. In my example I created the line with 4 vertices, then I added some loop cuts until they were evenly distribuited, then I added 2 loop cuts near every joint, then I made the bones to be bendy bones with 2 segments each, playing with curve Y in and out settings.
The rounded cap is obtained by simply adding a subsurf modifier (level 3), which has to be set after the armature modifier. Enable the Armature "preserve volume" option for better results.

Watch Nathan Vegdahl's free YouTube humane rigging course, in some of the first lessons he explains some useful rigging tricks fro 2D animation.


text:
Make Curve Have A Fill and Border

Setting a fill and border is pretty easy in apps like Illustrator and Gravit Designer but in Blender. I've found it to be more tedious as I can't find anything online to solve this problem.
The picture above is a simple 2d mouth with lips. I would like to be able to move the lips and still have a fill but in Blender I needed to add another path for the mouth. Is there anyway I can move my lips path while having it also take the exact same shape (but not material) as my mouth's path?

lips.blend|attachment (454.2 KB)
I work in Blender 2.79 cause 2.8 doesn’t run well on my laptop at all.

This is more characteristic of a Grease Pencil object .. is it possible that could fit, in your case? Maybe describe how you are using this mouth.. simple 2D.. attached to geometry.. etc..

Negative, I work in Blender 2.79 cause 2.8 doesn’t run well on my laptop at all.

Since curves can't be rigged, the only way I see it is using Hooks.
Enter Edit Mode and hook each separate curve vertex you wish to move independently to a new object using the option Hook to new Object.

Then go into the second curve and repeat the process. For vertex you want to move together first select a existing empty you wish to hook it to, then enter Edit Mode, select said vertex and use the other option Hook to selected object.

If two vertex from different curves are hooked to the same empty they will move together. If you still want some independence occasionally you can always hook to separate empties, the parent two empties to a third "controller" empty that moves both simultaneously.

Thank you for your help. Exactly what I was looking for!

I would try this way:

create a Circle curve
Create another circle and scale it down on one axis to get an oval
use an oval as Bevel Object in the Curve properties
move the circle to move the mouth (it's your path), and modify the oval to modify the thickness/shape

I already do that to set the lips. My question pertains to, how do I move my lips curve and my mouths curve simultaneously so I don't have to keep moving each one by one. Hence why I also included the small .blend project file.

My bad, I misunderstood the question


text:
Cannot Save Blend File Says, "Cannot open file filename.blend@ for writing: Too many open files"
Today I saw something in Blender I've never seen before. It says, "Cannot open file filename.blend@ for writing: Too many open files".

Which I'm confused on. It's the only Blender project open. I pressed the close button on the window and it didn't close. I spent 2 hours trying to find a solution online and couldn't find anything.
Does anyone know why this is and how to resolve it?
If anyone can help it'll be greatly appreciated.

Nope, I'm saving in my Downloads folder and I have admin privileges.

Nope it's not locked

Looks similar to this https://blenderartists.org/t/2-66-rendering-sequence-fails-too-many-open-files/572576. Doesn't seem to have solutions as it wasn't widespread and easy to reproduce. It could be not enough free RAM though in this case often there is another error. Did you try Save As command to save into new file? Do you run recent version of Blender? Also note there is saving backups system in Blender (if it's enabled) which saves copies of the file to /temp directory

I tried Save as and am running the most recent current stable version of Blender

So I had no choice but to force close Blender and lost hours of productive work because of this problem.
I still have no idea as to how this problem even occurred but a good reminder to always save your work constantly. Otherwise, you'll lose hours of productive time.


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Using Bilateral blur to reduce noise on already rendered result

So I rendered some 1000 frames. It took a while. The noise is a bit too high and now I want to reduce it with bilateral blur node ,but it is not working correctly.
The frame sequence works as an image input, but the Render Layers node doesn't change anything a bit.
Tried all sorts of things, but the Determinant value does not react. No result changes.
I am probably doing something wrong. Any ideas?
Thanks!

Did you pressed F12? It looks like you'd never render that Render Layer before. Without rendering, there is no information to make your Determinator .Maybe is just collapsed, I'm guessing.

I rendered it on another PC, all I got is PNG image sequence and the file I sent to rendering, F12 just displays the image sequence from the Video Editor, where they are imported.

Ok, I think I got it. Just for checking, please press the render button of the Render Layer node. It's the one at the right-bottom corner. Tell me if you can see your Bilateral Blur working in composition.

As I understoot, I need to rerender everything even on low samples to acquire the Z and Normal values? Or more samples are needed here?

Yes, but not only that. Did you try what I said? Another question, is your camera moving?

The Sequencer overrides all
Your main problem here is that you have the rendered image sequence in the Sequencer.
The Sequencer overrides the Compositor, and the Compositor overrides the 3D scene. So, if you have a camera into the 3D scene, it won't render if you haven't a Render Layer in the Compositor. Likewise, if you haven't a Scene strip in your Sequencer, it won't render the 3D scene, neither the composition nodes you have.
In this case you only have the image sequence, so Blender is going to just render that strip, overriding the Compositor.
How to proceed
If you want to apply a Bilateral Blur on your rendered sequence, you only need the Compositor. So delete the elements in your Sequencer Editor.
Your composition is OK, just added the rendered sequence and applied the Bilateral Blur to it with the Z-Depth and Normal outputs as Determinator.
If you press F12 you'll see that the Bilateral Blur is working now.
Speeding up the process
When reducing noise after rendering, you can low your render settings, as you only need the Z-Depth and Normal passes.
To do this, you can decrease the render samples. Also I recommend deleting all the lights and disabling Use Environment checkbox under Render Layers tab. If you have emitter materials, put a simple grey diffuse as material override.
Doing this, you are rendering without lights, so Cycles works much faster.
Note that if you low the samples too much the contour of the objects in the Normal pass can be a little aliased. So keep the render at a minimum of 100 samples.
For this reason and for speeding up the render you can render in Blender Internal.
Concerns about Bilateral Blur after rendering
There is a last thing to have in mind, if you use the Bilateral Blur after rendering, you are going to blur the textures too. As you could see in the tutorials about noise removing, the Bilateral Blur is applied before Diffuse Color and Glossy Color passes which have textures on them.


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How to fix wrong normals after subdivide/poke on a mesh containing a custom split normals layer?
ScreenShotBefore:

ScreenShotAfter:

As you can see, the new face normals are all identical to the original one. I wonder if they could have been smoothed in some way?
None of these will auto-fix it (this is just one triangle, I have a whole mesh to fix).

normals / recalculate inside
normals / recalculate outside
faces  / recalculate normals
faces  / shade smooth or flat (just to be sure...)
smooth vertex weights (just to be sure...)
smooth vertex (just to be sure...)
beautify faces (just to be sure...)
It looks like that after a subdivide it will auto call normals/recalculateInside once, because I tested recalculateInside on some non-subdivided faces and the effect was similar.
So I wonder if it could subdivide using other kind of normals recalculation that would not break it that much?
Or a way to recalculate normals properly after subdividing?

A not so good workaround I found is:
The mesh has something called "Custom split normals layer".
So I went in mesh edit mode, now at the "Properties" window, at the "Data" tab, click on "Clear custom split normals data".
The moment I did that, the way the whole mesh looks changed somewhat, I could say it became more simple, like more basic or less impressive, but the overall looks didn't look bad at all, just simpler.
Subdividing now won't completely mess the looks, will just subdivide it quite well, but with that normals layer lost already...
I still wonder if it is possible to subdivide keeping the "Custom split normals layer" w/o messing it?

Using blender 2.79

Just a wild guess (we could help more if we had the .blend file to look at): Have you tried removing doubles? Looks like you could have doubles.
Additionally, try going into wireframe to make sure that there isn't an edge connecting the outer 3 vertices underneath the new geometry.

yup, I had to remove doubles before working on it. I will see if I can prepare a small blend file to upload :).

the culprit is "Custom split normals layer", I updated the question :)


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can we select only modified bones from a pose in the library?
When applying a pose from the library, I have to:
1 - spend some time to grant there is no bones already selected
1.1 - but I usually hit 'A' until it selects all and then hit 'A' again to deselect all (instead of reading on the status bar at the top how many stuff is selected)
1.1.1 - but that only works if I have at least one bone selected otherwise it will select something else and I have to aim for any bone before doing *1.1 again (yes, it is usually: again)
2 - navigate to bone groups and click on a bone group
3 - click on select, to have selected only the bones I want to collect from the pose library entry.
4 - click on that button that applies it on selected bones only
I wonder, if there is some way to let that pose library entry affect ONLY the bones that were modified relatively to the rest pose (the first on the list, also the one used at "apply as rest pose").
So, I wonder if there is some way to SELECT ONLY such modified bones from the pose library entry, prior to applying that pose from the library?
The best thing would still be some single-click/hotkey to: "select and apply only modified bones from this lib's pose's entry"
Obs.:
learned from here: https://blenderartists.org/t/not-all-bones-saved-in-pose-library/1132846/4

I don't know if you can but you could use the Bone Groups to be sure to only select the group of bones you want to select for your pose

I've been doing that, but it is too many clicks and attention for something that could be more intuitive :)

yes, I once wondered and I agree with you

I guess this will probably fit better as a suggestion at blender's forum? but I still hope there is some scripted tool that could do that if not builtin already somewhere I am missing.

I hope the gods of Blender will hear you  :))


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Where can be found official and updated docs about how prefixes and other naming conventions may add or block blender functionalities?
This took me many hours to finally really guess the problem: two bones, one I can add a keyframe, the other I receive this message "no suitable context info for active keying set", how to fix it?.
Now I want to avoid being surprised, mostly because the error message does not specify why it is happening.
If it could have said "you cant add a keyframe because of the DEF prefix", I would have spend 1s solving the problem. :(
So, is there any updated documentation about how these namings behave? in a direct consideration of blocking and/or adding functionality.
PS.: I cant add this tag "naming-convention" but I guess it is essential now.

The manual https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/animation/keyframes/keying_sets.html#whole-character-keying-set

perfect thx! google was not helping... anyway, I would have had to know it before facing the problem, as the error message does not help.

Strange, link posted is top match after googling "blender keying sets"

yes of course, but the name of the bones was the last thing I thought that could cause that problem... I mean, this doesnt dismiss this difficulty to new users, and may make them give up on using blender...  I wasnt looking for naming conventions, I was looking for bones behaving differently and the non helpful error message....

Do note that this limitation only applies if you are using the Whole Character Keying Set.  Otherwise the bone name prefix is irrelevant to whether or not the bone can be keyed.

mm... that must be it, I always use wcks, as I think it is easier to work that way


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Bone heat weighting: failed to find solution for one or more bones after i remove doubles
http://www.pasteall.org/blend/33521 my link
i already search for some solution and try it but still no working.

Please post as an edit to your original question.

I quickly fixed it , First you have to select the robot then press[ ALT + P ] , Then select clear parent and keep transformation
Do that to the armature aswell.
Now select the robot , Hold SHIFT and right click the armature .
Press CNTRL + P
Add automatic weights.
It will now work , if you have problems just ask
Also keep in mind you will have to some manually weight distribution because it does get messy

Sry for late reply it still not working


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How to change objects texture using python in BGE?
What i want to do:
If player/ avatar is close to an object, objects texture changes to a higher rez one/ object changes material.

How to get distance between two objects using script?
How to apply/change texture to an object using script?

You don't even need to write python code, you can change the material with level of detail (LOD)

Create different objects (or duplicate the same mesh Shift-D if don't want lower polygon count)

Assign the textures to the objects -
And all to the highest resolution object as LOD objects.
Adjust the distance for where they should be displayed.
Move all but the highest resolution object to an invisble layer.

The effect is visible in the viewport:

A python soultion would be to combine snippets from:

Python - Set material to material slot
How to get the distance between two objects in the game engine?

Thanks but i want it to be done in/by python script. Not by changing objects.

@EwwGin I just linked two posts containing the snippets you need.

Umm. i need it ( changing materials ) to happen in bge / while >game< is running. if possible.


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BGE: How to change camera's focal length?
Is it possible to change camera's focal length
within the game?
What im looking for is that "Bow zoom in"
Or "warping".

These two lines are all you need to change the active camera's focal length.
cam = bge.logic.getCurrentScene().active_camera
cam.lens = 90.0 #or whatever value you want

bge.logic.getCurrentScene().active_camera gets the active camera in the current scene.
Then cam.lens is accessing the lens attribute of the camera defined in line one.
Read through the docs about the game camera, and you will see other properties you can get or set.
Do note that because field of view and focal length are related you can not set both lens and fov at once. Which ever value you set last will be the value that is used, and the other will be calculated for it.


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2.79b, Cycles Render, Shade method Material, texture paint, hidden face is still being drawn

Hidden faces in texture paint mode are still being drawn in the Material shading method. Has anybody else encountered this problem, and how would one go about solving it?
Edit1: Got a confirmation that it is so by default, does it happen to any of you too on 2.79b? Tho I could swear it worked for me before.
Edit2: I'm going about it this way for I want "texture layers", that I have done on my actual work, in Material nodes to be displayed.

Properties >>> Object >>> Dsiplay >>> Maximum draw Type >>> Solid (instead of Textured)
It won't display the material shading in Object_Mode (Ofc) but in Texture_painting the material will be displayed and it will allow you to actually hide the part of the mesh (For hiding in Maximum_draw_Type'Texture' seems to be a bugged).

Would Anybody wanna go about fixing it and sending us a build? :S
I wonder if its only 2.79b or this "bug" persisted for some time.


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Why Seams are visible at a distance?
Yes the Seam placement is rather questionable, but anyways... Whats up with this? :P

[Edit in response to Rix Yarbrough]
Version 2.79b

Mesh is consistent if that is what you are asking for.
[Edit]
Welp, I minimized the damage this problem does by redoing the UV n Texture Tho it still stands.

Hmhmhm, i wonder if it would disappear if the adjacent faces to the seam were to be flat. Ill test that out. :p
(a longshot of an idea that i got form Normal map err... seamlisity :p )
[Edit]
Yeah never mind that, maybe if the UV island edges were to be perfectly horizontal andor vertical.

A few questions: What version of Blender? Does this appear when rendered? Are these faces attached directly?


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Flip normals on Metaballs?
I would like to use metaballs for interior design (cave) via backface culling.
Is there a way to flip their normals? :p

Yes..ish.. you have to Alt-C convert them to a mesh, first

Yeah... no. Thats for finalizing. I want to see "inside" while editing

You can take a peek inside your metaballs by toggling a clipping border using Alt-B?  It would be nicer to frame the part you want to hide, than the part you want to keep, IMO, but that seems to be it.

Why not simply toggle off viewport backface culling?
Under the Properties Area (N Key) Shading > Backface Culling

It would be uncomfortably close zoomed-in, defining overall interior area (cave system).. no


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2.79b Blender texture paint stroke oddity
https://i.sstatic.net/URRbB.png
Strokes have these "bounding box" or "update area" like discolorations. They are cleared once I Undo, and so remove one of the strokes. Only in UV/Image Editor, does not appear in 3D view.
Edit: It was something with the file itself it seems, for when I copied my work onto startup file those Discolorations (they are only visual, not color information) in UV/image editor did not appear anymore.
Its not the first time that I run into it, will try to be more conscious of when it happens and update here.

Please show a Blender Screen capture of your work.  Show the Brush Settings.  Part of your statement is difficult to understand for me.

Images can be used in many ways.  You appear to have a UV Map and are painting off the UV Map which may be unusual and unintentional.  Please see a video tutorial on the UV Map which can be found on the famous site that has a name that rhymes with NooNube.

Suggestion.  See a tutorial on Blender Texture Paint . Web site mentioned above..  Blender gives you options to create brushes you like or dislike or understand or do not understand.  What seems like an oddity today for you maybe a desired feature in the future.  You might give a new title to your question such as ... I do not understand the Texture Paint Brush I have created.

Suggestion is to have a fresh start.
Delete the Brush in question and create a new one.  Use the new Brush and see if the problem persists.
You may have changed a setting unintentionally. There are many settings in Blender that you or I or some others may not have the time to track down at the moment. In the sense of triage you may have more important things to occupy your concerns.


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(Resolved) Quaternion1 step rotation to Quaternion2
So I have an object that I want to rotate step by step to match another object rotation, at first not knowing any better i did like so..:
Step=0.1 Q1=Q1-(Q1-Q2)Step .
What should be the formula? :p

And its odd how one asks a question and then soon after finds something similar even if prior one was looking for an answer in the same channels xD
https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/158037/rotate-objects-mesh-so-it-matches-another-objects-rotation

I seems you're looking for SLERP?

most likely, gonna look it up now, tho if one could write down the template/code of the wanted operation it would be appreciated.


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How to export list of prop values as txt to a certain folder? And how to import them back?
How to export list of prop values as .txt to Local Disk (C:) > Blender game > New Folder?
And how to import them back?
Now im creating save and load game: global position, stats, items etc...
and im planning to save it as list.
Tho im not sure how to do it.
Let's say I have informantion set as var myprop and myprop2.
Btw... how to get globalPosition?

This question appears to be off-topic because it is about general file I/O in Python, not Blender.

Now it works? i mean its not off topic?

It still is, but a brief answer that directs you to the relevant Python docs should be fine whatsoever.

Here's a very simple example, of how you could write out something to a text file:
import os

# Ensure all folders of the path exist
path = "C:/Blender game/YourFolder/"
os.makedirs(path, exist_ok=True)

# Write data out (2 integers)
with open(path + "file.txt", "w") as file:
    file.write("%i %i" % (myprop, myprop2))

# Read back in
with open("C:/Blender game/YourFolder/file.txt") as file:
    data = file.read()
    a, b = map(lambda x: int(x), data.split(" "))
    print("Imported integers:", a, b)

Note that C: is usually the system partition and in order to write to it, you must have elevated rights (run Blender as administrator).
Other possible ways to dump and re-import data is to use the struct module (binary), pickle (python object serialization) or maybe json if you want something human readable. You can come up with your very own text-based format too of course, like shown in my example above, but it can be come tricky to parse very soon. I discourage the use of XML, as it's rather complicated to use in Python without additional libraries.

A very simple example with a string and integer variable
prop1 = "abc"
prop2 = 123

# write to file
f = open("props.txt", "w")
print("%s\n%d" % (prop1,prop2), file=f)
f.close()

# read back
prop1 = ""
prop2 = 0

f = open("props.txt", "r")
prop1 = f.readline()
prop2 = int(f.readline())
f.close()

# test
print(prop1)
print(prop2)


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How to make a ''Follow Curve'' animation more harmonious?
i made a camera follow a curve with the option Ctrl + P (Follow Curve) and it works good except for the fact that when the camera reach a vertice (curve) it turns too abrupt, is there any way to fix this? i tried with the graph editor...but i see no keyframes...
Help! :(

Use the curve only for position and control the camera rotation separately (keyframes, track_to with influence, ..)

Or put a softbody rig between the curve and camera as a damper and simulate it (works like a steadycam)

You can increase the curve resolution in the properties data tab (Resolution - Preview U). Could you upload an image? Not sure if that is your problem.

I uploaded a picture there

Use constraints instead of "Follow path". Then you can animate the rotation of the camera at the frames you want =)

This will help with your animation: http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/23854/

Undo the parenting that you did with CTRL + P. It's handy, but it's limited.
Then select the camera and go to constraints. Select constrain "Follow path".

Then choose the curve as target, in the constraints menu.

Now you can select the curve and go to the "data" tab(the one that looks like a curve).
Under "Path animation" you can animate how fast and far the camera will move on the curve.

If you select the camera, you can animate the rotation as a normal animation(You can reset the position of the camera with "alt + g" to snap it to the curve).

Here i also uploaded a video:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/as751siajpqetsc/clip0003.avi?dl=0

I see. Try the solution that I've posted - it should solve your problem.
But don't use the "Follow" option under "Path animation". You want to animate the cameras rotation manually.

"Follow path" when you parent(CTRL + P) forces the camera to rotate along with the path. The abrupt rotations you are experiencing will always be present in abrupt turns. Unless you animate the rotation manually, like I've suggested =)

Sorry, i wasnt able to answer before, the Follow Path option doesn't work, the camera doesnt follow the path or animates (it just doesn't start)

Don't use the "Follow" option(let it be unchecked). Do the steps I've suggested. Then go to "Path animation" (3'rd picture). Keyframe the "Evaluation time". Let's say you keyframe the evaluation time at 0 on frame 10 and 100 on frame 70. The camera will now follow the entire path, starting at frame 10 and ending at frame 70.

After that you keyframe the rotation of the camera. This is done by selecting the camera, not the path, and animating normally.


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Any way to keep the kind of ilumination on preview for rendering?
i'm doing a animation with two objects on Cycles, and when i look at the object alone (on its own layer) looks good, but when i mix it with the other object it looks bad, i should change the lighting, but it looks perfect for me with that kind of light on the preview, is it possible to render the object like that? The material obviously is affected by lighting, that's why i need to know if there's a possible way to keep the material like appears on the preview.

Thanks in regard.

Some example images please? I have no idea what you are talking about currently . . .

I just uploaded a picture :)

I know that i can render the object alone and it will work, but what if i want to render it alongside the background?

Alright, I got it. Writing an answer right now :)

What you want are Render Layers. A render layer is basically what layers are rendered to separate images, composited later in the compositor after the actual render takes place. It is possible to do this fairly easily actually.
First, make sure they are on different layers (I think you said they already are). Then go to Properties > Render Layers and set up the default Render Layer to only show your background object layer:

The Layer section is to show what layers to render, and the Exclude section is for what sections to exclude from the render (shadows, reflections, lamps, etc.). It is important you get these right.
Once you have that set up, you can add a Render Layer for the foreground object. Press the + beside the Render Layers display window, and name as desired:

Now set up the new layer using the same principles as the first, isolating the foreground element. You should get two images when you press F12 now:

Now we need to go into the Compositor to put the two images together.

Start by adding another Render Layer input:

Now set up your nodes like this:

You can see that now it is combining the two different rendered images based on the Alpha value of the second. One more iportant thing you need to do: Make sure that there is an Alpha value to use. Go to Properties > Render > Film and tick the Transparent checkbox:


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Diffuse BSDF texture on cycles doesn't reflect the Hdri in some parts?
i was creating a 3D Eye on Blender and i added a Diffuse image texture map, and it reflects an Hdri image, as you can see, the blue part of the eye doesnt reflect this (fig 1.), it's weird since it's only a single geometry with a single texture...It is possible to make it look better, like the image is reflected on all the geometry? (fig 2.)
Does anyone know what to do?
Or how can i make the Fig 1. looks like exactly the Fig 2.?

Or maybe make it look like exactly like the Fig 2.?

possible duplicate of Reflection of HDRI in Cycles not working?

isnt the same, thank you anyways, it's almost the same :)

The reflection is working properly, the problem is that your eye model is not a perfect sphere. the area that is extruded inwards distorts the reflection.
To make it look like a physical eye you will need to create another sphere outside of the one you have and set it as a glass shader. then you will have the reflections you want.


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How to make my particles go backwards?
I created a particle system based on quick effects > quick explode and modified some parameters (like poly count and gravity) on the particle system tab.  And as you can see in the image, I made a word that explodes from its center. The only problem I have now is the direction of the particles. The object currently breaks apart from left to right, is there any way I can make the object break apart from right to left (as in the diagram below the screenshot)?

Video: https://www.dropbox.com/s/as751siajpqetsc/clip0003.avi?dl=0

No that I know of . . . If you explode it from right to left, you can play the video backwards and it will look like it is being built from Left to Right.

No. lol it will make them reassemble. @beavoru try using wind forces.

I applied the Wind forces, but it didnt work :/

@VinceScalia Isn't that what he wanted? ". . . fill the word . . ."?

@beavoru Do you want to explode or reassemble the word?

Not this time, after this i can reverse the sequence in another editing software, yet, the thing i need is to make the particles start appearing from the left, in other words, on Blender i need the particles to start exploding from the right side of the word.
But that's the question :/

I need to explode it for now because i can reverse the sequence on After Effects, so it's no problem, yet i did that but the word start creating itself starting from the right side, not left, so it looks weird, that's why i need here on Blender make the explosion start from right, not left

@beavoru could you invert your text (scale by -1 along x), apply your quick explode, then mirror the the renders along x in the compositor? (yeah, super hacky..)

Have a look at this tutorial

Thank you, i tried the scale but it didn't work, and about the tutorial, even though it works to dissolve the model, i only need to use this effect as a request, so i'm trying to figure out how to 'invert' the direction of the particles :/

I uploaded a video here, as you can see if i revert this animation on and editing software it will begin to apear from the right side to the left, but what i want it's the same backwards...o i need the model' exploding' from right to left :/
https://www.dropbox.com/s/as751siajpqetsc/clip0003.avi?dl=0


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How can i rotate an item/bone on its own pivot?
I'm animating a character but the camera doesn't show the items on orthographic perspective, so i need to (on this case) rotate the character neck but on that perspective it's pretty hard to do it, but is there any solution to rotate it like if it were on orghographic perspective?

Thanks in regard.

please add some image and description

Have you tried R Y Y?


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How can i change a curve to have the same proportions on all its vertices?
i made a curve as you can see in the image, but i need to take a part of the curve (for example, ten vertices) and make all the curve look like that part, is that possible? i need to do this because i need to animate it in another layer, as a continuous curve with loop.

Could you clarify what you want the same? bevel depth?

The distance between the vertices/curves

Wait, you want to straighten it out again so the curves are completely congruent throughout the entire length?

I edited the image, that's what i'm trying to do :/

Yes, i need the curves to be the same over and over alongside the length.

Let's continue this discussion in chat.

Is it possible to give a single proportion on all the curve/lenght?

Consider an array modifier maybe . . . select the good vertices, and press Shift+D and then P > By Selection then add an Array modifier to that. After tha, apply it (be sure to enable Merge in the modifier settings).

This is so unclear of what you are asking. Does the first curve have variable frequency or is it half a circle from the sideview? Do you need the result curve to have constant frequency or variable one but repeated? Why don't you create the curve like you want in the first place? etc. etc.

@NoviceInDisguise i got able to fix it with your method :)

Excellent! I guess I'll write it as an answer then.

First, select the good vertices in edit mode (at least three, one whole waveform):

Then press Shift+D, and then P to separate the new vertices into a new curve:

Now add an Array modifier to the new curve, making sure to tick the Merge checkbox:

You should now have something like this:

Notice that the fewer waveforms you select initially the more accurate the result will be, although it will take vastly more repeats on the Array modifier. It is however completely adjustable at that point, so it can be given the exact same number of waveforms as your other curve.
Once you are happy with the result, change the handles to vector, press Alt+C and convert to mesh, then the same and convert back to a curve, and change the handle type back to whatever it was. You should now have one continuous curve. The reason you need to do this is because you are not allowed to apply a constructive modifier on a curve.


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How can i make a Glass material that doesn't need any light to shine?
I'm trying to make a PNG Rain animation with Alpha Channel and then i need to import that into another software, the thing is that i created a glass material in order to give the water-drops a kind of transparent texture, and it works on the preview of the material, the thing is that it needs light (any lamp) to work, but on this case i do not want to add any light since i need it almost as a plain illumination, is it possible to make the material work without light? like an Emission material but with this glass material?

Image Reference (without the background)

Could you find a reference image that look like what you want? I'm not sure I understand the difference between lamp light reflected from a material, vs light emitted from the material itself.

Something like this (without the background)
http://wallhud.com/download?filename=2014/12/rain_water_drop_wallpapers.jpg

maybe an environement texture mapped as reflection with transparency on the drop objects for a fake refraction/reflection effect

How can i hide the enviroment so it doesnt appear on the Render?

@beavoru uncheck environment from the render layers

@beavoru or check  film "transparent" option in render settings

Set the background material to white or light grey in enviroment.
Turn on ambient inclusion in enviroment settings.
Set film to transparent in render settings.
That said, without a directional light you won't get shadows or reflection that make it look like rain.  So you might want to add a light, use an image or movie in the background that the rain could reflect, or set up a light that only throws shadows and place it directly above your rain.
Andrew price did a great tutorial that included rain on the camera, if you have any other issues you might want to check it out on blenderguru.com


text:
How to get rid of subtle white pixel border on Eevee
How can i get rid of white pixels borders on Eevee?
These are just appearing on the preview and render image.
The imported image sequence does not have these little white pixels on it.
If i move the threshold parameter (third image) it works like a fix, but what is the correct way to import/export the image to skip these white pixels?

Does changing the clip threshold have any effect?

yes! it kinda worked, but still feels like a 'patch', what i want is a direct solution to this.

I suggest you using openEXR instead of png. go on your image texture node and try to change linear to closest or to cubic
Then try putting color ramp in between and choose constant interpolation.
btw if you want to make a cirlce procedurally, here is the tree:

Thank you, if i conver the openEXR to png later, would it still have the same information on it? because i need to later import my render to another software.

EXR stores more information than png, so you would still retain the image information. Also this format is used in other softwares so it may be supported there too


text:
How can i exclude rendering an enviroment texture in cycles but keeping all the other settings?
How can i exclude rendering an enviroment texture in Cycles but keeping all the lighting and reflections that i get from it? like, rendering with the background, but make it black (not transparent)
Already tried to render it as PNG Transparent and then in After Effects add a black background, but what i want is to directly render it on JPEG format with black background to save render time.

Is saving as .png and combining it with a black image not an option?

Yes, i already tried that, but i want it to render as a JPEG because i need to save render time.

Look at the nodes in the last image. You can set the camera background independently.

Thank you, can you please explain to me how can i make the light node appear? i never used it before.

Also, i need to keep an HDRI that makes the lighting look as i need, but apart of it i need to make the background look just black.
It is like, the same to make it Transparent (without any background at all) but without getting any alpha channel and to make it appear black.

Finally what it worked was:

Unchecking the 'Transparent' option before anything
Checking 'Use Enviroment' at the Scene Tab
Most importantly, in the World Tab, uncheck 'Camera'

So with those options the objects will be affected with the background but the background itself will not appear as part of the render.


text:
How can i extrude a text or element to the sides correctly?
I want to make a border for a text, with extrude option (no other option than that) because i will apply that too to another models that are plain like text later.
When i extrude the object, like on this example, i want to scale it but it moves to a single side, but i need it to be like a perfect border. of every element of the model, when i extrude them together.
And even, if possible extrude at the same time the inside part of the 'e'.
Edit: it's like using the Mesh Option 'Extrude individual' but not by separating the faces as different cubes, just like a general extrude, for creating a 'border'.

Thanks in regards.

This would be relatively easy if you hadn't converted text to a mesh

I found a solution, to do what i wanted is to Scale Normals ( ALT + S)
Extruding along an edge without creating new faces


text:
How can i make my material look like more like a crystal glass?
I'm trying to make a crystal-like material but i cannot find out how...i added a Glass BSDF with Transparency, plus some transparent background made with the Holdout option in Nodes...but still, it just looks like Plastic, but not a crystal...
Does anyone know a good solution for this? Maybe add more transparency via Mix Shader? i'm sure there are other better options..

Reference

This tut may interest you: http://www.blenderguru.com/tutorials/how-to-make-a-cave/

Thanks, but the tutorial didnt worked for me or at least isnt what i need :/ and this scene does not have any enviroment because it needs to be totally black/transparent

@beavoru You can have an Environment Texture for the World Background and still render the background as transparent. Is that what you want?

Hmm, i don't know if thats the solution because i already tried that before but it didnt help..
i edited the question now, with a reference :)

You just need to add more details to your scene. Maybe make the roughness a little sharper as well.

You may want to also look up some photographer advice how to shoot glass.. mainly how to setup the studio environment and how to position lights..its all the same

possible duplicate of Rendering a Water Drop in Cycles


text:
How can i make a Bump/setoff accurate to its own texture map?
I'been trying to make a kind of replica of the planet Ceres, but it lacks the 'bump', the bad thing is, the image takes all the object, so the parts that i need with bump (the holes, for example) appear, alongside everything else, and the texture itself doesn't work well at all.
As you can see on the picture, i have a reference, but i want to get that kind of displacement/bump.

In other hand, as i said, if i add the same image as bump, the result get worse..

Is there any solution for this? what do i need in my Nodes?

I think this question is similar to this: http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/32155/how-can-i-modify-a-displacement-texture-roughness Check out my answer there.

I'd say you have too much displacement. Try scaling it back, either with a bump node or a math node if you want to use the displacement output.

Hmm, the displacement doesn't show any option to change it, where i can change those parameters?

Math node set to multiply. You may want to use a color ramp as well


text:
How to re-scale bone keyframes and objects at the same time?
I'm making an animation, where a character takes an object - it's working fine - but now I want to re-scale a part of the animation to make it faster (for example, I have 500 frames and need to scale down the frames 300 to 400); however, when I choose they keyframes, (not with the Dope-Sheet) Blender will only allow me to select either the animated bones, or object, that are keyframed. How can I select both so I don't have to re-do anything?

Both Dopesheet and Graph Editor show keyframes of all selected objects, you can box select B the keyframes and scale them, S X .


text:
How can i stretch part of a geometry with a modifier?
is there any option to stretch just part of a geometry?
Like my image? i only need to stretch a little part of the model, i could do it on edit mode but it could be difficult since i got already a lot of polygons, is there any other way?
Thank you in regard :)

Edit: i already tried with the edit mode, but it doesn't work properly since it doesnt fit the figure like i want.

Another way would be to use the Lattice Deform modifier.

Already found a way to do this, i just entered in edit mode and then used the proportional editing option, and also the snap option, it worked! but i just selected the faces i wanted to stretch :)


text:
It is possible to mask a Image Texture with Emission?
It is possible to mask a Image Texture with Emission on Blender, like adding soft borders or something and being able to control them, without having the need or external softwares?
As you can see, i have an image on my Render (The Sun, middle one), and i need to control the borders since are too hard and i do need a mask.

Ok, i uploaded an image.

I'll show you how to do it. Could you please upload a link to the image you're using.

I uploaded the PNG image here:
http://www.mediafire.com/view/1qat28a7j06d7cd/Sol_Mas_Luz__00000.png

You might try using a spherical gradient texture with a mix node:

Though any mask texture you like can be used in place of the gradient.

Set up the nodes as pictured below to achieve it. Just use a Gradient Texture as a mask. Set its type to Quadratic Sphere.

Oops, I guess I'm a bit late. You won @gandalf3. As usual ;).

Haha, we even came up with identical node setups XD

Use the Blender compositor for the sun image only. Use a color ramp to select the brightest colors of the sun. The final result can have alpha transparency and be png.  The result can be put back into a 3D View.
You can use a white circle image to absolutely include the center if that suits your needs.  Thus the color ramp can be more finely tuned to the corona or rays of the sun.
If the sun rays are excessively close to the edge consider particle systems or elongated rectangles with more manageable transparency.  You could have a radial gradient to become the alpha channel.  There is no guarantee the image you show will be easy to manipulate at the borders of the rectangle.


text:
Fade in Object, but without the need of animate the texture or material
Is there any way to Fade in and Fade Out an object via ID or Group? (not Material itself?)
I'm doing an scene on Eevee by rendering everything via viewport render (the quality is schematic so that's enough) where a building is being build by the parts appearing like bricks, but i need them to fade in when they appear, is there any solution for this inside the software itself?
Also, fade in a collection would work for this too.

maybe build modifier?

I cant do that since i need it like 3 objects moving on specific ways this time.

what about compositing?


text:
How can i fix the resolution with texture painting?
When i try to paint my model with texture painting, the texture (if low resolution or high) looks blurry and pixelated, not even close to the base 'picture', how can i fix this?
Thanks in advance.

Edit: i made new UVs (project by bounds) and added another image (512p) and it works kind of better, but now it seems that what i want to achieve is that the image/tile size is smaller, so i can paint those 'rocks' smaller' taking less part of the map.

Edit 2: I changed the values of 'Size X, Y and Z' on the 'context' options, to 0.1, the 'brush' paints bigger, if i add more numbers it paint smaller, but i need it to be smaller than that.
Edit 3: I added a checker texture and it seems to work fine about the proportions i need, now the problem is that it looks blurry...

not sure what we looking at, but seems that it is working ok, maybe the base image resolution is not sufficient?

What are we seeing here - the left, is that the image editor in paint mode? On the right, is that the mesh in solid view? I'm not sure what to say since there are variables possible here with preferences on image resolution handling that might affect it. What does the texture look like when imported to the view as its own image plane?

I edited my question, i made new UVs and it works better, maybe the resolution is the problem but what i need is that the 'tile size' is smaller, even if i have smaller or bigger pictures.

I added a checker texture and it works fine about the proportions, but now it looks blurry...does anyone know how to make it work with its full resolution/quality?

I don't know If I understand you correctly BUT if you paint on a low image res you will get low res texture quality!
Here is a pattern I made painted on a 4098x4098 vs 256x256 texture:

My pattern is high res but when you project it on a low res texture you will get exactly that. if you want to get variable texture res on your painting I suggest you to check material painting in blender. You could bake it after that painting it to your desired resolution.

It seems that's the only fix for now, what i wanted was to somehow 'increase' the resolution without go much higher, because my computer can't handle it....yet, some softwares like Zbrush let increase the resolution when painting without problem, then 'bake it' somehow into the final export, but blender won't let me do that..

it would be better to use Procedural, or Seamless textures if it is a terrain


text:
Setting up materials for export to Collada
I'd like to create some game assets that need to be exported in the Collada file format. I want to be able to create diffuse, normal and specular maps on my models and then export them to a single .dae file. Unfortunately, if I put multiple maps onto a single material, the Collada exporter does weird things.
If I put both a diffuse and a normal texture on a model, the collada exporter only exports the normal map (but connects it to the diffuse channel for some reason). I'm trying to figure out a way to configure my materials/images so that the diffuse map is exported in the diffuse channel, the normal map is in the normal channel, and so on.
Has anyone found a good way to do this?
Here's a blender scene that I've been using to test the exporter.
And here's the result:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<COLLADA xmlns="http://www.collada.org/2005/11/COLLADASchema" version="1.4.1">
  <asset>
    <contributor>
      <author>Blender User</author>
      <authoring_tool>Blender 2.72.0 commit date:2014-10-21, commit time:11:38, hash:9e963ae</authoring_tool>
    </contributor>
    <created>2014-12-30T15:05:37</created>
    <modified>2014-12-30T15:05:37</modified>
    <unit name="meter" meter="1"/>
    <up_axis>Z_UP</up_axis>
  </asset>
  <library_images>
    <image id="PresentBump" name="PresentBump">
      <init_from>PresentBump.png</init_from>
    </image>
  </library_images>
  <library_effects>
    <effect id="PresentMat-effect">
      <profile_COMMON>
        <newparam sid="PresentBump-surface">
          <surface type="2D">
            <init_from>PresentBump</init_from>
          </surface>
        </newparam>
        <newparam sid="PresentBump-sampler">
          <sampler2D>
            <source>PresentBump-surface</source>
          </sampler2D>
        </newparam>
        <technique sid="common">
          <phong>
            <emission>
              <color sid="emission">0 0 0 1</color>
            </emission>
            <ambient>
              <color sid="ambient">0 0 0 1</color>
            </ambient>
            <diffuse>
              <texture texture="PresentBump-sampler" texcoord="UVMap"/>
            </diffuse>
            <specular>
              <color sid="specular">0.5 0.5 0.5 1</color>
            </specular>
            <shininess>
              <float sid="shininess">50</float>
            </shininess>
            <index_of_refraction>
              <float sid="index_of_refraction">1</float>
            </index_of_refraction>
          </phong>
        </technique>
      </profile_COMMON>
    </effect>
  </library_effects>
  <library_materials>
    <material id="PresentMat-material" name="PresentMat">
      <instance_effect url="#PresentMat-effect"/>
    </material>
  </library_materials>
  <library_geometries>
    <geometry id="Cube-mesh" name="Cube">
      <mesh>
        <source id="Cube-mesh-positions">
          <float_array id="Cube-mesh-positions-array" count="24">1 1 -1 1 -1 -1 -1 -0.9999998 -1 -0.9999997 1 -1 1 0.9999995 1 0.9999994 -1.000001 1 -1 -0.9999997 1 -1 1 1</float_array>
          <technique_common>
            <accessor source="#Cube-mesh-positions-array" count="8" stride="3">
              <param name="X" type="float"/>
              <param name="Y" type="float"/>
              <param name="Z" type="float"/>
            </accessor>
          </technique_common>
        </source>
        <source id="Cube-mesh-normals">
          <float_array id="Cube-mesh-normals-array" count="36">0 0 -1 0 0 1 1 -5.66244e-7 3.27825e-7 -4.76837e-7 -1 0 -1 2.08616e-7 -1.19209e-7 2.08616e-7 1 2.38419e-7 0 0 -1 0 0 1 1 0 -2.38419e-7 0 -1 -2.98023e-7 -1 2.38419e-7 -1.49012e-7 2.68221e-7 1 1.78814e-7</float_array>
          <technique_common>
            <accessor source="#Cube-mesh-normals-array" count="12" stride="3">
              <param name="X" type="float"/>
              <param name="Y" type="float"/>
              <param name="Z" type="float"/>
            </accessor>
          </technique_common>
        </source>
        <source id="Cube-mesh-map">
          <float_array id="Cube-mesh-map-array" count="72">0.4999998 0.4999998 0.5 0.7499566 0.2500432 0.7499566 0.2500431 0.2500433 0.250043 8.67365e-5 0.4999996 8.65875e-5 0.7499566 0.4999998 0.7499567 0.7499566 0.5 0.7499566 0.5 0.9999132 0.2500433 0.9999134 0.2500432 0.7499566 0.2500432 0.7499566 8.65875e-5 0.7499566 8.65875e-5 0.5 0.4999998 0.2500432 0.4999998 0.4999998 0.2500432 0.5 0.2500432 0.5 0.4999998 0.4999998 0.2500432 0.7499566 0.4999998 0.2500432 0.2500431 0.2500433 0.4999996 8.65875e-5 0.4999998 0.4999998 0.7499566 0.4999998 0.5 0.7499566 0.5 0.7499566 0.5 0.9999132 0.2500432 0.7499566 0.2500432 0.5 0.2500432 0.7499566 8.65875e-5 0.5 0.2500431 0.2500433 0.4999998 0.2500432 0.2500432 0.5</float_array>
          <technique_common>
            <accessor source="#Cube-mesh-map-array" count="36" stride="2">
              <param name="S" type="float"/>
              <param name="T" type="float"/>
            </accessor>
          </technique_common>
        </source>
        <vertices id="Cube-mesh-vertices">
          <input semantic="POSITION" source="#Cube-mesh-positions"/>
        </vertices>
        <polylist material="PresentMat-material" count="12">
          <input semantic="VERTEX" source="#Cube-mesh-vertices" offset="0"/>
          <input semantic="NORMAL" source="#Cube-mesh-normals" offset="1"/>
          <input semantic="TEXCOORD" source="#Cube-mesh-map" offset="2" set="0"/>
          <vcount>3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 </vcount>

0 0 0 1 0 1 2 0 2 7 1 3 6 1 4 5 1 5 4 2 6 5 2 7 1 2 8 5 3 9 6 3 10 2 3 11 2 4 12 6 4 13 7 4 14 4 5 15 0 5 16 3 5 17 3 6 18 0 6 19 2 6 20 4 7 21 7 7 22 5 7 23 0 8 24 4 8 25 1 8 26 1 9 27 5 9 28 2 9 29 3 10 30 2 10 31 7 10 32 7 11 33 4 11 34 3 11 35

        </polylist>
      </mesh>
    </geometry>
  </library_geometries>
  <library_visual_scenes>
    <visual_scene id="Scene" name="Scene">
      <node id="Cube" name="Cube" type="NODE">
        <matrix sid="transform">1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1</matrix>
        <instance_geometry url="#Cube-mesh">
          <bind_material>
            <technique_common>
              <instance_material symbol="PresentMat-material" target="#PresentMat-material">
                <bind_vertex_input semantic="UVMap" input_semantic="TEXCOORD" input_set="0"/>
              </instance_material>
            </technique_common>
          </bind_material>
        </instance_geometry>
      </node>
    </visual_scene>
  </library_visual_scenes>
  <scene>
    <instance_visual_scene url="#Scene"/>
  </scene>
</COLLADA>

Check the Texture Options section of this page. If it helps, or even if it doesn't, let us know!

I checked the page, but is isn't helping.  (I've tried both of the second life export presets, along with checking some of the other texture export options.)  It only exports the normal map in the diffuse channel.

I'm not use how to do it myself, let me see if I can get someone else to help out. Go here.

Okay, I think I've solved it.
First of all, make sure all your textures have been assigned to a specific UV map under the Texture/Mapping/Map.  If the map is a normal map, also check Texture/Image Sampling/Normal Map.  Under Texture/Influence, make sure that one of these is checked (depending on the texture type):

diffuse map -> Diffuse/Color
normal map -> Geometry/Normal
specular map -> Specular/Intensity

Finally, when you export to Collada, make sure Texture Options/Include Material Textures is checked.


text:
How to get Panel to use properties from a PropertyGroup?
I'm trying to create a PropertyGroup so that I can share my addon's properties between several different panels and operators.  The below is the best I came up with based on the info I could find, but it's not working, but none of the properties I'm adding in my draw() method are displaying.  How should I go about doing this?
import bpy
from bpy_extras import view3d_utils

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

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

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

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

class NormalToolPropsPanel(bpy.types.Panel):

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

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

        settings = bpy.props.PointerProperty(type=NormalToolSettings)

        obj = context.object

        row = layout.row()
        row.prop(bpy.context.scene.my_tool.brush_type)

        row = layout.row()
        row.prop(bpy.context.scene.my_tool.strength)

        row = layout.row()
        row.prop(bpy.context.scene.my_tool.normal)

        row = layout.row()
        row.prop(bpy.context.scene.my_tool.target)

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

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

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

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

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()

----Edit
Was able to fix the code.  Appending it here, since the question has been closed:
import bpy

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

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

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

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

class PT_NormalToolPropsPanel(bpy.types.Panel):

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

    def draw(self, context):
        scene = context.scene
        my_tool = scene.my_tool

        layout = self.layout

#        settings = bpy.props.PointerProperty(type=PG_NormalToolSettings)

#        obj = context.object

        row = layout.row()
        row.prop(my_tool, "brush_type")

        row = layout.row()
        row.prop(my_tool, "strength")

        row = layout.row()
        row.prop(my_tool, "normal")

        row = layout.row()
        row.prop(my_tool, "target")

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

def register():
    bpy.utils.register_class(PG_NormalToolSettings)
    bpy.utils.register_class(PT_NormalToolPropsPanel)

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

def unregister():
    bpy.utils.unregister_class(PG_NormalToolSettings)
    bpy.utils.unregister_class(PT_NormalToolPropsPanel)

    del bpy.types.Scene.my_tool

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()

Always keep an eye on system console.  https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/6173/where-does-console-output-go  Would say at error above is ModalDrawOperator.bl_idname  since the operator class is not defined here. If the op is registered elsewhere use its bl_idname for example "kitfox.normal_tool"    Will never wire up props in a draw method (only in rego) , in draw  get an instance  eg settings = context.scene.my_tool  .. then layout.prop(settings, "normal") ...  Feel this has been well covered see https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/57306/how-to-create-a-custom-ui

..  as with python'sgetattr(ob, property_name) the object is settings its attribute name is one of "brush_type", "normal", "target"

I've deleted the line with ModalDrawOperator.  Strangely, it did not report any error on my console.

Congrats on working it out, trust you see why it was closed. btw always check console for errors and warnings register_class(...): Warning: '3D_VIEW_PT_normal_tool_props' doesn't have upper case alpha-numeric prefix   Do not start an id name with a number. Cannot have register to desired name  eg if bl_idname = "3FOO_PT_bar" issue with bpy.types.3FOO_PT_bar

I was wondering what that error meant.  I had copied the 3D_VIEW_ from another script.  Won't do that again.


text:
Is there a way to change brush fuzziness in paint mode?
Is there a way to make the texture paint brush fuzzy like in Photoshop?  I've tried playing with the Tools/Curve editor, but this seems to only affect the sharpness of the edge of brush stroke - most of the stroke is still thick.  It would be nice to have the curve falloff affect the entire brush head.

That's exactly what the curve does:

It's not working for me.  I can get a similar image with the brush preview when I press F, but when I try to draw anything, it comes out flat.

@kitfox Huh, that's odd.. Is it possible you could upload a .blend with your painting settings?

You can grab a copy here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B65Z2rSspR06Y2hZY1NqcGU5U1k/view?usp=sharing

@kitfox Made some changes to the curve: blend.

@kitfox Works fine for me..


text:
How to turn off texture painting mode where your brush cursor lags behind your mouse position?
I'm playing around with learning how to paint textures in blender, and must have somehow enabled a strange drawing mode that causes the drawing head of my brush to lag behind the place where I'm actually drawing the stroke.
I was able to paint normally earlier.  Now when I draw a stroke, there's this line from the center of my cursor to a point where my brush was earlier, and the stroke is drawn there.  It makes painting much harder and I can't figure out how to turn it off.

I turned Smooth Stroke on.  Once I unchecked that, I went back to the regular painting mode.
The smooth stroke option is found in the Tool Shelf > Tools tab > Stroke section.

The shortcut to toggle this on and off is Shift-S(Smooth Stroke). It sometimes can be toggled by accident if the user presses S to sample a color a few times and accidentally presses Shift.

Reduce Input Samples.
Or turn off smooth stroke. It can be either of them.

In newer Blender 2.93 it is Stabalize stroke, uncheck the box.
Tool Shelf > Tools tab > Stroke section>Stabalize stroke.
Still same short cut Shift + S.


text:
How to retrieve value from StringProperty?
I'm trying to create an addon for Blender.  The addon will have an operator part that builds a mesh and also a panel part that lets the user configure it.
One thing I want to do with the panel is have a drop down property that lets the user select the name of a reference object in the scene.  I found some examples showing how to add this to your panel using the layout.prop_search() method.  However, I wasn't able to find any information on how you are supposed to retrieve the value after the user sets it.  Right now I'm just trying to have my operator fetch the value the user set and print it to the console.

When I try, I get the message
(<built-in function StringProperty>, {'attr': 'theChosenObject'})

Also, is this the best way to go about doing this?  It looks to me that I'm cluttering up Blender's object space by having my addon insert all it's 'global' variables into bpy.types.Scene.
Here's my source:
bl_info = {
    "name": "Build It",
    "category": "Object"
}

import bpy

class BuildItPanel(bpy.types.Panel):
    bl_label = "Build It"
    bl_idname = "VIEW_3D_TOOLS_build_it"
    bl_space_type = "VIEW_3D"
    bl_region_type = "TOOLS"
    bl_category = "Tools"

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

        scene = context.scene

        col = layout.column(align=True)
        col.prop_search(scene, "referenceMesh", scene, "objects")
        col.operator("object.build_it", text="Do Build")

class BuildItOp(bpy.types.Operator):
    bl_idname = "object.build_it"
    bl_label = "Build It"
    bl_options = {"UNDO"}

    def invoke(self, context, event):
#        print(BuildItPanel.bl_category)
        print(bpy.types.Scene.referenceMesh)
        return {"FINISHED"}

def register():
    bpy.utils.register_class(BuildItPanel)
    bpy.utils.register_class(BuildItOp)
    bpy.types.Scene.referenceMesh = bpy.props.StringProperty()

def unregister():
    bpy.utils.unregister_class(BuildItPanel)
    bpy.utils.unregister_class(BuildItOp)
    del bpy.types.Object.referenceMesh

# This allows you to run the script directly from blenders text editor
# to test the addon without having to install it.
if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()

regarding the clutter of the object namespace, as you mention, search how to use 'ID properties' , they are great for storing per-object information, (ints, strings, lists of ints/strings)

You have one small mistake: you are reading the function that creates properties for new classes, while you should be accessing the property itself in the current scene, which has the value you have stored:
print(context.scene.referenceMesh)   instead of print(bpy.types.Scene.referenceMesh)

Although this isn't really OOP, you can think of bpy.types.* as classes. The objects in bpy.data and bpy.context are instances of said classes. The "classes" do not store the specific values, as they are local to every instance, like Chebhou said.


text:
How to make texture repeat in X but clamp in Y?
I'm trying to use blender to create a low poly mountain range.  To make the illusion of a long mountain range without using huge textures, I'm using two different uv layouts to layer a semi-transparent snow cap texture on top of my base rock texture.

For the base rock texture, I can just unwrap and let it seamlessly tile.

For the snow cap, I need to edit the uvs so that the top ridge is within the white region and then squish all the other uvs into the transparent region.

The problem is more obvious for mountains where the snow cap texture only comes down part way.  I suppose that I can squish all the uvs below that into the transparent region, but it would be nice if I could simply tell the graphics card to ignore everything outside of the texture region on the Y axis.

I've used other software programs that let the user control how the texture is sampled when you go out of bounds (usually repeat/mirror/clamp.  Clamp just means that when you go outside the texture area, reuse the pixel on the closest edge of the image).  If I could clamp my snow texture in the Y axis, everying above the cap would be white and everything below would be transparent, making editing my uvs more flexible.
I could get around this by just moving my uvs around.  However, I wanted to know if Blender let you set the texture wrapping type too.

Could you edit your question and add an example screenshot of what you want to achieve?

In Mapping under the textrure tab, do you see any difference with Clip or Clip Cube instead of Repeat?

1. General solution (doesn't work in your case)
For many purposes, you can just change the texture repeat settings on the image texture node.

2. More complex solution (works perfectly in this case)
For more complex cases like yours, however, you this can be done quite easily with a mapping node:

Set the min value of, e.g., the y-axis to be whatever works best for your image. The setting 0.4 seems to work well for my simple testing setup shown below.

Interesting idea, and that might work in Cycles.  However, I'm trying to create assets I can export for a game engine.  I've been sticking to the basic properties you can set in the material and texture tabs because they're set up more like a typical game engine shader.  IDK - can you export shader networks to game engines?

@kitfox You can't export any of that in a game engine actually. If you are in Cycles, you should be using nodes, then baking to maps that you'll use in your game. If you want this technique to work in your game engine w/o a baked map, then you'll have to use some sort of shader in your game engine that does it for you.


text:
Sleeve isn't being weighted correctly when parenting to rig
I have a model that has an arm with a short sleeve on it.  At the moment, the clothing and body are all part of the same mesh (the attached images are using a simplified version of my setup).
I'm trying to rig my character using rigify.  After generating the rig, I parent my mesh to the new rig by pressing Ctrl-P and select Armature Deform with Automatic Weights.  While this does bind the arm part of my model correctly, it does not seem to affect the sleeve.
How do I bind my sleeve?

automatic weight often fails to weigh correctly, so you need to give some corrections in Weight Paint mode or with the Assign button under the vertex group list

I figured out a solution.  By adding some extra control bones specifically for the sleeve, I was able to get it to bind with useful weights.


text:
Baked normal map leaves dark spot on model
I’m learning the process of baking normal maps from a sculpt. I’ve created a head model and can get most of the normal texture baked correctly, but am having problems where there are sharp turns in the surface, like on the lips. I’ve created a cage and while it improved the render a bit, I’m still getting a prominent dark spot on the lips. Is there a way to fix this?
Download blend file

Base mesh with face orientation overlay enabled:

Most likely the problem with base mesh normals orientation.

I checked the face normals.  They look correct.

please provide screenshot of lips in Solid view with Overlays > Geometry > Face orientation enabled

I've added the new image.  I've also provided a link to the .blend file I created.