text:
How not to render objects when they are out of the frame?
I understand i want too much,
but is it possible to disable object when it's not in the frame.
It's just for rendering time reduce.
I see that it's unable to set keyframe on the render icon, but may be there is another way to do it?
Thank for your attention!

to switch visibility during rendering/animation just hit I when your cursor hovers over the little camera icon to add a keyframe. Then move the timeline cursor to another frame and tap on the little camera icon to toggle it and hove over it again and tap I again -> ready.
The other "place" where you can set the keyframe is here: (it has the same effect): (Renders)

Thanks. So it works even without the keyframe points... is
it really useful, do you think? Will this help speed up the renderers?

Everything you don‘t render which is in camera view will speed up your render. If it isn‘t in the camera view it will have no effect.

So you mean, there is no need to hide all objects? )

In the Outliner (window usually at upper right of workspace), click on the small funnel looking button to the right. In there, you'll see a series of icons that you can use to toggle visibility.
The little camera is for rendering. If you click on that little camera icon next to the object you don't want to render and it goes dark, the object will not be rendered.
In answer to your comment, Blender doesn't render anything that's not in the camera view, so it's only taking up render power once it enters the frame.

I know that. ))) But is it possible to switch visibility during rendering?
You know, like keyframes for scale/rotation or location...

Yes, you can keyframe the visibility: 2.9- How do you keyframe an object's render visibility?

it doesn't render but in Cycles the object will be taken into account as it influences on the indirect lighting


text:
Crashing of my system
Am new in Blender but it keeps crashing whenever I'am in the shader editor.
My changes doesn't affect my mesh in the shader. How do I fix this?

Questions of this kind completely depend on system specifications, OS, graphic card used, processor, drivers updated or not, etc. It is only "my system" what is mentioned in your question instead. Edit it and clarify please what you use. So far wild guess is that your graphic card is not supported (probably you enter LookDev shading mode with Shader opened which requires new cards). Review https://www.blender.org/download/requirements/ and see if your system matches them

Thanks Mr Zak.  I will get my spec soon

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
How to make non-linear movements with a Follow Path constraint?
I try to achieve a non linear movement with the Follow Path constraint.
I linked my object to a bezier circle using the Follow Path constraint.
It follows the circle with a linear movement, meaning the speed of the object always stays the same.
I want to make the object move faster by time, by changing the curve of the evaluation time from linear to exponentially.
In short I want the movement of the object to get faster and faster. How can i achieve this?

Hi and welcome st22zy! If you are not already familiar with this site, please take the tour to learn how this site works: https://blender.stackexchange.com/tour Thanks

The Evaluation Time property is keyframable, you can shape its F-curve to any function you like.
Select your bezier curve object, in the graph editor and expand it to show the Evaluation Time curve (add a keyframe if necessary if it doesn't show by default).
Under the Modifier panel add a Generator modifier, change poly order to $2$, and adjust the function to get the desired speed.

A possible way is to animate the "offset" of the constraint from 0 to some negative value:

You can probably also add a generator to the offset property and make it exponential as well

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


text:
Cloth +belt torus
I would like to retighten the clot of my bottle neck with a torus
Can you help me ?
Thanks a lot.

Hi, welcome! Are you trying to do an animation that does this? Or you just need an image where the cloth object is "wrapped" and "shrink" by the belt?

no, I just need an image where the cloth object is "wrapped" and "shrink" by the belt.
thanks

I would use the simulator:

create the base cylinder (set as collision)
create the place  (set as Cloth)
create the torus (set as collision)
put the objects in this vertical order (from top to bottom): torus > plane > cilynder
start the animation (set is as long animation)
during the animation, move the torus vertically, so It can interact with the Cloth
stop the animation when you are happy with the meshes

(you can do it also animating the torus, in this way you can cache the animation and have a more detail Cloth)
here's a preview of the process:
https://i.sstatic.net/NGlVy.jpg


text:
Highlight objects with light in animation
I'm making an animation of a surgery and I want to highlight specific steps of the surgery in this animation. Is there a way in blender 2.8 to highlight objects with light so that other structures are more on the background?

you should show what kind of highlight you want, you could do it in the Video Editor, with a PNG that you put over your sequence

Highlighting specific objects can also be done by keyframing the emission value in that object's material.


text:
How to UV a stretched object?
I'm a beginner with Blender and I have some problems with understanding how UV works.
I created a box then I changed its dimensions and applied bevel. But when I do the UV (I tried smart UV and others), I get the UV with all of the sides as squares, not rectangles.
How can I get the right proportions of an object?

Hello :). Noob questions are okay. You need to apply scale first Object > Apply > Scale

.... Apply Scale before beveling.

Thank you for help! I significantly improved my unwrapping skills :)


text:
Exporting a rigged object to Unity (as FBX) produces massively distorted mesh, affecting normals

I've just built my first rigged model in Blender. Everything looks okay inside Blender, but when I export it as an FBX and bring it into Unity - not so much.
If I drag the whole rigged model into the scene, it's the right shape (and bends in the right places) but the lighting on it is crazy. Dragging the raw mesh into the scene and rendering it without rigging shows why: the underlying mesh is HUGELY distorted from how it was built in Blender.
I'm sure there's an option in there somewhere, either on export or on the bones or on the model. But I don't know what it is. If there are multiple settings change, I am fine with that.
Can anyone help? Thanks.

EDIT: The video posted by Aster17 includes a step correcting for object scale prior to export, along with many other steps, so refer to that for your exporting needs. I'm only accepting this answer rather than Aster17's because this answer explains what happened in this specific case in more detail.
I tracked down the cause: in the very first edit I had made when sculpting the model (after adding and subdividing a cylinder primitive) I had accidentally scaled the object rather than the vertices to make the shape longer and narrower.
This obliged Blender to similarly apply an asymmetric scale to the bones of the armature when parenting the rig to the mesh, in order to preserve its appearance. However, it seems that at some stage in the Blender->FBX->Unity workflow, the ability to cope with asymmetrically scaled normals is lost.
In short, Blender hadn't distorted the mesh at all - I had, right at the start. All Blender did was bake that distortion into the bones.
The upshot is that if you asymmetrically scale an object (as opposed to its vertices) in Blender, then Blender and Unity will come to different conclusions about the normals that should accompany that shape.

I have seen your question. This is a very common problem faced by everyone while they export their project from a 3d software to a game engine. There are quite a lot of settings for this and not just a button that says "Please don't ruin my mesh when I send it to a game engine" (Even though we all wished for it to exist). Luckily, I have just the video for you. Keep in mind this video is for versions 2.8 and higher. It should work for 2.7 versions too though. After you follow these settings, re-export the model to Unity. Here's the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysl0qYq5p9w
A small tip, please don't try to add jokes to your question. It seems unprofessional. I know you are new, so you don't know, so got this link for more help:
https://blender.stackexchange.com/conduct
Hope it helps.
Cheers,
Aster17

Much obliged. I discovered the cause of the problem and fixed it, so I'm posting an answer in case anyone else makes the same blunder.

But my did my answer help ?

It's good advice and will no doubt come in handy later, but no, not in this specific instance. It turns out I had made an error when initially sculpting the model, which had a knock-on effect later when the armatures were added and parented. I doubt anyone else will ever make the same mistake, but just in case, check my answer for details :)

You know, you could have fixed the problem by clearing the scale, rotation and position after rigging and animating it. This problem always happens if this step is not solved followed. The steps are provided in the video. But, is your problem solved ? Just out of curiosity though, what is that object you are importing into unity ?

I fixed it by unparenting the mesh and rig, setting the object scale to 1,1,1 selecting all the vertices and scaling THOSE instead, setting the root bone scale to 1,1,1, and then reparenting the mesh and rig. The object is a spider leg.

Well, then your method could have worked, but next time you do anything like exporting a rigged project, you can follow the video, it is much easier and simple. Well, I am always there to help, so if you find any problems in my answer, just comment it.

My mistake - the bit about applying scaling WAS in the video! I'm glad I worked out the problem anyway; I feel like I learned something in the process :)

sure no problem. Mind upvoting ?

Did do, but it doesn't count as I have no rep.

At least you think it is helpful. If you get more rep, please upvote it again.


text:
How to universally rename something the same?
Okay if you use UE4 you know very well it is a very difficult-to-use engine. I have now run into another issue. I was under the impression if the bones were in the right hierarchy, named proper, etc UE4 was happy with using that skeleton for whatever objects you have it rigged for. Turns out no. I was wondering if there is a way to universally rename these, all the same, without numbers being added? (This is what UE4 requires now)

Sadly, All game engines like Unity and Unreal need you to rename them properly because that is how it makes it easier for the engine and you to create your game. If you don't do so, in the long run, you will face more issues. So the answer to your question is unfortunately, no. And next time, don't use offensive language.

That sucks. Yeah I know of the pedantic ways but this is asinine. I only read the name the bones, keep the hierarchy the same everywhere I read but once I imported it oh boy was I in for the typical unreal experience. Man this is some bull. I am going to have thousands of models. This is going to be hell.

I agree with you. This is actually a lot of work and isn't normally worth it. It's like paying for 1000 dollar pizza and getting a 2 dollar pizza. But no 3d software has such options, so we have to rename them ourselves.

Well I guess I will grab the whiskey, and get started lol. I hate that Blender renamed everything with 1 and so on behind it sad panda I am.

Please, don't use offensive language like hell. This is against the rules of the stack exchange and you could be blocked from stack exchange if you keep using this sort of language. Also, I am a 12-year-old so you have to be a bit careful with talking with me.

Okay I'm done here then. I kept my language at TV level. I am not playing human any lower. Screw this. I am not walking on egg shells. Surprised there is no auto censor sites do it all the time. but if this site is going to be this pedantic I am not writing anymore. I will figure this out on my own. It isn't worth trying to play human that far. Not walking on eggshells. Ciao.

I didn't want to offend you or anything. I just told you the rules of this site. I did it for your own good, 'cuz if you kept continuing this, someone could have seen your comments and could have reported you and you could've been banned from this site.

Well I am as good as banned as is. I cannot play human well. Thanks for the heads up though I now know how asinine this place is. I would say on par with UE4 community if it is that bad. Sad but whatevs. I say play human because I have some disorders that make it hard to bring it down to a low level. I have to actually stop and think about each step and that is annoying. If TV language is not good enough then screw it.

I am sorry. I didn't know that. I seriously don't mind TV language, but well, I don't make the rules here. I didn't want you to fall into trouble if someone else flags you, that's why I gave you a heads up.

I have Aspergers so it being human is hard. I do my best but I cannot just be a perfect human. It is hard to walk on eggshells. If this place is that sensitive yeah I am as good as banned though. Nothing I can do about it. Sucks but I really do not care at this point.

It's okay, it's not like it's your fault. I am surprised you actually replied like after a year, but, it will come wit practice, so there's nothing to worry about.


text:
Array modifier - duplicate around a circle produces strange results
According to various sources on the interwebs, the process for duplicating an object around a circle is thus:

Move the 3D cursor to the centre of rotation
Create an empty at that point
Move the origin of the object you want to duplicate to the position of the cursor
Select the object you wish to duplicate around the circle.
Create an array modifier with fixed count and an object offset set to the empty, deselecting relative and constant offset
Rotate the empty and see the duplicates of your object rotate around the array.

When I attempt to do this, the following happens:
I get copies of the object distorted and arrayed along some other path - maybe rotated, but I don't understand why the distortion is happening and the array is not rotated around the z axis of the empty.
See the screenshot below - the blue arrow is pointing to the original object. I've also attached the system-info.txt dump below.
The modifier settings are in the bottom right of the second screenshot. What I'm expecting to see is something like this youtube clip in the top screenshot.  What I'm getting is the second screenshot below.  Why is this happening?
Update.  The cylinder has had some transforms done to it before the array is applied.  If I do it with an untransformed object, The technique works as described.  How do I apply this to the transformed object without re-applying the original transformations?
Further update: Here's the file showing the strange transformations happening.

=====================================
= Blender 2.91.0 System Information =
=====================================

Blender:
=====================================

version: 2.91.0, branch: master, commit date: 2020-11-25 08:34, hash: 0f45cab862b8, type: Release
build date: 2020-11-25, 09:02:56
platform: Windows
binary path: 'C:\\Program Files\\Blender Foundation\\Blender 2.91\\blender.exe'
build cflags: /W3 /w34062 /w34115 /w34189 /wd4018 /wd4146 /wd4065 /wd4127 /wd4181 /wd4200 /wd4244 /wd4267 /wd4305 /wd4800 /wd4828 /wd4996 /wd4661 /we4013 /we4133 /we4431 /w35038 /DWIN32 /D_WINDOWS /W3 /nologo /J /Gd /MP /bigobj -openmp
build cxxflags: /W3 /w34062 /w34115 /w34189 /wd4018 /wd4146 /wd4065 /wd4127 /wd4181 /wd4200 /wd4244 /wd4267 /wd4305 /wd4800 /wd4828 /wd4996 /wd4661 /we4013 /we4133 /we4431 /w35038 /DWIN32 /D_WINDOWS /W3  /EHsc /nologo /J /Gd /MP /EHsc /bigobj /permissive- /Zc:twoPhase- -openmp /std:c++17 /Zc:__cplusplus
build linkflags: /MACHINE:X64  /SUBSYSTEM:CONSOLE /STACK:2097152 /ignore:4049 /ignore:4217 /ignore:4221
build system: CMake

Python:
=====================================

version: 3.7.7 (default, Jun 13 2020, 11:11:23) [MSC v.1916 64 bit (AMD64)]
file system encoding: utf-8:surrogatepass
paths:
    'C:\\Program Files\\Blender Foundation\\Blender 2.91\\2.91\\scripts\\startup'
    'C:\\Program Files\\Blender Foundation\\Blender 2.91\\2.91\\scripts\\modules'
    'C:\\Program Files\\Blender Foundation\\Blender 2.91\\python37.zip'
    'C:\\Program Files\\Blender Foundation\\Blender 2.91\\2.91\\python\\DLLs'
    'C:\\Program Files\\Blender Foundation\\Blender 2.91\\2.91\\python\\lib'
    'C:\\Program Files\\Blender Foundation\\Blender 2.91'
    'C:\\Program Files\\Blender Foundation\\Blender 2.91\\2.91\\python'
    'C:\\Program Files\\Blender Foundation\\Blender 2.91\\2.91\\python\\lib\\site-packages'
    'C:\\Program Files\\Blender Foundation\\Blender 2.91\\2.91\\scripts\\freestyle\\modules'
    'C:\\Program Files\\Blender Foundation\\Blender 2.91\\2.91\\scripts\\addons\\modules'
    'C:\\Users\\Nigel\\AppData\\Roaming\\Blender Foundation\\Blender\\2.91\\scripts\\addons\\modules'
    'C:\\Program Files\\Blender Foundation\\Blender 2.91\\2.91\\scripts\\addons'
    'C:\\Program Files\\Blender Foundation\\Blender 2.91\\2.91\\scripts\\addons_contrib'

Python (External Binary):
=====================================

binary path: 'C:\\Program Files\\Blender Foundation\\Blender 2.91\\2.91\\python\\bin\\python.EXE'
version: Python 3.7.7

Directories:
=====================================

scripts:
    'C:\\Program Files\\Blender Foundation\\Blender 2.91\\2.91\\scripts\\modules'
    'C:\\Program Files\\Blender Foundation\\Blender 2.91\\2.91\\scripts'
user scripts: 'C:\\Users\\Nigel\\AppData\\Roaming\\Blender Foundation\\Blender\\2.91\\scripts'
pref scripts: None
datafiles: 'C:\\Users\\Nigel\\AppData\\Roaming\\Blender Foundation\\Blender\\2.91\\datafiles'
config: 'C:\\Users\\Nigel\\AppData\\Roaming\\Blender Foundation\\Blender\\2.91\\config'
scripts : 'C:\\Users\\Nigel\\AppData\\Roaming\\Blender Foundation\\Blender\\2.91\\scripts'
autosave: 'C:\\Users\\Nigel\\AppData\\Roaming\\Blender Foundation\\Blender\\2.91\\autosave'
tempdir: 'C:\\Users\\Nigel\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\blender_a09876\\'

FFmpeg:
=====================================

avcodec:   '58, 54, 100'
avdevice:  '58,  8, 100'
avformat:  '58, 29, 100'
avutil:    '56, 31, 100'
swscale:   ' 5,  5, 100'

SDL:
=====================================

Version: 2.0.12
Loading method: linked (WITH_SDL_DYNLOAD=OFF)

Other Libraries:
=====================================

OpenColorIO:  1,  1,  1
OpenImageIO:  2,  1, 15
OpenShadingLanguage:  1, 10, 10
OpenSubdiv:  0,  0,  0
OpenVDB:  7,  0,  0
Alembic:  1,  7, 12
USD:  0, 20,  5

OpenGL:
=====================================

renderer:   'Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000'
vendor:     'Intel'
version:    '4.0.0 - Build 10.18.10.5161'
extensions:
    GL_3DFX_texture_compression_FXT1
    GL_ARB_ES2_compatibility
    GL_ARB_ES3_compatibility
    GL_ARB_arrays_of_arrays
    GL_ARB_base_instance
    GL_ARB_blend_func_extended
    GL_ARB_buffer_storage
    GL_ARB_color_buffer_float
    GL_ARB_compatibility
    GL_ARB_compressed_texture_pixel_storage
    GL_ARB_conservative_depth
    GL_ARB_copy_buffer
    GL_ARB_debug_output
    GL_ARB_depth_buffer_float
    GL_ARB_depth_clamp
    GL_ARB_depth_texture
    GL_ARB_draw_buffers
    GL_ARB_draw_buffers_blend
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    GL_ARB_draw_indirect
    GL_ARB_draw_instanced
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    GL_ARB_fragment_program_shadow
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    GL_ARB_framebuffer_no_attachments
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    GL_ARB_framebuffer_sRGB
    GL_ARB_geometry_shader4
    GL_ARB_get_program_binary
    GL_ARB_gpu_shader5
    GL_ARB_gpu_shader_fp64
    GL_ARB_half_float_pixel
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    GL_ARB_instanced_arrays
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    GL_ARB_internalformat_query2
    GL_ARB_map_buffer_alignment
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    GL_ATI_separate_stencil
    GL_EXT_abgr
    GL_EXT_bgra
    GL_EXT_blend_color
    GL_EXT_blend_equation_separate
    GL_EXT_blend_func_separate
    GL_EXT_blend_minmax
    GL_EXT_blend_subtract
    GL_EXT_clip_volume_hint
    GL_EXT_compiled_vertex_array
    GL_EXT_draw_buffers2
    GL_EXT_draw_range_elements
    GL_EXT_fog_coord
    GL_EXT_framebuffer_blit
    GL_EXT_framebuffer_multisample
    GL_EXT_framebuffer_object
    GL_EXT_geometry_shader4
    GL_EXT_gpu_program_parameters
    GL_EXT_gpu_shader4
    GL_EXT_multi_draw_arrays
    GL_EXT_packed_depth_stencil
    GL_EXT_packed_float
    GL_EXT_packed_pixels
    GL_EXT_rescale_normal
    GL_EXT_secondary_color
    GL_EXT_separate_specular_color
    GL_EXT_shader_integer_mix
    GL_EXT_shadow_funcs
    GL_EXT_stencil_two_side
    GL_EXT_stencil_wrap
    GL_EXT_texture3D
    GL_EXT_texture_array
    GL_EXT_texture_buffer
    GL_EXT_texture_compression_s3tc
    GL_EXT_texture_edge_clamp
    GL_EXT_texture_env_add
    GL_EXT_texture_env_combine
    GL_EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic
    GL_EXT_texture_integer
    GL_EXT_texture_lod_bias
    GL_EXT_texture_rectangle
    GL_EXT_texture_sRGB
    GL_EXT_texture_sRGB_decode
    GL_EXT_texture_shared_exponent
    GL_EXT_texture_snorm
    GL_EXT_texture_storage
    GL_EXT_texture_swizzle
    GL_EXT_transform_feedback
    GL_IBM_texture_mirrored_repeat
    GL_INTEL_map_texture
    GL_INTEL_performance_queries
    GL_INTEL_performance_query
    GL_KHR_blend_equation_advanced
    GL_KHR_debug
    GL_NV_blend_square
    GL_NV_conditional_render
    GL_NV_primitive_restart
    GL_NV_texgen_reflection
    GL_SGIS_generate_mipmap
    GL_SGIS_texture_edge_clamp
    GL_SGIS_texture_lod
    GL_SUN_multi_draw_arrays
    GL_WIN_swap_hint
    WGL_ARB_buffer_region
    WGL_ARB_create_context
    WGL_ARB_create_context_profile
    WGL_ARB_create_context_robustness
    WGL_ARB_extensions_string
    WGL_ARB_framebuffer_sRGB
    WGL_ARB_make_current_read
    WGL_ARB_multisample
    WGL_ARB_pbuffer
    WGL_ARB_pixel_format
    WGL_ARB_pixel_format_float
    WGL_EXT_create_context_es2_profile
    WGL_EXT_create_context_es_profile
    WGL_EXT_depth_float
    WGL_EXT_extensions_string
    WGL_EXT_pixel_format_packed_float
    WGL_EXT_swap_control
    WGL_EXT_swap_control_tear
    WGL_NV_DX_interop

Implementation Dependent OpenGL Limits:
=====================================

Maximum DrawElements Vertices:  1048576
Maximum DrawElements Indices:   1048576

GLSL:
Maximum Varying Floats: 64
Maximum Vertex Attributes:  16
Maximum Vertex Uniform Components:  4096
Maximum Fragment Uniform Components:    4096
Maximum Vertex Image Units: 16
Maximum Fragment Image Units:   16
Maximum Pipeline Image Units:   96

Cycles:
=====================================

CPU device capabilities: SSE2 SSE3 SSE41 AVX

OpenCL device capabilities:
Number of platforms: 1
Platform #0
    Platform Name: Intel(R) OpenCL
    Platform Vendor: Intel(R) Corporation
    Platform Version: OpenCL 1.2
    Platform Profile: FULL_PROFILE
    Platform Extensions: cl_intel_dx9_media_sharing cl_khr_byte_addressable_store cl_khr_d3d11_sharing cl_khr_dx9_media_sharing cl_khr_gl_sharing cl_khr_global_int32_base_atomics cl_khr_global_int32_extended_atomics cl_khr_icd cl_khr_local_int32_base_atomics cl_khr_local_int32_extended_atomics
    Number of devices: 2
        Device: #0
            Device Name:        Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3320M CPU @ 2.60GHz
            Device Vendor: Intel(R) Corporation
            Device OpenCL C Version: OpenCL C 1.2
            Device Profile: FULL_PROFILE
            Device Version: OpenCL 1.2 (Build 76427)
            Device Extensions: cl_khr_fp64 cl_khr_icd cl_khr_global_int32_base_atomics cl_khr_global_int32_extended_atomics cl_khr_local_int32_base_atomics cl_khr_local_int32_extended_atomics cl_khr_byte_addressable_store cl_intel_printf cl_ext_device_fission cl_intel_exec_by_local_thread cl_khr_gl_sharing cl_intel_dx9_media_sharing cl_khr_dx9_media_sharing cl_khr_d3d11_sharing
            Device Max clock frequency (MHz): 2600
            Device Max compute units: 4
            Device Max work group size: 1024
        Device: #1
            Device Name: Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000
            Device Vendor: Intel(R) Corporation
            Device OpenCL C Version: OpenCL C 1.2
            Device Profile: FULL_PROFILE
            Device Version: OpenCL 1.2
            Device Extensions: cl_intel_d3d11_nv12_media_sharing cl_intel_dx9_media_sharing cl_khr_3d_image_writes cl_khr_byte_addressable_store cl_khr_d3d10_sharing cl_khr_d3d11_sharing cl_khr_depth_images cl_khr_dx9_media_sharing cl_khr_gl_depth_images cl_khr_gl_event cl_khr_gl_msaa_sharing cl_khr_gl_sharing cl_khr_global_int32_base_atomics cl_khr_global_int32_extended_atomics cl_khr_icd cl_khr_image2d_from_buffer cl_khr_local_int32_base_atomics cl_khr_local_int32_extended_atomics cl_intel_accelerator cl_intel_motion_estimation
            Device Max clock frequency (MHz): 1200
            Device Max compute units: 16
            Device Max work group size: 512

Enabled add-ons:
=====================================

io_anim_bvh (version: (1, 0, 0), path: C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender 2.91\2.91\scripts\addons\io_anim_bvh\__init__.py)
io_curve_svg (version: (), path: C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender 2.91\2.91\scripts\addons\io_curve_svg\__init__.py)
io_mesh_ply (version: (), path: C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender 2.91\2.91\scripts\addons\io_mesh_ply\__init__.py)
io_mesh_stl (version: (1, 1, 3), path: C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender 2.91\2.91\scripts\addons\io_mesh_stl\__init__.py)
io_mesh_uv_layout (version: (1, 1, 1), path: C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender 2.91\2.91\scripts\addons\io_mesh_uv_layout\__init__.py)
io_scene_fbx (version: (4, 21, 3), path: C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender 2.91\2.91\scripts\addons\io_scene_fbx\__init__.py)
io_scene_gltf2 (version: (1, 4, 40), path: C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender 2.91\2.91\scripts\addons\io_scene_gltf2\__init__.py)
io_scene_obj (version: (3, 8, 0), path: C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender 2.91\2.91\scripts\addons\io_scene_obj\__init__.py)
io_scene_x3d (version: (2, 2, 5), path: C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender 2.91\2.91\scripts\addons\io_scene_x3d\__init__.py)
cycles (version: (), path: C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender 2.91\2.91\scripts\addons\cycles\__init__.py)

Hello. System information is most likely not needed. You can upload your blend file instead (not obvious to see how the selected object is). Please use this site to do it and copy the obtained link here. http://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/

maybe you have transformed your empty? Apply its transformation with Ctrl A and rotate again to see what's happenning, or maybe share your file as suggested by Lemon

@lemon - I've uploaded the file as you suggested.

Object scales are totally uneven. In "object offset" mode when the modifier is calculated, it takes into account both the transforms of the object and the transforms of the array modifier pivot (the empty here).
So simply apply scales on the cylinder CtrlA then choose "scale".
Though, if you want to keep the object transforms, you can select the cylinder, shift select the empty and use the operator "align selected scale to active" (search for it in the search panel). This operator copies the cylinder scale to the empty. As they now have the same scale, that compensate the difference.

It turns out that's what worked.  Once you apply the transformations it stops trying to apply them on every iteration.


text:
rigged character model 'ripping and warping'?
My apologies if this question has already been answered. I am a complete beginner and do not know the 'term' for it.
I have rigged my character model using rigify but the character is completely being 'ripped' when in pose mode.
hair is stretching, clothes do not move from original position, and eyelashes stay in the same place as if it is 'locked'
Ive tried finding the answers to the solution for a whole day yesterday with no avail. I would at least expect everything to move around as if it is 'one'?
Everything is grped together to the rig being parent.
Any genius' here kind enough to show me the way?
Thank you kindly.

Well... usual question: could you upload your file here? Please use this site http://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/ and copy paste the obtained link here (editing your question or in comments)

Thank you. Added it to post and in the comment section.

What part are you talking about? Are you talking about the hair? You need to assign it to the right vertex group

The hair, the top (clothes) and the eyelashes. Not sure if the vertex is the same thing as 'assigning to parent. Ive checked the vertex group and they all exist?


text:
In blender 2.9 how do I get freestyle to ignore transparent materials on a vroid character
I'm doing a more anime style animation and I'm using vroid to help with anime characters but it uses transparent materials for the eyebrows and eyelashes. Obviously if I'm using vroid for anime characters, I'm going to use freestyle, or the other method I forget its name, but it sees them has a mesh and no tutorial I look at mentions how to solve this problem, which is odd since you know anime has outlines.
So I need help figuring out how to make freestyle ignore or go through them or if theirs an add-on that does that. Please use pictures or video as I'm still new to blender.
Also, I'm going to use the eevee engine.
This is what it looks like when I render it.

You can put the object you don't want to have freestyle lines in a separate second collection.
Then you can make a second Freestyle Line Set, and as the Collection choose the second collection and click the button Exclusive next to it.
Now all the object in that collection will be ignored when rendering freestyle lines.

Will that work on meshes that are weight painted, shape key, and attached to a mesh. If it helps. Here's an image https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ndPEncFyKz85n1X9qyqh4FOMd_xzjoUE/view?usp=sharing. I don't know how to show images.

It will work for any separate object(s). So if an eyebrow is an object that you can move by itself, it works. But it the selected Edge Types are also relevant. I might have oversimplified things. The exact settings might require some figuring out  (I'll try to look into it later when i have more time.)

This does not actually work. The render looks exactly the same as without these steps.


text:
anime slashes and hard impact effects in blender 2.9 eevee
In blender 2.91 I'm using the eevee render engine. I want to know if it's possible to make anime style slashes, not sword trails, and impact like effects.
What I mean by slash, is when they typically do a major cut or kill their target. Whether this be through the particle system, texture, or a mesh. What I have tried doesn't look to good so can someone tell me a better way of making them?

my impact

my slash

if anyone needs them
https://pasteall.org/blend/12a3558b5f15429db885133cc5adbdc4
https://pasteall.org/blend/970b6fb2901a487aae3b3633236f0817

Can you show what you have done and how? Would be nice to see it.

Just added them.

Actually it looks really good, this, combined with good shader will do the job

Really, I thought it wasn't good. I'm still a beginner and don't know much about blender yet.

Yeah, dont worry. (almost) Everything is achievable. Would you please share your file? Ive made a shader, but i want to see if it will look good on your object(im using the cube now)

Just added them.

Alright, ive made something, tell me if thats what you are looking for.

I was trying to give is a little bit of a curve, like it was a little more spherical, but yea something like that. How did you do that.

I did it with a shader, i will show you in an answer

Just posted it, im not sure how the "Slash" thing looks like, so i havent spoke about it

About the impact, using your already made object, I gave it the needed shader and got result.

It's described like this:
First, we get the Object Coordinates, sop we get the "-1 to 1" gradient. Then, using Separate XYZ we get the Z channel of the vector. Now, our Output is BW, going from -1 through 0 and then 1.  After this, we use a math node, performing action Absolute- this will ignore the sign before each number, so all negative values will become positive, while keeping the positive as is. Right now, we don't have a "-1 through 0 to 1" gradient, we have "1 to 0 to 1"- this will result a black line in the middle.
After this, we use Mix RGB nodes, set to "Color Burn" and "Color Dodge" to control the line. Mora Fac on the Color Burn will result a thicker line, and more Fac on the Color Dodge will result a harder falloff(harder edge between black and white).
Now, we use this thing as a mask for our Mix Shader. By putting Emission in the first socket, it will appear where the value is zero. The Transparent BSDF will appear on white values- this way the black line from our mask is now emission, and the rest is transparent. By adjusting the falloff between black and white, we can make the emission to blend with the transparency and so it will be faded on the edges.
So now you have it. But the problem is- how to move it?
That's fairly simple- we cant do it from the BW part, but because its all formed at the midpoint of the Object coordinates, we can move that mid point and thus move the line. So, we just add a Vector Math node before the BW part and we add some value on the axis we are using- in our case Z. Then, you can keyframe the Z axis value and boom, you have and animation,

Thanks, it looks really good. When I finally start animating ill see how it really looks but its still better than what I started with. For the slash it was mainly for dramatic slices like when a character rushes another character. I made it that way, so I can put one end on the tip of the sword and the other one on the target. I could also use this trick on it, to give it extra flare.


text:
whats the best outline for toon/anime outlines, freestyle vs inverted hull method vs some other method i dont know in 2.9?
I'm doing anime style animations, but I'm having trouble figuring out what's the best outline method to use. Keep in mind this is full animations, not an image. I'll also be using 2d plane assets for effects and stuff. I like the detailed look of freestyle, and able to make it look hand drawn, but making it not affect 2d planes and having it outline things behind them is too much of a pain, unless I'm missing something, and I like the inverted hull method for its real time view, but I don't like that I can't be as detailed with it, like with machine like meshes, and I can't make it look hand drawn, unless there's a trick I don't know.
For freestyle, I know I can put it all in collections but do to the sheer amount of assets ill have, that will get messy real quick. You would think liking to a collection that has other collections within it would work, but it doesn't, which makes zero sense. Also, there's the fact ill have to put transparent planes/materials on another layer, which could make things difficult when animating. If its freestyle what's the best way to render/compose it. I know there's different methods like just rendering it and having it separate then combine it in compositing.
So does anyone know which is better, a trick I'm not thinking of or an outline method that I don't know?
I'm using blender 2.9 and the eevee render engine.

Can this be re-opened. I'm asking what's the best outline to use for anime style animations. I'm giving them as much information as I can, so I can get better help.

There's nothing I can edit out as I was telling them all the info they would need and why I'm struggling.


text:
How to make a anime style swift movement and teleportion effects for blender 2.9?
I'm trying to figure out how to do anime style swift movements or teleportation like effects but what I do have is either laggy as all hell or effects the background and other objects. I would rather it be in real time, would like to avoid compositing, but if it's the only way then fine. Also, the effect has to effect a single character, nothing around them, unless the other character is moving too. Also, I would like the effect to be flexible, so I can make variants or use it on a single body part.
I’m currently using 2.91 and the eevee. Pictures or videos would be really helpful.
For 3d, obviously. No compositing cause there will be multiple characters in a scene and I need to see and edit them all. plus, I want to see the effects while working.

Hi. Please don't ask the same question more than once, instead edit your original one and address the issues in the comments. What should I do if no one answers my question? As it sands this question isn't really answerable, it is too broad and it would take a lengthy tutorial to answer. It is also unclear what you are trying to achieve. Are your characters 2D or 3D? Do you need a 3D effect, 2D? Could it be done in compositing?

Depending on exactly what you're looking for (i.e. a full body teleport, vs some arms moving really fast), I think you can get a pretty close effect by putting a plane in front of your character, and using an animated noise texture and a holdout shader to render parts of what's behind the plane transparent, and then composite your character on top of the scene.
So you'd have a noise texture that's stretched on one axis to create the distorted lines, then use that to punch out sections of the render.

By animating the transparency of your character, you can also have them start to snap in and out of view to add to the effect.
Here's a Blend file that should go over what's up.
https://files.catbox.moe/rntcdz.blend

I know OP said they'd like to avoid the compositor, but this would probably be much easier to do with the character rendered on a different layer altogether.

I did mention to comp the character on top of the background layer. Depending on how you work, it could be easier or harder to do purely in compositing, but the general idea remains the same. I just did it all in the 3d viewport since he asked for as little compositing as possible. Though it looks like the questions and answers are going on 2 years old now, so what help I really gave, I don't know. It was at the top of the list and seemed like a fun little exercise.

The reason I wanted to avoid it is I think, at the time, you couldn't view all the layers at once, only one at a time and you couldn't edit them. I can't remember if you can now, tho. I was going to have entire scenes, backgrounds, and other characters I needed to animate. So putting them on different layers would make it way harder. I wanted something I could see in real time, so I can see if something needed to be changed before rendering. Then having other effects in composite.

You can try to use KeyMesh which is an addon that will create frame to frame animation (model your speed lines, duplicate, deform, etc..)
Or you can try another 2D approach using grease pencil by following this tutorial>>
which basically shows you how to apply grease pencil over a specific layer. You'd create your character's "smeared" colors and then animate as the video shows.

Thanks for the posts. This is not a regular forum, according to site rules links to answers are not answers if the link goes missing your answer becomes an empty shell without content. Answers should be substantial and stand on their own without relying on external data like links, videos or images. Instead of having users go through external links, either transcribe essential parts of the process here, linking the source, or posts these in the comments section instead.


text:
how to cleanly add transparent image planes, or overlay material, ontop of another mesh in 2.9
To add extra decal to my meshes that will only show up when I need them to, how do I add planes with an image to another mesh. Simple snap to face doesn't curve it and sticks out and shrink wrap deforms it way too much, also keeps trying to stretch it and attack to things not close to it. I know I can do a shape key like thing, tho I might have to, but then ill have tones of messy shape keys. So does anyone know of a way to smoothly, without deform, an image plane over a non-flat mesh, i.e. parts of a human or clothing. Also, this is for a toon/anime style animation, if that helps.
I'm using blender 2.9 and the eevee render engine.
sorry i should have given an example of what im going for. this is just one of the effects im hoping for.

Suggestion. See the topic of Blender UV Mapping with a mesh.  You can find perhaps a tutorial here at BSE or the famous video website that has a name that rhymes with noonoob.  Texture with transparency can be applied as a decal.  You might also search here at BSE with the search word decal.  Your searching skills are probably very good.

Does this answer your question? Add a transparent image on top of a material

kind of but it doesn't seem to work with meshes already using UV, unless I'm stupid and missing something.

You can combine many materials as one, use masks and use one or many UVs. It is up to you. The biggest problem in adding geometry to add a texture on top of existing faces is that you will run into problems with Z-fighting, where two surfaces are coplanar and on top of each other. The render engine has a hard time differentiating what is in front of what.

I'll keep tinkering with it until I find something, if I find something.

I also think that the better way to achieve your goal is the use of UV, materials, decals over the same mesh,  but if you really want to use a different mesh you can duplicate the object, add a solidify modifier with an appropriate factor, apply it and  delete the unuseful faces.

I want to use the most efficient, clean and organized method because I'm going to do animations with multiple characters, so that can get messy real quick, but I'ii still try it.

Also, your way does sound more like what I'm aiming for but how do I have control over the position of the decal. Some of the things I've tried deformed the image.

You should definitely get familiar with UV maps, which have been invented exactly to control textures over meshes.

K, I'll start looking into it but if you know of any tutorials that you like, then can you link it/them to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7M-B6xnaEM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTd8NBg8EZU

Thanks, will start messing with it soon.


text:
how to make realtime motion blur or motion blur like effect/smear effect, for anime style animations in eevee on selected objects
I need help making real time motion blur like effects for my anime style animations. It also has to be on selected objects and on specific parts of a mesh, like the hands and feet. Is there a trick or add-on that can do this?
An example being when a character goes to punch only their fist or arm is blurred rather than their entire body.
I'm using blender 2.91 and the eevee render engine. I know motion blur is in eevee now but I need an effect that will only affect certain characters/ objects or certain body parts.

Anyone, at all?

Probably you get no answers or votes because the question is not clear. Use images as examples of what you want to get, and describe what you have tried that is not working.

Just did, and I haven't because I don't know where to start. The built-in motion effects all, unless there's a trick to focus it.

You need to be more focused on your questions. All of those examples are different kind of effects. Try using the search box at the top to find information. Some examples of similar questions on this site: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/24251/how-to-create-motion-trail-in-cycles and https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/34377/how-can-i-create-light-streaks-in-cycles and https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/93921/how-to-add-trailing-light-effect-to-finger-tips and https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/42731/creating-wisp-materials-in-cycles?noredirect=1&lq=1

Well I think it's called smear as its fake motion blur but its still a motion blur like effect. Also, I can't focus it as it's the same effect just utilized differently, also different art styles and mediums. Its kind of dumb to ask 2 questions for the same effect.

I know I am too late but I think this link will help


text:
Is it possible to disable self casting shadows on a mesh but still receive and cast shadows in eevee 2.9?
I want to do NPR animations, which require me to control the shadows on the mesh, however this is where I come into the problem at hand. I already found a way to control the "shadow" on the mesh, but this technique doesn't allow other meshes to cast shadows onto it. So is it possible, hopefully through nodes, to disable self casting shadows but keep received shadows and cast shadows? If not then I'll have to find some way to reduce the intensity of the shadows cast onto the mesh by the sun but keep received shadows intensity.
I'm using blender 2.92 and eevee render engine
This is how I see it, unless I'm wrong. Its weird I know, but this is kinda how I understand it based on what I've messed with.
Casting shadow is when the mesh blocks the sun.
Receive shadow is when on mesh casts a shadow onto another mesh.
Self shadow is when shadows are cast by the sun unto the mesh using the meshes own geometry.

do you mean like this blue cylinder? [1]: https://i.sstatic.net/gKM2u.png

It's hard to explain, but I'll try harder. Basically I want to disable the mesh from casting a shadow onto its self but still receive shadows from other meshes and still castes a shadow onto other meshes. If it's not possible then I have to find a way to extremely lessen the shadows cast by the sun but retain the intensity of shadows cast by other meshes.

I understand what you mean. But I'm not sure you realize what you mean: first let's say that nothing casts a shadow on an object, and so it only has "self shadows". Those "self shadows" is the basic of the shading, giving a different color to a texel depending on the amount of light it receives - if you disable that, you no longer can see the shape, only the outline. So you want to achieve this: https://i.imgur.com/kRHVgpb.png

It's hard to explain but in a scene with multiple characters, I can't position the sun how I want, otherwise it will look good on one mesh but not the others, do to being in different positions but if the sun is left in its default position, the self cast shadows look ugly. So I need something that allows me to control the shadows, on individual meshes, while still being able to receive shadows from other meshes.

for eevee use this node setup:

important: this works only with:
Blend mode: alpha blend
Shadow mode: alpha hashed (none works too)

That's part of it. It disabled self shadows and allows other meshes to cast a shadow onto it, but it's not casting a shadow onto other meshes.

I don’t understand. What is the difference between self shadow and casting shadows on other objects?!

Please add a screenshot to your question - what you want to have!

There you go, this is probably not how others see it, but this is how I see it, as a beginner.


text:
Is it possible to add holes on volumetric clouds in eevee 2.92?
I'm trying to figure out if it's possible to add a hole/s in volumetric clouds whether it be in the mesh or some kind of texture trick, but I'm having no luck at all. I also need it to be able to be animated.
Using eevee 2.92
I'm looking for a similar effect to these.

Hello :). No, you can't really add holes to a 'Volume' in Eevee. All volumes are simplified to simple rectangles unlike in Cycles.

This is not volumetric and this is not exactly the same effect (I'll edit if I find something closer to what you show) but you could do something like that:

I've created a bezier circle and a cylinder, given the cylinder an Array modifier (with Fit Type > Fit Curve with the curve as Curve) + Curve modifier (with a bezier circle as Curve Object) + Subdivision modifier + Displace modifier (with a Cloud texture):

Then I've given 2 or more shapekeys to the cylinder, stretched it so that it deforms, and keyframed the shapekeys:

What else did you do, I tried it and all I got was a wiggly mess.

maybe share your file so that I can see why you failed: https://pasteall.org/blend/

Here, I haven't done the shape keys yet. https://pasteall.org/blend/840884b2061341df919927b19959fc44

For the Array modifier, choose Relative Offset axis > Y, and for the Curve modifier, choose Deform Axis > Y.

Oh wow, I'm dumb, sorry about that. Just making sure the shape keys are you scaling it.

for the shape key I deform it, you can also scale it, do it so that it gives the effect you want

K, thanks. I'll mess with it.

deform it and see what it gives, use the Proportional Editing option

K, I'll give it a shot when I get a chance, its getting late where I am.


text:
Imported STL files dont look round when rendered
im currently working on a CAD model (using Siemens NX12) and want a more realistic render than NX is able to provide. I've tried a number of methods and came to the conclusion that exporting as STL file works best. When i import said file into blender and render it, the once round surface looks like its just a high side count polygon. So far i've tried to subdivide the mesh and enable the autosmooth function, but i dont see any improvement. Im really new to blender, i actually downloaded it just for this purpose, so im on the newest version.
I'll try to add one of the renderings, it was done using cycles with a sample rate of 1100 and full hd resolution (cropped to reduce the size) and took just around 90 seconds. You can best see my problem on the inside of the outer ring on the right hand side.
I appreciate any help.

Try to select the mesh, right-click -> Shade Smooth. Otherwise I'd recommend add image of your geometry (edit mode).

What @brockmann said, but also turn on "Auto Smooth" for the Normals settings in the Object Data Properties panel


text:
Is the Texture Coordinate node currently broken for vector displacement?
I have added a brief addendum to the end.
I have been getting into procedural vector displacement with shader nodes in Cycles.  The other day I created a model and tried to animate it rotating through space (not using any vector transformations in the shader itself) only to find that it messed with the texture coordinates I was using.  This is odd to me since I was using generated coordinates transformed to match object coordinates.  I figured the generated coordinates were in local space and should allow me to rotate the source mesh however I want, applying that transformation to the displacement.  Well, for some reason the global transformation changed the shape of the local displacement and distorted the object.
After trying a few things like using object coordinates and not finding any change to the results whatsoever, I did some research and found absolutely nothing relating to this issue at all.  I thought that maybe I had just messed up my math and was referencing global coordinates somewhere and I just happened to make that mistake in all three of my experimenting projects.  To be sure, I copied CGMatter's asteroid tutorial exactly as he had done it in as close to the same build of Blender as I could.  Same problem.  The product looked good, but simply rotating the model upside down turned it back into the shape of the source mesh (The project starts with a subdivided cube and ends with a very different-looking asteroid).
Next, I tried completely reinstalling Blender.  This was after updating a few days before, so I wanted to really make sure nothing was broken on my end.  That didn't work either.  This means it's either a bug or I'm dumb, at this point.  I don't have the confidence to say it's a bug, so I would appreciate it if someone could look over a quick project I created with the same problem and educate me in the ways of the Texture Coordinate node.  If I did correctly interpret its function, and this is a bug, I will actually submit a report.
In this project, I'm doing the old cube-squeezed-into-a-pyramid displacement.  If the source mesh is rotated about X or Y, it seems to invert some or all of the local coordinates (if the object is upside down, yes it should invert observed coordinates, but local should not change!).  If the source is rotated about Z, the base rotates in the opposite direction from the top.  The strangest part to me is that if you look at the coordinates being used by applying them to the output of the shader, they are mapped correctly, but the math being done appears not to be using this transformation in the same way.
Here is an image of the node setup:

Again, I could be missing something obvious, but I feel like this should work in local object space no matter the orientation of the source mesh since the transformation to local space will always give back the same position vectors.  The top of the cube should always be squished even if it's facing downwards because it's always locally the top.
Anyways, sorry for the VERY long post, I just have no clue what is going on and wanted to add as much context as possible.  Here is a brief video of me messing with the object and the exact project file from the video:
YouTube Video
Download Project
One last time, thank you to anyone who made it through this!
QUICK ADDENDUM: So I wasn't very clear about which part of this is the problem.  It's not how I have to cycle through render modes in the editor to get things to update to a global transform.  I wouldn't have any problems at all, but when I go to do the final render, it updates every frame and turns the local displacement into the weird half local-half global displacement.  My first inclination is that there is a bug in the way Blender is handling the vector displacement.

As always, open to correction, but reverse-engineering from the symptoms alone, this seems to be a caching problem.

If you plug the displacement vector straight into the Displacement
input of a Material Output node, the vector seems to be evaluated in World
space.
If you request a displacement in World space (however it is calculated,) you would expect an object to 'swim' through that displacement when it is rotated: in the viewport, it does not. The displacement appears to be cached in Object space. When the object is transformed, the displacement follows.
You can update the cache in at least two ways I've found.. flip out of Rendered to Solid mode and back again, or put a Vector Displacement node between the requested vector and the  Material Output, and switch its space from, say, 'World' to 'Object' and back again.

The cache appears only to apply in the viewport: in frames rendered through a camera the displacement is updated correctly.
I think this may qualify as a bug..or it may considered a valid optimisation for viewport performance?
TL;DR
To evaluate the displacement vector in Object space, (so it follows the object, and therefore persists through flipping between Rendered and Solid modes), put it through a Vector Displacement node, set to 'Object Space'.

My problem isn't so much with when it's updated, but rather that it updates in global space at all.  I'm trying to use the local object or generated coordinates which, I think, should only transform the mesh relative to its local space, in which case it should not swim at all.  The fact that it transforms as expected before cycling out of and back into render mode is fine, but when I go to do the final render, it takes the messed-up global version and not the local version.  I'm not sure if that's any clearer.  I would guess it's a bug in the way the displacement is calculated.

@BeginOblivion I can't reproduce any unexpected behaviour, if, as in the last paragraph of this answer, the vector is put through a Vector Displacement  node, set to 'Object Space'. If it's plugged straight in, as in your file, it's evaluated in World space, so you would expect it to swim. What's surprising is that it doesn't, in the viewport. The vector is calculated in Object space: to work as expected, it should be expressed in Object space. No bug in calculation.

Unfortunately, the vector displacement node did not fix the issue. The problem is not with swimming coordinates, but with physical distortion in space when rotating. The local transformation is already converted into absolute position vectors by nature of the linear algebra happening in my node tree. I'm taking the object space and applying a transformation to it that converts it to "pyramid" space or "asteroid" space.  I did stumble across a solution by constraining all rotation and driving a vector rotate node with the rotation transform of the source mesh. Thank you for putting time in here

Ahh.. OK.. Is the problem executing rotations in displacement? ..... Erindale is good on this..


text:
How to "stick" an object to another such that it follows during animation
I am trying to animate a swimming robot. It looks like this
I can easily calculate the centers of the spheres during one swimming strokes and set the keyframes accordingly. Now, is there a way to "stick" the jacks to its two corresponding spheres such that it deforms during the animation? The idea is that the spheres always stay connected. In reality, the arms would elongate and retract. More precisely, the spheres move along the axis defined by the jack around some initial length, while the whole structure translates and rotates.

Parent it with Ctrl+P.

You may want the cylinders to keep their shape when the spheres are moving.
First approach: cylinders follow spheres

A way to do that is to use bones and a "stretch to" constraint for each bone:

The vertices of each cylinder are linked to there bone's group name.
Each bone is placed along its cylinder.
And each bone as a "stretch to" constraint to the sphere (with "maintain volume" to none in order to have no deformation of the diameter).

Second approach: spheres follow cylinders
If you prefer to rig/animate the cylinder and make the sphere follow, you can use a "copy location" constraint to the spheres:

For each sphere, indicate the armature to follow, then the bone and set head/tail ratio to 1 so that the sphere follow the tail of the bone.

You have at least 2 methods:
With hooks:
To hook the cylinder to the sphere: select the sphere, shift select the cylinder, go in Edit mode, select the top edge loop and press CtrlH > Hook to Selected Object, now when you move the sphere it stretches the cylinder.

Then when you animate you just move the sphere along its local axis:

With bones:
You can use one unique object (sphere + cylinder), or 2 separate. Create a bone at the center of the sphere, parent the object to the bone With Empty Groups. Select the object, go in Edit mode, select the vertices that are supposed to be controlled by the bone, go in the Properties panel > Object Data > Vertex Groups, select the group and click Assign:

To animate, switch the armature to Pose mode and move the bone. Create the other bones within the same armature. The advantage is that you can more easily create and control your animations, for example you can use the bone axis to make the sphere follow the correct axis, and you can reset the armature to its rest pose.

But I cannot do that with both spheres right?

But as soon as I parent the jack to the other sphere, the parenting to the first sphere is deleted. Furthermore, how can I make the jack actually elongate when the two spheres move away from each other?

oh ok my bad, you can do it with a hook, I'm going to edit, but maybe show in your original post what kind of animation you'e planning to do

Okay, I'll edit!


text:
How to prevent hidden shapes from being exported to .stl file?
I've created a replacement radiator knob in blender to get it 3d printed.
I've used array modifiers to replicate shapes mirrored around the center.
And I have used a Boolean modifier to create the notches for more grip.
The problem is that when I export to a .stl file the shapes that I have hidden use the "eye"-buttons also appear.
How can I remove them when exporting?
What it is supposed to look like after exporting:

What is looks like after exporting:

Before exporting, press A in object mode or go to Select > All to select everything. Hidden objects won't be selected.
Then while exporting, check "Selection Only" on the right to export only the selected objects.

Yes! it worked. Thank you!


text:
Extrude Manifold making extra vertices
I want to extrude this face using Extrude Manifold tool

but when i do that , its leave the vertices that on the bottom face ;

so is there any thing to do to dissolve the vertices directly without any further to do?

Extruding, by definition, always creates new vertices, leaving the originals connected. If you just want to move the face, then select the face and press G to move it.

An easy way to get rid of a random vertex in the middle of an edge.
Select the offending vert and double tap G to do a vertex slide.  Move it all the way over to where it is in the same position as one of the vertices on the end.  Enable x-ray view and box select both of the vertices and do a Mesh -> Merge -> By Distance.
Extrude Manifold doesn't automatically generate good topology, unfortunately.  You have several faces here with more than 4 verts even getting rid of those two extra vertices.

For quick ways, you can enable Auto Merge in the viewport tool settings, then with snapping enabled just move vertices over the ones which should stay. Or you can just select several vertices and press Ctrl+X


text:
Springy Animation to Unity
I'm trying to make an animation with using a curve modifier. But when I export it as .fbx file, my object doesn't follow the curve. It just moves linear. what should I do? thanks.

From a modifier, I don't think you can. But https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/2943/how-can-a-path-animation-be-used-as-an-action-in-the-game-engine

You can't do it. You can export animations with aramture or shapekeys to fbx.


text:
Technique to get a more organic shape from a base model head
I am a novice, and have been watching this old Maya video to practice modeling faces.
Around the 30sec mark the modeler uses something like vertex relaxing after adding cuts to the brow, chin, and ear areas, completely improving the head to a more organic shape.
https://youtu.be/ac4qV2uIF3Q?t=29

How would I achieve this in Blender2.9? I have discovered that the relax tool has been merged into the Mesh:Loop Tools Add-on, but cannot achieve similar results.

Please add more specific details to your question. The video is a timelapse and many operations are done in few seconds.

Welcome to BSE. You can improve your question and make it more relevant for future readers if you change the title to something like "Technique to get a more organic shape from a base model head?". That makes your question easier to find. (Nobody will search for the term "Unknown technique" if you have a problem with the shape. ;-) Add a screenshot of what you have tried & expect or at least from the video (so your Q does not rely on external resources that can go lost)

The head is box-modeled from a uv-sphere. The video is a timelapse but you can follow along if you stop it after each step, basically after each second ;-)
Most of the time you only have to move vertices along the axis a bit and add new geometry with the knife tool (K in Edit mode). For the neck (a cylinder) add edge loops with Ctrl+R.

How to Get It In Shape
The mentioned relaxation of the vertices can be achieved in Blender with the Smooth brush, which also works with low-poly mesh. After you added the new edges switch to the Sculpt Mode. Select the brush with a very small strength (~0.08) and touch the top of the head, the forehead, cheeks and chin area.  The Smooth brush reduces the volume and the chin will get smaller if you touch it a few times.
The flat area of the ears can be pulled out slightly if you pull the pole and the vertices around it to the side. Use the Snake Hook brush or Elastic Deform brush. This will give the head a rounder appearance.
Then pull the outer vertex of the cheekbone downwards with the Snake Hook brush (alternatively, you can do this in Edit mode). Finally, move both vertices that form the cheekbone a bit forward, along the y-axis, to give them more volume.
That's it.
Later, when the mesh has a higher density, you can use the Smooth brush to smooth it, the Elastic Deform and the Inflate brushes to restore the volume and to adjust the shape.
The relax tool (in the Loop Tool add-on) is great to smooth edge loops. For example when you messed up the lips or the eyelids.
It is best to see the changes in the frontal view:


text:
Vertex parent disappears when joining meshes?
I'm trying to attach a bunch of buttons to a dress. I used vertex parenting for each button and the result looks perfect. However if i join these buttons back to the main mesh (the dress) all the parenting effects vanish.
Is vertex parenting only used for separate objects so that it's useless when they're joined?
And if so, then is there any other good way to rig buttons?
The clothes i'm making are intended to be exported outside of blender, so i can't rely on constraints or modifiers if they won't save on the final result. I'm planning on rigging the dress and the buttons as one mesh in the end, hence the necessity for me to join the two objects.

This is the mesh i'm working on. The buttons are a separate object from the dress.

If i join the buttons with the dress and then use automatics weights on the combined mesh, i get this result. I thought that maybe i can fix it up myself in weight paint mode, but it's really difficult if not impossible to make them align with the dress perfectly.
Ultimately the question is: How do i get the buttons to stick to the clothes for use outside of blender?

it's normal that parenting doesn't work anymore if you join the buttons as they can't be children any more. Does it have to be one unique object? You could make the buttons part of the costume mesh, or painted as an image texture, of course the drawback is that they will stretch if the costume is stretched

If you've the possibility to place the button close to (or just on) a mesh vertex, you can report the bones influences of this vertex to the button.
Here is a magnificent example with a very beautiful dress and no less beautiful buttons:

To do that, once your dress is rigged (and again the button can be placed where a dress vertex is), select the button vertices, and shift select (as active) the dress vertex:

Vertical green stroke indicates the weights of the dress vertex (active).
Use the copy button to report these weights.
The button may deform a bit, but as you want all in one mesh, I think you can't avoid it.
A test case:

Ohh i didn't know you could copy weights into vertices like that. I tried it and it works perfectly. Thanks for taking the time to even make a blend file to illustrate the solution. That's going to be very useful in the future!


text:
Weird artifacts only in rendermode?
I've ran into some troubles while rendering transparent materials. These issues only occur when using
rendermode (F12). All render settings are default. I'm rendering on a GPU (Nvidia GTX 1070).

In viewport previews seem to be just fine and don't have the triangulated white faces

Here's the outliner and the shader used, maybe that could help solve the issue.

Subdivsion modifier with different level between viewport and render?

Subd modifier level are 2 for render and viewport.

The schrinkwrap modifiers are disabled in viewports (but not in render).

I completly missed that the shrinkwrap modifiers were turned off in viewport but not in rendermode. Disabling them fixed the issue - thank you.

The schrinkwrap modifiers are disabled in viewports but not for rendering:


text:
wireframe after the on cage
after i press On Cage button in Subdivision modifier - wireframe is hidden.
Did the developer do it intentionally or is it a technical limitation of the program and display the wireframe in this case will be very difficult?
In the first case - I will request a future option on the right click.
Thank you

@Marty Fouts it is a pity that they did not penetrate the question. Wireframe will hide after clicking On cage  button. Check the screenshot, please. After ckick the button I steel want to see the wireframe in edit, not odject mode. And then steel have a question, which is in the first post.

Seems to be an issue. You can post it at developer.blender.org, but make it clear. You should explain all steps that you do, to avoid misunderstanding like this. Explain that you have wireframe overlay enabled, optimal display disabled.

@Crantisz thank you Could you check this reproduce steps in video, please. Do you think this issue deserves to be published as a bug report?


text:
how to set up 3000+ lights for optimal rendering in cycles?
scence example: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1x46UKJVspdC2mhNL4XIPHGJJ-ap6FF9e/view?usp=sharing
Cycles: How can I minimize render time with a very large number of lights using only render settings and light settings? What light and render settings should I adjust other than reducing the output resolution and reducing the number of samples?
The max bounces value has almost no effect on render time

Perhaps with this number of lights it's better to have a single object with emissive material?

Why do you delete the question and ask it again? And this time again without any screenshot?

screenshot was not mine. I don't know who attached it and why. Deleted the question because of a comment about an incorrectly formed request. Now it seems rigth

Well, can you share a screenshot of the scene?

@Marius
https://i.ibb.co/0VqckfC/image.png

any user of the community with enough reputation can propose edits to a question or answer to enhance it, it's part of how the platform works. You can always refuse them, but the goal is always to make the best quality of Q&A. As an author, you are also expected to edit your own Q/A instead of deleting them to repost a duplicate. See the BSE Tour to get a quick overview of how the platform works, or the Help Centre to learn even more.

It's always tricky to render a massive amount of light objects in a ray-traced render. Too many variables to take into account for too little samples. The usual trick I know for this is to cut down your scene into different layers which you render individually, effectively dividing your light counts per layers, but your current instance system makes it a bit annoying to set up. Another one could be to bake your lights from the original non-instanced object into an image texture, and use that everywhere. It would be especially effective if it isn't animated.

To know on which solution to focus an answer, can you tell if that scene supposed to be animated and how?


text:
rotation errors
steps to reproduce: video
@markus-von-broady
I brought one more circumstance. But unfortunately it was deleted, you did not see it.
please reproduce this for yourself
this project is rotate to zero
this project does not rotate to zero
what is the difference between projects? If there is no difference in projects - provide an example in which this strange effect can be clearly reproduced
You write about mathematics. But not about the "mechanics" of Blender.
I can use a calculator (in Python or anywhere) to do operations between two numbers. And if the initial data are the same, the answer will be the same. The result of the operation between A and B will always be the same: I cannot multiply 1.23456 by 2.34567 in a calculator to get 2.8958703552 the first time. And the second time will be something different. Is not it? In mathematics, this is impossible - this is confirmed in practice. This happens in Blender.

I can't tell you why it doesn't return exactly to zero. But will it being as it is make any noticeable difference to what you are going to do with this? There are 5 zeros between the decimal and the value. That value is 3 millionths of one degree.

A rotation transform involves multiplying matrices containing trig. calculations (sin and cos).. which are always approximations at the limit of floating-point resolution. Why not just enter '0' in the Rotation > X field, if that's what you want?

@curious_1
you are absolutely right. But the principle and logic of the program, it seems to me, would not hurt to know. Curious to know the fact - why sometimes it returns to zero

@Robin Betts

which are always approximations at the limit of floating-point resolution

means that sometimes it can turn out to be zero or even a little more than zero? But why do I always have the same value, slightly below zero?

@Robin Betts >>Why not just enter '0' in the Rotation > X field
before that I applied transformation→rotation for several objects. Changed various coordinates (both location and rotation). So I need to apply reverse transform→rotation. Entering zero in the field will not help.

Hi, @blenduser! .. OK, could you edit to flesh out your question with the exact sequence of steps leading up to the unexpected small value? (On the way, just in case, remember  the inverse of an XYZ Euler rotation is a ZYX Euler rotation.. you have to unwind in order)

Hi @robin-betts
video with steps in the second line.
Even lower - two .blend files

I won't write an essay, because the question is unlikely to attract many visitors in future, but I'll elaborate on what Robin Betts already said in the comment.
Write in Python console:
>>> sqrt(2**2)
2.0

>>> sqrt(2)**2
2.0000000000000004

In the first example first the number two is squared, which results with four. Simple. $4$ can be stored as the float64 Python uses for real numbers, so it's stored in memory in this form: 01000000 00010000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000. The first bit 0 means the number is positive, the following 11 bits are the exponent, encoded as just like a typical signed integer is encoded, and it represents number 2, then the rest bits are mantissa and it's more complicated but basically it encoded a number between $1$ and $2$, with all zeroes meaning $1$, and all ones meaning $2$. Then you have a formula $\text{mantissa} \times2^{\text{exponent}}$ so in this case $1×2^{2} = 4$
Then you take a square root of that number, which is $1 × 2^{1} = 2$, this also can be stored in float64.
2nd example: First take square root of two: $\sqrt{2}=$
$1.4142135623730950488016887242096980785696718753769480731766797379907324784621
07038850387534327641572735013846230912297024924836055850737212644121497099935831
41322266592750559275579995050115278206057147010955997160597027453459686201472851
74186408891986095523292304843087143214508397626036279952514079896872533965463318
08829640620615258352395054745750287759961729835575220337531857011354374603408498
84716038689997069900481503054402779031645424782306849293691862158057846311159666
87130130156185689872372352885092648612494977154218334204285686060146824720771435
85487415565706967765372022648544701585880162075847492265722600208558446652145839
88939443709265918003113882464681570826301005948587040031864803421948972782906410
45072636881313739855256117322040245091227700226941127573627280495738108967504018
36986836845072579936472906076299694138047565482372899718032680247442062926912485
90521810044598421505911202494413417285314781058036033710773091828693147101711116
83916581726889419758716582152128229518488472089694633862891562882765952635140542
26765323969461751129160240871551013515045538128756005263146801712740265396947024
03005174953188629256313851881634780015693691768818523786840522878376293892143006
55869568685964595155501644724509836896036887323114389415576651040883914292338113
20605243362948531704991577175622854974143899918802176243096520656421182731672625
75395947172559346372386322614827426222086711558395999265211762526989175409881593
48640083457085181472231814204070426509056532333398436457865796796519267292399875
36661721598257886026336361782749599421940377775368142621773879919455139723127406
68983299898953867288228563786977496625199665835257761989393228453447356947949629
52168891485492538904755828834526096524096542889394538646625744927556381964410316
97983306185201937938494005715633372054806854057586799967012137223947582142630658
51322174088323829472876173936474678374319600015921888073478576172522118674904249
77366929207311096369721608933708661156734585334833295254675851644710757848602463
60083444911481858765555428645512331421992631133251797060843655970435285641008791
85007603610091594656706768836055717400767569050961367194013249356052401859991050
62108163597726431380605467010293569971042425105781749531057255934984451126922780
34491350663756874776028316282960553242242695753452902883876844642917328277088831
80870253398523381227499908123718925407264753678503048215918018861671089728692292
01197599880703818543332536460211082299279293072871780799888099176741774108983060
80032631181642798823117154363869661702999934161614878686018045505553986913115186
01038637532500455818604480407502411951843056745336836136745973744239885532851793
08960373898915173195874134428817842125021916951875593444387396189314549999906107
58704909026088351763622474975785885836803745793115733980209998662218694992259591
32764236194105921003280261498745665996888740679561673918595728886424734635858868
64496822386006983352642799056283165613913942557649062065186021647263033362975075
69787060660685649816009271870929215313236828135698893709741650447459096053747279
65244770940992412387106144705439867436473384774548191008728862221495895295911878
92149179833981083788278153065562315810360648675873036014502273208829351341387227
68417667843690529428698490838455744579409598626074249954916802853077398938296036
21335398753205091998936075139064444957684569934712763645071632791547015977335486
38939423257277540038260274785674172580951416307159597849818009443560379390985590
16827215403458158152100493666295344882710729239660232163823826661262683050257278
11694510353793715688233659322978231929860646797898640920856095581426143636310046
15594332550474493975933999125419532300932175304476533964706627611661753518754646
20967634558738616488019884849747926404506544489691004079421181692579685756378488...$
Whoops! This is an irrational number, it can't be expressed as a ratio between two integers, therefore whatever integer you pick for your numeral system, you will only be able to approximate it - meaning you can take some digits, perhaps round the last taken digit up if it's followed by a high digit and call it a day. Float64 precision allows it to store the square root of 2 as:
$1.4142135623730951$
which in memory is stored as:
00111111 11110110 10100000 10011110 01100110 01111111 00111011 11001101
which can be interpreted in the form $\text{mantissa} \times2^{\text{exponent}}$:
$1.4142135623730951 ×2^{0}$
But hey, if we truncated (changed!) the result of our mathematical operation: $y = \text{changed}(\sqrt{2})$ then $y ≠ \sqrt{2}$ and so $y^{2} ≠ 2$ ❗
**The only reason why we could end up with the original number by squaring it, if by coincidence another error happened and it cancelled out the first error. It actually happens quite often:
>>> import numpy as np
>>> np.float16(np.power(np.sqrt(np.float16(2)), 2))
2.0

But apparently not in CPython for the default float64.

It's tricky to give a definitive answer to this one.. I think you'd have to crack open the API, or even the source, and trace variables all the way through, to find out where the floating-point discrepancy occurs. However, a few observations:

I can't reproduce the error, using the files provided, unless I CtrlC copy the angle from the 'zero' file, and CtrlV paste it into the 'not zero' file.  The visible representation of the number is therefore not the same as its internal representation, and there may be string-to-float conversions happening in one case and not the other?
Plain R rotation (or Header > Transform > Rotate rotation,) defaults to rotation about View Z. Unless your objects are floating-point-perfectly aligned to the view, that is not the same as Local X, which is what is displayed in the Transform > Rotation panel. That's another possible source of inaccuracy. (For example, if at any point you've zeroed-out in one frame, that's not necessarily the same as zeroing-out in the other, to floating-point accuracy)
It is possible to set  multiple objects' Local X rotation to 0 simultaneously in the Transform panel. With all objects selected, type '0' into the field, and return, while holding down the Alt key.

Maybe at some point you will be rigging these objects, if not with an armature, then at least with a parenting hierarchy? Then, from a practical point of view, the anomaly will lose relevance.

@blenduser .. nice looking project, BTW :)

The displayed values in Blender have lower precision than the actual values stored in memory, that's why you can do nextafter(inf, 0) to get inf value, even though it's not real infinity, just a very large number (the largest possible float32 number) that rounds to infinity just for display purposes. I agree the not-so-perfect 'zeroing' of values is irrelevant unless it accumulates a lot (loops) or there's an exact epsilon-less comparison to 0 somewhere like in a shader…

@Robin Betts
it looks like you can reproduce the problem.
Copy into buffer memory the angle (Rotation X) from one file. And paste this data into a Windows notepad.
Then open another file. Do the same. Is this data different? Both files have the same value: 6.84502d Isn't it?

@Markus von Broady
does it mean there is a difference between the files?
How to get the data stored in memory to confirm, reproduce your version?

Hi, @blenduser! I did copy via a text-editor as part of my testing, and that reproduces the error.. since the text-editor shows the same precision as the Blender field, that suggests the (truncated) string is being pasted. Likewise between projects. If I copy-paste in the same project, I get no error, which suggests the underlying (higher precision) value is being pasted. I can't be sure, without looking, but that looks like a deferred choice of which representation of a value-object should be pasted. And the choice makes a difference to precision.

Hi @Robin Betts
could you record a video? I copy and paste in the same project but the error persists


text:
Modifier multiplies geometry unnecessarily. "Array" modifier optimization
How make that the Array modified not produce vertices, but do a procedure similar to Duplicate Linked (Alt + D) which saves rather than multiplies geometry unnecessarily?
thank you

Use the array modifier on a simple index, or on a face, parent the object to be duplicated to the vertex/face object with Array modifier, and set Instancing options:

Then you can also ✲ CtrlA, M Make Instance Real - they will be linked-duplicates of the original object used.


text:
Which addon adds a search bar and buttons to the UI below the 3D view header?
In this video https://youtu.be/mM3M1Vj6DxQ?t=31 , there is a non-standard panel layout (Blender 2.93):

How to set up or get it?
Thank you

If you mean the section in the centre of the screen on the same line as the object menus, it's for the Blenderkit addon which you can get here.

Thank you. He has Tool Settings at the top, and the menu at the bottom, under Tool Settings

Ah! I see what you mean now. That standard layout changed between version 2.93 and 3.0 and above and I don't think there's any option to change it.

thank you so much

No problem. I still have all Blender LTS versions back to 2.83 installed here so it's easy to compare them.


text:
How can I make a light trail without using particles?
I'm trying to replicate what this user was after, but without using particles. (I know the particles will work easier, it's just not what I want for this.)
Glowing Light Trail in Eevee
I've got an emission shader on my curve object, and a path for it to follow. It's animated along the path, and what I want to do is fade out the tail end (the Bevel Start) as the curve animates, to create a simple light trail using geometry.
I was trying to do this with mixing a transparency shader and an emission shader with a color ramp between them, but that only gives me a smooth transition across the entire object, instead of fading it along the path.
Here's the scene I'm working with: light trail testing geometry
and a couple screencaps of what I have, what I'm after (just an image edit) and my current shaders

Please place a screen snapshot in your question.  Some readers have no need to download your file.

You could do similar to https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/94976/29586 but create the path manually if you really need to avoid particles (although in that example the particles are only used to create the path, not for the final result).

You can use a mix between an Emission and a Transparent node and use a Gradient along the axis, with the Texture Coordinate UV socket.
If you're using Eevee you can use Bloom to make it look like a ray (the Emission Strength needs to be pushed high enough), if you're using Cycles you'll need to do it in the Compositor.


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How come all of my objects are just outlines?

I opened Blender today and all of my objects on all of my files are this kind of invisible where I can still see the outline. When I make new files the issue persists and when I go into edit mode I can still see the vertices. I know the objects aren't hidden and I can't find anything about it anywhere.

You might want to state what type of video card you have.  Numerous problems in that area.

Seconded - Latest AMD Adrenalin drivers are causing problems in blender. Reverting to an older driver version usually solves it.

sry knittpicky here ^^ .. you also may want to change your titel.. you want to find the reason so you can fix it.. so there definitly is a reason. Genneraly descriptice titels work best. Maybee lock at https://blender.stackexchange.com/help/how-to-ask

@ChristopherBennett It's probably that, I'm using a Radeon RX 580 and I updated my driver last night, thanks for the help!


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Depth of field fail
Hi im tryng to play with depth of field to look more realistic, but I don't see that nothing changes... I'm playing with distance and F Stop.

Only I see that makes all blury and pixelated. Thanks.

The first is 60 FStop and the second one 1 FStop.
I try o change those parameters, but due to the rendering of the prewiew is too slow I can not see diferences. (I have 32 GB RAM)

Is like only foucs the floor, I don't get it.

You're using a wide lens (39mm) with a long focus distance (11m).
Even at f/1 the depth of field is 5 meters wide which still covers most of your scene.
Either use longer lens, or shorter focus distance.
You can check your DoF here: https://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html
You can preview the depth of field in viewport:

39mm compared to 135mm lens with f/1 and focus at 6 meters

Note that you can also use a f-stop that is less than 1.0
A different way to get selective focus, with the exact same field of view, is to use a much larger sensor size, which in turn will make you use a longer lens to have the same field of view, hence making the focusing distance more critical and with less depth of field. For example, if you make the sensor twice as large, you will need a lens that is also twice as large for the same field of view.
Read:
How do I set focus range?
Also, when it comes to depth of field it is important to work in real world dimensions. If the objects are larger than in real life, then your distances to the camera will be much larger, making it hard to get selective focus.

Hi may I ask you another question?

thanks bro, your links help me a lot to understand it. But is that it frustrates me a lot having to wait for the rendering of the preview to see how it affects the changes I make in the FStop and the distances... I edited the question above... If you can give me some tips. Or I could upload the archive.

SOLVED. I play with low FStop. 1.8-0.9 Thanks


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Blender 2.9 Shading Workspace. Environment/HDRI showing gray
I'm a beginner to blender and I was texturing a sword I made from a tutorial, but ran across a problem. In Shading mode, my Hdri is completely gray, the environment is not visible at all. When screen world is not enabled, the lighting from the hdri is visible on my model, but the actual hdri environment is not visible. When screen world is on, all lighting disapears even though in multiple posts I've saw about this problem enabiling screen world was the solution. The hdri I'm using is sunrise.exr. Thanks a lot to anyone that can assist me.

If your question is about the environment texture, then show the settings for the world, not for the object's material.

Thanks a lot, there are the world settings.

You mention using an HDR, but in the world there is no environment texture.

Yes it does, thank you very much.


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How to fix vertex garbage that I get when opening this file
After opening this blend file
https://www.theroyalskies.com/royal-resources
it shows up with all this garbage. What is happening and how can I fix it?

Hello, it's hard to say, do you know what it is supposed to be?

This is a human model from here: https://www.theroyalskies.com/royal-resources


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How do I turn off the lines coming off the spheres?
When I choose Wireframe Viewport Shading these lines come off of my spheres. It blocks my view of the rig.
What is this called? Is there a way to turn it off?
Wireframe:

Solid:

Are they relationship lines?  You can disable to display of relationship lines in the overlays dropdown.

I've tried that. Some lines went away. But not the sphere lines. The lines from the sphere are heading toward the origin.

Can you show solid mode?

I have edited the post to show solid mode.


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Model Mesh Breaks
I'm not sure of the terminology, what do you call it when this happens? This has been happening to me a lot.
Is it the limitations of the hardware? Which is a firepro v5900 2gb.
I'm planning on upgrading the gpu. Could that fix the issue?

Hi. It would help if you post screenshots of the whole Blender window so we can see the outliner, number of objects, and modifiers, and so on. Does your model has a MultiRes modifier? I've experienced similar issues when the base mesh was edited with a MultiRes.

About the terminology: It's the mesh that is messed up here. The material defines the shader (texture, color, etc).

I added screenshots. And well, I said material that because in this case the mesh breaks when I add a material to the eye and jacket.

Thanks for the screenshots. It makes sense that you said material when the material makes the mesh "explode". But this is not normal behavior. If you want you can share the blend file here https://pasteall.org/blend/ (after upload you need to post here the new URL that you get in the browser's address bar). How does the mesh look ok when you render it with Cycles on the CPU?


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Objects Randomly Disappear
This isn't the first time that this has happened to me. This also happened to a different project I had 2 months ago in version 2.8.
Objects would just disappear the next time I open the project. Yes I checked if they were in a hidden collection, I kept toggling / , and I tried Alt + H . The first picture was a test render I made, and the second is what it is now from the same view.

There is no way that I accidentally deleted them, since staircase is made of 3 separate objects and I would have to select all of them at once then delete them. Besides that, other objects in different locations also disappeared at the same time.
The one thing I noticed is that the objects disappear after open and start working on a different project. There is no particular order that they disappear either. Below is a couch that I modeled. The main cushion was the first one that I made, followed by the 4 large pillows, then five smaller ones (The three in the middle and two on each side that were leaning on the arm rests). Even though I made the cushion first and the small pillows last, they both disappeared, along with a table I modeled many weeks before the couch itself.

I need help to somehow find out how to recover the objects and/or prevent this from happening again.
edit: screenshots of my outliner

Please show a screenshot of your outliner

Check Orphan Data in your outliner, although I'm not sure how it would get there...

Is there any chance you have assigned another mesh to an object,  orphaning the original, wihich will be lost on reopening.   Eg shift D default cube. Assign mesh "Cube" to duplicate. "Cube.001" mesh will be orphaned.

I did use shift d to duplicate (the pillows for example, and the top boards on the stairs but in edit mode). But I don't know how to assign a mesh to another object so I don't think so.

Try to press the 1 button on your keyboard (not on numpad) in object mode. You are maybe viewing different layer. This happened to me a few times.

Forgot to add it, but yeah I already made sure all layers and collections are active. This is the second time that happened to me on 2 different projects.


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Curve modifier breaks the model
I have created a model of the bridge with separate parts and merged them all together into one with (ctrl + j). Now I am trying to apply a curve modifier to slightly bend the shape of the bridge. I created a path curve and applied the modifier to the bridge model, then, as soon as I start to move the curve the bridge deforms into some unrecognisable shape. Does anyone have any suggestions on how this can be fixed? Thank you.
Before

After

Link to the project file:
Project file

Hello, maybe share the file: https://pasteall.org/blend/

Hi, just uploaded the project file; thank you for the suggestion.

In Object mode apply the curve's scale, and, as it will change the vertices' radius, in Edit mode select all and in the N panel > Item > lower the Mean Radius down to 1.

Thank you very much for taking the time and helping me I would never have figured out what the problem was myself


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Image alpha Is black the further it is away from she camera. (Cycles)
I am trying to create a ground fog that slowly moves across the ground. To achieve that, I have created a plane with subdivision and shrinkwrap modifiers with a hair particle system and a transparent dust png contained in a collection to scatter it across the plane. Now, the problem is that the further away particles are from the camera the darker they are. Why is that? Can someone suggest how to fix it please and make it all transparent all throughout?
It looks fine when rendered with Eevee as well as in the material preview.

Ran some tests and it turns out that the issue resolves if you increase the value of "Transparent Max Bounces" in "Light Path" render settings.


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Boolean Geo Nodes Animation Mesh Glitches
I am attempting to animate a keyboard plate being revealed using Mesh Boolean node inside geo nodes modifier, however, and this is not not the first time, for some reason during the animation the plate's mesh glitches instead of smoothly appearing.
You can see what I mean in the gif below. Can someone suggest how to fix and avoid this from happening?
Link to the blend file:

Here are the nodes I am using

pls provide blend file so we can see all settings you made, thx. Boolean mesh depends on several things like face direction, manifold mesh etc....and you just showed us the GN tree.

Hi. Please don't post essential information like links, file downloads or additional details in the comments section where it can be easily missed. Instead edit them into your original post with the [Edit] button above. Comments are transitory by nature, are hard to index or search for, and may be erased at any moment.

There is no guaranty with boolean operation, but in your case, you can check "hole tolerant" option:

More Geometry & Cleaner Topology
I find that the boolean solver works best when there's plenty of evenly-distributed geometry for both forms.
The border geometry of the flat grid component in your scene Has lots of very long, skinny triangles. Try breaking the border up into quads so that the solver has some clean topology to work with.