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Rotate around one point, with constrain on z-axis for other point, impossible?
In an animation, I would like to rotate an object, while at the same time constricting its movement on the y-axis, but I can't figure out how.
After fiddling around with start and end frame of the rotation, in relation to the start and end frame of the translation along the y-axis, I tried parenting the 'door' to a cylinder (see screen shot below), but I can't stop top of the 'door' (marked by a purple 'x') moving along the z-axis, when the cylinder rotates.

So, my question is:
How can I get the setup the desired motion?

Update
Screen capture of (faulty) animation
In the screen capture you can see the animation going wrong: the lower stud on the door should stay inside the curved rail. The curved rail is a a (quarted of a) circle.

Does locking the Z axis in the properties panel not do anything?

@Brenticus, No, locking the Z-axis does nothing whatsoever

It can be proven that what you are trying to do is impossible. One can't have the tip and the origin move at the illustrated paths at the same time.

@cegaton, I'v added a screen capture to help explain what I'm trying to achieve.

@cegaton I'm experimenting with the linked answers, but I can't get it to work. The top of the door still moves outside of its intended path.

There's actually a very quick way to do this. All you need is 3 bones with an IK constraint. Set the root of the first bone at the center of the cylinder in your diagram and the tip on the edge (where the lower stud would be). That way when the bone rotates the tip will follow the track. Now extrude a bone up to the top of the door (top stud). Finally extrude another bone horizontally (left in the case of your diagram) and clear the parent on it.
Then in pose mode, add an IK constraint to the second bone and select Armature in the Target box and the 3rd bone that we cleared the parent on in the Bone box. Now, when you move the 3rd bone (which will be the control bone) the other two bones will follow, the door will open, and the lower stud will always stay the same distance from the center of the track radius.
Optionally you can add a limit location constraint to the control bone (as I did in the gif below) to ensure that the control bone never moves where it shouldn't.

All you then have to do is parent the door to the second bone (the yellow one with the IK constraint) and everything should be good to go.

Thanks for the answer! It looks elegant, I'll give it a try asap.

How do I find the coordinates for the Limit Location constraint?

Open the properties panel with N and look under the transform heading. In your image above you'll want the y axis value. Close the gate (should be the default position of the rig) and look at the y location value for the top bone. Use that as the maximum. Then open the gate, and as soon as the gate is fully open use that value as the minimum. In my case it was a max of 1 and a min of -1, but yours will probably vary.

Thanks! bones are a most useful addition to my list of things I need to learn : )

Some trigonometry should help:

Let the distance between the origin of the red rode and its tip be 1 (or anything), sin(a)=h, so a = arcsine(h) but h equal to the z position of the orange rod minus the position of the origin of the red rode, so we know the angle a, by using drivers or Animation Nodes to set a to the red rode as rotation, we get:

Looks really promising, but (I'm a complete newbie) how do I access Animation Nodes?

@Jacco Animation Nodes is an addon, you have to download it, see:
https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/41928/what-is-animation-nodes-addon-used-for


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When using curves to create ('square') piping, how do I get nice corners?
I've set up a curve where at some points 3 or even 4 curves meet at a junction:

When I try to convert this to an actual shape:

I get both:

really ugly corners,
'twisted' tubing: the square tubing before and after a junction do not align nicely.

So, my two (related) questions are:
a) how can I create the intended shape with corners that line up nicely and?
b) how can I how can I control the rotation/orientation of the tubing along the curve?
Are curves maybe the wrong tool for this job?

Probably the curve isn't the best choice. You should try the skin or the wireframe modifier. https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/modeling/modifiers/generate/skin.html https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/modeling/modifiers/generate/wireframe.html

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/53475 https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/66353 https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/59153

Unfortunately, none of the linked questions handle more than two curves coming together at a junction.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Bubble waffle texture
I'm modelling a bubble waffle, I have to make bubbles and then wrap in a cylindrical shape but I don't know what I have to do before and after.
I tried with the displacments and UV but, I don't know why, it doesn't work.
My question is if there is a simple method to model all the waffle bubbles withous using a displacements and the bend it, I need the easiest method because I'm new to Blender

Hi :). Displacement should work just fine, what exactly is the problem? Such a shape should also be easy to model and then bend.

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/247691/dots-aligning-in-shading

Does this answer your question? Dots aligning in Shading

i would like to create a model 3d with bubbles without using displacements

Your title and tags seems to be misleading ...

If your goal is real geometry without texture displacement, than you can try to ...

start with Extra Mesh (add-on) > Honeycomb

Extrude outer edges, add 6 sided Circle mesh and run Knife Project operator to cut borders
Extrude and Scale holes, move them up and Fill

add another hexagon mesh (6 sided circle) at the same size and cut with Knife in this folding directions
with Convert to Armature add-on you can easily create rigged mesh

add Subdivision modifier and in Pose mode rotate bones into desire shape

select the Waffle object add Surface Deform modifier and set  Target your rigged hexagon (Bind in rest (flat) pose)

Notes:

Since due process you will Bind-Unbind several times it is handy to keyframe rest (flat) pose like at frame zero and posed (rolled) armature pose at another frame (like 25) ... so when you have to UnBind-Bind you just go to frame zero.
I used Armature (and not Deform modifier) to avoid stretching and ability to have better control on shape.
Convert to Armature example, addon is for 2.8, but works for 3.3 too.

wow bones was the good idea

Fantastic! thank you!! really helpfull

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


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Where is the "Local Coordinates" option for Inflow Object?
I want to use an animated object to determine where liquid pours out from, but I cannot for the life of me find the option that dictates this...
Previously this option was in Blender 2.79
So far, after several days of looking, my search efforts have gone in vain. Hopefully this question isn't too redundant!

Since you can use Source and Normal settings, Local Coordinates are a bit useless.
Inflow usually emits fluid only from one direction, there is no specific reason to use whole surface of object as inflow.
It means you can use a disk with same efficiency.

Originally taken from https://blenderartists.org/t/lets-talk-about-mantaflow/644346/908?u=vklidu


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Bugs after baking textures
I don't know how to fix the texture. The problem mainly occurs after loading the baked texture into the blender. In EU5, the problem is less visible, and in substance painter everything looks as it should.
I tried to fix the problem by compacting the uv mesh on the problem spot. It's better, but the problem persists. This is my first UV mesh.
Do you have any ideas on how to fix it?

Would be helpful to share a problematic part of mesh via https://blend-exchange.com btw isnt it possible you accidentally moved some vertices? SP screen looks like different mesh.

blend-exchange.com/b/YsKQvBE3
Mesh has not been modified. The SP is the same model, it may look different due to a different perspective.

your screens doesnt use normal map texture, also you didnt append normal map texture into your file so hard to say ...


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Render result and viewport render are different - Cycles(3.4.0)
I am using the Cycles render engine for this one - Blender(3.4.0).
That is not an HDRI, but an image imported as plane with the image texture as it's Emission colour with the Emission Strength set to 10.
Viewport vs Render

Here you can see how both the images are different from each other, the grass near the tee in the viewport is a bit blurrier and has darker shadows than the rendered result, and see how the grass in the rendered result is sharp and have fewer shadows. I'd like the Render Result to look exactly like the Viewport.

Here in the outliner, you can see that any object that has been turned off for the viewport has also been turned off for the render.
The sampling setting for the viewport and the rendered result is the same, and so are the camera settings. I've turned on 'Depth of Field' with F-Stop=7.

I have a feeling that the sampling pattern is affecting the rendered result, but what do I know?

Someone suggested me to change the 'Max Bounces' settings, but I don't know what to change and how much... are the values for render and viewport 'Max Bounces' different? If yes, can you please share those values with me?

And no, I haven't done anything in the compositor.

These are some settings that I believe that might've affected the rendered result, if you concur... please tell me what should I change so that the Rendered Result looks exactly like the Viewport.

Also, I'm using Graswald's GScatter Blender addon to scatter the grass using Geometry Nodes and a weight mask. Could this affect the Rendered Result too?

Sorry I don't see a difference ...

@vklidu Notice how the grass near the tee is too sharp like there are perfectly straight lines... but the same grass in the viewport is a bit darker and has shadows and is a bit blurrier which helps it to bend in with rest of the scene...

I had to add both images above each other to see it. Right, there are differences (clearly identified by blending them by difference. I'm not sure if you can get identical result. Viewport is designed to be realtime as much as possible, so there can be "small" nuances, that differs like DOF. The same for grass there can be simplification. Hm, few blades are missing in render. Also in the viewport I see more glossiness on blades, but it can be thanks to simplified model used in viewport (this could be also reason why it looks darker - its thicker).

@vklidu Now that you mention that the render has less grass than the viewport, I see it. What can be causing it? I'm using Graswald's GScatter Blender addon, if you're familiar with please do share some insights. When I added the grass, I chose 'Level of Detail' and 'Material Quality' both to be low, that might be the reason.

@vklidu Hey! I used the High option for both 'Level of Detail' and  'Material Quality'... and VOILA! it was magically cured. Apparently, those options were for rendering, the simplified model was used for rendering not the viewport, crazy... right? Anyway, much thanks to you! Ciao...


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Particle Hair Not Rendering in Cycles?
I'm making a character in Blender based off of Darrin Lile's character modeling series. However, instead of making an object for hair like he did, I decided to try using particle hair. However, when I try to render my hair, it does not show up. Can anyone help tell me what to fix? I'll include the blend file below.

Are you in edit mode with the hair object selected? I think there is a bug affecting that.

Nope, I am in object mode and I have nothing selected, but when I attempt to render, it just does not appear.

Did you try the convert button?  That is the answer I keep seeing, Convert Cycles Hair Particle System to Mesh Object. Hope this helps I am new to blender so just reading through.... :)

I had to convert it so that I could parent the hair to my armature. But once I did that, it would not show up in the render.

That is the solution I used in the end, but it still isn't as polished as the particle hair normally is.

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


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Particles stick to side faces
I have a plane "shooting" particles and I want those particles to stick to wherever they land and stay sticked. It does that on perfectly horizontal faces (the top of the cube) but if they land on a face from the sides they slowly slip off.

This is because of gravity but if I turn it off the particles will just fly off infinity in the direction they are "shoot".
The cube has these settings in the its Collision physics:
Stickiness: 10
Particle damping factor: 1
Particle Friction: 1
How can I make them stick to the side faces and stay there?
Using Blender 2.76

How about Die on Hit, and render "died" on the particle system?

That works good for non-moving objects but I have some that move and in those the dead particles won't move along with the object.

maybe give the cube a field attraction using surface?

It can be done by using an addon called Animation Nodes.

The basic concept here is to get the location of each particle unit by the moment they die on hitting the collider. Then parent them to it immediately.
Here is a template setup:
 (2018-07-21 updated, compatible with AN2.0)
How to Use:

Open the attached file;
Download the addon from the link above, then install and enable it;
Replace Eimtter and Collider object input on related nodes.
Go to frame 1, play animation.

I know, it may involve a totally new tool. I'll see what I can do if additional guide needed.

Do you mind updating that answer for more recent versions, this is related to this Question. Maybe more details such that it is useful without the the blend file.

@OmarAhmad Will do later asap.

@OmarAhmad Finally find some time to find what's going on. :)

One reason could be your particle cache step. Setting it to one frame should at least lessen if not stop the sliding.
Essentially the eighth step in here:
How can I simulate powder with a particle system?

in the Scene tab you can turn off gravity, just untick the checkbox. I have some issues with particles bouncing off for high speed and grazing incidence angles but otherwise works fine.

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


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Best lossless video output format for later conversions for web
I'm creating an animation (with sound) in blender that's gonna be an HTML5 video. As browsers are quite picky, I'll probably need to embed the video into the web page in multiple different formats for an universal support. - A single MPEG-4/H.264 might be enough, however, there isn't seem to be a way to tell blender to keep it in baseline. So anyhow I try, I just cannot produce one video file using blender that would go well in all browsers.

Therefore my idea is to create the animation in some lossless format first, and then convert it to the formats I need for the <video> tag (I guess these are MP4/H.264 with baseline profile and WebM.) using some video editor. So I'm looking for a file format+coding combo which is

supported by blender to export to,
lossless, (or near lossless if there isn't a completely lossless option)
and not too hard to be converted into the final formats I'll need.

Ps: I've found this thread previously. Should I also go with H264 lossless, or are there better options in my case? Or... do I even need an external tool, or can I maybe export proper HTML5 videos directly to web from blender? This would be the best.


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Where is the Materials Options panel? Blender v2.78
I've been trying to work with vertex painting in Blender v2.78 cycles and I can't seem to find the Materials Options panel.
I am referencing the introduction provided on the Blender 2.78 manual here. I went to the Material Options hyperlink in the manual (just above the image), and that wasn't too helpful either.
Where is the "Materials Options panel"?

Thanks.

That page is for BI.. you're searching for them in Cycles. Related - http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/6568/how-do-i-implement-the-color-i-have-on-vertex-paint-onto-my-faces. I found way to see vertex color directly only in Material shading mode which in 2.78 was improved.

@MrZak It seems finding the correct references would be very helpful. Thanks for noticing that. :)


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Run 2 "instances" of blender at the same time?
I was wondering if it's possible to run two "instances" of blender at the same time. As in installing blender twice and running both, using them for different projects. I ask this because I have blender rendering a project right now and it's taking quite a while. I'm being a little cautious here because I don't want any corrupt system files or anything. Thanks in Advance!
My Rig Specs are:
Windows 8.1 Pro
i7 6700k OC to 4.7GHz
Dedicated harddrive for programs
nVidia GTX 1060
AMD R7 370

are you using a Mac ?

@lemon Windows 8.1 Pro

OK, yes... the problem could be about your GPU resources. From my experience, you may have conflicts effectively concerning the rendering. For other tasks, I have not encountered any problem (even if running the same blender.exe)... but this just my experience...

While you are not on a Mac (as I am), I need to duplicate the Blender install, otherwise launching it again sends you to the already running copy.  I haven't needed to do a reinstall or anything like that, just duplicate, and it uses the same user preferences as well.

@Gliderman Hmm... Good to know, I do have a mac, however I don't use it for "heavy work" like rendering. Thanks.

@Gliderman You actually don't need to duplicate the blender install on a mac. Just run blender from a terminal, and open as many terminals running blender as you want. I actually have a terminal preset that, on startup, runs /Applications/blender-2/blender.app/Contents/MacOS/blender so that when I spawn that terminal, a new instance of blender starts automatically.

You can run as many instances as you want off the same install. Just run the .exe again. Note that this may get more complicated if you are launching through a command prompt. I often run multiple instances, especially when doing physics simulations.
Note that when GPU rendering, it tends to cause slowdown/lag on your main screen. This is because the GPU resources are going to rendering. If you have multiple graphics cards it isn't as bad, but you can still get screens slowing down even if they are on a card that isn't rendering.

Ah ok. Lag on my screen shouldn't be an issue because I use my nVidia card for CUDA and my AMD for running the screens. Thanks for the help.

What cegaton says is correct. However, I will say from my personal (anecdotal) experience that you can get away with quite a lot, especially with a good system. It's pretty common for me to have 1 instance of Blender rendering with 1 GPU, then another instance running physics sims or CPU rendering (freestyle), and then still browsing the web or watching something on another screen (separate GPU from rendering.) Just try things out and see if they work with your setup.

Why don't you try it and find out?
If running two instances of the same program could cause serious damage, then that would be either a poorly made OS and/or a poorly made piece of software. In this case, you have neither.
No, there's no problem with running two different instances of Blender at the same time. Having two tabs open in any modern browser is almost the same thing. It won't be faster, but it won't cause any problems, either.
You don't even have to install it twice, just launch Blender again and open whatever project you want to work on.

I use Blender for work in a few capacities, mainly creating motion graphics templates for a startup company and reviewing other animators templates. I usually have several instances of the same version of Blender running, rarely do I have just one instance. I have had no issues on Ubuntu or Windows 7/10 with this. I also have used several different versions at once to test compatibility before, and there were no issues.
Important: It is unnecessary to install Blender (the .msi file on blender.org), rather I recommend organizing your various Blender versions in a Blender folder in your Program Files, using the .zip mirror on the website.

You don't need install blender more times. I routinely running up to 6 instances of Blender on Linux as well as on Windows before. There are no problem, if you understand how Blender use system resources and you are able to use it smart way. But this is more about "How PC work" than about Blender. Keep in mind: if you multiply Blender instances, you divide system resources .

This is possible, I have done it before, however, I had to open two instances from opening both in my FileExplorer when making two Youtube Intros. Now whether or not it slows down the process of rendering, I'm clueless.
However, like stated above, it will limit system resources, I don't recommend it, from doing such, I've been rendering for two days now — on the same project. So yes, it is possible, no it does not require you to download multiple times and no — I do not recommend it.

Why wouldn't you use blender on steam (if you know what steam is). You can open as many as you would like and without any problems because it's not an .exe

Running many instances of Blender, even of different versions does not affect anything even without steam. I run 2.76-2.79 and development builds at the same time very frequently.

why would you use blender on steam? I have no desire for steam to be tracking what I do with blender.

authors: Кукушка Идиотовна

authors: แม่ให้ไปซื้อ แฟ้บ


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Is inflow's fluid subject to gravity?
I just want to know if the fluid emitted from an inflow object, is subjected to scene's gravity... So let's say I have an inflow object which emit fluid, and it's at 10 of height: does the fluid fall to the ground?
(Excuse me if my English is not perfect but I'm not English)

Quick answer: Yes it does.
I set up a simple scene to test this.  Cube scaled up be 10, set as the Fluid Domain.  Added cylinder set as Fluid Inflow.  I then baked, and it dripped out of the cylinder, landing on the bottom of the domain.
If you would like, here is a .blend file with my test scene, however you may need to bake the fluid sim again (should take about a minute):


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Normal map not working correctly
I followed along with a tutorial which shows you step by step how to create a normal map. Parts of the normal maps shows on the default cube mesh when I render, but it shows the outlines of the default cube. Help will be much appreciated! Thanks

An illustration would help here ... but bear in mind unlike a displacement map, a normal map will not actually displace the surface of an object, it will only alter the shading, as if the object's surface normals were tilted in the various directions encoded in the map.

try a lower strength value (like 1 or lower) as 10 is usually too high.

your normal map looks quite good no obvious artifacts or anything wrong with it, same goes for your Image Texture node and the rest in the node editor.
imho I would suggest you to do a quick retopo in order to keep (roughly) the basic shape of your sculpted cube (hi-poly). Normal maps are not able to follow curvatures and they cant fake the edges so it is not that strange you get this result. You need a minimum of actual geometry to use them sufficiently !

bevelling the edges should fix this, you may also need to set the auto smooth angle quite high in the objects data parameters.

Your scene has two objects - Cube and Cube.001.
It looks like Cube is on layer1, which is not visible in the viewport but is still rendered, while Cube.001 is on layer2 which is the only layer you are looking at in the viewport.
Read more about scene layers here. In the 3D view header, you can see a little dot in each layer that has an object, the visible layers (only layer2) are highlighted.

If you don't want the Cube object you can delete it from your scene. If you want to keep the other object, you can hide it when rendering by turning off the camera in the outliner.

You can also adjust your render layers so that only certain scene layers are visible in the render.


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View navigation "Popping" on release
When in free view or official blender input "View Navigation".
Everything is fine untill LMB is pressed to "Confirm", releasing the View Navigation.
The 3d viewport then always moves away slightly from the point I was before releasing/confirming. Changing itself from the view that I took my time to set up.
Has anyone experienced this before and is there any way of getting rid of it?

It's not very clear what you mean by "pop", could you edit your question and provide a little more details, perhaps upload an image or animation of this effect happening? It may have to do with preference options like mouse cursor depth and zoom to mouse position.

Sorry about that, I´ll try to adjust and improve.

Is it possible you move the mouse when you click?


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Get error trying to connect segments(Bezier Curve)
Trying to make this a raised image. I get the Error:"Cannot make segment" when I try to close it.

Confused as to what I am doing wrong.
Edit: I have tried to use F to connect them and E Wow Alt-c did it THANK YOU

are you using Alt+C to close the curve, or what is your attempt? Please edit your question and describe your steps, thanks!

authors: Евгений Файвишевский


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Animation - Falling object one after the other
I like to animate a larger Number of boxes, falling or better moving straight from out of the camera view on a surface, one after the other. Starting slow and become faster to the end of the animation. It is just a straight linear move, up to down. No tumbling or anything else. Each box should be placed in the same way next to the box before.
Has somebody a tip how to do it in a proper way? Or is there a faster way then keyframing every object seperatly?
Help or some tips would be great! Thank you guys.

Are the boxes tumbling after impacting a surface or just moving in a straight line or something else?  Please clarify in your question.

possibly related: http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/3560/is-it-possible-to-change-the-emission-rate-of-particles-over-time

A particle system drops cubes onto a collision barrier.  Please excuse the poor quality gif.  The file size is too small.
Settings below.

In the image above are the particle system settings.  The settings occupy two panes.  The emitter is moving at constant speed. Linear curve.  No acceleration.  Click to see details.
The floor is a black plane.  Black is beautiful.  The plane is a Physics Collision Object and its settings are on the far right.  Note the settings are pinned so that we can view properties of multiple objects.
Note the particle count <<< than the number of frames.
This is not a tutorial on creating particle systems.  You may search here at BSE or the famous website that rhymes with noonoob.


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Auto-Rig Pro no inverse kinematics on the 2nd hand
I have a question about the "Auto-Rig Pro" add-on. I've been searching for a long time for how to enable reverse kinematics for fingers, but I couldn't. When I finally found it, I saw that it wasn't on my right arm.

What am I doing wrong?
The add-on version is 3.72.27.
Who is looking for how to enable IK:


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New to blender, looking for tips on topology and UV map
Helloo, I'm new to Blender and would like to know if what I've done with the topology and UV map of my model (a low poly cow) is correct or if it can be improved (and if so, how).
I'll take any (kind) tips and good practices you have before texturing it !! :)

UV souds good, topology (in a strict sense) is lacking. (Sometimes this is not a problem, depending on your goals, but) all faces should have 4 sides. I see you have triangles and some polygons with more than 4 vertices. If your goal is to keep low poly until the end, this will probably not be a problem at all. If you want to use subdivision surface, it will probably create bad results because of the topology

@DanielMöller Thank you for your quick response! I'll try to make more (if not all) faces into quads. Is there a way to do this quickly, or do I have to go over each one?

hello, what is the final purpose of your object and how do you plan to texture it?

@moonboots hi ! It doesn't really have a purpose, just seeing what I can do with blender. I already tried to print it in 3D for example, but I would like to maybe make low poly renders with it so add an armature and texturing it with my tablet by drawing on the UV map

if it's a low poly object you don't need quads, ngons are ok, as for the texture, you could paint its texture in Texture Paint mode in the 3D view, in that case no need for seams, you could simply choose the Smart UV Project unwrap mode


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Image textures 'wiggling' when the mesh moves?
I'm making a short animated video in blender, and I have a model of a TV with an image texture on the screen. When the TV moves, the image texture does not move very smoothly, and wiggles.
here is a shot from the video demonstrating this.
EDIT:
EDIT2:
Rendering with updated shader
Edit3: .blend file of just the tv

Can you post a screenshot of the shader controlling the texture in the question so we can have some more info to help?

Agreed. There is not enough information in the video to properly help with this issue. It would be great to have some screenshots of the node setup, and possibly the mesh or modifiers.
Do you have any sort of displacement on this object? Or possibly several planes layered which would cause the textures to fight?

@Nascent Space I have added a screenshot of the shader, though it isn't much more than a simple image texture.

I would guess it's because you have a Surface and a Volume shader. Volume calculations might have subtle differences each frame? Don't know for sure. Try removing the Volume input. If you intended to mix the two emission nodes, feed them into a mix shader node and put that into Surface.

@hatinacat2000 I tried adding a mix shader node, as well as removing the emission node entirely and using a simple image texture, but the problem persists. I'll link a screenshot of the shader as well as a short test rendering in the main post.

@vklidu If you look at the node setup I am using there is no displacement modifier. I am using an armature. I will attach a blend file so you can check out the problem yourself. It appears that it definitely has something to do with the armature, as when I tried moving the object without the armature the texture moved normally.

ISSUE
Problem is TV screen topology (not Material or assigned Armature). Screen is ngon that doesnt have enough geometry in surface.
You have curved edges, but there is not an information how to model surface. So blender generates some :)
In viewport it looks flat ...

... but for rendering are ngons triangulated. What Happens with surface when rendered you can see when in edit mode search for Triangulate Faces

QUICK FIX
Simplify corners, delete screen face, select border with active vertex (white) in corner

and search for Grid Fill, set Span to 16 in my case.

To make screen edge sharp after Shade Smooth, select it and search for Mark Sharp

Easy check surface with some Matcap view type

Or you can try to model screen like here.


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How to Copy a Single Vertex Group to a Selected Object?
The Copy Vertex Group to Selected operator replaces my other vertex groups instead of just copying it over. How can I just add a copied group as a new (another) group without replacing existing one?

Try to use Data Transfer modifier.
Here you have two objects (Cube_A, Cube_B). Cube_A with assigned vertex group Group_A

Cube_B has already assigned vertex group Group_B. To bring vertex group of Cube_A add a new vertex group channel (here named Group_C) as a storage for transferred data.

Now with Cube_B still selected add Transfer Data modifier with setup...

Source Cube_A
keep Mix Mode Replace
enable Vertex Data > Vertex Group
Mapping > Topology
Layer Selection > Group_A, Layer Mapping > Group_C

... you can see effect via Vertex Group Weights (enabled under Overlay options).

If you need to make the Vertex Group real enable in modifier under Topology Mapping > Max Distance and than Apply modifier.

Note: If you can't use Topology you can use Nearest Vertex, but for success disable Global space icon next to Source field and set Max Distance to something very low (just not default zero).

Undernote: Yes, the operator "Copy Vertex Group to Selection" is misleading for me too ... Replace Vertex Groups by Active sounds me more correct for current action.

Apart from that the DataTransfer looks a bit different in my current Blender version - how do I get the vertex groups from the source object onto the object with the modifier? In the current version of the modifier you have a Mix Mode which can be set to Replace, Add, Subtract, Mix etc., but if I add the vertex groups from the source object, the groups appear in the target object - but each group simply contains all vertices, not the selections of the source object. I guess I'm doing it wrong? Maybe you could give a more elaborate answer on how to use this DataTransfer modifier?

I've seen that it's an older version, but I still don't know what to do. When I apply the modifier and try to select the vertices from Group_C, it simply selects all vertices - not those which are correspondent to those in Group_A of the other object, although both objects have the same geometry.

I am having the same issue as well. it simply transfers with the entire mesh selected

Another thing is: if I have 10 vertex groups on one object that I want to transfer, do I have to repeat this process (assumed it works as expected) 10 times for each group?

@vklidu Well, I was asking for the 10 groups in the context of the original question... "if you don't have any other to keep", then this whole thread would not exist ;)

@GordonBrinkmann ... for OP - sure, for you - I couldn't know ... :) With 10 vertex groups - yes, one by one, I would say. I updated my A, seems to be working now and I deleted my previous comments to clear it here a bit from not relevant ones.

I'm just talking about the topic here theoretical - I don't need it actually. But in the question he says, it "replaces my other vertex groups", so at least one of the objects has more than one group. I personally would do it manually if I only wanted to copy a single group if all else fails. Or if I didn't need the vertex selection, only a couple of groups, I'd simply add new ones to the object. What I thought this could do and might be helpful from time to time, if you created several groups on some object to have vertex selections of special areas, that you can transfer these as well.

You see, since vertex weights were not mentioned in the question, I was thinking of other things you can do with the groups. Like selecting / deselecting certain vertices/faces of the mesh for assigning materials, or hiding them in Edit Mode etc. And I was wondering if you have to do it one by one since there are options like "All Layers" and mapping like "By Name" or "By Order".


text:
List of vertices at intersection of two objects
I am using python to form the union of two cylinders through the use of boolean modifiers as shown in the image. How can I obtain a list of the vertices at the intersection of the two objects that are created when the modifier is applied?

Just a possible way to do this (there might be a better method to do this):
First set up materials on both objects (as in my answer in the link) and apply the boolean modifier: How to colour an indent that's been produced by a Boolean modifyer in 2.8
Then select by each individual materials, loop through them and save those vertices that are in common for both material selections. These should be the vertices you are looking for!
Happy blending!

I think he is looking for a way to access these vertices by python


text:
Why is my fire simulation so light?
I have been struggling to get a match tip to actually look like it's on fire and no matter what material shaders I try, I can't seem to achieve what everyone else does, I can in other scenes, just not this one. :(

Try black environment ...

Also there is nothing wrong to use Principle BSDF node :)

blender 2.8.1

blender 2.8.3 - 9.x (Mantaflow solver)


text:
Boolean difference operation and bevel problems in blender 2.9
I am very new to blender, please help.
I am trying to make a hole in part 1, by subtracting part 2 from it using boolean difference. But when i do that nothing happens, but in wireframe mode it shows that the boolean happened (see pic).
When boolean difference did not work i made a union and selected all the faces and deleted them, and got the hole. But bevel is not applying on it uniformly after that. I have tried applying the scale, rotation, and transformations, also flipped the normals both on 1 and 2, but nothing worked. (the other holes were made by using part 3, it had similar bevel problem, which was solved by recalculating the normals.)
What are the edges protruding out of the mesh? (the bevel changes its curvature around those two axis, marked by arrows in the pic)

as Zelig63 says it might be because you didn't delete the original object and it makes you think that the boolean didn't work, if it doesn't fix the problem, share your file: https://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/

When the difference boolean modifier is applied, delete part 2. You have to do this because the modifier doesn't delete it automatically. So even after having successfully applied the modifier, the hole doesn't appear because it is still filled with the original part.

Could you please add more to your answer to prevent it from getting deleted? It also helps the question to provide a little more detail.


text:
How to create different animation states (walk, run, idle...) in the same file?
I made my character IDLE animation by assigning Actions to my model meshes.
The problem comes when i want another animation, let's call it the WALK animation.
If i'm not mistaken adding another Action to a model mesh, that already has one, seems to create a NLA Stack adding the old Action inside.
The Dope Sheet seems to only display the keyframes from the old Action, the one that has been addeed to the NLA Stack. Then how i can edit the new Action?
I thought i would be able to have one timeline per each animation state?
EDIT: So pressing the X button is definetly a step forward, it Unlinks the Action from the Mesh.
Now i can create a new Action in the Mesh without modifying the previous one.
What was happening in my case is that as i was not pressing the X button to Unlik, a NLA Stack was created.
But there's still something i don't really get, if i want to display the previous animation i need to Link, every time, the old Actions to the Meshes? There isn't a "Group Actions" functionality?

When you are in the Dopesheet / Action Editor, if you want to create a new action you can either click on the Create New Action button, or click on the X on its right and then click New. If you choose Create New Action it will keep the same keyframes as the last action you've created, you can delete these keyframes or change them, it won't affect the previous action.

So pressing the X button is definetly a step forward, it Unlinks the Action from the Mesh. Now i can create a new Action in the Mesh without modifying the previous one. What was happening in my case is that as i was not pressing the X button to Unlik, a NLA Stack was created. But there's still something i don't really get, if i want to display the previous animation i need to Link, every time, the old Actions to the Meshes? There isn't a "Group Actions" functionality?

if you press the Create New Action button (2 sheets icon), it is creating a new action that is a copy of the previous, but if you decide to make a modification it won't modify the previous action, only the new one. And it is also creating a track in the NLA but it is a stash, meaning it is muted, it is not really playing the action. I don't know why they made that choice though, why automatically pushing a stashed action?


text:
Wrap L-System/Fractals around a Sphere
How would I take an L-System structure similar to this image

And wrap that structure seamlessly around a sphere like this:
It has to be a legitimate L-system, not faked or similar. Thank you.

This is an approach using Alessandro Zomparelli's Tissue Add-on, rather than Animation Nodes, roughly following his examples presented here and here.

Create a Unit Plane, with its own origin at its minimum XY, placed at the World 0.
Add a single vertex to the object at its center.
Place the 3D cursor at the center of the sphere you wish to cover, and set the transformation pivot to it.
Duplicate the plane & vertex, using only rotations about the 3D cursor to place it. (Planes will be the growth nodes) - E extrude the first central vertex and snap to other vertices in the now multi-plane object to create branches.
AltM merge vertices by proximity, and delete planes you do not wish to be growth nodes.
When done, this is your Base object.  Alt D make an instance of it to be the Component.

(The physical sphere is just there for illustration)

In the Tissue panel, hit 'Tessellate'
In the Tessalations Data region, 'Tissue' panel, you will be able to adjust the settings:

If the coordinates have been set correctly, you should wind up with something like the left example below. Delete faces and remove doubles again to get the one on the right.

Which gives you a spherical L-system topology to treat as you wish.

This looks like a great solution. thank you!


text:
all meshes are selected, yet they don't appear on UV EDITING

as y'all can see, these are all my meshes selected (they are 3, separate, meshes)
when i go into UV EDITING MODE, select all three, they don't show up on left window D:
i've been trying for hours on end now with no sucess.
if i join them, they loose the textures and uv maps keep on not appearing.
for it to get to the other game, i have to join them, but with the textures already D:
the problem is: i can't see the uv map on the left, which is weird Ç=Ç
does anyone know how to solve it, please? :c
it would honest to goku mean the whole wide world -q
(i have to do it on blender 2.78 as it is the only version the game i'm converting to accepts it Ç=Ç)
edit: the uv maps now showing but not highlighting everythin', on the right or the left. when i join the mesh into one, it looses part of the mesh, even though it appears on the right, the uv map is nowhere to be seen.

The problem was the UV maps were all different names. When I renamed them, it solved everything, and then after I joined.

Could you elaborate on the procedures you took to solve the issue? Perhaps describe the steps and show a few screenshots

I think it's because the object that is showing the UV map is the one that was active among the multi-object selection when you first went into edit mode (but I do not know much about multi-object edit mode).
Either that or the other UV maps are transformed several texture-widths away. Zoom out on the UV map.
As of later blenders, you can thankfully join meshes and the UV maps will merge, but AFAIK no-can-do on 2.79 :-(
Maybe load into later blender, join, then send back to 2.79?
that's what I know...

i tried to do that, but the uv maps are different in each of the version (thus the uv map not working with the texture in the latest blenders Ç=Ç I CRI). i can now see all the uv maps, but it doesn't highlight all the parts, so there's daaaaat XD (as i showed in my edit :3:)


text:
Blender Evee to Unity - Can't Export GLTF with Embedded Textures
I'm having trouble exporting textured objects from Blender Evee as .glb files and importing them into unity with the textures retained.
I followed the steps in this video but am still unsuccessful.
You can see my attempt here on youtube.
Thank you in advance for any assistance on this.
If there's another method for embeding textures such as with FBX that doesn't involve using Blender Internal Renderer that would greatly help.

Blender 2.8 Steps

For the Object's material, use a BSDF Shader with an image texture as the base color
Export it as glTF Binary (.glb)

Unity Steps

Import Custom Package UniGLTF-1.27.unitypackage
Import .glb using the New import option.

Additional Info if Needed

Using Blender 2.8 Evee Rendering Engine (portable .exe) No Addons yet.
Unity 2017.4.2f2 (Wish to avoid upgrading unless it is the only way.)
Exporting as ".gltf Embedded" did not work either.

Can you confirm whether you exported .glb works in https://gltf-viewer.donmccurdy.com/ and https://sandbox.babylonjs.com/? If so, I would report a bug on the UniGLTF package. If not, please report a bug on https://github.com/KhronosGroup/glTF-Blender-IO.


text:
Copy active object rotation values to selected without rotation?
the following script is working but how to use matrices instead?
active object has a rotation not applied (it could be the cursor too).
selected objects can have a rotation applied or not.
without making selected objects rotate, the script below, gives to selected objects the active object rotation values.
import bpy
from bpy import context
import bmesh
from mathutils import Vector

cao = context.active_object
name = cao.name
cao.select_set(False)

for ob in context.selected_objects:
    if ob.name == name:
        continue
    bpy.ops.object.transform_apply(location=False, rotation=True, scale=False)
    to_qt = cao.rotation_euler.to_quaternion()
    to_qt.invert()
    ob.rotation_euler = to_qt.to_euler()
    bpy.ops.object.transform_apply(location=False, rotation=True, scale=False)
    to_qt.invert()
    ob.rotation_euler = to_qt.to_euler()

Could you please outline more clearly what you are trying to achieve.  The above will depend on how many objects are selected. My guess is the result of one active, two selected?

copy active object rotation values to selected. I give up with you bye


text:
Manually created object to python script in EDIT MODE
I manually created an object, and then, in edit mode, I rebuild same object, at cursor position. there I'm using existing geometry to find the best way to rebuild it. but I could do a copy of the result of the vertices list (and other list about faces and edges) and rebuild the mesh from this. so this is a quick way to create an object from edit mode after...
here is the script I did
import bpy, bmesh
from bpy import context

cao = context.object
me = cao.data
l =len(me.vertices)
loc = context.scene.cursor.location

v_coords = [ (v.co) for v in me.vertices]

faces_verts_idx = [face.vertices[:] for face in me.polygons]
edges_verts_idx = [edge.vertices[:] for edge in me.edges]

edges = [tuple(x+l for x in tup) for tup in edges_verts_idx]
faces = [tuple(x+l for x in tup) for tup in faces_verts_idx]

# new vert at curs pos
bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(me)
mw = cao.matrix_world
new_verts = [bm.verts.new(mw.inverted()@coord + loc) for coord in v_coords]
bm.verts.ensure_lookup_table()
for tup in edges:
    bm.edges.new((bm.verts[tup[0]], bm.verts[tup[1]]))

for tup in faces:
    vert_tup=()
    for i in tup:
        vert_tup += (bm.verts[i],)
    bm.faces.new(vert_tup)
for v in bm.verts:
    v.select = True
bm.select_flush(True)
bmesh.update_edit_mesh(me)
me.update()
bpy.ops.mesh.remove_doubles()
bpy.ops.mesh.normals_make_consistent(inside=False)

this is working, but on more advanced meshes, some faces are inverted,
and the part on the mesh rebuild seems clumsy. not sure there is not a much simpler way, under bmesh, to do this.

ok the guy get a serious problem with me lol I don't care

Edit mode Dupe.
Not 100% sure on if this is what you want since the question code bunks out after one copy
EDIT.
Given comment and OP's answer Q is pretty much a dupe of
How do I Create a script for geometry I create?
which for example, could  be converted to a generic add primitive operator,

To make an copy at cursor location Would simply just read in the mesh again using from_mesh and translate the appended verts.  Test Script, with result as illustrated in GIF.
import bpy
import bmesh

from bpy import context

scene = context.scene
ob = context.edit_object
mwi = ob.matrix_world.inverted()
me = ob.data

loc = scene.cursor.location

bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(me)
n = len(bm.verts)

# read again
bm.from_mesh(me)
bmesh.ops.translate(
        bm,
        verts=bm.verts[n:],
        vec=mwi @ scene.cursor.location
        )

bmesh.update_edit_mesh(me)

kind of. interesting.
the goal behind was to have the geometry usable in a script (maybe copied to a file) that you can add later in edit mode. it could be an addon using UI list... I put an answer using bm.from_mesh(me) too. as someone suggested me on blender chat

ok I copy this before it's erased

add an object (a cone), go to edit mode
then copy geometry with the commented lines and past the result
change cursor location and run the script
import bpy
import bmesh
from bpy import context
from mathutils import Vector

edit_obj = context.edit_object
me = edit_obj.data
loc =context.scene.cursor.location
mw = context.object.matrix_world

#get geo from an existing object

#verts = [vertices.co for vertices in me.vertices]
#print("verts=", verts)#Dbg
#faces = [face.vertices[:] for face in me.polygons]
#print("faces=", faces)#Dbg
#edges = [edge.vertices[:] for edge in me.edges]
#print("edges=", edges)#Dbg

#past result

verts = [Vector((0.0, 1.0, -1.0)), Vector((0.19509032368659973, 0.9807852506637573, -1.0)), Vector((0.3826834559440613, 0.9238795042037964, -1.0)), Vector((0.5555702447891235, 0.8314695954322815, -1.0)), Vector((0.7071067690849304, 0.7071067690849304, -1.0)), Vector((0.8314695954322815, 0.5555702447891235, -1.0)), Vector((0.9238795042037964, 0.3826834261417389, -1.0)), Vector((0.9807852506637573, 0.19509035348892212, -1.0)), Vector((1.0, -4.371138828673793e-08, -1.0)), Vector((0.9807852506637573, -0.19509032368659973, -1.0)), Vector((0.9238795638084412, -0.3826833963394165, -1.0)), Vector((0.8314696550369263, -0.5555701851844788, -1.0)), Vector((0.7071067690849304, -0.7071067690849304, -1.0)), Vector((0.5555701851844788, -0.8314696550369263, -1.0)), Vector((0.38268348574638367, -0.9238795042037964, -1.0)), Vector((0.19509030878543854, -0.9807853102684021, -1.0)), Vector((-8.742277657347586e-08, -1.0, -1.0)), Vector((-0.19509024918079376, -0.9807853102684021, -1.0)), Vector((-0.3826834261417389, -0.9238795042037964, -1.0)), Vector((-0.5555703043937683, -0.8314695358276367, -1.0)), Vector((-0.7071067094802856, -0.7071068286895752, -1.0)), Vector((-0.8314694762229919, -0.5555704236030579, -1.0)), Vector((-0.9238795042037964, -0.38268357515335083, -1.0)), Vector((-0.9807852506637573, -0.1950903832912445, -1.0)), Vector((-1.0, 1.1924880638503055e-08, -1.0)), Vector((-0.9807852506637573, 0.1950904130935669, -1.0)), Vector((-0.9238794445991516, 0.3826836049556732, -1.0)), Vector((-0.831469714641571, 0.5555700659751892, -1.0)), Vector((-0.70710688829422, 0.7071067094802856, -1.0)), Vector((-0.5555703043937683, 0.8314695954322815, -1.0)), Vector((-0.3826834261417389, 0.9238795638084412, -1.0)), Vector((-0.19509023427963257, 0.9807853102684021, -1.0)), Vector((0.0, 0.0, 1.0))]
faces = [(0, 32, 1), (1, 32, 2), (2, 32, 3), (3, 32, 4), (4, 32, 5), (5, 32, 6), (6, 32, 7), (7, 32, 8), (8, 32, 9), (9, 32, 10), (10, 32, 11), (11, 32, 12), (12, 32, 13), (13, 32, 14), (14, 32, 15), (15, 32, 16), (16, 32, 17), (17, 32, 18), (18, 32, 19), (19, 32, 20), (20, 32, 21), (21, 32, 22), (22, 32, 23), (23, 32, 24), (24, 32, 25), (25, 32, 26), (26, 32, 27), (27, 32, 28), (28, 32, 29), (29, 32, 30), (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31), (30, 32, 31), (31, 32, 0)]
edges = [(0, 1), (0, 32), (32, 1), (1, 2), (32, 2), (2, 3), (32, 3), (3, 4), (32, 4), (4, 5), (32, 5), (5, 6), (32, 6), (6, 7), (32, 7), (7, 8), (32, 8), (8, 9), (32, 9), (9, 10), (32, 10), (10, 11), (32, 11), (11, 12), (32, 12), (12, 13), (32, 13), (13, 14), (32, 14), (14, 15), (32, 15), (15, 16), (32, 16), (16, 17), (32, 17), (17, 18), (32, 18), (18, 19), (32, 19), (19, 20), (32, 20), (20, 21), (32, 21), (21, 22), (32, 22), (22, 23), (32, 23), (23, 24), (32, 24), (24, 25), (32, 25), (25, 26), (32, 26), (26, 27), (32, 27), (27, 28), (32, 28), (28, 29), (32, 29), (29, 30), (32, 30), (30, 31), (32, 31), (31, 0)]

new_verts = [(mw.inverted()@coord + loc) for coord in verts]

new_mesh = bpy.data.meshes.new("test")
new_mesh.from_pydata(new_verts, edges, faces)

bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(edit_obj.data)
bm.clear()
bm.from_mesh(new_mesh)
bmesh.update_edit_mesh(edit_obj.data)

so this is simple to create your own object copy his geometry in a file to use it later under edit mode.
an add-on could be done from this...


text:
How to procedurally create random scratched and damaged material?
I've been trying to get a procedurally (so, no image textures) generated scratches/damage map, that looks something like the below image.

I've tried to find and combine youtube tutorials, and the previous solutions provided at Blender.SE, but I can't get it to look anything remotely like the intended result :-(
Does anyone know a node setup that gives a result that resembles the image?

This is surely not completely similar to your image.
But this will surely help you get started.
For the scratches part you can use a voronoi texture set to Distance to Edge. Using a less than node you can mask out the borders of the cells. Use another texture to mask out some of these edges (I have used another voronoi texture)
For the rough noisy part you can use a similar technique. Take a noise texture and mask out parts of it using another texture.
Procudural masks like scratches are usually an expirimentation with masking textures using other textures. Try all the available textures and experiment with different blending modes.

of course there is a way but most likely it will be long and time consuming I personally use substance painter for that stuff it's way faster and efficient for these type of problems I highly recommend it to level UP your work.


text:
Why does the inverse use of a mask/map not produce visually inverse results?
I have a (procedurally generated) greyscale map/mask that I use as the factor for mixing two shaders.
The scratches are much more prominent when I have the scratches in glossy white, then when they when I have them in diffuse black. There is probably an obvious reason for this, but it eludes me :-(

full render 1
full render 2

I tried nodes like the Color Ramp, but it does not make a difference?

How can I make the scratches more prominent, when I have them in diffuse black?

what about making the HDRI brighter? You won't see the black scratches if your object reflects a dark image

First thing to try is to pass the "Fac" input through a color ramp, constant mode, to make it binary either 0 or 1. Not only this eliminates the possibility of the value being outside of 0..1 range (unlikely the culprit here), but also makes sure there's no gradient. If there is a gradient, it's possible it works in fabor of the glossy BSDF: imagine that the glossy shader highlights the surface so much, that you only need Fac > 0.1 to make it bright. This would mean that 90% of the gradient is dominated by Gloss, regardless of orientation of the gradient…

@MarkusvonBroady I tried adjusting it with a Color Ramp[constant] but it doesn't make one bit of difference, even if I bring it back to like 0.001

This is the same procedural scratch setup which I had answered previously right? The distance to edge voronoi one

@Akshay2005 this is a bunch of scratches, including the ones from the answer to my previous question. I have this issue all the time with masking (edge masks, etc.) though, so I thought I would ask a question.

If you are not clamping operations the map may have negative values in the black regions.  I'm not sure how Invert handles operations outside of 0-1

The reason why the scratches are more prominent when they are glossed is the scene lighting. I replicated your Mix Shader setup with some simple noise scratches. When you disable scene lighting and compare the two inverse variations you can see that they are inverted as one might expect.
Activating light now shows that the glossy parts overshoot the borders of the diffuse parts and this works only in one direction, towards the diffuse areas. Thus the scratches are indeed less dominant when diffuse black, as they get outshone. For the same reason, when the scratches are glossy, they are indeed shining more prominently. If its not that visible from the left side of the image, i added some red reference dots on the right side to visualize the glossy overshooting towards the diffuse black (tried with Eevee and Cycles showing the same behaviour).

With Eevee there is an Shader to RGB node with which one could abuse the inverse glossy overshoot as a mask and strengthen the scratches to their old expanse, see this setup:

To me, this feels a bit awkward and with Cycles you are out of luck. Thus you need to find a way to thicken the scratches' expanses before sending the fac. This of course depends on your setup to create the scratches.
Side note: The glossy overshooting is stronger when the surface is directed closer to the light, in more perpendicular areas the scratches have almost the same prominance (at least to me), this may help to understand your comparison renderings better.

It's nice that you replicated the problem and showed clearly it's not some kind of optical illusion (which was one of my considerations). However, the "the glossy parts overshoot […]only in one direction" is only a description of the problem, not an explanation; why does it happen? If you tested with samples=1, and binary 0/1 Fac (if not, then I'd like to see if the problem remains then), perhaps it has something to do with shader sampling, where a black Diffuse BSDF will sample neighboring areas and even if it's supposed to be black, if nearby there's a bright color, it still can…

… Become bright. Or maybe the magic doesn't happen in the Diffuse BSDF but in the Mix Shader, which either does exactly the same stuff, or… I don't know, gives precedence to Glossy BSDF in some way…

Thank you for the detailed answer!

@MarkusvonBroady thx for the input. I tried the binary Fac and the effect indeed vanishes. Changing sampling rates doesnt change much, thus i think this can be taken out of the equation. Also i think the Mix Shader only does what he should do, just lerp the inputs. But you're right, its not an explanation why it happens. To find this out, it may be necessary to look into the source code of Blender which in turn my be too much for the question (although interesting to know).

@taiyo oh if the effect vanishes with binary Fac, then the issue is probably just not normalized Fac on the input? As for reading the source code it's hard, because it's often C (or C++ written like C), a lot of memory manipulation, unhelpful variable naming, and usually few comments to fill the gaps… It's not enough to localize the code responsible for something, often you need to jump through multiple files, passing data around, and sometimes you get lost doing so, with the editor unable to recognize where to jump next, through some kind of a raw buffer…

An interesting observation (to me at least) to add to the conversation: if I use the mask as an input for a Color Ramp that is plugged into the Color of a Principled BSDF, the scratches stay way more prominent, than when I try to do the same with a Mix Shader.

For the technical part, make sure the scratches are visible more by simply increasing their size. And as Markus pointed out in the comments, use the color ramp set to constant mode.
The relative values of colors with each other can highly change the final appearence of something.
Look at the pictures that I have given below.
In the first one, the background is light, and the two spheres,one has a dark color and the other a light color.
You can observe that the scratches are more prominent on the light. This is because the contrast is much more.

In the second one I have simply increased the size of my scratches and thus making them more visible (increase the value in the less than node)

Now compare this 3rd image with the first one. You may have understood what I am trying to say by relative values of the colours.

Basically what I think is that the glossy shader, since it's a bit greyish, is not giving you enough contrast. You don't have to change the glossy shader to something else though. Things like lighting can provide you more contrast very easily. Just be careful about the fact that the reflections are a bit clear since it's glossy and your light may appear.
Another thing, if you mix a some texture containing some grey values, and use multiply to combine the both, your beautiful, no gradient, sharp edges(scratches) will dim out according to the texture you are mixing with. Use different color blending modes for proper results.


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Only one wall are not displayed holes. I use Boolean Modifier (Difference)
Got a problem with one wall. At the walls I use Boolean Modifier for my sockets on one wall I see the holes for the sockets, on the other wall i see no holes. I don't think the problem is Blender, something must have gone wrong on the wall.
What have I done wrong.
Thanks for watching
Clone Borg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/onihi4vski0lu5h/Wand.blend?dl=0
I found the error, it was the object. I had created all cylinders with duplicate link. With the original I had subsequently changed or deleted can no longer remember. At least I have now created new flush-mounted boxes. Thanks for your help

Please show your work as a Blender screen capture for this question and all future questions.  Showing a screen capture is a task of minimum effort. Yes the readers can see the link.  You should use the BSE mechanism for file links.  Drop Box is requesting that some readers join drop box.  Some readers may NOT want to join Drop Box.

Try to check normals direction both in wall mesh, and sockets. Boolean is picky for that.

Sorry for the late reply, had looked at the normal, but had not detected any error there.


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Problem: Armature deforms mesh when after parenting
I am fairly new to Blender and recently I've been working on a new character rig from scratch. I've got the character mesh all drawn out and right now I'm learning from online tutorials on youtube on adding armature to the character. It's been slow but steady progress, until I ran into some problems that I can't solve or find any solution to overcoming them.
This picture below shows my character mesh and the armature I've created before parenting them together.

As you can see, everything looks fine, the mesh is still perfectly normal and proportionate, the bones are all facing the right direction. I've added 4 IK bones to the back of the wrists and ankles and changed the chain length to 2 under bone constrains. Initially, the bones at the knees were bending at an awkward angle, but I've twisted them back to a normal position by adjusting the pole angle.
However, the problem arises when I did the parenting of the armature to the character mesh. Following instructions from a youtube armature tutorial, I went into object mode, clicked on the mesh, then on the armature, before using Ctrl+P to set parent with automatic weights.
The picture below shows the deformation.

As you can see, the Abdomen area is oddly twisted, the Upper Leg and Lower Legs are twisted and an unusual angle. Strangely, the feet are still facing the right way. The knees also bend the intended way, but the Upper legs joining to the Abdomen is twisted.
I know you guys can probably tell there's a stupid thing I overlooked (I'm a noob), but I'm literally at wit's end.
Please help me with some detailed explanation on how I can go about solving this problem. I've watched Sebastian Lague's video on The Basics of Character Rigging. Your help will be greatly appreciated!

Probably a scale problem : you should parent mesh to armature with scales set to 1 for both. To do it : Ctrl+A then choose 'scale' (same for rotation is better too)

Thanks for your reply! I've tried that but it didn't do anything. The bones are still at a strange angle.

you should upload your file to allow to have a closer look. You can use this link for that : http://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/

Here's the file -->  [](http://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/b/2016/

[](http://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/b/2016/

I've managed to solve my own question :D
Turns out I found a useful tutorial which suggested that I first bend the bones slightly in edit mode before parenting the armature to the mesh.
It works now!


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How to remove subdivision surface artifacts?
Maybe this is a newbie question.
Bad artifacts appear at some corners when Bevel and Subdivision surface modifiers are used.
Please see the areas marked with yellow circle in the following screen capture.

This capture is for the edit mode. Light blue edges are beveled with weight 1.

I want clean, sharp corners.
I appreciate any help you can provide.
UPDATE: I added edges according to the answer to the question Problem using Bevel and Subdivision Workflow. Indeed the artifact is gone, but another (pinching?) artifact appeared.

Carefully adding edges to fine-tune the curves created by the subdivision surface modifier might be necessary.


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Blender 2.91.0: How to re-align the local axis of an object that has 0 rotations to the global axis?
An object that has 0 rotations displays the local axis that's not aligned to the global axis.
Please see the following picture.

All parent objects have 0 rotations.
How can I re-align the local axis to the global axis?
The object itself has a few child objects, and that child objects' local axis and rotations must not be changed.
Blender version is 2.19.0.
UPDATE 1:
The object and it's parents' delta transform rotations are all 0 too.

UPDATE 2:
I've included the blender file that has the problem - using Blend-Exchange (Please see 'Front Arm' object):

I couldn't figure out where did the rotation come from.
Only Clear parent of object, Apply rotation then Set parent back lead to the desired result.
https://youtu.be/jkcoP4RKSnw
an interesting question - how did it happen? I hope the topic will continue

Thank you! It works. BTW, I tried to see the properties of the object with python script. With the object selected, I printed bpy.context.object.matrix_local. The 'shape' of the matrix values were somewhat different from the other object - maybe the rotation was included.

Besides primary transformations blender has Delta Transform which useful in some cases.
It's located in Properties > Object > Transform > Delta Transform:

You can transfer primary transformations to deltas by applying them:

Blender hasn't Apply Delta Transform operator. You can only copy Delta transform to primary manually, reset deltas to default then Apply main transform to data.

Thank you. But the object's delta transform rotations are all 0 too. I've updated my question.

May be it transformed with armature poses?

I didn't do any rigging. (BTW, I use Blender for hobby. So, my knowledge for Blender is limited.) But I used many custom transform orientations - with edge or face.

Can you share your blend file or copy & paste only problem object to new file and share it? my guesses are over

I've shared the blender file using Blend-Exchange. Please see UPDATE 2. Thank you.


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Weird in timeline panel header in Blender 4.2: no play button, frame range, etc
Maybe this is a stupid question.
The timeline panel header is weird in my Blender 4.2. There is no play button, frame range, etc. The screenshot is as follows:

How can I make it like this as it is in the manual?

I appreciate any help you can provide.
UPDATE
The Addons installed is as follows:

I can't see anything like that in my Blender 4.2, the options visible in your screenshot simply do not exist in the default Timeline Editor. There seems to be the option to change the mode to "Timeline" just like you can switch modes in the Dopesheet Editor, while the original Timeline Editor only has one mode. Also this "Summary" button does not exist in the orginal timeline. Are you sure you do not have some custom extension/addon installed? If so it's hard to help when we do not know what this is (and external addons are off-topic here). Maybe you can switch the mode to "Playback"?

@GordonBrinkmann Thank you for your help. I've added the addon dialog screenshot to the question.

Sorry, I have no idea for example what the "LaughingLeader Helpers" should be. I only find something like that for Blender 2.79 so I don't know what that does. Maybe you could try to do some basic testing yourself? Disable all addons and see if this changes anything. Apart from that, is that the official 4.2 release from blender.org or some custom build or experimental branch?

@GordonBrinkmann It's an official release that was downloaded from blender.org. BTW, I've installed previous versions, too.

So, did you try getting rid of all addons to check if that's something causing this? Because I have here versions 4.2.2, 4.1.1, 4.0.2, 3.6.9 and 2.83.20, and all of them are more or less the same default layout like shown in your second screenshot. Or you could try File > Defaults > Load Factory Settings - but of course then all your custom settings will be gone without the option to undo this.

@GordonBrinkmann Loading factory settings didn't help. Uninstalling LaughingLeader Helpers also didn't help. I'll try removing all addons later. BTW, I'm a very casual hobby user and I think I didn't install any esoteric addons (maybe I'm wrong).

@GordonBrinkmann Issue was resolved. Please see my answer. I don't know the exact reason.

The timeline panel header had returned to normal when I launched Blender today. Maybe loading factory settings worked, not immediately, but sometime after exiting Blender.


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why i cant create a hole with bool tool addon
I have array of 10 sphere. With the array applied. I removed all the doubles and checked the scale of both the mesh. I tried to make a hole with the Bool Tool addon. Selecting the sphere and the mesh pressing ctrl + -(minus) key. 2 Sphere disappear and it did not cut the hole. It looks like they joined the mesh. Thanks

Geometry is too much complex.
Change Overlap Threshold in Boolean Modifier to zero.


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How to smooth shading glitches around edge
The red mark is the mesh beside the groove. How do I make it smooth?
The green mark is what I want to make smooth.

I have used some cutters that are hidden. If you wish you can unhide and see it. I have added subsurf of level 4. Yet the mesh is not smooth some parts.

To be scared even more you can use Zebra matcap shading in viewport.
Issue raise more visible.

You can change Data Properties > Normals > Auto Smooth > Angle to 14 in this case, that make the Normal Shading better, but it doesnt fix it entirely.

Both issue makes even beter with SurbSurf 5.

... but since cuts are far from folowing base topo, it generates a lot of Ngons with unpredictable triangulation. I think Retopo is waiting for you :)


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How to set 2 different material front back to a mesh
I have mesh without thickness. I want added logo on the man cap.

I tried this nodes.

Any suggestion or help how it works. Thanks

In case you want to use Solidify Modifier...

add second material (Blue) to your object
and under Solidify modifier  properties check Material > Material Offset set number 1

Additionally you can set also material for generated Rim.

Thanks for simple node with awesome animation

I'm not sure why you're using a Transparent node. Plus contrary to what you say your cape has thickness as you've given it a Solidify modifier. So you need to either apply or remove the modifier. Your node organization must look like that:

But im having transparent image and with the image texture node, alpha i have connected to Fac. How can i connect the backfacing?

oh ok you mean you have a second logo for the opposite face?

No i dont want second logo, i want to keep it blank or base color (blue).

so you're using the alpha as a mask for the S logo?

i have added the mesh and logo in the question

ok I've edited, I hope that's what you're looking for?

i have attach the same node but still front back its showing

front back its having same logo https://imgur.com/a/bJDQVdv

because you've given it a Solidify modifier, so the face without logo is in the inside face, your cape has thickness actually   ;)

now looks perfect. Thanks

my bad, actually as I say in my edit, you need to either apply or delete the modifier


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creating a mesh similar to the image:

Help me to create a mesh similar to that of the drawing in bold below.  Excuse me for my bad drawing skills.

Add a UV sphere (Add>Mesh>UV Sphere)
set selection mode to faces :

select the faces you want to keep
press Ctrl+I to invert the selection
press X, and select delete faces.

You might want more universal method, depending on what's your goal exactly.
Theres a modifier Shrinkwrap that projects one mesh to another. So you can project a mesh with complicated topology to another mesh (very useful for retopology for example).
Add base object (as a base for shape) and a plane (which will be projected on the base shape object):

Add Shrinkwrap modifier to the object you want to modify (plane in this example) and use sphere as a target object.

Another way this can be done is using two bend modifiers and an empty.
First add a plane, and then add two loop cuts in each direction. In edit mode, rotate it by 90o on the X axis.
Next add an empty and rotate it by 90o on the Y axis
Finally, add two simple deform modifiers and set them to bend.
on the second one, change to origin to your empty.

You should end up with this:

This method has an advantage over the other two - it can be adjusted.


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Running a blender script on linux hosting
I am currently working on a web app which spits out a .stl file in blender. I have used php and I am calling the script in php using exec(). Please look at the code below. I found the code from https://stackoverflow.com/questions/23563809/php-running-a-python-scrip-using-blender-from-a-php-project-using-cmd-commands
$script = "C:\\xampp\\htdocs\\test\\test.py";
$blender_path = "C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender";

$output = exec("cd $blender_path && blender -b -P $script", $data);
echo "<pre>";
print_r($data);
echo "</pre>";

And all works well locally. I uploaded the content to my site(Linux hosting), Uploaded Blender(Linux - https://www.blender.org/download/) changed the paths and nothing happens. It doesn't even output any errors. Is there a separate command line code for linux? I am not used to using Linux and I have been struggling with this for the past 3 days.
Any help is appreciated.

I'd start with running the script with test parameters directly from the terminal on your server using SSH. If you get the expected results from the terminal, then something with the way you're executing the script in PHP is the problem.
You might also see output that you wouldn't through your PHP script (blender spews out various output to the standard output and error streams).
Also, if your script imports from other scripts or addons, you need to include them using another pair of command line params in your script:
blender -b --addons addon1,addon2,script3 -P yourscript.py

Make sure to list all the addons and scripts after the --addons in one string without spaces (the entire comma separated list is one command line parameter).
You don't need to list standard blender or python libraries in the --addons list (bpy, bge, os, math, mathutils, etc), but if you're importing any of blender's addons, or any custom addons or libraries of your own you must include them.
Addons and script files listed in the --addons list must be present in one of the paths available to the blender script. If you're not sure what's included, save this little script locally on your server and run this it from the terminal on your server:
import sys
print( sys.path )

Assuming you saved this as "print_path.py":
>> blender -b -P print_path.py

You can either copy or create a symbolic link to these libraries and addons in one of the blender $PATH folders to make them available to your blender script.


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Mesh does't move with armature
I have two different mesh (head and beard) on one bone and they don't move together. I have weight painted them, set parent (to bone or other meshes).
Image below shows how should look like mesh:

And how it looks when head (bone) is turned:

[Link to blend file]

please upload your blend file to http://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/ for further examination

Related: http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/49388/how-to-get-disconnected-teeth-and-beard-to-move-with-rigged-face and http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/53722/eyes-and-teeth-going-haywire-with-rigify-rig-and-makehuman-model

You have to remove the weight the neck has on the head and the beard.
Because, the beard is weighted on neck, so it influences when you move the head.
Then you will notice the head, most specifically the chin is also weighted on the neck which makes it look like it's shrinking a little bit when you turn the head sideways, so you have to subtract the weight from that as well.


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Eye model in cycles render
I was following a tutorial on modeling and coloring an eye mesh at website called Blender Basics.
I want the render to look like the image on the left:
Here's the download if anyone would like to see what is going wrong.

Welcome to Blender.SE Grace.G!  We could use a few more details in order to better understand your situation.  What does your mesh look like?  What do your material nodes look like?  What do you want the render to look like?  You could even upload your .blend (or a simplified version of it) and post the link in your question.

I did look at that related link, but my render still looks like a tadpole egg rather than an eye ball like in the image i posted above.

So i mostly solved the problem by following this: http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/38568/can-a-glass-object-be-made-to-act-completely-transparent-to-only-the-object-cont
After creating a new file the render, for the most part, came out fine but the objects are still dark.


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Texturing each object separately VS all in the same texture file
I am making a blender model of a Living room. Inside of this Living room, I have several objects that can be used not only in that Living room, but in other kind of rooms. For example, I have:

LivingRoom.blend ==> Basic walls structure, floor, ceiling.
Television.blend ==> A complex model of a TV.
Statue.blend ==> In this blend file, I sculpted a Statue.
Couch.blend ==> The design of a couch
And so on... (Lamp.blend, Fan.blend, Painting.blend, Extinguisher.blend, ... you get the point!)

The main file, as you guessed, is LivingRoom.blend, inside of which I will be appending all the others. As I said before, I did it this way because those other objects will be reused in other parts of the house (like in the Kitchen or in the Basement, for example).
I need to Unwrap AND create a Diffuse Map + Normal Map + Specular Map for each object.
But I am presented with an elementary question: should I UV Unwrap + Texture all files in separate Texture files? These objects are to be used in a Game Engine like Unity. So I have two options:

Creating an Albedo.jpg, Normal.jpg and Specular.jpg for all objects. Downside of this method? I would end up with 3 maps for each objects, and the number of textures would increase quickly (in this case, I would have 3*8=24 texture JPG files).
UV Unwrapping + Texturing all files ONCE they are inside of the same .blend file. Drawback of this method? I would end up with an extremely messy UV Map and giant Texture files. Furthermore, I think I would lose quality/control over each element separately later on (although with Texture Painting I think this last problem is under control).

I want to clarify this question is a possible duplicate of another question of mine, where I didn't get any quality/useful answer. PLUS, this other question includes texturing also.
Thank you!

Have you even taken the time to read the end of my question @cegaton?

There I explain how this question is different from the other. This is about texturing multiple objects and/or appending their texture maps into one VS creating a sole, giant texture file. The other is about UV Unwrapping. Neither of these 2 questions have come across with a valuable answer. Not yet at least.

For re-usability sake I would advise texturing and unwrapping each object separately and independently.
That would make it easier to recycle assets for future projects without bringing useless information attached.
You could then reuse only say the Fan and Statue asset in another project easily without bringing the Normal and Specular data of say the Extinguisher and TV and every other object with it, needlessly being loaded into memory and possibly ruining performance of your scene.
It will also make it a lot easier to edit each object separately without having to worry about overlapping the UV space reserved of any other asset, and recalculating UV, or Normals or baking data without having to bake all of them.
If you are absolutely sure this is the final version of your assets, you won't be editing or improving them more in the future, or you plan on always using all or most of the assets at once in all projects then it might be worth the hassle.
If performance or available memory is really a strong concern (say mobile platforms, low end devices, etc.) it may also be worth the trouble of joining them all.
I am not in the game making industry, and this may of course be a bit of a subjective matter, so opinions may vary.
EDIT: An additional concern may be object variations, or like if you want to modify only one single object.
Say you have a red extinguisher, but now you want a yellow one, or worse want to used both in your scene simultaneously. Now you have to edit the texture with all objects lying around; and if you want to keep both colors you now have two huge duplicated textures, which will have to be loaded entirely into memory just for a small part of one of them.

Mmm, interesting points that you brought under discussion, e.g. I didn't account for re-usability. Say that I had them all joined in one .blend file (for example, suppose I have the Fan, Statue, Extinguisher and TV appended inside of LivingRoom.blend). If I ever wanted to change the textures/maps on, say, Fan.blend, I would just open the big file (LivingRoom.blend), focus on that object only (hiding the rest of them), and save the whole scene again/generate the whole maps again. What would be wrong with this approach?

If you want to change the textures on the fan then you would not be working on LivingRoom.blend, you would most likely be working on Fan.blend (unless you append which would kind of defeat the purpose). Unless I misunderstand you would also not 'focus on fan', you would then be editing a huge texture map with textures from all other objects at the same time. Nothing wrong with this approach but it fells a lot more error prone.

Updated answer above about the concern of object variations

Thank you @Duarte for your invaluable help. I'm afraid though that creating 3 textures for each object (f.i., normal map, specular map, albedo map) is expensive. Because if I have 10 objects inside of a scene, I'd have 3*10=30 texture maps going around. Do you think this will be a major concern? Thanks again.

I have no clue, like I said I'm not in the game industry, but I guess it depends a lot on your target audience. Are you targeting mobile, PC, consoles, high end graphics? Considering modern day games it doesn't seem like much at all, most gave have well above 10 objects on screen at a time all with diffuse+bump+normal+albedo+whatnot. Might be more productive to consider reusing textures where possible, like say a wood texture for a chair and other pieces of furnitures, or a stone texture for the statue and a floor for example.

Well, I'm into the mobile games industry, thanks again for the response

In that case it may sway the decision to the opposite direction, if memory is a serious concern then it might be worth the hassle of keeping one giant mega texture. Workflow wise it will be a lot more painful, but performance wise it may be more than an advantage, maybe even a requirement

For mobile games you will want to atlas textures together as much as possible to reduce drawcalls. But on mobile you can pretty much forget about normal maps, most devices have no support or just run very slow. Mostly its just diffuse/glossy fallback shader. On PC you nearly always make individual objects and fine tune them in Unity because you will want to use many different shaders. This question is impossible to answer accurately if you don't know what you are making.


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How could a gap between array modifier created objects be closed?
Repeating a segment of a tire with the Array Modifier along a curve creates a litte gap.

Are there other options besides changing the the Array Modifier's relative offset?
(This would require manually adjustment of the mesh)
Merge + First Last would destroy the mesh.

I usually just eyeball it and scale it as close as possible using precision scale by holding Shift then I apply the modifier and merge/join both ends by hand.

Why/how does Merge destroy the mesh?

@iKlsR Thanks I will check this (in ~8h).

@gandalf3 I would need to increase the Distance slider that much that details of the mesh collapse.

@iKlsR What is shift space supposed to be?

@gandalf3 Ah, late night comments, I meant Shift scale. ;)

Merge + First Last will not affect anything to the gap in your case. Because:
The reason that the first/last duplicate seem to be close is because of the Curve modifier, which affect AFTER the Array modifier.
You can try to first minimize the gap by adjusting in Array modifier, then go to the Edit mode of either the unit piece or the curve, S to scale, drag mouse while holding Shift to enable the very fine presision on scale, and zoom in the view, toggle Display modifier in Edit mode and Adjust edit cage to modifier result on all modifiers (the last two icons in every modifier panel). This would be helpful to see the result directly and simutaneously. Zoom in further, then scale again... repeat above steps (if necessary) until the gap is hardly noticed.
Example 1 (adjusting curve):

Example 2 (adjusting unit piece):

P.S.:

If you really want to perfectly remove that gap, you may have to apply all modifiers first, then go to Edit mode and remove doubles.
It is indeed possible to calculate exactly how much scaling is needed, but it will involve the math, and something about the relative position on pivots. I don't think it would be of much sense in most case.

[UPDATE]
Another way to get rid of the gap by Merge is using Object Offset feature:
Example 3 (using object offset):

About how to use it, I recommend to see this simple guide from CGCookie.com.

I had the same problem and was not satisfied with the solutions. Just minimizing the gap leaves you with shading problems and applying the modifiers kills the flexibility.
Place a weld modifier below the curve modifier.
The Gap just needs to be closer than your smallest details in the mesh, otherwise they get welded too


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Can a circle be filled with a triangle fan?
When a cylinder is added to a scene Triangle Fan fill type for the cap is provided in the last operator panel.

Is there any tool to use with a circle to fill it like triangle fan would do?

The alternatives Grid Fill and F (n-gon) can't be used when the vertex in the center of the circle is required.

Related: http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/14579/fill-cylinder-cap-with-quads/14580#14580

When you create it, you can go to the Operator panel, and select Triangle Fan for the fill type

Related: http://blender.stackexchange.com/q/5946/599

Create and poke face
You can do this with 2 operations.
F, ⎇ AltP

F (creates a face)
⎇ AltP (poke face, creating a triangle fan)

See: Mesh -> Face menu for both.
Note for Blender 2.80 users: Shortcut for Poke Faces was removed and the menu entry relocated to Face -> Poke Faces.
Extrude and merge edges
E, Escape, ⎇ AltM, A

E (Extrude)
⎇ AltM (Merge)

A (Menu accelerator for the  A̲t Center option)

Note:

Create face & Poke will assign UV's & vertex colors from surrounding faces (the extrude method will simply extend UV's/colors, which may not be what you want).
Poke uses a more advanced method to calculate the face center point(noticeable when edges aren't evenly spaced).


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Is it possible to set a global Blender preference so that all keyframed motion is linear by default?
I've been working on some animations recently, and I've noticed that I'm having poor luck with certain things, namely the fact that I don't really use Blender's graph editor very well.
One of the major issues that I have is pretty widespread among 3D graphics programs; when I create an animated object, it defaults to using a curved graph instead of a linear graph, which means that the most movement is at the middle of the animation, and stuff just practically stops near the beginning or the end. While this helps with organic camera movements or such, it's also not what I usually want. Can I set animation curves to default to linear?

Yes, Its under Editing > New F-Curve defaults

You might know this but just throwing it in additionally, You can select the curve in Blender, at any two or more points and use T to change it to Linear Interpolation (LERP).

Since Blender 2.8, it's at Preferences > Animation > F-Curves > Default Interpolation


text:
Cycles Render not utilizing the GPU as it should
The issue I'm having with Blender is as follows:
The Cycles Rendering doesn't seem to use the GPU to its maximum power, even though I've read it should to the point where Blender UI becomes unresponsive because of the GPU spending all its power on rendering.
I have the CUDA toolkit installed and tried it with different versions (Newest version and CUDA 4.1). I've even tried the latest Blender version 2.67a and 2.66. No difference there either.
As you can see in the picture blow CUDA is on and I the GPU is selected.

Here are my Render Properties. I've also tried with Feature Set as Experimental, but it showed no changes.
All the other settings have pretty much been exactly the same. Apart from the occasional Device switching from GPU to CPU and back again, to see differences. But I'll come back to that below.

Here is the information MSI Afterburner shows me, while I was running the render. Mind you that the scene itself is not complex at all. It's simply the default box, which I duplicated to 4 boxes and they're moving across the scene and go together to form 1 box.

The GPU Usage rarely exceeds 30%. The difference between CPU and GPU rendering is only 10-15 % units.
I'll be editing and adding stuff if I find additional information. It might take a bit of time since I'm trying to solve the problem at the same time.

Can you run the Cycles benchmark(http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?239480-2-61-Cycles-render-benchmark) and post the result and the Afterburner GPU usage?

@MikePan I did the benchmark and it threw up the GPU usage to 99%. Perhaps the problem is just with the scene I used?

GPU usage is highly dependent on the scene complexity. With a very simple scene like the one you tested, it is hard to bog-down a modern GPU. But with a realistically complete scene, you can expect the GPU usage to be a lot higher.
Take a look at this Cycles rendering benchmark

@MikePan fyi; see second-to-last paragraph.

In the Render Panel, Under Performance, increase the tile size.


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Procedural material for corrosion
I am modeling some small stainless steel parts that have pitting corrosion on the surface. The pits look like small needle pokes randomly positioned on the surface.
I have tried using the Noise texture with color ramps but I cannot get a precise pit. I have tried proportional editing but cannot manipulate at a fine enough scale.

This is adapted from a freely attributable "Lemon" material I have...

You job: fool around with the various scale parameters...

Thanks! I think I can get what I want using this.

@johnmerrill -- I also see you only want the pockmarks in limited locations, perhaps randomly.   Some material topics like random mix might be useful.


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Bending animation with rig?
I'm trying to make an android animation, but I am stuck at the rigging part. I want his arms and legs to be able to bend like plastic / rubber and use a rig. I've heard of lattice modifier, but that doesn't include a rig / spline / IK setup. When I use a regular rig, it bends hard at the bones.
I am relatively inexperienced with blender, so I've included a picture of what I'm trying to do. I can probably explain better than I can.

It does look a little funky in the picture, but I think it would look nice in an animation :).
Thank you so much for any help!!
Edit: Added a picture to better show what I mean

maybe using b-bones? see https://www.blender.org/manual/rigging/armatures/properties/display.html

I think a pretty efficient way to solve this would be to have a more distributed (softer) weight paint on the armature rig. This way, the bones will not bend so sharply.
Hope this helps!

Thank you both for the replies! I will try both ways - b bones with light weights sounds like the winner!

Everything has worked out so far, but now when I move his elbow bone or the top of his shoulder, it morphs the actual body out of proportion. I think soft or empty weight paint from the arm to the body would fix this, but I cant click on / or select the body to paint it? They are seperate meshes, if that helps. How could I fix this? I've added a picture to show what I mean.

You can check and edit the weight paint for each bone by selecting the armature, then the mesh, and then pressing the 'tab' key.


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How do I apply three array modifiers to only one plane and have that plane be the same, editable, plane
This was basically the same as other questions I've asked, except it specifies the array modifier, as modifiers allows for control over the stages which other modifiers are used on an object. I'm changing the question, in the hopes of finding the solution I'm looking for. I'm as sorry as I can make myself feel, as a sociopath (a victim of sociopath characteristics), that I duplicated questions. I did it because I thought each question might be more specific or cover a slightly different area. Now that I've thought about it, I realise I can just edit the same question next time. Again, I'm sorry. If I could be, I'd be very sorry. My problem would be completely solved if I just learned how to do one more thing and that is use three array modifiers on the same stage of the mesh, so that all three array modifiers are arraying only 1 plane, instead of the first one arraying one plane, the second one arraying 4 planes and the third one arraying 1 plane. Is there an inbuilt feature or Python code or a plugin or a mod that does this? Also, if you know of a better way of finding out this information, please let me know. Thank you very much for any help. :)

You'll need 2 array modifiers and 2 empty objects to control their rotation but I don't know how you would avoid the double opposite face as the merge function only works on the current modifier.

You have made like three questions exactly like this in the past few days here http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/64963/how-do-i-mirror-the-faces-of-a-cube-edit-all-of-them-when-i-edit-one here http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/65100/how-do-i-use-the-array-modifier-to-make-an-editable-cube-from-a-plane and http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/65006/editing-all-faces-of-a-cube-with-one-plane-with-identical-copies-of-the-plane Please don't spam the site and add more details to your questions if you expect to get quality answers

Consider reviewing the answers provided there and mark them as correct if they solved your problem, or at least upvote them if they helped. If they didn't then explain why so a better answer can be provided

Making a symmetrical cube, is it an option to you  to model the corner of a cube and use mirror modifier with all the XYZ axes? But its kind of opposite of what you asked. Maybe you make 2 objects using the same mesh and boolean them together?