text:
Known method to update custom property when default property changed?
For an addon I am trying to develop, I need to reference bones as a custom property in my property groups. This I have done by using a StringProperty and a prop_search in the UI layout. Annoyance can occur however when the name of the referenced bone is changed. The custom StringProperty will retain the original name of the bone and not be updated to match the new name automatically.
An existing example of something behaving in the way I would like is the bone.parent property, which is automatically updated to match the name of the parent bone when its name is updated. I looked at the python scripts which draw these properties in the UI, and it uses the exact same prop_search functionality as I do. I am left to assume that the implementation of the property itself is in the C code however as I found nothing on the functionality for automatically updating the reference.
How can I replicate this behavior in my custom property? Is there a feature in the API I could use which does this automatically that I have somehow missed? Are there any working examples of this which people have in their addons that I can look at? Any information is helpful.

bone.parent is a pointer property with type Bone (you can check with bpy.types.Bone.bl_rna.properties["parent"].fixed_type). But you can't make one of those yourself, since PointerProperty(type=T) requires T to be an ID and Bone isn't... Maybe you could try "inverting" your design; store a custom prop on the bone, instead of a custom prop that references the bone.

Bones have the problem of being unable to have fully functional custom Pointer or Collection properties. Ignoring that problem however, it would work only for most, but not all cases where I need to reference a bone in a custom property.

I checked how eg. object.parent_bone (a StringProperty) worked, and Blender does just iterate over all objects and fix them up when a bone is renamed. You could use msgbus to subscribe to bone renames and do that.

This looks promising, I'll let you know where this goes...

@scurest The msgbus module works pretty well for what I wanted. It's not perfect as the msgbus callback seems to count as a separate action from the actual renaming of the bone when undoing/redoing, but it otherwise works just the way I would like. Feel free to post a proper answer and I'll mark it as the accepted answer.


text:
Low UI refresh rate when displaying animated custom properties in addon
I’m a contributor to this Blender addon, which enables Blender to import/export a specialized model format for a video game. The number of custom properties needed to fully represent all the needed values is quite extensive.
The problem is when any of these custom properties are animated. For example, if an “M3 Particle” is added to the scene, performance will be OK, but if a keyframe is then added to any of its animatable properties, than the performance takes a very noticeable hit, particularly the UI will refresh very slowly, which makes working with these custom properties rather frustrating.
I have a suspicion that it is somehow related to the fact all of the custom properties exist as an extension to the scene's properties, but I don't know what solution could be come to, to actually resolve this issue without fundamentally changing the manner in which the custom data is stored. It is ideal to not do that in order to maintain backwards compatibility.

It may be more helpful to give more information about the properties themselves. How are they used (panels, operators, callbacks)? Do they have a custom update(), get() or set() functions? Do they trigger changes in the scene? Any props in particular that are worse than others?
As you said, this may be a low-level issue that is beyond your addon structure. But keep in mind that keyframing will reduce performance in one way or another.

I don't believe any of the animated props have any such functions. It does not seem to matter which gets keyframed, the effect is all the same. And none which are animated have any direct effect on the viewport.

In a comment, I asked if your props have custom update, get or set functions, I'm referring to the update=<function>,get=..., or set=... set in the prop declaration, for example this one I found in the repo's root init:
bpy.types.Scene.m3_animation_index = bpy.props.IntProperty(update=handleAnimationSequenceIndexChange,...)

And there's many props like this from my brief glance at the addon. update is called just after the prop's value is set. And if the update function is complex (and some look to be - calling other functions, using loops), this will definitely slow the UI, at least temporarily. These callback functions may need to be optimized.
But as you said, you only see the performance dip once the prop is keyframed. Is the performance hit while changing frames, or just right after the value is changed? As much as we'd like to help, there's still little information for us to work with.
For now, my optimization suggestion above is my official answer, but answers may not be helpful unless you give a demonstrable example - ideally a blend file, but a piece of code would do too. Referencing the whole addon isn't really sensible here, especially without a sample where we can narrow the addon scope.

The slowing is constant. In cases such as an M3 particle with any keyframes on any number of properties, whether it was just added, or simply exists, the UI will slow down massively, and is not temporary. It will only go away when the UI is no longer drawing them.

Good to know. Again, need an example to really analyze further. I will say I agree that this may very well be a low-level Blender architecture issue. If so, a minimal code snippet would demonstrate this :) There's been questions here on performance with Blender operators: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/7358/python-performance-with-blender-operators

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Get data path of property via API
Using the Copy Data Path (bpy.ops.ui.copy_data_path_button) operator, one can acquire an RNA data path from a specific property in the GUI. How can I get this same value from a property via the Blender API?

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


text:
Can Fractured mesh offset along curve in Animation nodes?
I want a help, I want to transform a fractured object along curve procedurally in animation nodes.

Welcome to StackExchange! What is "fractured object"? Can you share any reference on what you want to achieve?

I am confused. Do you mean rips in your mesh? If so and if you want to fix the rip, select the entire mesh, press W and remove doubles, before ever rendering. You might have doubles in vertrice. That happens, whenever you use mirror modifier. When you finished with modeling or retopology, always be sure to remove doubles in your mesh, always before rendering.

Hi Omar and Rita. Thanks for supporting me. I want to do as this video but use along a curve instead of offset node https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgLrxg-DSfU

Add your objects to a collection and record their initial transforms in an ID Key. Then use a Follow Spline Action combined with a Delay Action and maybe other actions depending on what you need:

Fantastic. It works, Can I ask another 2 questions?  1.when objects start to follow spline can we use like a object controller to change stating order? 2. can we twist arround spline when follow spline? Thank you verry much to helped me

@UDARAARAVINDA To change the starting order just sort the objects based on your need. For instance, if you shuffle the objects list, the objects will have a random start time. Twisting around the spline is rather computationally expensive and not very easy to do. So I think this is better suited as a separate question.

Thank you very much Omar. you solved my question clearly

@UDARAARAVINDA Glad I could help. Make sure to accept the answer if it answers your question.

Hi!. I want like this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njkHH4_z77A&t=144s time(0:36) can objects follow the path like this order in animation nodes?

@UDARAARAVINDA Please ask a separate question if you have further questions.


text:
Render missing part of the object
I'm rendering a cartoon figure, it's working fine in Render preview, but missing the feet in final render. This always happen when the cartoon is far from the camera. I have set the camera Clip End to 2000 but still the same. Could anyone help to identify the problem? Thanks a lot!
The Render preview:

The final render:

You have most likely made the object, that are your feet, not visible in the render. See if your little icon looks like this when you select the affected object. If it is, then press that icon and it should make the object visible again.

Thank you Kanukit for the reply! But the feet are the part of the whole body which is visible in render, and the feet actually show when the figure is close to camera. Only when he move far away the camera, the missing feet happens.

In that case, your render distance is too low. Try turning it up in Camera >> Lens >> Clipping and turn the "end" value up. Do this while you have the camera of the scene selected, otherwise you wont see the settings.

I have only one camera in this scene and tried to put the "end" value up to 100000, but it doesn't solve the problem. Don't why only the feet are missing, the hand is even farther then foot to camera, but it's still there...

Found the problem, I have a plane in the back which render as transparent, the feet just go out of the plane and cannot be rendered, thanks anyways for your help Kanukit!


text:
How can I use a webcam for Motion capture?
I'm new to Blender so, for everything I want to do, I watch tutorials on YouTube.
I recently learnt I can do motion capture using my Webcam: this is a lot easier than setting keyframes, so I went to YouTube to search for tutorials on how to use Webcam for motion capture.
I found one and followed the steps throughout, but the problem I face is that I cannot change the location of my character: if I try to do so, the body part linked to the empty, set to copy movement from the video to the mesh, will remain at the same point while other body would move, causing some stretches in the mesh.
How can I fix this please?

Please share screenshots of what you are doing and/or a .blend file as well if you wish to get better answers.

to share a .blend, please use http://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/ and then edit your question, pasting the provided link.

From what I read, I'm guessing here that you're having the same problem you get when using hooks for shapekeys. Solution - make a parent empty for the body itself, then parent all the hooks to that as well.  (hooks & body=children) Move the empty about, not the body.


text:
Any way to simulate a material to look like the viewport?
I was wondering if there was anyway to get a material that looks like the matcap in eevee's viewport.
That kind of gradient look that catches shadows really well

Hello! Are you interested in hair in particular? I don't know how matcaps work with hair in 2.8, but for meshes be aware that, even if it might look like it's catching shadows, it's definitely not doing it! A matcap just assigns a color to each direction of the normals of faces (which can fake light direction) but objects don't see each other, nor they see their own parts.

Yeah I basically just want a material like kind of looks like this on my hair.


text:
BGE problem with speech bubbles
I am trying to use speech bubbles in BGE. I have them in another layer and I want them to appear in a specific position above a character. I used a near sensor so every time you go near that character they appear. The problem is that they appear in the center of my character and rotated in the wrong way. I don't know how to change their position so that they would appear where I want them to.

To get the object to appear above the character, the simplest way is to just move the speech bubble mesh above the origin in edit mode.
To rotate the speech bubble, use the Track To Actuator to make sure the object is always facing the camera.

Or, even easier,
Under material settings, set the speech bubble to 'billboard', this way, it will always point at the camera automatically. You'll need to make sure the normal of the mesh is pointing at the +X axis of the world for it to appear correctly.

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


text:
Cutting Holes with Boolean Modifier Makes Subdivision Surface Impossible

I am trying to cut numerous holes into a cylinder to create the barrel of gun. I used the Boolean modifier to cut the holes but now when I try to apply a subdivision surface to the cylinder I get horrifying results.
Would applying the subdivision surface first give better results or should I abandon the Boolean modifier entirely and opt for the knife project tool?
EDIT: Thanks to cegaton I am now able to cut the holes and use a subdivision surface. I still end up with an issue when smooth shading is applied though.

I would suggest beveling the edges instead of using a subdivision surface modifier.

I tried adding a bevel modifier but it seems to not work on this object. Even if I increased the bevel width to a very high value no change appeared.

I would try using the array modifier, using object offsent

Try an edge split modifier after and play with the angle

See http://blender.stackexchange.com/q/734/599

Just crease the edge to 1.0, that will completely fix that.

I subdivided the object that I wanted to subtract (In your case the "drillbit") and then applied the Boolean to my main object. This worked just fine and I have nice and smooth edges where I "cut" into it.
I hope I didn't just repeat the prior answers and could maybe even help someone.
My order of things:

Subdivision Modifier to main object (don't apply).
Subdivide secondary object (apply Subsurf modifier).
Add Boolean modifier to main object and apply it (with the secondary object selected of course).
When you're done modeling, apply your Subsurf modifier.

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


text:
Displacement Maps in cycles from Zbrush not rendering properly
I'm trying to render a mesh with a displacement map imported from Zbrush in Blender Cycles.
The sculpt and the map (as you can see in the image below) look fine, but the render in Cycles creates some weird 'artifacts' on some details... Actually, I've never managed to make displacement maps work correctly on Blender :( Tried to use the displacement modifier (which gives even weirder results) and the material nodes (rendered in the image).
The mesh itself is also imported from Zbrush (the lowest subdiv level).

Could be your UV map

Problem solved!
I talked to a friend and he said that since the displacement map deforms the mesh according to the face normals (never knew that), I needed a normal map to smoothen the faces altogether before applying the displacement.
Material node setup as follows:

I know this is an old post but I will add my solution for anyone searching.
For myself this was caused by generating normal maps on subdivision lvl 1, then exporting the model at a higher subdivision level and then applying the maps in blender.
Whatever level you create the maps on, has to be the model you export to blender.

well, 5 years too late - I don't even work with 3d anymore - but this could definitely solve the problem too. I have already answered my own question back then, but I'm not sure about the results vs your method. life stuff ¯_(ツ)_/¯


text:
Blender 2.8 texture paint brush presets
I'm texturing a model, and I used a texture stencil to try it out. Now I can't make a new brush preset for solid colors or other textures, the only way I can do this is deleting the first texture. I think there is a way to make new brush presets but there is no + to add a new one.

In the tool properties panel with the current brush displayed, look for the number next to the name of the brush. Clicking it will create a single user copy, and in this copy you can delete the connection to the texture.


text:
how to modify blender to have real world particle physics?
Its been discussed in the blender community that blender physics is not entirely accurate.
My question before I go into detail is: How to modify blender to have real world particle physics? I am a computer science major, so I am assuming I will need to build blender and modify the physics.
classic example how blender physics does not match real would physics is gravity on a box with a negative force above it.

The box picks up momentum the longer its under the influences. What should happen is eventually comes to a rest between the "force" and the force of gravity.
Also, if you have + charged particles in-between two - charged planes, it will not settle down to one point, it will zig zag continuously.

another thing, is that particles between a negative and positive charge plane, will move in one direction.

but in real life, particle accelerators have to keep oscillating the charges, or else the particle will come back to the opposite charge.
This is what should have happened in blender. Where the positive particles go past the negative plane and then come back. But for some reason, when a positive plane is added it ignores the negative plane.
lastly when trying to accelerate a particle:

it does not accelerate the particle, the example above has 4 objects oscillating their charges to make the particles go in a circular motion. It does this but not the way it should.
The particle should have a acceleration to it. This is the principle of cyclotrons, a particle accelerator that alternates its charges of two plates to accelerate the charged particles. Instead whats happening in blender is its stretching out the particles in a circular motion.
my hunch with the examples given is that there is something or multiple  things missing in blender physics. So how do I fix this? has anyone already done this? Its been bugging me for years that blender's physics is off.

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it's about an opinion about how blender should simulate real world physics, not a bug. OP should talk with developers and propose code samples to add more (backwards compatible) realistic behaviour

Physics and particles are a tool to make movies. Not much else. They are intended to show how a steam engine works or a flock of birds in the distance. Force fields are meant to blow a smoke text away. Their job is to make stuff look good. They do not have the scope (yet) of being a physically accurate simulation of real world forces. 3D animation is the art of faking it.
When I was doing my little solar system I didn't even try the physics, I just coded a bit of python gravity myself. Also not physically accurate (no need) but I got some nice elliptical orbits. Managed some gravity slingshots, too.
So either you really need to work on the code or you might get away with python or python with C/C++ help, depending on the performance needs. Changing the source code of course means one of three outcomes: You need to merge your code every time a new version comes out, you get it committed and it becomes a part of the official release or you are stuck with a Blender version that slowly gets old.
At the last Blender Conference there was a talk about simulating quite a few million blood cells with a super computer. So there's some fancy stuff possible if you're determined.
If you want these features, start to make them happen.

your right, if I want blender to have real physics, I'm going to have to fix it my self. So if I do fix blender's physics, how do I get committed and part of the official release?

Some of the limitations you illustrate are not peculiar to Blender. They would be true of any discrete simulation: i.e. a simulation that slices time and space into a finite number of chunks, and samples forces and velocities at the beginning and end of those chunks. Besides observing that Blender's primary function is to visualize, not to simulate, make sure you are aware of  those limitations you can't overcome in principle, however excellent your practice.


text:
What is the relation between the scale nodes that includes the pixlate node?
I know that the Pixelate node is used by putting it between 2 scale nodes, but I Don't know which values I should put in the scale node.
I know that when I put the 1st scale = 0.1 the 2nd one become 10,But what about other values,What is the relation between them?

You need one scale before the Pixelate node, and one after it.

In my nodes, I scale the image down to one tenth of its size (the first scale node), pixelate it (the Pixelate node), then scale it back up to its original size, with the second Scale node.

The relation of the scale values is the mathematical inverse. Say you scaled it down by .5, that is just multiplying it by .5, or dividing by 2. So to scale it back up to the same size you need to multiply it by 2.
Here is an example table of the values. The first scale value and then the second scale value.
.1      10
.2      5
.3      3.333`
.4      2.5
.5      2
.6      1.6667`
.7      1.42857
.8      1.25
.9      1.111`

Note that the strongest pixelated effect is at the top of the table, and the weakest is at the bottom.


text:
time offset in blender compositor?
I want to subtract the current frame from a previous frame, I have a image sequence and I want blender to subtract the current frame from the frame with an offset of -4. If I am on frame 5 so blender will subtract and use frame 1.

You can use the offset of the image sequence node

The image node has an offset option which does exactly this:


text:
How to define actuators using loop
I have several objects in my scene and each of them has an actuator (type Motion). The object1 has the actuator Motion1, the object2 has the actuator Motion2 and so on. My problem is that I have 95 objects and I would like to define them in the code in a efficient way.
I've tried this:
import bge
import bpy
cont = bge.logic.getCurrentController()
own = cont.owner

m = []
for k in range (1, 95):
    m[k] = cont.actuators["Motion"+ str(k)]

But it doesn't work.

This can be done with bpy.ops.logic.actuator_add
import bge
import bpy
cont = bge.logic.getCurrentController()
own = cont.owner

m = []
for k in range (1, 95):
    bpy.ops.logic.actuator_add(type='MOTION', name="Motion"+str(k), object="Cube")

Where type must be in ('ACTION', 'CAMERA', 'CONSTRAINT', 'EDIT_OBJECT', 'FILTER_2D', 'GAME', 'MESSAGE', 'MOTION', 'PARENT', 'PROPERTY', 'RANDOM', 'SCENE', 'STEERING', 'SOUND', 'STATE', 'VISIBILITY')
This was tested in the BGE using default scene with "Cube"


text:
Python node that replaces itself in the editor with a group?
This might be a bit of a weird one, but I'm looking to write a Python node that will, upon a user's input of a folder path, replace itself with a node group that contains itself and other nodes based on the contents of the folder.  I'm trying to perform this transformation:
MyNode

User inputs folder path
MyNodeGroup:
    MyNode
    Other Nodes

Is this possible?
I imagine I'd have to create and instance the group immediately, then move my node into it along with any other new nodes that I need.  If it's not possible to move an existing node into a group, could I create an identical node and then delete the old?
Any advice on this problem is greatly appreciated!
Edit: Or, if groups are not the most appropriate mechanism for this, is it possible to maintain other nodes inside my node internally?

Not sure that replacing the node is the way to go but you can customise the contents of a node. In blenders text editor goto Templates->Python->Custom nodes. Also see the chosen answer to this question. Another option would be an addon that creates a panel in the toolbar where the user chooses the folder and clicks generate. (look at the node wrangler addon)

You can probably write a script that generates such node setup after being given a file path. Use the single selected node to read its inputs and outputs, then delete it by the script and attach generated nodes' IO to what you read.


text:
Reflect point over vector
Context: I'm using the blender python api to create meshes.
So I have sets of three points, and a face, which can be at any angle, for example:
points = [[0.0, 1.28, 0.64], [1.28, 1.28, 0.64], [1.28, 0.0, 0.64]]
faces = [(0, 1, 2)]

Unfortunately, the custom file format I'm trying to parse does not provide an explicit sister face definition.
I would like to calculate a fourth point that is the second point mirrored over the first and last points in 3-space.
I would like to straight up calculate that point; but I am open to using a workaround that leverages the blender api, like centering the cursor between the first and third point, selecting and duplicating the face, and rotating it 180 degrees relative to the face's normal, or some such.
The code I've produced to date is here: Github Permalink

How about Vector.reflect()?

authors: ЯМБ ХОРЕЕВИЧ


text:
Straighten edges not on axis
I have some edges that are not on the x, y or z axis. What is a simple way to straighten them? For example, I can scale and then use Shift+Z to straighten on the x and y axis.
Any shortcuts other than temporarily rotating the entire object to put the edges on an axis?

Can you post a snapshot of the 3D view with transform panel open?

Probably select adjacent vertices that need to be along X axis (for example) and hit S > X > 0?

use Smooth_Vertex

I tried smotth vertex :(  strange results. Here is artifical sample https://www.dropbox.com/s/74y908d5rdg36n2/screen.jpg?dl=0  Normally if the edge was aligned to axis I would do as Mr Zak suggested

This is one way to align verities (or straighten edges ) according to two of them (without moving these two ) :

select these two points (in this case the ends )
create an edge between them
set the manipulator to Normal
set the pivot to Active Element
set selection to Edge
select all where the created edge is the active one
hit S then Shift+Y and again Shift+Y, after that type 0 and hit
Enter
delete the edge you created

As an addition to the Chebhou answer, I will post a hint to get this problem resolved.

Select two vertices, which are in the ending of the edge you'd like to straighten. Hit F and create edge.

Subdivide this created edge several times, so it to have the same quantity of vertices as you'd like to straighten (in your case 7).

Select one vertice from those you'd like to straighten,  then one from the created edge and hit Alt+M - > At Last.

Repeat that for every vertice you'd like to straighten.

Enable LoopTools Addon (it comes with Blender)

Select edges to straighten

Press W, select LoopTools and Gstretch

Play with Gstretch settings

You don't have to create a surplus edge, only a custom orientation.
To straighten to a line:

Set pivot to 'Active Element'

Select 2 vertices to define the line

Create a custom orientation using the small '+' in the orientation pop-up. ( I do this a lot, so I also check 'Use after creation' and 'Overwrite previous' in the tool region. It's worth creating a shortcut for this, or adding it to your Quick Menu)

Select all the vertices you would like to lie on the line, ensuring
one of your defining vertices is active after selection

Hit S ShiftY , and then  0.

To flatten to a plane:

Set pivot to 'Active Element'

Select 3 vertices to define the plane

Create your orientation.

Select all the vertices you would like to lie in the plane, ensuring
one of your defining vertices is active after selection

Hit SZ, 0.

As an addition to the method with the subdivided edge, it’s a good idea to use vertex snapping to slide vertices along the edge to match the original ones. There’s also an addon included with Blender called LoopTools, which has a useful tool called Flatten.

Hi, thanks for the post. This site is not a regular forum, answers should be substantial, stand on their own, and thoroughly explain the solution and required steps. One liners and short tips rarely make for a good answer. If you can, [edit] your post and provide some more details about the procedure and how it works, perhaps add a few images illustrating some steps and final result. See How to write a good answer?, otherwise it may be converted to a comment.


text:
Why isn't the modifier icon appearing when an object is selected?
I'm brand new to Blender, and am attempting to subtract one object from another. Simple, I know, and all I have read says to use the modifier tool, which is a wrench.  However, I can not find this wrench.
attached is a screen shot of my toolbar showing where I thought the wrench should be.
Can anyone please tell me what I am doing wrong?
I thank you kindly,
Matt

Metaball objects cannot have modifiers applied to them. Once an object that can have a modifier applied to it (like a mesh or a curve) is selected the wrench icon will appear.
Objects that can have modifiers added to them are:

Meshes
Curves
Surfaces
Text
Lattices

Hi Ray, How do I know what is or isn't meta?  I have imported an obj. file from a simple 3D scan.  Would that be Meta?

-sigh-  I think I just figured it out by choosing Model Mesh as opposed to MBall.   Cheers Ray

@MJACKSONstudios A metaball is a specific type of object in blender, so yes if you import as a mesh that will be fine. If this answer has helped you then you can mark it as 'Accepted' by clicking the 'tick' icon next to my answer. See: http://stackoverflow.com/help/someone-answers


text:
BGE: Refer to keyboard event boolean problem
Got this strange little issue:
I've got a separate module, besides variables such as the player object and animation functions there is also the boolean variable for the W key.
w_active = bge.logic.KX_INPUT_ACTIVE == bge.logic.keyboard.events[bge.events.WKEY]

Now when I import it from the module to another script and go like:
if w_active:
   run_animation()

It won't play it but when I don't use the variable and write the bge.logic.KX_INPUT_ACTIVE = bge.logic.keyboard.events(bge.events.WKEY) right after the if it does work.
I also checked it out with print(w_active) it seems the problem is that the boolean stays on False even when I press the W key.

This appears to because the module will only be executed once. Variables assigned directly inside the module will retain their initial value and won't be re-evaluated when accessed later.
To re-evaluate a variable, define it inside a function and call the function from wherever you want to access the current value of the variable.
For example, in the module you might create a function to return True if the W key is pressed:
import bge

def is_w_active():
    return(bge.logic.KX_INPUT_ACTIVE == bge.logic.keyboard.events[bge.events.WKEY])

Then when this is called from a script (or anywhere else) like so:
import bge, keyboardmodule

print(keyboardmodule.is_w_active())

it will return True or False accordingly.


text:
Why does my object appear flat when rendering?
I'm new to blender. I have an object that I want to export as png sequence or avi. However when I render it, the object is flat and dark. How do I fix this?
I placed the camera correctly as well. Below are screenshots:
This is how it looks like originally:

This is how it looks like in test render or even in real animation render, whether avi or png or jpg:

it's not a render, it's a mask

Hello. I changed the Mask to View and now there is a "RenderLayer" that appeared. However, same result, it is flat and the object turned to black.

check render layers and compositing nodes. if you can't find something wrong, upload your .blend and post the link. http://pasteall.org/blend/

Hello again. I uploaded my blender file. I hope you can point me to the right direction. http://pasteall.org/blend/34644

Ooo! windows 10 preview :D

Yeah it is Windows 10 :)

You have no light in your scene, add a sun, spot, point or anything to give some light

my pleasure :) welcome in blender!


text:
How to unparent child
I want to unparent a child from empty with python using obj = own.children but it wont work with unparenting because this 1 child object is classifed as list or smth else, and gets zombie object spam in console.
how to unparent child without using name?

children seems to be read-only go the other way ( get the child object and remove his parent )

you have to use the removeParent() function, since both .children and .parent are read only :
cont = bge.logic.getCurrentController()
own = cont.owner

for child in own.children :
    child.removeParent()


text:
Arrow Animation
I have a question regarding an animation in a blender file that I was able to find online. This is the file: http://blenderartists.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=208349&d=1356231992
Essentially it is a moving arrow where the base does't move but the arrow tip moves to a specified location.
I just want to know exactly how it's done. I've tried to replicate it but it's not working out.
Thanks in advance

Your problem is that you're Animating the Count when you should be Animating the Position, what exactly is happening is that you just keep creating back part of the arrow next to another one just like that:

but you should animate the position:

My understanding is the  the OP's asking for an explanation on how it's achieved, (the array and curve modifiers)  as opposed to there being a problem with the linked file.

I think I have understood the basic principles of animating an arrow traveling a curve. My problem is that my arrow becomes twisted as it travels along the curve. What is it that I do wrong?

Mostly you are using the Answer field to write a question. Why not pose that as a new question?


text:
Editing Text Geometry Without Converting To Mesh
I have a unique issue.  I am trying to create animation effects similar to those found in the below tutorials using text objects that can be customized later with the text options in the object data tab.  To achieve this, my text objects cannot be converted to a mesh, as both tutorials describe.  I'm not sure if there is a way to use an unconverted text object with the boolean modifier as described in the second tutorial, or have a text object emit particles as described in the first tutorial.
http://www.blenderdiplom.com/en/tutorials/all-tutorials/394-tutorial-dissolve-your-logo-in-blender-262.html
http://www.blenderskool.cf/carve-a-text-from-a-wooden-block/
Again, it is very important that these text objects not be converted into mesh objects!  Any help is greatly appreciated, even if it is a simple confirmation that what I am trying to achieve is not yet possible in Blender.  Thanks!

After a bit of experimentation my conclusion is that there's no direct way to add a particle system to a text object, or to use it for boolean operations.
However, you can make your life easier by using a single button to create and update a mesh version of your text, using the script below.

I tried making the mesh updates automatic by running the update function in the scene update event handlers, but this proved to be a bad idea, and caused memory usage to increase continuously every second.
The script will add a "Text" tab in the tools panel, where you have a button called "Update text mesh".
Pressing the button will generate a mesh version of your text, or update an existing one to any changes you made to your text object. It will also hide the text object so as to make it a bit easier to work. To update anything, just unhide the text object, make your changes, then press the button again.
To make things simple, the script assumes your text object's name is "Text". No other name will work, and if no such object appears, you will not even see the "Text" tab in the tools panel.
Copy and paste this to a text editor and press "Run Script", or install as an addon for more permanent usage.
bl_info = {
    "name"        : "Update text to mesh",
    "blender"     : (2, 75, 0),
    "version"     : (0, 0, 0, 1),
    "location"    : "3D View > Toolbox",
    "description" : "Update mesh copy of text object",
    "category"    : "Object"
}

import bpy

class update_text_mesh( bpy.types.Operator ):
    bl_idname      = 'object.update_text_mesh'
    bl_label       = 'Update text mesh'
    bl_options     = {'REGISTER', 'UNDO'}

    @classmethod
    def poll( self, context ): return 'Text' in context.scene.objects

    def generate_text_mesh( self, context ):
        if 'TextMesh' not in context.scene.objects:
             m = bpy.data.meshes.new_from_object(
                context.scene, context.scene.objects['Text'], True, 'RENDER', True, True
             )

             o = bpy.data.objects.new( 'TextMesh', m )
             context.scene.objects.link( o )

    def execute( self, context ):
        o = context.scene.objects['TextMesh']
        t = context.scene.objects['Text']

        t.hide = True
        o.location = t.location

        o.data = t.to_mesh( context.scene, True, 'RENDER', True, True )

        return {'FINISHED'}

class UpdateTextPanel( bpy.types.Panel ):
    bl_idname      = "UpdateTextPanel"
    bl_label       = "Text to Mesh Updater"
    bl_category    = "Text"
    bl_space_type  = 'VIEW_3D'
    bl_region_type = 'TOOLS'

    @classmethod
    def poll( self, context ): return 'Text' in context.scene.objects

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

        col.operator(
            'object.update_text_mesh',
            text = 'Update text mesh'
        )

def register():
    bpy.utils.register_module(__name__)

def unregister():
    bpy.utils.unregister_module(__name__)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()

EDITED: added a version that updates the mesh automatically with every frame change. Also requires the text object to be named "Text", but otherwise requires nothing else. Copy this script to the text editor and press "Run Script" to activate.
import bpy

def update_text( scene ):
    if 'TextMesh' not in scene.objects:
         m = bpy.data.meshes.new_from_object(
            scene, scene.objects['Text'], True, 'RENDER', True, True
         )

         o = bpy.data.objects.new( 'TextMesh', m )
         scene.objects.link( o )

    o = scene.objects['TextMesh']
    t = scene.objects['Text']

    t.hide = True
    o.location = t.location

    o.data = t.to_mesh( scene, True, 'RENDER', True, True )

bpy.app.handlers.frame_change_pre.append( update_text )

BTW, do let me know if you want to use this for an animation. If so, it will be pretty easy (and safe) to create a version of this script that updates automatically with every frame change.

Wow, this sounds like exactly what I need! I actually am using this for an animation, so if you don't mind creating that second version, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you for your help!

@EmelieK. Updated the script, use the 2nd script to update the mesh automatically with every frame change.


text:
How can I automatically extend edge loop selection?
I have a cylinder that I erased some faces near the middle of it on the side like this.

However I when I Alt click the edge of it, it doesn't go completely around the new edge like this:

What I automatically want it to do is this (I just custom selected all the edges to show you what I mean):

So is there anyway to add edges to the edge loop without clicking every single one?

I think you are asking about selecting edges, so I edited your title. If this is incorrect, feel free to roll back the changes.

Look good to me. Than you for taking the time and simplifying the post!! (:

If you select all the faces in that mesh and choose Select> Select Boundary Loop from the 3D view header menu you will get the selection you want.
You can also Alt-Click the initial edge and then Shift+Alt-Click the next set of edges.

"I don't think it's possible to use the standard edge loop selection and tell it to continue to other edges automatically " - This isn't correct, Alt+RMB twice selects all boundary edges (as noted by @Leon Cheung)

Since the target edges are all boundaries, there are multiple ways to do this:

AltRMB twice on a boundary extends the selection to all boundary edges.For single boundary loop as shown in the example

Other ways to select boundaries.

In Vertex Select or Edge Select mode: 3D View menu > Select -> Non Manifold (or press ShiftCtrlAltM).
Or you can first select all elements, then go to 3D View menu > Select > Select Boundary Loop.

I had already posted the first solution as an answer, but the second solution is also good.

@William I wonder if the updated answer here be the quickest way for you?

For sure. The keyboard shortcut is way faster, thanks!

You have to change the edge flow of the edge to make the selection go around the way you are look for it to.
By spiting the corner in to two quads that "bend" around the corner you will make the flow go around. Do note that it has to be two quads, two triangles will not work.

As you can see by adding a new edge loop the edge flow now goes around the whole edge.

Don't forget that you can always select your first vertex or edge, then hold [Ctrl] and click anywhere else the same loop.
Blender will then automatically select the edges between.
This would do what you want with just four mouse clicks, and is more generally useful and somewhat easier to remember than other methods. :)


text:
How can I render a cubemap with Blender Internal?
I need to render a cubemap from a Blender scene.
Is this the correct way to do it?:
Set camera FOV to 90.
Have one camera facing up, one down, left, right, front , back.
Is that all to achieve a proper seamless cubemap?
If not, how then?

related: http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/32493/cycles-skybox-using-6-projected-images

Regardless of which render engine you use, the process is the same.
It has been explained well here.

Setup the Blender Render Panel
Enter a resolution in the Render Panel and ensure the aspect ratio is
set equal. [(e.g., 1024x1024)]
Setup a camera
. . .

Set the camera's 'Lens' to 'perspective' and Field of View to 90 degrees exactly.

Put the camera's location at the center of wherever the viewpoint will be in the modeling environment.

There are six images for each cube face.

The camera rotation values that correspond to each cube face are: (x,y,z values in degrees)

North:  90,0,0
East:   90,0,-90
South:  90,0,-180
West:   90,0,90
Up:     180,0,0
Down:   0,0,0

Set the camera to each rotation and render the image, then save each image

. . .

Personally I find rendering a single-image equirectangular environment map to be easier, but I understand you may have specific reasons for needing a cube map.

I'd prefer equirectangular rendering myself, but Blender Internal doesnt support it which I need to use.

So basically yes, I was right (for anyone who doesn't want to bother to read the link).

Please include some of the steps for rendering in the answer itself instead of just linking to the solution. Link only answers are discouraged as if the link goes down then so does this answer.

Please expand on the link and make your answer useful here. As it is now all your answer does, is direct someone to where they can get the info. Se answer should have the info here.

The problem with equirectangular maps is there are wasted pixels at the poles, and not enough resolution at the equator.  Cubemaps have their own problems, of course, but tradeoffs aren't a surprise to anyone here...


text:
Addons are not installing
I am trying to install various addons to no avail. I have tried many, and they can't all be buggy.
I go to settings, click install from file, choose file, then select install from file again. Search for the addon and it isn't there. What am I doing wrong? I have also copied all of the content from the downloaded file and put it in a new file and saved as name.py. Still nothing shows up. And yes, the document starts with what it should start with, not html.

What Supported Level is selected at the top left?

I'm not sure where you mean. There are no numbers top left. I am using version 2.75 on a Mac.

In the user preferences window, addons tab, below the search box and above the categories: https://www.blender.org/manual/_images/Userpref_addons_en_oct20_2013.jpg

Ah i see. I looked on all of them and couldn't see it. I just put it directly in to the directory and it is now showing, but it is saying that there are two versions of it installed and can't launch. I am uninstalling the program and then putting the Haddon in manually. Hopefully that will work.

Note that there are two folders for addons (at least on Windows), in Blender installation directory and in your user folder (on Windows in %appdata%). The addons Blender ships with are in the former, addons installed via the interface copy them to the latter.

Salvation. I just removed the Haddon from the user section of my computer. Not it all works great. Thank you so much for your help :)

See here: http://www.blender.org/manual/getting_started/installing_blender/directorylayout.html#osx

If your addons are zip files, then it is best to unzip them and place them in the addons directory. For Windows it is (where you installed Blender)/Blender Foundation/Blender 2.75/2.75/scripts/addons directory. Put your addons there, then restart Blender and it will show up in the User Prefs.

It's not necessary to restart Blender, F8 should do the trick.

I just did what you said and now it is showing, but it says that two versions of it are now installed and I can't use it. What I am going to do is uninstall the whole program and reinstall it. Then just put it straight in to the directory like you suggested and hopefully it will work then.

It worked. I also had to remove the Haddon from my library user section on my Mac too. Thank you for your help :)

for me, not even moving the extracted file to the addons folder worked. I just extracted it, went to the .py file, and installed that


text:
How can I render edges?
I want to render this creature:

The problem is that it is made out of edges, is there a way to somehow render these edges?
thanks.

If you want to make a render of your viewport go to Render-->OpenGL Render Image.

Which render engine are you going to be using, Cycles or Blender Render?

Add a skin modifier which adds geometry to the mesh.
The image below shows two mesh objects one with the modifier visible and the selected mesh has modifier not visible comparison.

The image belows the skin close to the edges (skinnier).
To achieve this in edit mode use the keystroke Ctrl+a and move the mouse.

not really what i want, i want it to render exactly the same like in the pucture


text:
How do I remove part of my object?
How to remove a part of the object grid which is not included object 7?

Very odd looking mesh . . . Select all that you want of the seven, then press Ctrl+I to invert the selection. Next you can press Delete to remove that partof the mesh

@user16030 ..are those two mesh or a  single one? if they are two, do you want to cut a hole in the plane with the "7" shape?

It's 2 meshes, i want cut in plane mesh that seven number.

Possible duplicate of How would you cut a shape out of an object using another object?

Possible duplicate of How to cut an object along a curve?


text:
Blender 2.8 - fliping character pose in animation issue
I don't know if this has been answered already.
I have a problem with Blender 2.8.
I have a character properly rigged and named.
I have started to create some animations like walk, idle, run etc..
My problem is when I want to flip the pose of the character it doesn't work.
In older versions of Blender I just pressed SHIFT+CTRL+V and it was fliped,but now when I press the same combination it doesn'T do anything.
So I have tried to flip the pose through the menu first in the editor window
(Pose -> Paste the pose fliped ) - pose isn't fliped, I have also tried to flip it through the Key menu (Key -> Paste flipped) in the action editor - doesn't work
This is the pose I want to flip.

And this the pose I get after pressing the Paste flipped/Paste the pose flipped

Does anybody knows what might be the problem ?

Only constrains that I use are the IK system for the legs and copy rotations for fingers.Whole rig is named right (Arm.L,Arm.R etc...), I was using the same setup in older versions of BLender and everything worked.


text:
How do you add multiple colors to one object
I was trying to create a mug where the outside is one solid color and the inside is the color of the drink. I found this which said I just needed to go into edit mode and select the faces I wanted for color 1 and click assign and do the same for color 2. But whenever I try this my entire object becomes the new color.
How do I get only certain faces to change color?

It would make your question clearer if you [edit] it and show screenshots of what does mug mesh actually looks like (include viewport and Properties editor with Modifier stack there). If faces of all the object change color when you assign only some of them then probably other faces are generated by modifier, e.g. Solidify.

Oh! Good question! This is so easy, that it should probably be used a lot more than it is on objects.
I assume you know how to create the color materials for objects, so I won't address that. Every time you go to the materials tab to make a new material, you click the "+" or "Add" button. You can do that many times. So, go ahead and create the materials you need.
BTW, the method I describe here is SO simple, but, the best way is to absolutely UV edit. Whew! What a chore. I prefer this stupid simple method.
What you do next is simply go into "Edit Object" mode, and use the "face" selection. Select the faces you want of the particular material. Select the proper material from the list of materials I advised you to create above, and click that "Assign" button. Select the faces you want of a different material, and, from that same list of materials, "Assign" the appropriate material to those faces. Stupid simple, no?


text:
Can you edit Node type in the keymap?

When I'm editing my keymap, I'm able to create custom Node creation shortcuts, however, for nodes that have multiple options (eg Math node can be Add, Subtract, Multiply etc) I can't seem to specify any parameters without breaking the shortcut.
When I type in node.add_node, I'm given the Node Type, Use Transform, and "0 items" options. Is it possible to pass in this variable using these "items", and, if so, what is the proper syntax?
Whenever I type anything else in either the node.add_node, or ShaderNodeMath boxes the shortcut stops working.
I have checked the docs and can't find any references to what the "items" can be, or how to activate them. I know there are add-ons that do this, but I'm wondering if it's possible just in the keymap?

To be clear, what I'm trying to achieve it this:
node.add_node(type="ShaderNodeMath", use_transform=True, settings=[{"name":"operation", "value":"'MULTIPLY'"}])
But adding anything, even just empty brackets, causes the shortcut to stop working.
Is it possible to add the "settings=" variables in the "0 items" area? And what do I need to do to enable it?


text:
Confirm a Modal Operator via Python?
I have a modal operator that starts a timer when Right Mouse is pressed, and checks, when it's released, how long it's been held, and, if it's below a threshold, will open a context menu.
While the timer is running I also call view3d.walk navigation, the idea being to emulate Unreal Engine's navigation.
The issue that I'm running into is that I want to confirm the view3d.walk navigation before opening the context menu, but I can't seem to be able to do it via Python.
I'd like to call view3d.walk.confirm (or something) from within the cancel function of my modal operator, but I can't seem to be able to do it. I know I can set a key within the modal map in preferences, but I wanted it to be the same key that calls the cancel function (Right Mouse Release).
I put a comment in the cancel function with my imaginary solution.
import bpy

class UnrealRightClick(bpy.types.Operator):
    """Timer that decides whether to display a menu after Right Click"""
    bl_idname = "blui.unreal_right_click"
    bl_label = "Unreal Right Click"

    _timer = None
    _count = 0
    _threshold = 0.2

    def modal(self, context, event):
        if context.space_data.type == 'VIEW_3D':
            if context.mode == 'EDIT' or 'OBJECT':
                if event.type in {'RIGHTMOUSE'}:
                    if event.value in {'RELEASE'}:
                        self.cancel(context)
                        return {'CANCELLED'}

                if event.type == 'TIMER':
                    self._count += 0.01
                return {'PASS_THROUGH'}

    def execute(self, context):
        bpy.ops.view3d.walk('INVOKE_DEFAULT')
        wm = context.window_manager
        self._timer = wm.event_timer_add(0.1, window=context.window)
        wm.modal_handler_add(self)
        return {'RUNNING_MODAL'}

    def cancel(self, context):
        #bpy.ops.view3d.walk.confirm()
        wm = context.window_manager
        wm.event_timer_remove(self._timer)
        if self._count < self._threshold:
            if context.mode == 'OBJECT':
                bpy.ops.wm.call_menu(name="VIEW3D_MT_object_context_menu")

def register():
    bpy.utils.register_class(UnrealRightClick)

def unregister():
    bpy.utils.unregister_class(UnrealRightClick)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()

Thanks!

I found a hacky way around my issue using ctypes. It's not perfect, but it's something.
The magic line ended up being ctypes.windll.user32.mouse_event(self.MOUSE_RIGHTUP)
With the full code now reading:
import bpy, ctypes

class UnrealRightClick(bpy.types.Operator):
    """Timer that decides whether to display a menu after Right Click"""
    bl_idname = "blui.unreal_right_click"
    bl_label = "Unreal Right Click"

    _timer = None
    _count = 0
    _threshold = 0.2
    MOUSE_RIGHTUP = 0x0010

    def modal(self, context, event):
        if context.space_data.type == 'VIEW_3D':
            if context.mode == 'EDIT' or 'OBJECT':
                if event.type in {'RIGHTMOUSE'}:
                    if event.value in {'RELEASE'}:
                        self.cancel(context)
                        return {'CANCELLED'}

                if event.type == 'TIMER':
                    self._count += 0.01
                return {'PASS_THROUGH'}

    def execute(self, context):
        bpy.ops.view3d.walk('INVOKE_DEFAULT')
        wm = context.window_manager
        self._timer = wm.event_timer_add(0.1, window=context.window)
        wm.modal_handler_add(self)
        return {'RUNNING_MODAL'}

    def cancel(self, context):
        ctypes.windll.user32.mouse_event(self.MOUSE_RIGHTUP)
        wm = context.window_manager
        wm.event_timer_remove(self._timer)
        if self._count < self._threshold:
            if context.mode == 'OBJECT':
                bpy.ops.wm.call_menu(name="VIEW3D_MT_object_context_menu")
            # if context.mode == 'EDIT_MESH':
            #     if context.tool_settings.mesh_select_mode = (True, True, True)
            #         bpy.ops.wm.call_menu(name=”VIEW3D_MT_

def register():
    bpy.utils.register_class(UnrealRightClick)

def unregister():
    bpy.utils.unregister_class(UnrealRightClick)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()

Hope this helps someone else, I'll update it if I can figure out a better solution for the new problem of mouse focus!


text:
Cannot import skin with animation in hitfilm,is there anything we can do in Blender to prevent it?
I'm new to Blender.
I tried animating a 3ds model and then importing it into hitfilm (https://hitfilm.com/)
Initial render looks pretty good in both cycles and blender internal, and also imports well as just 3d model, but when tryng the animation  everything "goes to bananas" (goes crazy) and skin disappears -_-

Try to write more than one sentence, try to use more than one comma and maybe start by explaining what "hitfilm" is. How does "everything go bananas"? What do you mean by skin?

@yann while I agree that the question is lacking a better shape and detailed content, how do you usually find about things on the internet? A simple "hitfilm" search shows you what it is as 1st result... (the same for "going bananas", although it doesn't explain _what_happens...)

@sadashiv jatti, as we know nothing about your models, and animation, try to describe (better adding a relevant picture of your scene, use the image button of the question editor) what you have, how you animated, etc. Try also to export (eg: to 3ds format) and then reimport it into blender. If it works well, it could be a hitfim issue, maybe it doesn't support certain features...

also I read on the website ""HitFilm supports the .lwo, .3ds and .obj formats." so try also other formats... (I would try obj)


text:
Stopping Follow Path at the beginning
I'm mixing animations in NLA editor, and I want start with follow constraint turned off.
For example, I want my character to wave, and then play the walk cycle with follow path.
The keyframing influence didn't help, the timeline is snapping origin forward.

Suggest with follow path constraint, removing path animation and keying in the offset (0 is one end 1 is the other) Example  This way the animation can be moved easily using NLA.

Okey I found the solution to keyframe follow path curve. You Need Delete Evalution Time in Fcurve.
And Then Manually Set Values Frames and Evalution Time, Click I to keyframe.


text:
Blender not accepting CSV file
CSV File Not Supported Error dealt with the error:
UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf-8' codec can't decode byte 0xef in position 23:
invalid continuation byte

Now there is a different problem. The code is:
import bpy
import csv
import sys

file = open('test.csv', 'rU', 'ignore')
reader = csv.reader(file)

The error message is:
TypeError: an integer is required (got type str)
Error: File format is not supported in file '/PI-SAT/proj001/test.csv'

I have verified that test.csv is a valid .csv file by running a different script:
import csv

path = "test.csv"
file = open(path,'rU')
reader = csv.reader(file)

header = next(reader) # 1st line is header
#data = [row for row in reader] # Read remaining data
print(header)

data = []
for row in reader:
name0 = row[0]
name1 = row[0]
vid_file = 'test-videos/' + row[5] + '.m4v'
cli_line = name0 + '", "' + name1 + '", "' + vid_file
print(cli_line)

This runs exactly as expected as a stand alone Python script.
What is causing the error when I attempt to run the code as a Python script in Blender?

Please do not ask duplicate questions just because you did not get satisfactory answers on the first.

I was testing on the Mac. I have moved the project to Google Cloud and the program runs properly on Google Compute Engine.

In the first example, you tell the open function to ignore errors with open(..., 'ignore') . If a file is not found, it will have the behavior that you mentioned:
TypeError: an integer is required (got type str)

Also, the U mode is deprecated, so you probably shouldn't be using it.
A reasonable possibility is that where you are running it in Blender, the current working directory is different than what you think it is. Try printing out the result of os.getcwd() and os.listdir() like so:
import os

print(os.getcwd())   # current directory
print(os.listdir())  # files in current directory

I modified the code to work in Blender and got:
`Read blend: /PI-SAT/proj001/proj001-master.blend
/PI-SAT/proj001
["'pathout'", 'init.py', 'b-csv-test.py', 'blank.blend', 'blank.blend1', 'blender', 'c-csv-test.py', 'csv-test.py', 'd-csv-test.py', 'env',  'lib', 'master_csv_render.py', 'oauth.py', 'pathout', 'pathout.m4v', 'proj001-master .blend.save', 'proj001-master.blend', 'proj001-master.blend1', 'proj001auto.py', 'proj001auto.py.save', 'proj001master.py',  'test-videos', 'test.blend', 'test.csv', 'testreadauto.py', 'testsubprocess.py']
Blender quit`

I am in the correct directory, and the file is there.

@mcgeo52 I don't know exactly what you are doing...and your question is missing some detail. Could you edit your question to explain what you are trying to accomplish and where/how exactly you are running your Python script?


text:
Why are there gaps in my object?
I would like to know what went wrong here. I'm learning with tutorials and it seems I did something different.
When I started sculpting it appeared that there is a gap without texture around the top. I do not have the gap problem on the second picture because there are the 2 holes missing on the upper side. For the holes I did it with separate loop cuts and then extruded and again some loop cuts for smoothing the edges.
But why do I have the gap? Can anyone tell me what I did wrong?

I think it has to do with the sculpting engine. What is happening is the faces are being smoothed or deflated, etc. (basically shrunk) and one will go into another. you can see this if you deflate a default sphere or something. To fix it, smooth, inflate, flatten until it appears to be fixed again.

hejhej, i can not fix the issue that way. some how the material does not seem to be connected ... but it is. i started it over againe and i dont have the problem anymore. so thanks anyways =)

Alright. I’m sorry my solution didn’t work. That’s strange though, it’s always worked for me

I'm almost sure it's not that, we should see backfaces in this case, but we see actual gaps.
Maybe provide the .blend.


text:
Video formats in Blender
I am new to blender and I am trying to create an intro video for my site.
I have rendered the animation and want to compile the images for the animation so that I can use it in my video editor (Davinci Resolve 15).
I used the video sequencer to compile them into an AVI format but Resolve is not recognizing the file.
In a tutorial that I have watched, that helped me so far, the guy opened the formats drop-down in the output area and it had several other formats that are not a part of the release that I have (2.79b) including H.264, MPEG, and Ogg Theora.
He was using v 2.71. How do I get those other formats to work in Blender? Thanks in advance!

Why not use the image sequence directly in Da Vinci?


text:
How can I change the size of the square of the camera which I see things through?
I have changed the size of the the rectangular box of the camera - the box you can select on the 3D view - some time ago and I can't turn it back to the old size. Can you look at the pictures and help me, please?
Thank you so much!

That is controlled by render resolution in the render panel

The render resolution in the render panel defines the upper limits in the dimensions of all renders through the camera, final or viewport.
You can also set a Render Border, using CtrlB in Object Mode, to restrict the rendered area in all views, (further restricted by the render resolution, when looking through the camera). In the 3D view, it's delineated with a red dashed frame.
In Object Mode, hitting  CtrlB again allows you to resize the border, and AltCtrlB dismisses it.

Thank you a lot, Robin! But literally sleeping on it, I woke up and ran up to my computer. Try this:

Thank you a lot, Robin! But literally sleeping on it, I woke up and ran up to my computer. Try this:

Open a new file;
Press Zero to go into Rendering Mode;
Select the rectangular box so it will go Yellow;
Zoom in;
Grab (G) the box and play around with it;
Press Zero and leave Rendering Mode;
Press Zero again to go back to Rendering Mode.
Notice that the Rectangular Box will come back always Big. If you happen to save your project with that Box big, it will always be big in that project. I do not know if that will  upset the quality or the resolution of your rendering.

Numpad 0 doesn't take you into rendering mode .. it takes you into the camera view. When you select the box and it goes yellow, you are selecting the camera you are looking through. Playing with the box is moving/rotating/scaling the camera. Change  the size of that (white or yellow) box in Properties> Render tab > Dimension. You also have a Render Border set in your reference picture ( the red dashed line). Use Ctrl-Alt-B in Object mode to lose that.


text:
How to evenly cover one object with instances of another?
I am trying to cover a simple, but angled shape with jewels.
I need the jewels to evenly cover the shape, but I also need them to rotate with the normals/face angles of the base object.
As you can see from the picture the grid setting in Particle emitter lays the jewels out perfectly, but I can't rotate them with the faces normals - and the hair emitter rotates them perfectly but I can't align them evenly enough???
I have tried the tesselate addon, various array set ups... Is there a way to combine the rotation ability of the hair with the grid layout of the emitter?

In edit mode, subdivide your mesh a few times, so that the vertices are where you want your jewels to be placed. Then make note of how many vertices your object has (info bar at the top right). Using hair particles, set the number of particles to the number of vertices, make sure even distribution is enabled, and set the emitter to be verts, not faces/volume. That will place a jewel on each vertex, giving you perfectly even distribution, as well as correct rotation.

Thanks so much! you have saved me a load of work and time!


text:
Fastest PBR Material Workflow for a beginner?
So I've been messing around in Blender on an off for a few years and just recently started putting in the work to actually improve.
When messing with materials and texturing I've found the Poliigon add-on and free materials indispensable. It's super fast to throw PBR quality materials on meshes and be done with it.
However it has its limitations and I hate the pricing model for it.
I started looking into Substance Source/ Painter and it seems like the right way to go for better quality but the workflow of taking things in and out of each program, the back and forth seems very inefficient.
Am I missing something here that makes this process easier or faster than what Poliigon offers? Or why there aren't more options for Plug and Play material libraries out there?
Any tutorials or training path recommendations would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

For Substance Painter, I use the paid livelink add-on from Xolotl studios, which works GREAT! You just create the material in Substance and press send all, and the material in Blender updates automatically. It is not very expensive. This is seen as a side note and not an answer, as I don't want it to look like I'm advertising. Materials from Poliigon are very good, and note that the Add-on also allows you to import Your own maps, if they are named correctly. Blendermada is an okay free source for materials.

Here's an answer Reddit user Mcurt posted on the Blender sub:
"There are a lot of factors that determine what tool/workflow is the best for texturing. If you're mostly just using PBR texture maps online, there are a bunch of other sites besides Poliigon that offer free textures. I rarely use Poliigon anymore because they don't have free textures, or at least any at decent resolution. Here are some other sources.
https://texturehaven.com/textures/
https://beta.gametextures.com/shop?order=popular
https://www.textures.com/
https://cc0textures.com/tagged/all
https://www.cgbookcase.com/downloads/
If you enable the node wrangler addon, you can ctrl+shift+T on the Principled BSDF node and instantly add your whole PBR shader.
I find Substance Painter to be most useful for mixing multiple materials in a single texture using smart masks, etc. It is probably not quite as necessary for arch viz stuff.
Other than that, procedural materials created in Blender can be really useful too. This requires practice and a bit of studying the node trees of materials you find on the web. I don't know of many up-to-date sources for procedural cycles materials aside from the Cycles Material Vault, which I'd love to pick up some day."


text:
Unlink Key frames of two objects
I made a box (BigBox) and separate it to a two objects (BigBox.001) using shortcut P . But when I trying to animate those two objects separately, both objects are moving together. key frames of both are linked somehow. I cant even select key-frame of one object separately ( both key frames are being selecting automatically )  How can I separate these two objects.

Try going into the Outliner, select the box concerned, open it and right-click on the "Animation" strip, select "Clear Animation".  Do this with the other if need be.

Select one of the objects and:

Go into the header menu > Object > Relations > Make Single User > Object Animation

Or go in the Dopesheet window > Action Editor mode and press on the New Action button:

Or as Edgel3D said, go to the Outliner, unfold the submenu under your object, you'll see Animation, right click > Clear Animation (in that case, the object won't even have anymore animation).

I recreated the issue. An Action was applied to your source object by default when you add a keyframe, even if you delete the ketframe before you split the pieces in to separate objects. An Action is a container for animation key frames. Objects separated from another or duplicated share the pre-existing Action from it's source.
To remove the Action from the separated objects, select the objects, then n the Action Editor header menu bar, find this:  Hold a Shift Key while clicking the 'X' button. This will remove the Action from all the selected objects. In the example, the number 493 represents the quantity of objects sharing the Action, or animation. Yours will be different.
To disable the sharing of Actions when you separate, you can turn this off in User Preferences>Editing>Duplicate Data> uncheck 'Action'.


text:
blender running so slow i can take a nap when clicking a menu
I have a big problem. It's been happening for a long time and it's really urgent as this is payed work.
For some reason my project is running so slow I can't even click on the menus. I literally went to bed yesterday after clicking a menu just so it could load in the option to delete it.
I am like 4 days over the deadline and I need urgent help (tell me if you want the packed file, I'm uploading the normal one now, please tell me if you have the same problem as it might be my pc).
Oh  and yes i am working with really big particle systems but even with those completely deleted i get this performance. (for some reason the problems usually start after I have put in something really demanding so it might be that the demanding tasks are still doing the pc from behind even after I've deleted them)
thank you btw for any answers

Try with another pc, you'll get an answer sooner if you're in a hurry. Be sure to use a powerful one, though. If (?) you upload the file someone else could check but also knowing your machine specs, and blender version, would be needed to understand what could be the issue. Even deleting particles they could still be linked or stay there as orphans, in blender: look for "orphans" in the outliner views

Sounds like a memory shortage. Add more physical memory to your machine, reduce the complexity of your meshes and particle systems (when allowed) or pay for an outside cloud rendering service.
In any case, it may be more cost effective to just hard-reboot the machine instead of waiting for the File -> Quit menu to show.  I hate hard crashing my machine, but I'd likely get things rebooted, modified however needed, and running at normal render speed sooner than by shutting down properly.
But first, just in case - check if you're running some other apps at the same time that might be hoarding memory.  Email, web browsers loaded with pages with bad javascript, movie players, another instance of Blender.

i have 16 gigs atm. and somehow when i finally got to group everything i needed and tried to open it in a different project i no joke had to wait like 4 minutes for the project to load in the append menu

My power machine at home has 16G.  It would often go slow as you describe. I added a memory/system monitor to show in realtime CPU and memory usage and other stats.  It was enlightening to see how some programs used way more memory, or way less, than I thought.   On Linux, Conky is great.

yeah i already have that up at all times. blender uses 10 gb at a time and chrome uses like 500 mb and that's all. means i should have a bout 1 gb left on hard loads. the problem here is that even after removing the problematic meshes or systems i still have this problem

ok so. weird development but i looks lke my ssd is maxing out somehow. my ssd is 100%ing every time i click something

i might have found the problem. it was some weird mesh error in my ground plain?


text:
Small detail problem
I am trying to model a katana: I got everything to a point where I am satisfied with it except small details on hilt, I just want those white parts to be little extruded but unsure on how to do it.
I've tried boolean modifier and knife tool but both breaks the mesh.

Why don't you use separate geometry?

Could you please explain a bit more? I want to extrude it inwards, so adding a cube or something would really help me achieve that.

Sorry, I misread.

This is indeed a very complex geometry to create.

Create the base without the diamondshaped details as a reference.
Create a new mesh and enable Snapping to Surfaces.
Create the diamond shape from the top view. Subdivide it, add supporting edgeloops, then snap it to the reference hilt's surface.
Extrude the remaining loose edges guide them around to the back of the hilt. At this point, I removed three quarters of the geometry and added an XY mirror modifier.
Extrude the concave detail as the last step.


text:
How to create realistic splinters from wood in blender?
Creating some broken splinters using cell fracture addon is quite easy, but how do you create some realistic splinters that come from a broken wood?
Specifically, how to achieve this specific kind of thing in blender?

have you seen this tutorial ? What I would try to make it more realistic is to add more splinters, make them thinner and more scaled vertically, subdivide them in simple mode and use soft body physics to have them bend. May require quite some experimenting before getting a convincing result.

@Gamnamno, Yes I have checked out using the fracture addon and have checked out most of the tutorials on smashing and destructing. It turns out it uses some kind of voronoi algorithm that creates a bounding box around a mesh object and it applies it to the entire mesh, so once you hit apply it smashes the whole mesh and it gets convered into peices, hence one can't do further editing with it.

any kind of suggestion would be helpful

What kind of "further editing" are you talking about ?

@Gamnamno, after adding the cell fracture to the mesh, the whole mesh is shattered, then how are we supposed to bend the mesh?

That's why I was suggesting using soft body simulations. I haven't seen any proof that this method works in this situation, but I would give it a try.
Otherwise you can use a lattice to deform multiple objects, (with a subdivision modifier above it in "simple" mode to have the objects bend properly, but I doubt this would be convincing on an animation.
Are you making a still image or an animation ?

@Gamnamno, I am currently only limited to still imaging. and I tried using soft body sim, the result has not been convincing, the bend can be done easily but the hardest part is making the splinters look convincing, like the actually sprout out of the mesh object.

ok, so since you're making a still, have you tried the lattice modifier ?

I have made this simple (but probably not perfect) wood splinter bending simulation with the blender fracture modifier.I used more and shorter splinters in the middle so the rubbery constraints let them atleast roughly look like bent longer splinters.
The advantage of this being a modifier is you can just apply the mesh in the "bent" state and edit further if necessary. I also tried with a simple deform after fracture, but this did not look good at all...
The fracture modifier is a separate branch. Links to builds are here
https://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?343637-Custom-Build-Blender-Fracture-Modifier
or here (latest windows build): http://graphicall.org/1148
Will upload a blend if I can find the "BlendExchange" button again somewhere... so for now just a pasteall link...
http://pasteall.org/blend/index.php?id=44841

there is no blend-exchange button; it's an external third-party website, found here: http://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/

ah yes, i was referring to answer 1 from here

here http://meta.blender.stackexchange.com/questions/630/announcing-blend-exchange-a-new-solution-to-blend-hosting ( i hit enter too early...)  and yes that has a userscript (was thinking i saw it built in already some time ago :)

Oopsy! I thought u were a new user u couldn't find that mysterious .blend button anywhere ;)


text:
How to obtain accurate depth maps using nodes and visualize them?
I want to render depth maps and surface Normal maps of different 3D shapes using Cycles.
To be able to get depth maps, I attempted the two used methods that includes creating nodes here and played around with the parameters to get depth maps.
However, I run into the same problem that the question asker has run into (getting almost completely white images): I know accurate depth maps must only be stored in OpenEXR files but I also need to be able to view the depth maps for visualization purposes.
I am pretty new to the concepts of node trees in Blender and would appreciate if someone can give me some step-by-step instructions on how I can create node trees that store the depth maps (with a black background) on disk in OpenEXR or .txt files and map the values to 0-255 so that I can have some visualization, although less accurate.
Another thing: how can I avoid getting truncated depth maps?
Here is the best results I could get through trial and error:

And here is a .blend file which includes the 3D mesh I am trying to render depth maps for, in case you need.

You can use the vision_blender addon too. It creates coloured depth maps for you.

To visualize the Z depth just use the Normalize node. Normalize will take the lowest and highest values of the image and scale them to be 0 (black) and 1 (white) respectively. All values in between will be scaled linearly as well.
And maybe also enable transparency...

I tried this but got extremely low resolution on the greyscale, despite changing the near and far clip distances of the camera. Anyone have any ideas why this happened?

A white looking depth map is correct! Think about it: it captures the depth values from 0 to infinity. I believe blender works with floats so infinity is actually the largest float.
So, it makes sense for any foreground objects in your scene, which are relatively close to the camera, to have very low depth values. It means it is encoded with very little contrast in the depth map compared to the far background. Since an image is displayed on your screen with RGB values with 8bit luminance range, the "infinity" float range has to be compressed in 256 values range, thus the white image.
One way to only select the interesting foreground in the depth map is to clamp and normalize its values before display or before conversion to a low dynamic range component image. This can be achieved in the compositor using simple math nodes and clamp to desired farthest depth value.

Enable depth path in your render layer
Enable node for the compositor
Flow the depth map into the clamp and normalize nodes then into a viewer node (sorry no screen shot or exact node setup,  I am far from my computer at the moment!)

Note that you might want to  clamp the lower value as well if there's nothing interesting in the foreground.
ex including clamping fore and backgrounds using color ramp in constant mode. Simply slide the color to the desired "distance":

Is it possible to somehow enforce a limit on how far the depth rays should travel? For instance, only 1 meter? I do not want to capture anything beyond a some point

Yes, added a screen shot and note to my answer, check it out.

I'm not able to create the ColorRamp node the way you have created it. Could you please give me some instructions on how you did this? Also, how can I make sure naturally no depth rays comes into the camera beyond a certain point in the scene? Currently, I have a feeling that what you are doing is to somehow clamping the depth values. But I do not want any depth information to get discarded, no matter what.

The normalization is not doing any clamping, right? So if I normalize the depth data and store it on disk, I should be able to map everything back to the scene with 32-bit floating point accuracy. Is that right?

I feel the color ramp node and the multiplication are somehow transforming the raw depth values. If that is the case, I do not want that.

I think the ideal situation for me would be to naturally make Blender not capture anything beyond a certain point (the 1 meter example). This way, I am gonna be sure that even a value of infinity is meaningful and does not represent anything beyond that point (e.g. 1 meter). Is there a way to do this? Right now, the scene is endless and I can place anything in any distance to the camera and the depth map will somehow capture it which is not what I want. For my application, I won't need an endless scene.

@Amir, The color ramp method I describe definitely clamps the depth calue but that's what you requested. Could you please clarify what the overal intent is? In one hand you mention visualization and on the other you require to save the full depth data for later reuse. If you require both, you can always have 2 branches in compositing...

@cegaton I meant storing the raw, normalized values on disk in a format like OpenEXR. My understanding is OpenEXR will basically store the data in raw format. Is that right?

@Bruno Yes I needed to have some visualization but not by compromising the depth information. What I have found out so far is that I can just normalize the depth information for visualization and store those values in an OpenEXR file. Thank you so much for your good answer.

Ok glad it helped

This is a question about compromises. As you admitted, a low bit depth will result in far less information being conveyed in the output. This can be okay, depending on how you use it.
Here's a simple solution: Using the Mist pass.
This has its own quirks. The Mist pass is essentially a normalized depth pass, using the furthest away rendered geometry. It's also anti-aliased, which can be good or bad depending on how you want to use it.
The mist pass carries the same level of detail across all your geometry.
You can find it directly under the Z pass (You can see it in your screenshot).
Another solution with different quirks is to convert your depth map into a disparity map.
A depth map stores distance in units, with infinite distance theoretically being infinitely bright. As you experienced, this is a nightmare for clipping.
A disparity map stores the inverse depth. In other words, instead of dividing your depth by some crazy large number, you can simply output 1/(1+depth). An interesting tradeoff here is that your depth 'resolution' decreases with additional distance when using a disparity map.

The Mist pass trick is interesting! However, it will not work if you have objects with Volume Scattering  in your scene as it will be included in the Mist pass.

Thanks for your answer. The mist trick is not going to be useful for me at all, especially due to the anti-analising effect.


text:
Adding Baked Audio Rotation to a pre-existing rotation
I'm making a music video, and I would like the rotation of the below plane to be accelerated, but not absolutely determined, by the audio keyframe bake.
In other words, I would like the plane to rotate continuously in one direction, and have this rotation be accelerated by audio form.
So every time the audio spikes, the continuous rotation of the plane accelerates, then returns to a standard rate of rotation.
As it is, just baking the f-curve, the plane just wiggles slightly between twitches between 5.9° and 0°, which is not a very interesting effect.

Not going to add an answer. But I think creating two actions (audio_action and rotation_action) then combining them in the NLA leaves enough control.

In Bake Sound settings (when selecting sound file) click on additive option:

@WebbHinton Please do not add a comment on your question or on an answer to say "Thank you". Comments are meant for requesting clarification, leaving constructive criticism, or adding relevant but minor additional information – not for socializing. If you want to say "thank you," vote on or accept that person's answer. https://blender.stackexchange.com/help/someone-answers


text:
Blender render doesn't display skybox while opengl render does
I have used a skybox image that I find on a website and wrapped a cube to make a skybox. The final blender file is here.
When I render image using F12, the result is blank. However, if I make OpenGL render image, the result is as expected. What is wrong with the normal rendering, what am I doing wrong?

Did you set for the cube an "Image or movie" texture type pointing to that image? Are the texture's coordinates set to UV?

The problem resides in your material; You just need to check 'Face Textures', under the options tab of your cube material.


text:
Adding geometry (Ctrl+1) does not work as expected
Sorry for the weird title, I didn't know how to express it better.
I have created a cube to form a hat.
I then extruded the 4 bottom vertices.
I did not move them after extruding, but I simply scaled them.
Then I pressed Ctrl+1 to add geometry.
For some reason, the hat brim is much smaller than I expected.
Shouldn't the hat brim be as large as the 4 extruded, scaled bottom vertices?
And does anybody perhaps see why the hat brim gets doubled vertices?
Thank you for the help!

@cegaton Shouldn't this be an answer and not a comment?


text:
Get position of the camera in each frame of the animation
I tried this code that I found in the net in order to print the location of the camera in each frame of the animation.
import bpy

camera=bpy.data.objects['Camera']
sce = bpy.context.scene

for f in range(sce.frame_start, sce.frame_end+1):
    sce.frame_set(f)
    print("Frame %i" % f)
    print(camera.location)

After execution I get a fix location while the animation is fine.
I get like this:
<Vector (-35.4940, -2.9554, 5.3437)>
Frame 41
<Vector (-35.4940, -2.9554, 5.3437)>
Frame 42
<Vector (-35.4940, -2.9554, 5.3437)>
Frame 43
<Vector (-35.4940, -2.9554, 5.3437)>
Frame 44
<Vector (-35.4940, -2.9554, 5.3437)>
Frame 45
<Vector (-35.4940, -2.9554, 5.3437)>
Frame 46
<Vector (-35.4940, -2.9554, 5.3437)>
Frame 47
<Vector (-35.4940, -2.9554, 5.3437)>
Frame 48
<Vector (-35.4940, -2.9554, 5.3437)>
Frame 49
<Vector (-35.4940, -2.9554, 5.3437)>
Frame 50
<Vector (-35.4940, -2.9554, 5.3437)>`

How can I rectify the code ?
I have tried also the code given in this discussion :
How can I get the location of an object at each keyframe?
but it doesn't work. I get the following error :
AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'action'

What is the problem?
Thank you

What is the desired output format of the position data that you want?

The code from @gandalf3's answer in the linked question works just fine

The code does not work fine, the camera moves but positions printed are the same!

I actually just tried your original code and it worked for me as well. Maybe you should post your blend file.

Is your camera object still named 'Camera'?

the reason is that you are using constraints not a real animation

@Chebhou what do you mean by real animation

@mariem not key-framed, the constraints does not change the real location rot.. they change the visual only

Yes, I replace the code by the following : obj = bpy.context.scene.objects['Camera']
loc,rot,scale = obj.matrix_world.decompose()
and it is OK ! Thank you for you contribution


text:
How to animate this Cable?
So, I have a chain to be animated in blender. I animated the chain using curves, but to export to unity, it needs to be in a .abc format which is too huge(files coming up to even 1 GB). Can anyone tell me how to export the curve animations to an fbx format?
Also if possible, can anyone tell me how to animate the chains using rigs?


text:
When I try to add a material Blender 2.8 crashes
Running a Dell Precision M4600 with NVidia Quatro 1000M (2gb ram), 24 gb ram, and 1 Tb SSD primary drive and Windows 7 x64.
I have been using blender 2.79 flawlessly, but in 2.8 when I attempt to add a material to a mesh the app crashes.  As a test I moved my blender file to my acer spin ultrabook and the materials work great.

Make sure that your graphics driver is up-to-date.


text:
Wrong X coordinate with the local coordinate system?
I would like a little bit of help with Blender 2.8. I don't know why the X coordinate of the highlighted vertex is -2 in the local coordinate system ? I think it should be something like -3.4 ?
Y and Z seems ok, but not the X.

It is because the object is scaled. The panel show the inner geometry coordinates (so before scale is applied)

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/71874/difference-between-dimension-and-scale-in-blender/71877

In object mode, do Object/Apply/Scale. The local coordinates will now match the global coordinates.
Scaling an object in Object mode isn't a good habit, especially with non uniform scale (ie, not the same scale on each axis). You should avoid this, except if you have a good reason. Instead, you should scale your object in Edit mode.


text:
How to interchange 2 vertex position ? I want vertex A to be at vertex B position and vertex B to be at vertex A position
I need that because I face this situation :

I want the small area between these two overlapping faces to be a hole.

If you need vertices to be swithced places you can scale them by -1. Select them and hit  s followed by -, 1 and Enter.

I must do something wrong. It does nothing. But I solved my problem by doing something else.


text:
Removing Double Faces

Hi.  I'm new to Blender and started making modeling, till I ran into a problem.
I need help to remove a "Double Skin" as shown in the screenshot, as well as those blue lines.
The issue happened as I joined two objects and added mirror modifier.  I already tried removing doubles as well as removing modifiers, but to no avail.
Thank You!

the blue lines are the  display of the normals.

When removing doubles you need to have everything selected. If that still doesn't work try selecting a section of one 'skin' and pressing Ctrl+L to select everything connected to it and then delete it.

This will be on edit or object mode?  Again, I'm new, barely three days using Blender

This will be in edit mode.

Oh and the blue lines are the face normals. There is nothing wrong with having them, they just show which way each face is pointing. To get rid of those, have your mouse over the viewport, press n to bring up the properties panel and under the Mesh Display header click on the little face icon.

Thank you for your help.  Manage to work with the blue line.  The "Skin" however, seem to be attach to the center edge.  If I try delete it, it deletes everything.

Also note that remove doubles has a "tolerance" setting, which by default is not zero... you can adjust it.

Thank You All!!! Manage to solve the issue by reloading a previous save file.  I still thank you all for giving me helpful tips I had no knowledge off.

If you ever have an issue like this again, simply select the center edge loop, hide it with H, then use the select linked method in my answer. After that unhide the center edge with Alt-H and you should be good to go.


text:
Blender Bump Map Not Working/Applying!
I've been searching online for 3+ hours trying to figure this problem out, I finally have to post my problem to search for an answer.
When I apply my bump map to an object's texture, the map doesn't read the non-color height information coming from the image. I thought this was a software problem so I did a fresh install of the latest release of Blender (I did not install the beta version). I did the same steps as last time and it still did not work.
Also, note that when I apply a bump map the texture of the image does change to show a collection of cubes on the surface of the texture. Look at the images below to get a better idea of my situation.
I checked all of my drivers and they are all up to date. I'm stumped and I could really use a helpful solution to this problem. Thanks.
Updated Blender File
Image of what the texture is supposed to look like

texturenotworking

Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.

The Principled's Normal socket (and all other Normal sockets) is used to fake 3D. It is useful to save a lot of memory and calculation, because you can keep a low-poly object. The bumps we see are fake bump, meaning only shadows, the topology is not displaced for real, you'll notice it if you move your object, a plane will remain flat. You can either plug Bump or Normal map nodes into this Normal socket.
(For real displacement, meaning you want to add real 3D effect to the topology without actually moving any face in Edit mode, you need to have enough geometry, otherwise Blender wont be able to move any face. You can either do it with the Shader Editor and plug the Bump node into the Displacement node, or use the modifier called Displacement. With these methods you'll see a real 3D effect. But it's another topic.)
So the basic setup for a fake bump effect is the following one: Prepare your color image and its bump version. The bump version is a b&w picture, you can use a software like CrazyBump to make it, or just convert your color image to b&w for the moment.

Now setup this node organization, plug the color image into the Base Color input of the Principled BSDF, plug the bump image into a Bump node, into the Normal input of the Principled BSDF.

Here is the result:

To see the bump effect only, unplug the color image:

As a general rule, always use non-color data instead of sRGB when using maps. sRGB is only for color image textures.

Thanks for the tip. I must've forgotten to change it to noncolor data. I just changed it with no effect on the problem I've had with no bumps/depth shown on the shader.

I was confused about that, I see bumps on the shader, that's whz I figured, they were only wrong, or taken from the wrong channel. Can you highlight your problem a bit more, then I can probably refine my answer.

When you zoom into the texture there is no 3D aspect to the texture. The texture is completely flat. I've seen others do bump mapping and it has a more profound 3D effect than what I've come up with. I also have double-checked all of the nodes that make up this shader. To see my problem you can also download my project file.


text:
How can i recreate this orange texture in blender?

I have been messing around with noise textures but can't get anything reasonably close to this.

Sounds like something you could easily recreate using a simple Voronoi texture

I agree with Duarte, I would use a voroni texture plugged into a normal map. Then use the principled shader with SSS set to 1 or 2.
I used a texture in the roughness slot just to break up the shininess.
maybe scale the voroni texture even more than I did to make smaller divits and then bump the strength up a little more. Possibly invert the bump.

see also this https://www.blenderguru.com/tutorials/mastering-lighting, has an interesting .blend maybe


text:
Smooth or merge the hand and the forearm
I have made a model in Sculptris which is a 3d sculpting program from the Zbrush team. And I have separated my whole character body from hand, feet and eyes. I exported it to .obj and what I'm trying to do is to "merge" all the separated parts I have sculpted.
But my problem is that it was exported as a single object so there's a clear separation between forearm and hands, feets and legs. And i don't know how I have to proceed in Blender to "merge" them together. Here's an image to illustrate my problem.

I have never used blender. (it's my first time with sculptris too :p). So please be as precise as you can if you know how i can fix this. Thank you.

It's not that clear whether you separated arms, body and feet into different meshes or no, but it would be easier to export them all as a whole one mesh (as it should be after sculpting). This would allow to skip these steps with repairing sculpting which may be complex; also such exporting could provide good possibilities for rigging.

You need to Tab into Edit Mode, RClick to select a vertex on the hand, press Ctrl L to select all the connected (Linked) geometry, then H to Hide the hand geometry. This will let you see what's going on with the arm underneath and you can select then delete the faces of the arm stump. Then Alt H to un-Hide. Repeat this for the arm and delete the faces on the wrist of the hand geometry. Then you can use Merge (Alt M) or Fill (F) to connect the hand to the forearm. Whether modeling in Blender or Sculptris, it's better if you can sculpt all as one piece in the future and avoid this extra work.

@Mentalist Thank you, it does the work. And yeah, i was thinking to make it easier for sculpting i would use several pieces and this would make it easier. Good i didn't seperate everything (Torso, neck, head,...). Lesson learned haha

@J.Doe I'm glad you learned something, and glad it's working out for you now! Happy Blending.

Since user hawkenfox suggested it, I will post my comment as an answer:
You need to Tab into Edit Mode, RClick to select a vertex on the hand, press Ctrl L to select all the connected (Linked) geometry, then H to Hide the hand geometry. This will let you see what's going on with the arm underneath and you can select then delete the faces of the arm stump. Then Alt H to un-Hide. Repeat this for the arm and delete the faces on the wrist of the hand geometry. Then you can use Merge (Alt M) or Fill (F) to connect the hand to the forearm. Whether modeling in Blender or Sculptris, it's better if you can sculpt all as one piece in the future and avoid this extra work.


text:
is there any method to quickly draw a shortest distance path on a mesh from one point to the other?
shortest distance problem
Any addon to achieve this? Thanks a lot.
screenshot:
https://app.yinxiang.com/fx/f2ccf92a-7079-4fe3-b6f0-cda289efcd0f

if you use the knife, won't it give what you want?

Or 'J' between 2 selected vertices. Both of these cut the projection of a straight line. But I think NOLAN  may be looking for a geodesic.

Absolutely, Robin, i want to auto-generate the geodesic on any mesh, how to achieve this?