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rendering problems in blender
whenever i try to render this image i get the pixie dust kind of thing near the glass cup, can anyone explain why this is happening?
i have tried changing the roughness of the glass cup but it has no effect i didn't have this problem when i rendered only the plate

Those are "fireflies."  Strategies for dealing with them are discussed in the responses to this question

This is a common issue, it's called "Fireflies" by the community and there are a lot of ways of dealing with them.
Here's one good article, but before you dive into it let's discuss where they come from in the first place.
Cycles is a PathTracer. For each pixel it sends out a bunch of light rays from the camera, bounces them around and then sees where they end up to determine the color of the pixel. This works because physics doesn't really care if times is going forwards of backwards in this case.
You can determine how often a light ray bounces around by adjusting the "Samples" option in the render tab. Try 100, 200, 300 and so on - more samples means more calculations means more render time, but also less fireflies and noise in the image.
An alternative to that is the "Denoiser", which you can find in the "Render Layers" tab on the right. It's a tradoff between quality and performance, give it a shot if your render times are too long.


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Blender command line open template
Hi and thanks for reading.
I'm newbie and have problem to solve with Blender.
We have a upper level app which will open a template of Blender with a button in GUI (for make difference startup file and userpref file).
But I can't found in docs that argument for open template file so I'm asking community for help if this option is possible, if not hope anyone can help me Python script option for this problem.
Thanks again!

What do you mean by template? Is it just a blend file you want to open?

I'm just copy from docs: "Application templates are a feature that allows you to define a re-usable configuration that can be selected to replace the default configuration, without requiring a separate Blender installation or overwriting your personal settings."

There is no CLI option to choose which application templates is open at startup, you need to use python to tell blender to open one of the templates.
You need to call the bpy.ops.wm.read_homefile() operator, using --python-expr in the CLI arguments should be enough -
blender --python-expr "import bpy; bpy.ops.wm.read_homefile(app_template='usertemplate')"

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Blender fails to import XYZ scanned model
I'm relatively new in 3D Scanning world: I've scanned the model using XYZ 3D scanner saved as .OBJ file with *.mtl and .png texture file. No errors, nothing it just does not import the model. I have no problems opening it with Meshlab but Blender fails to import it. I've tried to convert it to fbx or ply with Meshlab - no success opening it with Blender. Tried use previous version of Blender - the same issue.
 Is there any compatibility problem between Blender and models scanned by XYZ 3D Scanner ? For example when I made the model using Autodesk 360 Recap from the pictures Blender has no problems opening it.
 Id there any workaround this ? Why Meshlab can open the model but Blender can not ? Really like Blender but unfortunately can not use it to edit 3D models scanned by XYZ Scanner.
Thank you,
Alex

Looks like it's an issue related to that specific file. Bender shoud be capable of open .obj files. Without a sample file the suffers from this, it's hard to make a diagnosis. Could you share a small sample file?

Carlo, I've done another simple scan not able to open obj with Blender. The zipped file size is 5M with obj, mtl and texture file. I've downloaded it to http://www.filedropper.com/sample_23

Carlo, Just figured out: it actually IMPORTS the obj file. However the model is really really far away from the center of coordinates, I have to zoom in really deep to be able to see. Also I do not see the color. Is there any simple way to move to 0,0,0 and then be able to see the colored model like I can see it in Meshlab ?

Import is correct: change origin and shading mode
Once you correctly export the file to OBJ format, there should be no issue related to the source.
Blender is correctly importing the geometry in the scene while keeping the object's original coordinates (Meshlab doesn't). You con manually reposition your object or run the "Set Origin" operator (choose Origin to Geometry option) and then the "Clear Location" operator to move the object to the center of the scene.
Blender is also loading the texture, but they are not shown in Solid mode. You'll have to switch to Texture mode, or Render, or even Material mode (after simplifying the nodetree in this case). You can find a detailed explanation of the Shading mode for the 3D viewport in the Manual's page

.

Thank you for your help, I can view move the object to the center now but still not able to view the colors even using different options above like Material or Solid: I have found number of posts where people are complaining about not been able to view the color from the texture files for obj files: tried to provide the full path to material file and the texture file - does not work. I see by default Blender wants to have it the material and texture files in the same directory where obj file without the pass. Meshlab has no issues showing the colors for obj made by XYZ scanner.

I had no issue in seeing the texture in Texture mode for the file you uploaded: https://i.sstatic.net/Xlzgd.png. Do your problems concert that file or another?

Carlo, this has been resolved, Thank you for all your help,  after I did Solid and rendered the the texture I was able to see my color.

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


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can you exponentially stretch out keyframes?
I am trying to have an animated rig ramp smoothly into slow motion.
In after effect I would pre-compose and then ramp using time displacement.
https://i.sstatic.net/xWbGS.jpg
Is there any way of doing the same 'ramp' in blender?
https://i.sstatic.net/FRML2.jpg

I think you should try "Action constraint": create a new controller bone, add an action constraint to a bone (let we call it "First") and set it as controlled by your action via one of the new bone trasform channels (maybe X Loc).
Then select all bones involved in driving the animation, select the "First" bone last (so it's active) and press Ctrl C > copy selected constraints, select the action constraint and confirm.
Unhook the action from the rig (but give it the shield icon, so that it doesn't get deleted during quit).
Now moving the controller bone on X axis will trigger the whole action, and you will have a single graph editor curve that will control the speed of the action.

I nearly did it I think but it still isn't working. Please can you have a look here at where I am going wrong? we.tl/t-rswwBpveXb

 First bone and control bone are different: as first I used hips (but it could be any bone, a finger, an arm, the head, it doesn't matter, it's just to write the constraint, then copy it to all others involved bones).

Thank you, Josh.

Change from timeline to graph editor, select the "vertex", press R to rotate as you like.

Yes but but there are lots of different parts: https://imgur.com/a/QZiFFwy

Yes, but that wasn’t part of your question. You should specify your question to your needs - and you shouldn’t critique answers after they have made and then edit your question: this might lead to that people don’t want to help you anymore in the future. But …that’s your decision.


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Out of sync when I render whole the frames but it's OK when I render sub of it
I have two video in blender with 30 frame/second for both of them. When I play the video in blender, everything is fine. When I use animation button for whole the frames, in the middle of video, audio and video are not sync, but when I do the same thing for just sub-frames (for example 200 frames), the output is Ok. I am totally confused and don't know what's the problem.

where is the audio coming from? Is this something in the VSE, or a 3D scene being rendered?

@David, thanks for your reply, I have two videos (both 30 fps), I want to merge them (one is small besides the other one), the audio is a strip of one of videos. I should mention that in some points, I change two videos sizes with gamma cross.

Blender has an integrated feature for this very problem. Under your timeline, you have a sync too. If you set this to 'Frame Dropping', it will skip some frames during playback if your fps rate is too slow. This way it keeps the video in sync with real time.

Oh, Thank you! I searched a lot and set it to Av-Sync to avoid this syncing problem. I tried to set fps rate to 30, why is this happening? why too slow?

In blender, if you set your framerate after you have made your animation, your animation is going to slow down or speed up with the same factor as how you changed your framerate. Also, in the top left of the viewport, you can see if your framerate is at 30 fps. If not, your pc probably can't handle the playback. It's due to hardware quality.

Sorry, if it is about hardware, why the output of sub frames is OK?

If you render your frames in video format, they don't have to be calculating your scene while playing back. It's become video.

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


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Is there anyway to install blender on ubuntu without root access?
I need to install blender on server which I don't have root access, is there any portable version of blender for ubuntu or any way to install it without root access? please help me if you know.

Just download the latest Blender for Linux from blender.org/download (currently 2.78c for Linux 64bit), unpack the tar.bz2 file
tar xjf blender-2.78c-linux-glibc219-x86_64.tar.bz2

and run the "blender" executable from inside the unpacked folder
cd blender-2.78c-linux-glibc219-x86_64
./blender <options>

Thanks a lot, I did that, but there is problem which says: Xlib:  extension "XInputExtension" missing on display ":25.0".
/home/sources/blender-release/intern/ghost/intern/GHOST_WindowX11.cpp:299: X11 glXChooseVisual() failed, verify working openGL system!
initial window could not find the GLX extension

There must be some problem with the graphic card drivers installation: see https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/47836/linux-x86-cant-open-blender I'm not sure how you can fix this without root access.

I searched, but I don't have access to install card drivers :(

older cards are no more working with blender since 2.77 (and it will get worse soon), try to get 2.76b (zip or gzip) unpack and run blender as said above, to be sure...

@m.ardito Thanks, I did that but got the same problem: Xlib:  extension "XInputExtension" missing on display ":25.0".
connect failed: No such file or directory
intern/ghost/intern/GHOST_WindowX11.cpp:216: X11 glXChooseVisual() failed, verify working openGL system!
initial window could not find the GLX extension

The answer to your question has been provided. You're now trying to get an answer to a different question, namely how to run Blender without proper OpenGL support. Please ask this in a different question, and accept this one as answered.

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


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How to set new default name for UV map?
My workflow is heavily connected with Maya and Maya has default uv name map1.
Often I have problem with renaming uvs after importing from maya.
How to set default blender uv map name to map1?

Unfortunately, there is only one answer for this:
The default identifier UVMap is hardcoded and there is no way to define this value individually (Except maybe compiling a modified version of Blender).
But you can use python to rename the map before export (see answer of Jakemoyo)

I wrote a script to accomplish this task for you. I would really recommend whenever you have time to start looking into Python scripting, and the Blender API. Stuff like this where you "just wish it had this certain feature" to fit your certain use case becomes something you can accomplish with like 15 minutes of work.
bl_info = {
    "name": "Export Object to Maya",
    "description": "Script to reconfigure FBX export to work better with Maya defaults",
    "author": "Jake Mobley",
    "version": (1, 0),
    "blender": (2, 80, 0),
    "location": "File > Export > Export Object to Maya",
    "category": "Export",
}

import bpy

class BlenderToMayaExporter(bpy.types.Operator):
    """Renames UVMap before exporting to Maya"""
    bl_idname = "object.export_to_maya"
    bl_label = "Export Object to Maya"

    @classmethod
    def poll(cls, context):
        return context.active_object is not None

    def execute(self, context):

        # Goes through each selected object,
        # Goes through each uv layer in each object,
        # renames it to "map + 'layernumber' "
        # Then when that's done it calls the FBX export dialog.
        # I'll leave it to you to research  how to change it to
        # a different file format if FBX isn't what you wanted.

        objs = bpy.context.selected_objects
        for obj in objs:
            uvs = obj.data.uv_layers
            for i,  u in enumerate(uvs):
                old_name = u.name
                new_name = f'map{i+1}'
                obj.data.uv_layers[i].name = new_name

        bpy.ops.export_scene.fbx("INVOKE_DEFAULT")
        return {'FINISHED'}

def menu_func(self, context):
    self.layout.operator(BlenderToMayaExporter.bl_idname, text=BlenderToMayaExporter.bl_label)

def register():
    bpy.utils.register_class(BlenderToMayaExporter)
    bpy.types.TOPBAR_MT_file_export.append(menu_func)

def unregister():
    bpy.utils.unregister_class(BlenderToMayaExporter)
    bpy.types.TOPBAR_MT_file_export.remove(menu_func)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()

Put this text into your Blender script editor. Save it somewhere you can remember as like "export_to_maya.py". Make sure it has the ".py" at the end.
Once it's saved, go to Edit > Preferences > Addons > Install, find that file in the location you put it select it. Then check the box to enable it. I usually like to go to the bottom left to Save Preferences just to be sure it stays saved. Then this option should always be available to you in your export options. Let me know if it works out for you.

I searched and i found it, thank you so much Jakemoyo! It works for me)


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Why colors of a Blender exported .obj mesh differ in Meshlab and Sculpteo?
On the following picture you see an object painted in Christmas colors.

When I export it as an .obj file and open the latter in Meshlab the colors look this way:

The same colors appear on Sculpteo 3D player. They are much darker, and green has become even black.
So the question is : Why? What's wrong with the export?
Peter

Obj is not a reliable material export format, see https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/57531/fbx-export-why-there-are-no-materials-or-textures

Well, I think I found the answer by myself:
It's well known that the colors we see on a Blender rendered image are not the colors we have given to the material. Generally speaking this is due to World's impact. Blender exports in .obj format without taking in view this factor. It does not export the colors you have set in advance, but the colors they change to, when the impact of environment is not there. So even if you open your exported .obj file with Blender you will see your mesh with changed colors (darkened). So in order your .obj file to open the mesh with desired colors lighten them in Blender before exporting.
:)


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A Soft body (Nurbs Circle curve) collides with a Plane but doesn't do it with Cube & other objects
The case is this:
A soft body (Nurbs Circle curve) falls on the floor and on one more object. The floor is a Plane mesh, the object is a Cube mesh. Collision physics is enabled for both. The soft body collides with the plane, but goes trough the cube. Somebody advised me to increase curve subdivision for achieving collision with the Cube but it did not help. The Cube is not parented. No other modifiers are applied.
Please advise how to resolve this issue!
Thank you.
Regards,
Peter

I don't think physics work well on non mesh objects, convert a copy of it to mesh and see if it improves.

I don't understand this question - Blender won't let me add Soft Body to a Nurbs object. Please clarify - upload a sample Blend file if possible.

@RichSedman, yes, Blender allows adding Soft Body to a Nurbs Circle via Physics. And the question is: Why it does not collide with a Cube while collides with a Plane when Collision is enabled for both? As to uploading a sample Blender file - I don't see such an option, so I'll appreciate if you advise me how to do it.
Thanks.
Regards.

@Peter Quite right - I think I must have been trying it on a Nurbs Surface instead of a Nurbs Curve. Just tried again and they can indeed have soft body. For uploading blend files, see https://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/ - you can use that to upload your Blend file and this will provide a link that you can paste into your question.

@Peter - I've managed to replicate this using both a Cube and a Plane - if the soft body nurbs circle falls close to the edge of either then it does not collide properly. However, converting the Nurbs paths to mesh and re-applying Soft Body (since the conversion loses the soft body modifier) and the collision works as it would be expected. This appears to me to potentially be a bug with soft body when acting on Nurbs objects.


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Blender model gets extra bits when opened in unity
I have this weird issue when i try to move a model made in blender to unity my model will get extra bits in unity.
Viewed in blender:

Viewed in unity:

Anybody had this issue before? If so how did you fix this?

Do you have any hidden objects in your Blender scene? (The eyeball in the top-right Outliner is greyed out)

Are those planks made as separate objects? Is the scale applied for those objects  prior to exporting? (Object mode > Ctrl+A > Scale)

Yes all planks are duplicates of others. When i try applying the scale i get the error: Can not apply to a multi user: Object.

I don't have any hidden objects in my scene

Alright, I found a way to get around that error and managed to apply the scale. Now it's working as intended. Thank you very much for your help.

@MrZak if you send it as an answer, I can mark it as accepted answer.

I will not, you can add your own or mark this as duplicate of already existing. Related answers -  https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/44313/scaling-and-importing-from-blender-to-unity and  http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/7298/why-is-it-important-to-apply-transformation. The error you got was because objects were created as linked duplicates (Alt+D) so they were linking to one mesh datablock which prevents from applying any transforms.


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Overlapping faces while extruding corners
When I extrude the face that's been highlighted in the first image, it overlaps with some part of the face marked as 2, as shown in the second image. How can I make it so when I extrude face 1, it'll also divides face 2 into 2 pieces so I can merge the overlapping faces. Or should I be following a different practice all together? Thank you for your time.

No since this approach will generally create non-manifold geometry (the one which can't exist in real life like intersecting infintely flat surfaces etc). Final way likely depends on the desired result to not become speculation and opinion-based discussion


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How do I change the DoF settings of the active camera using python?
I want to change the DoF distance of the active camera in a scene using a script. So far I have written:
bpy.data.cameras[0].dof_distance = distance #"distance" is the variable I want to use

But that sets the DoF distance for the camera that comes first in the outliner (alphabetically), which is not necessarily the active one.
So I tried getting the active camera property from the scene settings using
bpy.context.scene.camera.dof_distance = distance

But that does not work at all, because this method only returns the object, but not the "camera-properties" (as far as I get it).
How can I make this work?

I think this is it:
obj_camera.data.dof_distance = distance

This seem to always choose the correct camera, even if the datablock is named differently.

@brockmann  using eg above obj_camera is an object (in bpy.data.objects) of type CAMERA, so obj_camera.data is a member of bpy.data.cameras.  They do not need to have the same name, (which is the issue with your answer).

bpy.context.scene.camera returns the active camera in the scene. In order to change your Depth of Field settings use the Console, Python Tooltips or the API to find each corresponding property.
>>> active_cam = bpy.context.scene.camera
>>> bpy.data.cameras[active_cam.name].
                                      angle
                                      angle_x
                                      angle_y
                                      dof_distance
                                      dof_object
                                      ...
>>> bpy.data.cameras[active_cam.name].dof_distance = 7

Thanks for your answer! Unfortunately this leads to another problem: http://imgur.com/a/KySFk The settings of a camera and the "camera-object" can hold a different name.... In that case the script does not work...


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Using shadows as an input in cycles?
I'm trying to create a cartoon styled animation, and I'd like to give shadows a texture separately from the rest of the material, similar to this video at around 5:00, but not in real time. Is there a way to use the amount of light hitting the object as an input for the node editor, or will I have to use compositing?

Check here: http://blendernpr.org/downloads/ - Textured Toon


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Random bright pixels are being rendered
i get these weird pixels when rendering an image here is an exanple i whipped up.
not sure of the cause i'm fairly new

How many samples did set for the render ?

related: https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/8716/19287

@GLO how can i check that. also how do i set the res for my renders

For the samples it's in the porperties panel -> render -> sampling. And for the res search "pixelize render" there are a lots of topics on it.

Those are refered to as fireflies - search for "reducing fireflies" for ideas of how to reduce/remove them. They look like the result of Caustics - the light reflected or refracted from (usually curved) surfaces. You can disable Caustics in the Render settings Light Paths panel - disable Reflective Caustics and Refractive Caustics and see if that helps. Alternatively, significantly increase your number of samples - but bear in mind you need a lot of samples to render good quality caustics.

In Cycles Render Blender uses path tracing to determine the color of every pixels. On each pixel it involves random values to bounce and see what is the result. Blender tries this several times based on your number of samples, but if it hits directly to the light what you get is this white pixel. (Or other color depending on your light's color.)
Good way to quickly deal with this without increasing render time is to clamp the value. The value I think it refers to amount of light. If somehow your pixel bounces to the light you can make it "does not count".

However your entire scene will be a bit darker since the correct pixels will got clamped too. Your scene is dark and does not contains any visible light source in the view so I think this solution is perfect.
By the way the seed is that random value I talked about. If you change this you will notice that your white pixels change to other places. In animation, this seed will keep those white pixels at its place even if the camera is moving (unless you turn on the clock button)


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Imperfect symmetries (in sculpt mode)
When in Sculpt Mode, I usually keep the X symmetry locked, which is useful. But isn't it also a bit inconsistent? now and then, while sculpting, i notice that the symmetry is not always perfect. is this normal? or am i doing something wrong (such as hittin without knowing some shortcut or something)?

What is inconsistent? Why isn't it "always perfect"? Can you show some images of the example mesh? Note that symmetry of the sculpting mode depends on the transforms of the object which are better to have applied (Object mode > Ctrl+A)

Was the mesh truly symmetric to start with? Small variations will prevent the symmetry option applying to opposing vertices. In the dyntopo panel, there is a button to symmetrize the mesh over a chosen axis.

sorry guys i cant find a good example. was sculpting some teeth and id swear they morphed asymetrically. maybe it was indeed something related to unapplied transforms. cheers

I can attest to this as well. Its very slight, so hard to notice until your 10 hours into your sculpt. Don't know what tool or action causes it. My usual Band-Aid has been to regenerate symmetry along X, but that messes with details around the symmetry line.

There are absolutely inconsistencies, I believe it's a result of smoothing but may be wrong. Mesh is absolutely perfect before using sculpt mode (I checked), from the side in this image you can see that the mesh no longer aligns correctly. This was using X symmetry, the default brush (+ autosmooth) + smooth / autosmooth.


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Paint over multiple UVmaps?
Would it be possible to paint over an object with multiple UVmaps, as for example the result of ctrl+J'ing several independently UVmapped objects?

Related: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/44419/uv-mapping-lost-when-joining-mesh

interesting. i'm changinig me some uvmap names then, and see how it goes. cheers!


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Not seeing dimensions of parent object?
I want to change the dimension of multiple object as whole. I moved them to parent object. But how to enable the dimensions of parent object.
My purpose is if I change dimension of parent object than all child object dimension should change.

Currently I am not seeing dimension of parent object. Is there any other way around?

An empty has no dimensions. Use a normal object.

What normal. Sorry I am new to blender. I want to change dimensions of whole object instead of multiple objects

I mean you can use a parent object like a cube, not an "empty" object. Make all others children and then change the dimensions of the parent. However, chances are you don't want to change the "dimensions" in the first place but simply scale them. Does selecting the objects and pressing "s" do what you want?

No scaling is not I want.   i want to scale in real world metrices.

Did my suggestion with the parent solve your problem? If not, please provide more info what you want and how it does not work.

@Dimali No, I have multiple objects and I want to change the size with actual unit metric dimension. You are right I can scale the object but I want to see the dimension of whole object and want make modifications to dimension to change the scale of object. It is necessary as sometime models are very big or very small. This way I have reference how object will look like.


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Topology for Rigging and Animation
If my mesh is quad-based and retopologized does the poly count (high number) matter for successful deformation? I'm wondering if I have a high poly mesh, does that make rigging and animation easier or harder? And is best practice to use shrink wrap/displacement maps? I'm new to it so not sure. Just trying to avoid a bunch of trouble. Thanks!

avoid high-poly mesh if you want to animate, instead give your object a Subdivision Surface so that it keeps your object smooth. Add edge loops around the joints if you see that it helps to have a nice bend. Your question about shrinkwrap and displacement is a bit too vague though...

@moonboots thanks! Sorry for being vague. I'm wondering: when you retoplogize a mesh for the purpose of animation, can you make it low poly, then just use a displacement map so that all the high poly detail is maintained and useable? Or what's the best way to accomplish that? thanks again!

To keep all the details of the high-poly, bake your high-poly and use the normal map you get, with a Normal Map node, look inot tutorials about high-poly low-poly and bake normals. Displacement use height map, not normal map, which is another way to ad fake 3D, so I don't think it will be useful here...

@moonboots thanks so much! Can you help me understand a little more: If I have just sculpted a highly detailed face and want to animate it, it's not necessary to go in and retoplogize all the detail, correct? I can project all the detail onto the low poly retop using subsurf/multires + shrink wrap? Is this inferior to going the normal-wrap route?

keep the Subsurf on both the high and low-poly, but you don't need any Shrinkwrap. Don't retopologize, keep the face low-poly and make a test to see what it gives once you plug the normal map


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Shape Keys: Best method for simple mouth shape

Im trying to determine the best way to create the mouth animation of this hard working carrot! I will use shape keys, I’m just trying to create a clean mouth shape out of the Mesh. I’ve tried extruding faces (but shape isn’t great) as well as live sculpt but can’t really get a successful result (selected part of mesh not deforming well)
Here’s the GIF: https://giphy.com/gifs/carrot-14m3HcGbcy4v9m
I’ve also tried a Boolean operation but it creates sharp edges. What’s the best method to accomplish a mouth like this? Do I just need to get better at sculpting? :) THANK YOU!

Yes extrude inwards seems like the right thing to do, here is a quick try, make sure you have enough geometry. Also have you tried bones instead of shapekeys?

I would put 3 bones for the upper lip and 3 for the bottom one, something like that

On relook the  link does work from youtube https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&v=jEQoQ5DzPMI&redir_token=w-IV-prsLjebx3ugVGfm2e4qwNZ8MTU3NDQxNDg3MUAxNTc0MzI4NDcx&q=http%3A%2F%2Fperm.cessen.com%2F2010%2Fblenderartists%2Fmouth.blend, its 404 from the BA site. https://blenderartists.org/t/mouth-rig-simple-but-effective/491749   Well worth checking out.

@moonboots your loopcuts and inward extrude is perfect for this thank you! Only thing is, getting those loop cuts into circular shapes like in your screenshot above is throwing me for a...loop lol. I'm having to move each vertice into the right place, and its a little wonky because my mesh isn't 100% symmetrical. Is there an easier, more accurate approach? Thank you again for all your help!

maybe share your file: https://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/

@moonboots sure thing thanks!

I'm not sure what's your problem, just select somes faces and extrude inwards, but maybe you should 1) keep a simpler topology and use Subsurf to smooth 2) use bones so that once you've created a character standing up you can make whatever you want with it: lay on the ground, move his leg, etc...

@moonboots Thanks so much. After using the Loop Cut Tools > Circle, insetting faces and then applying Subsuf on selected vertices, the shape turns out great. I applied original sub surf on the object previously to try and sculpt. I also created a two bone armature but might have hide it, thats a great idea to start off with it though. Appreciate your insight!


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Custom Mesh Texture - Best Method?

Hi, I’m wondering what method is best to achieve the darker lines texture on this hard working carrot. Texture paint, is what I’m assuming, but am not sure if there is a more efficient way like a hair particle system to sit on the surface.
Thanks!

Do you want it to look actually bumpy or more stylized like you have it? The drawn lines look fine to me but I am assuming you want to take it a slightly different direction. Why not a procedural texture? John

Hi John, I’m new to blender. The drawn lines would be great, I’m not looking to apply normal map or anything. Could you help me out with the procedural texture process you’re referring to? Is that UV texture painting? Thank you!

You could do it with texture paint, you would have control on how your spots appear exactly, or, as John says, you could do it procedurally.
If you choose this second option, here is a try. Set this nodes chain: Texture Coordinate (Object output) > Mapping node > Texture node (here Musgrave) > ColorRamp > Mix Shader. Mix your 2 colors (carrot color and spot color) in the Mix Shader. Play with the Mapping scale values to squish the spots on the right axis and with the parameters of the other nodes to give them the shape you want. At the end of the chain mix with a Glossy, and maybe also with a Subsurface Scattering to give it a bit of transparency.

Amazing thank you! This is really gonna help me, and help me learn how to do a lot more. Thank you for the detail and time you put into this!


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cant see edit mode in front viewport blender 2.8
i cant see any vertices or faces or any kind of grid in the front viewport.
In 3D mode when i shift around they appear as you can see in picture 1.
however when i click '1' in the numpad to go to front view edit i cant see any geometry- no edit grids or lines. i can only see it if i click wireframe mode.
have i clicked something? everything in my viewport overlays is clicked on.

You are probably viewing the back of your model rather than the front. Press CTRL+1 to view opposite side or/and ALT+Z to toggle transparency.

Hi - I tried both your suggestions- still not seeing any grids in the front view unfortunately.


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How to align and snap objects?

Hi everyone!
I have to create this temple on Blender and I have no idea how to snap objects in this precise way. The biggest problem is how to snap the cubes with the green cylinders and cubes with blue ones in the sides of this temple. It seems they are aligned in the center but I'm not sure.
I hope someone can help me understand how to create this since I'm a very beginner with the software
Thanks!

Michelle, don't ask twice the same question, plus you already have 2 answers: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/156443/how-to-snap-begginer-level/156450#156450

The two answers you already got for this on your previous question are really the most accurate ways I know to do this. but if you're looking for something simpler then here are a couple more options for you.

You can snap everything to Blenders grid by either turning on the snap function here

or by holding Ctrl as you move your objects.

Move objects along axis by entering a value, eg. if you have a cube that's 2 units long along the X-axis and its origin is in the middle and you want to add another flush along side on the X axis, Duplicate the cube and press G, X, 2 to move it along the X


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Creation menu in Blender 2.8
Why when I create an object (ex: a UV Sphere or a Cylinder) in a file I am working on, it doesn't show anymore the option of how many vertices/radius/depth etc at the moment I just created it. Previously worked well but I don't know what happened. (if I open a new empty file, it works well again)
I am working in Blender 2.8

I had default window layout chosen and not "Modeling" one.


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Script for merging and renaming shapekeys
I make avatars for vrchat but most of them have like 500+ shapekeys that I need to mix and rename by hand.
Is there a script out there that automatically does this for me?

Hello and welcome to the site! Could you elaborate a bit and maybe give an example of what exactly is to be done?

Thank you!
What I need done involves mixing several shapekeys together.
normally that wouldnt be such a problem if there weren't 500 of them.
and I don't want to do it manually anymore.
So I was looking for a script that could recognize the names of shape keys and mix them automatically.


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How do I tell python to ignore a certain specified bone when it is not present in the armature
I am writing a script to certain bones inside of an armature.
But if the script cannot find one of the bones I have specified the whole script just dies out and doesn't run any further. how can I make it so that if the script can't find a bone it ignores that bone and goes onto the next line of code.

Check if the bone exist and run the next line: if bone: print("Do something")

You can use try statement in Python script.
See the document here.
A simple script:
a_list = [1,0,2,3,4,5]
result_list = []
while a_list:
    try: # Try to run this block
        divider = a_list[-1]
        result = 60 / divider
        result_list.append(result)
    except: # if "any" Error happen, do this block
        print(f"Oops, something go wrong: divider:{divider}")
        break
    finally: # whether there is an error or what, run this block
        a_list.pop()
result_list

Output:
Oops, something go wrong: divider:0
[12.0, 15.0, 20.0, 30.0]

Please don't silently bypass an error in code, let user know what happens and if possible, let them decide what to do explicit.


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Using image as face of character in blender 2.8
I have a character with a flat head and I would like to apply a texture to the head to be used as face.
In the image below you can see that I have selected the region were I would like to map the texture. It seems to be working fine if I mark the border of the selection as a seam and then I unwrap it. But then the texture will apply to the entire body.
What is the best way to have both a material for the skin but also a texture in the selected region?
Thanks in advance for your help!

Give the selection other material and apply texture. UVs always affect the whole mesh.

I will try this approach, thanks!


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Eevee - Viewport Render image vs F12 rendering (speed)
I wonder why Eevee renders slowly when pressing F12, while viewport rendering does the same exact picture (down to the pixel) but takes less than a second.
Where are these seconds lost ? What kind of computation is the CPU-GPU doing that makes me wait to finally display the same picture as "viewport render" ?
It's annoying because I would like to use the compositor (not compatible with viewport rendering) while keeping fast render times (for a still image, 1 second vs 15 is not an issue, but for animations it's more a problem).


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Render overwritten issue
Render overwritten issue
Hi
i do render in png pictures and later render in image sequence to get a video.
somehow an error occurred and i overwrote on my previous renders which took me days to render .
i have gone through a lot of  blender render issues on youtube i can't seem to find one with similar case .
please does anyone have an idea of how i can recover them.
i hope i was clear enough . i can try to explain better if needed.
Thanks

You must have a path for every different kind of render:
A folder for the image sequence.
A folder for the composites.
And the final render (probably .mp4 or .mov) anywhere.
It's not good to render different renders at the same location because it will be overwritten if the file extension were the same. Eg: png.
Last thing: You cannot recover overwritten files.


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Compositor setting in Blender Internal: How to properly make a split RGB effect on further objects using Z?
I'm a blender amateur, I've learned it by myself, and I was trying to make a split RGB effect on the objects that are the further away from the camera.
I tested it out with this simple scene:

In the compositor, I tried to shift the R and B layers depending on the Z value. For example, Z=4 on the closest cube and Z=14 on the furthest one. I thought then that I could multiply it by 5 so the R channel could move 20 or 70 pixels to the left. But it didn't give me the result I expected.
Here a screenshot of my node setting:

And this is what I get:

This is what I'm trying to have:

Here, the focus is on the woman face and everything that is before or after is not blurry but splitted. I'd to do this but with the R and B layers.
First of all, is it even possible and if so, how can I ^^?
Thank you in advance for your help! :)

One challenging aspect of this effect is that the strength of the color shift increase with the distance from the object that is in focus. This is solved in the compositor by using the depth and a user supplied distance that is considered in focus, to calculate the intensity of the applied color shift.
Before

After

Unfortunately the color shift produces artifacts at the image border. Cropping by the number of shifted pixels may be necessary for good looking results. The proper solution would be to mirror the image along the borders before performing the shift to avoid artifacts in the border region.
Cropped

The Depth Color Shift node setup uses the normalized depth as input to the Gaussian function. This allows to have a nice spread of the intensity values instead of a sharp peak for the depth that is in focus. The output is normalized and inverted, since the effect is supposed to be the smallest at the given depth.
The Gauss Function implements the Gaussian function.
The Shift Color shifts both the individual color channels and the intensity values. The latter is used as blending factor to ensure that the effect strength is applied correctly  depending on the distance.
The parameters of the Depth Color Shift node are:

Focus Distance: Distance where the effect is the weakest (is used as $μ$ in the Gaussian function)
$σ$: Parameter of the Gaussian function, controls the variance
R Shift X: Shift of the red color channel along the x-axis
R Shift Y: Shift of the red color channel along the y-axis
G Shift X: Shift of the green color channel along the x-axis
G Shift Y: Shift of the green color channel along the y-axis
B Shift X: Shift of the blue color channel along the x-axis
B Shift Y: Shift of the blue color channel along the y-axis

The Intensity output of the Depth Color Shift node allows you to see the strength of the effect (black = no strength, white = full strength)

The example file below is for Blender 2.80, however the same node setup should work in 2.79 as well.

Great answer to the OP .. just my 2¢.. of the 2 types of chromatic aberration , maybe transverse is already catered for by the Lens Distortion  node > Dispersion? (Controlled by a vignette,not depth). This is more like axial c.a, a failure of wavelengths to focus on the same plane. Maybe you could deferentially control blurring of R,G,and B, using your Gaussian node group, rather than shifting? On the other hand, maybe we're not looking for a simulation at all, just a style.

I think this is purely a stylistic choice made in Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse. If it is indeed based on physical lens properties (rather than the color misprints in comics) then it would be axial chromatic aberration. I've tested the dispersion of the Lens Distortion node and the increased strength towards the edges and the distortion do not match the reference as far as I can tell. Therefore I didn't try to recreate a transverse chromatic aberration effect.


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Modify location data for physics animated object
I have a "coin" standing on a "table" which is being spun by the use of two projectiles, hitting opposite edges of the "coin," like the action fingers would have when spinning a real coin.  The "coin" plays out its animation, but the location parameters do not change.  This is a problem, not because I need to know the parameters, but rather because I want to change them and fix them.  I will be allowing all animation but translation through the X and Y axis.  I want the coin to spin and fall, but not travel around the table.  I cannot use python code, so please provide user friendly solutions.

Is this for video or perhaps a game where the projectiles are fired 'live' at the coin's edges?  If video, the spins can be initially started with physics then switched to keyframed animation to prevent the coin travelling around the table, however this would probably be more easily animated manually from the start. The fall when the spin slows enough, should be possible by switching back to physics.  I'll go off and try this.

Next day - adding to the above...  This worked very well. By baking the spin plus physics frames, the locations of the spinning coin could also be controlled in all axis' as desired, even to the point when it falls topsy-turvy and comes to rest, it does so exactly where you want it.  More info and Blend file available if required.


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Smooth transition between two edge loops
I've inherited some STL files for a device enclosure (meant to be 3D printed) that I need to alter. It contains several standoffs (posts for mounting circuit boards) that transition smoothly into the bottom and walls of the housing. Some of them are along a flat surface, which is easy, but other are tucked into the corner, like this one:

The trouble is, I need to move these beautifully modeled standoffs a few millimeters here and there. The one pictured above needs to go further into the corner shown behind it in both X and Y.
I've tried deleting the transition faces (selected in the image) and using the "Bridge Edge Loops" tool with mixed success. I end up with a somewhat craggy surface with a radial faceting or stepping, as seen on the right side of the transition here (my best recreation attempt so far):

This isn't going to print as well as I'd like, and the odd geometry may actually make this transition weaker (some standoffs are tall). More importantly, doing it this way limits me to using the existing outer loops of the transitions.
So, how do I achieve the transition shown in the first image? I'm open to deleting the standoffs, simplifying wall and corner geometry, and starting more or less from scratch.
Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Is there a reason why you can't move the whole transition piece along with the standoff?

I need to move this particular standoff into that corner behind it, so the geometry of the corner and the back wall will become involved. Most of the other standoffs can be moved wholesale as you suggest, though.


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Have the view cube not disapear when pressing g
Is there a way to have the view cube not disappear when pressing G?
I mean this one

as a beginner I'm having problems remembering which color is which axis and having it there when pressing G would help when locking things to an axis.

Just in case you didn't know, if you pressed G (to move the object) and then X (choosing the X axis movement), and noticed that you actually want to move the object along the Y axis, you can simply press Y while moving, and the movement will be locked to the Y axis from that moment on.

I think it's not possible, but if you hit g, then hold the middle mouse button, you can choose the axis by moving the mouse its direction.

It's easier to remember if you think of it as X,Y,Z = R,G,B.  You can also use Shift+Space then G which will show the gimbal.


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Blender opens user preferences when starting
I don't know what I've done but all the sudden whenever I open blender, it starts with the preference window open too, looking like this

Even resetting blender to factory defaults doesn't change it. Why is this happening and how to get rid of it?

Could be that you've saved the startup file while having the user preferences open.

Yup. Close the preference window, and File > Defaults > 'Save Startup File'

If you didn't do like Robert and Robin suggested (you edited the startup file while it was open) maybe check your permissions. You will need read/write permissions in your config preferences files. That's the 'rw' below.
In Linux:
ls -la ~/.config/blender/3.0/config/ total 168 drwxr-xr-x 2 tom tom   4096 Jan 15 00:43 . drwxr-xr-x 3 tom tom   4096 Dec 15 12:57 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 tom tom     69 Jan 15 00:43 bookmarks.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 tom tom    382 Jan 15 00:43 platform_support.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 tom tom     42 Jan 15 00:43 recent-files.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 tom tom 149264 Dec 15 12:57 userpref.blend

I guess you could fix it maybe with chmod -Rv u+rw ~/.config/blender/3.0/config/ potentially.

I don't see how this could possibly relate to permissions. If Blender had problems accessing its user preferences folder, it would open as if you pressed File -> Defaults -> "Load Factory Settings" and User Preferences window is not open by default then. It's possible to open User Preferences from a script with bpy.ops.screen.userpref_show(), but that would be one weird script. The only likely logical explanation is that startup file got saved this way. I gave this answer a downvote, because  to the best of my knowledge this cannot be correct.


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Alpha not working on reference image
I'm following this beginners course but and we should make the reference image transparent, but it doesn't do anything for me. Why is this happening?

haha.. me too following same course and stuck at the same point. Did you figured it out why ? Iam using Blender 2.8 for mac

Mobin's answer solved my problem

FOR BLENDER 2.80 to pre 2.92:
Go to object data properties and select alpha and change the slider.

.
FOR BLENDER +2.92:
Same as before, go to object data properties and select opacity (they renamed it) and change the slider.

If you are using Blender 2.92.0 version. Go to Object data properties, then opacity.


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smoke to use gradient from red to violet through rainbow
How can i get my smoke to change from red to violet through the rainbow as a gradient throughout my animation?
I am trying to create smoke that will have a gradient from red to violet through the rainbow.
I have the smoke, i am not able to make it change colors throughout my animation though.
I would love to use nodes to do this, because i am trying to learn nodes right now. I have not been able to find a good tutorial on how to change smoke colors with nodes though.
Thanks

Generally, use a colour ramp node to vary the colour over a range of values. An attribute node will give you some values to work with. I think you may want to use a particle system as the source for your smoke and use the particle age or velocity as input for a colour ramp.

@sambler Mind blown. Very new to blender.

Please add more information - perhaps images of what you have so far. It's unclear as to whether you want the whole smoke to change colour in unison (eg, one one frame it's all red, later it all becomes green, later still, blue - but always all the smoke is the same colour as the rest of it) or whether it should be different colours simultaneously throughout the smoke. This will affect how the colour will be controlled.

I would like the smoke to maintain a gradient of the rainbow. From where the smoke is being emitted to the tail of the smoke.

Here's a variant of the 'Quick Smoke' material (as created by selecting the default cube, pressing Space and typing 'Quick Smoke' Enter).

The differences are the addition of the Emission shader to make the smoke glow (this would normally be the 'flames') and the additional of a Color Ramp set to vary based on the Generated 'Z' coordinate (adjust the color ramp colors to get the desired 'rainbow').
Note that setting the smoke domain objects to be 'Smoke Adaptive Domain' the smoke rainbow will dynamically span the height of the extent of the smoke.

That is perfect, tyvm.


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How to smooth only one side of the model?
I have this medallion thing. Which i made from a png and i need to smooth only one side of it. Is there a way to accomplish this? Other than modelling it from scratch.

it's not clear what you want to smooth, if you're talking about the edges all over the top, use some bevels

Probably you're talking about Smooth shading, enable it in the object properties. If it smoothens up too much enable AutoSmooth angle or EdgeSplit modifier. See https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/6425/keep-sharp-edges-when-using-subdivision-surface

One side of the coin as in top and bottom? If so you can extrude the bottom faces and apply "Smooth vertice" then apply "shade smooth" but only with those bottom faces. To do this you have to be in edit mode and only select the faces that you want make smooth.


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Is the Bridge Vertices feature in Blender 2.8x
Does Blender 2.8x have the "Bridge Vertices" feature like it had in Version 2.79 and older

Hello and welcome :). Do you mean Bridge Edge loops? It's in Edge > Bridge edge loops

NO! I meant "Bridge Vertices" . I didn't mention "Bridge Edge Loops".  Look at the later Blender versions that employ "Bridge Vertices" THAT's that I'm looking for in the newer Blender Versions.

Hello again :). My mistake. I'm afraid Martynas is right, and even Blender manual doesn't containt any Bridge vertices entry. The closest one is Vertex Connect.

There is no feature called "Bridge Vertices" in Blender 2.79 even with any of the included add-ons enabled. I did not check all of the previous versions, but I suspect it was never there either and you must be mistaken.
In most versions of Blender you can connect two vertices by hitting F for Make Edge/Face. That includes versions 2.79, 2.80 and 2.81.

I see.. OK.. WIll give t try.. Hope it works for me. I'm looking to "Bridge" a Circle and a plane, and have them join together, exp.: a pipe flaring out to a square end.

This looks like what has been mentioned in the comments, "Bridge edge loops". You can then increase the number of cuts by unfolding the thingy in the lower left corner after calling the operator and changing the field

In Blender 2.8 it is one feature which is similar to bridge function that you have mentioned RMB- LoopTools - Loft
You have to enable the LoopTools add-on in the preferences to use this feature.


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Exporting BezierCurve Animation to a txt file
I'm actually trying to export a beziercurve animation in a txt file with this python code :
    import bpy

obj = bpy.context.active_object
matrix = obj.matrix_world

file = open("C:/example.txt","w")
if obj.type == 'CURVE':
   for subcurve in obj.data.splines:
      curvetype = subcurve.type
      print('curve type:', curvetype)
      if curvetype == 'POLY':
            for bezpoint in subcurve.bezier_points:
               loc = matrix * bezpoint.co
               x = loc.x
               y = loc.y
               z = loc.z
               file.write("v " + str(x) + " " + str(y) + " " + str(z) + " " + str(tilt) + "\n")
file.close()

But when i press run code button, nothing happens in the txt file and I have the curvetype message in the console (curve type : POLY)
My curve type is POLY, I subdivided the bezier 5 times and I succefully created a cube mesh to create the animation (follow path).
Here is an image of blender :
Please I really need help :)
Thanks.


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small white tracking box i cant get rid of

new to blender and accidentally clicked SOMETHING, now i have this annoying box that's "tracking" and i cant get rid of it. ive searched through youtube and other sources for about an hour but since i dont know what feature it is i can find no useful info.  (also, may be unrelated but now grease pencil stopped working as well)

Simply press your delete key when he object is selected (white)

This is a tracking point used for motion tracking.
It is creating by pressing Ctrl + the opposite for your select button.
To get rid of it, simply select it and press X, delete.

Just delete it with X or Del button.
Or learn motion tracking - it allows you to create something like this: https://youtu.be/dfe0HLVa9Go :)
Good tutorials:
https://youtu.be/5HvLTJ4Zgo0 (basic)
https://youtu.be/1v-Bf9XOXIg (advanced)


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What is the difference between scene camera and data camera and how to set the FOV?
I tried to set the FOV of my camera but could not do it via bpy.context.scene.camera. When I tried to access the angle property I got AttributeError, but I found bpy.data.cameras["Camera"] has an angle attribue that I could change. My script now looks like this:
def setup_camera():
    camera = bpy.context.scene.camera
    camera.scale = (-1, 1, -1)
    camera.rotation_mode = "QUATERNION"
    cam = bpy.data.cameras["Camera"]
    cam.angle_x = 69.4
    cam.angle_y = 42.5

I just wanted to know if this is the right way to change the FOV? I guess one is a camera profile the other one is an actual camera?

I'm not that familiar with the structure of Blender's type hierarchy, but according to the documentation for Blender's Object type there is a distinction between the object and the objects's data block.
# From Blender's Documentation:

# Create new lamp datablock
lamp_data = bpy.data.lamps.new(name="New Lamp", type='POINT')

# Create new object with our lamp datablock
lamp_object = bpy.data.objects.new(name="New Lamp", object_data=lamp_data)

Likewise, bpy.context.scene.camera is a Blender Object type which has its camera specific attributes stored in it's data block of Camera type, which can be accessed with the attribute data.
camera = bpy.context.scene.camera
camera.data.angle_x = math.radians(69.4)  # angle_x and angle_y take radians

The properties panel in the user interface is arranged the same way. Values like location, rotation etc. are set in the Object tab, type specific values like the Field of View of a camera or shape keys for a mesh are set in the Data tab.
You could also have more than one camera in the scene, in which case the cameras could either be accessed as objects in bpy.data.objects['<name>'] (with the camera data accessible from the objects's data attribute again), or you access the data block directly bpy.data.cameras['<name>'].
bpy.context.scene.camera would only refer to the active camera of the scene, just like the corresponding entry in the properties panel under the Scene tab.
N.B.: I assume angle_x and angle_y can't be set independently but instead are coupled by the aspect ratio. If you set angle_x, angle_y will follow suit.

I saw that question, but I assumed since the api exposes both I can set both. Oh and they take rads that is very good to know


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How to use quaternions coming from ros?
I have a quaternion coming from a ros tf tree that is representing the orientation of my camera. I am trying to set these values for a blender script to render a scene, but the camera looks into the wrong direction, compared to when I visualize the quaternion within rviz(ros visualization tool). So I assume there is some fixed rotation that I need to apply between the tf exported quaternions and the beldner quaternions, but I'm not sure which one. Example pictures will make clear what I mean:
The box I'm trying to render is where box_corner_tracker is

The camera in rviz looks along the z(blue) axis. The perspective here is slightly changed, but imaging the box being there where the camera frame is looking with the z(blue) axis.

Now when I enter some example values into blender you can see that the camera look completely into the wrong direction:

The tooltip in blender for quaternions says wxyz am I right to assume that this is the order the values need to be entered(I did it this way)?
I'm not sure what the problem is but I assume that my question is what is the transformation between the looking direction of the blender camera and it's z-vector?

If you have a look at any camera in Blender with local transformation orientation selected, you will see that in Blender cameras look at negative z direction, up is positive y and right is positive x:

You will need to match whatever camera orientation is used in the software you are importing from. It might even be that some axis is inverted in another software.

Funny just found out the same, that was it thank you :)

Actually any idea what the benefit of an inverted z axis is? x,y,z all positive seems to be the natural case, so why did they change it?

I have no idea, to be honest. It might make sense to have positive x go from left to right and y from bottom to top. But I don't know. I guess it is a random choice that made sense to someone at the time of programming. It seems to me Blender is made as if you were looking down to your scene so up is behind the camera. I discussed it in depth with a colleague once and we came to a conclusion that it is possible to find reasons for pretty much any way of arranging the axis. I don't think any one way makes more sense than the others.


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Rigify Generate Rig Error Index 0 Out of Range 2.83
okay, i've run through this process a few times in 2.79, and i have gotten it working.
however, now i need to create the rigify metarig in 2.83.4, and i'm running into an error i don't understand.
other instances of this problem here seem to indicate that bones rigify needs were deleted.  but i haven't deleted any rigify bones.  i AM starting with a plain single bone and only adding limb "samples."  again, the same way i have done multiple times in 2.79.
https://prnt.sc/uaygcs
i tried using the "standard" names for Paw limbs on the bones, as listed in the blender/rigify manual, though i didn't have to do that in the old version.
the 2.8 rigify also threw an error when i had an extra bone on the end of the hind limb (previously, it had just ignored that bone, but at least created a DEF and ORG bone for it).  i removed that, but still the indexing error.
it creates the root, and the other basic super copy bones, then croaks on the limbs :/
it wont do the hind by itself, nor the fore by itself.
i manually separated the tail of the collar/hiplink bones from the chain, even though they are parented but not 'connected,' which rigify should recognize.
okay, i deleted all the bones except the root, added an UNTOUCHED paw sample, hit generate, and no.  same error.
WHAT DOES THIS ERROR MEAN?  it sounds like it's not finding any bones in a chain?
Duplicate rig: 0.004
Make list of org bones: 0.001
Instantiate rigs: 0.000
Initialize rigs: 0.000
Prepare bones: 0.001
Rigify: failed to generate rig.
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "E:\GFX\blender\blender-2.83.4-windows64\2.83\scripts\addons\rigify\ui.py", line 765, in execute
    generate.generate_rig(context, context.object)
  File "E:\GFX\blender\blender-2.83.4-windows64\2.83\scripts\addons\rigify\generate.py", line 523, in generate_rig
    raise e
  File "E:\GFX\blender\blender-2.83.4-windows64\2.83\scripts\addons\rigify\generate.py", line 511, in generate_rig
    Generator(context, metarig).generate()
  File "E:\GFX\blender\blender-2.83.4-windows64\2.83\scripts\addons\rigify\generate.py", line 409, in generate
    self.__create_root_bone()
  File "E:\GFX\blender\blender-2.83.4-windows64\2.83\scripts\addons\rigify\generate.py", line 218, in __create_root_bone
    spread = get_xy_spread(metarig.data.bones) or metarig.data.bones[0].length
IndexError: bpy_prop_collection[index]: index 0 out of range, size 0
Error: Generation has thrown an exception: bpy_prop_collection[index]: index 0 out of range, size 0

file:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1evuiAaeHtfNl3eyheyHXQeKxUrZDJO5G/view?usp=sharing

I just tested it in 2.9, 2.83 and 2.79. All is working fine. The rig is generated without any error message.

so... 2.83.4 sub-version might be the problem?  or i selected something wrong? or it was the wrong day, and the moon was in the wrong house!?!?  i'll try again, thanks for looking! :)

Same error here, even using the provided default meta-rig or human base rig I get the same error.

i'm back.  rigify is STILL broken.  i deactivated EVERY SINGLE ADDON in blender 3.0.0 except Rigify,  saved preferences, restarted blender, started a NEW file, added the rigify default human (or any), pressed the 'generate rig' button... and index 0 error:
https://prnt.sc/kYnIeZ5gqTsT
same console traceback:
https://prnt.sc/hA4rQ3RIta1s

In order for the Rigify Generate button to work, the option in Preferences > Editing > Objects > Duplicate Data > Armature must be checked.


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Rigify IK to FK Snap, IK loses Twist
i'm using a superlimb: paw for the foreleg of this horse.  i have created a lying down pose with the FK rig.
i snapped the IK rig to it, and that worked fine.  however, when i switch from FK to IK... the upper leg twists.  or untwists.
https://recordit.co/32VRUY7Vds
http://g.recordit.co/32VRUY7Vds.gif
either way... i don't know what to do to compensate for this or fix it.  is there a way, or is the rigify IK not meant to do this?
i found that the tweak ball for that bone will twist it... but somehow it doesn't twist it exactly back to where it should go?  i am brand new to rigify, and totally lost.
thanks, guys!

I think the IK/FK snap can be imperfect, especially at extreme poses and your pose is quite extreme. I notice that you use 2.7x. Have you tired 2.8? Rigify received some updates recently. I tested a pose similar to yours in 2.8 and I get no twisting.

i opened the file in 2.8, but the rigify python no longer worked.  i'll look for a conversion method, or i can just start over in 2.8.  thanks for looking!

If you still have your meta rig you may be able to re-generate the rig and Append your Action. Not sure if it will work, but it could.


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Unify rotation direction on f-curve
I have used the bake action operator on a rig. Unfortunately if the rotations are too and fast the direction of rotation is getting the opposite direction. Do you have any idea, how to easily fix this?
Here you can see the current f curve in yellow and the desired one in red.

I came up with this coding solution:
import bpy
import math

def fcurve_point_postpro(fcurve):
  previous_value = 0
  for pnt in fcurve.keyframe_points:
    while pnt.co[1] <= previous_value:
      pnt.co[1] += 2 * math.pi
    previous_value = pnt.co[1]

def fcurve_postpro():
  for bpy_object in bpy.context.selected_objects:
    obj_fcurves = bpy_object.animation_data.action.fcurves
    x_fcurve = obj_fcurves.find('rotation_euler', index=0)
    fcurve_point_postpro(x_fcurve)

fcurve_postpro()


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Particle Edit pushing hair into mesh
When I comb hair on the scalp, the hair gets pushed into the mesh leaving "bald spots".
STEPS TO CORRECT:

I used puff to bring hair above the mesh and stand straight up but issue repeats whenever I comb the hair, even if I do not comb directly against the scalp.
I tried flipping the normals of the problem areas but it just deforms the mesh.
I selected both "Free Edit" and "Disconnect All" and tried a redo on separate occasions and have the same problem.
I moved my particle edit up and down in my modifier stack.
I made sure I am not in Particle Edit when rendering.
I lessened the strength of the comb tool to .299
I changed the Children from Interpolated to Simple

I tried searching the net and this forum for similar issues. It seems this has been a problem for some years but most answers are guesses (which lead me to the corrective issues above).
Does anyone know why this happens and/or how to fix it?
Thanks in advance.

I believe that this is because of two reasons.

You'll want to increase the Draw Path Steps (should match particle Steps in particle settings for view port hair to match rendered results) to add more detail while you comb. Draw Path Steps is found in the Tools Panel while in Particle Edit* mode.
Make sure that Deflect Emitter is on in the tool panel while in
particle edit mode and set it where the hair no longer collides.

Actually the solution to this is to:

Select the roots (menu)
Select more (Ctrl++)
Subdivide. You need to do this quite a few times (in my case 3)

You can't do anything about it. It was coded to be like that.
Put cursor in the middle of the head, uncheck "keep roots", select roots, scale roots to nearly the cursor. Check "keep roots".
Comb hairs as you want them to be. They will penetrate surface of course, leaving bald spots. Uncheck "keep roots".
Select roots again and move them up (towards head's top). It helped me, at least.


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Positioning unconnected bones in pose mode using cursor
I'm still learning and I am currently having problems positioning unconnected bones accurately in pose mode when using the 3d cursor.
I have one bone positioned correctly and I then need to add a new unconnected bone so I select bone 1 in edit mode and then press Shift+A to add a new bone. I then need to align it to a object so I switch to pose mode and then select the object and press shift+S and select cursor to selected, then I select the bone and press shift+S and select selection to cursor. The bone is now positioned correctly but if I switch to edit mode then the bone is in the wrong position. Am I doing something wrong?
Thanks

All your bones need to be positioned correctly in Edit mode. In Edit mode you will build the basic/rest pose of the character. All the changes you will make in Pose mode are only for animations purpose (or to create static particular poses) and won't affect the bone positions in Edit mode. So if the bone aligned to an object is supposed to be the rest pose, you have to do it in Edit mode. But maybe that does not answer to your question, in that case you should give a screenshot so that we understand correctly what is your problem.

Thanks I understand now. Instead of positioning in pose mode I'll just use edit mode.

yes, don't build you Rest pose accordingly to what particular pose your character could take at a moment or at another, just build a very standard Rest pose in Edit mode, with legs straight and arms horizontal. Then in Pose mode you'll make him move the way you want. And in Pose mode, to come back to the Rest pose, i.e. the same bone positions as in Edit mode, select all your bones and alt R (to reset rotations), alt S (to reset scales) and alt G (to reset movements).

But it's not clear what you meant by aligning a bone to an object, so maybe you should precise this. If for example your character move to take an object or to take a particular position, do it in Pose mode.`

by aligning a bone I mean that I need a bone to be in the center of a object. When I was doing this in pose mode using cursor to selected, then selected to cursor the bone positioned changed when switching to edit mode. But if I do the same procedure in edit mode it works fine. Thanks for your help it makes sense now.

All your bones need to be positioned correctly in Edit mode. In Edit mode you will build the basic/rest pose of the character. All the changes you will make in Pose mode are only for animations purpose (or to create static particular poses) and won't affect the bone positions in Edit mode. So if the bone aligned to an object is supposed to be the rest pose, you have to do it in Edit mode, if this is supposed to be an animation pose, do it in Pose mode.


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Turbulence particles not working?
Ok, Im trying to mimic the "firefly" particle systems available in unity, where the particles "glint" but more so move around in a swarming way:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O5XU_jshBU
Ive just turned off gravity and added turbulence to my particle system, however Im still not getting the swarming:

What is wrong here?

You should add a Force Field. [Shift + A] -> Force Field -> Turbulence

Make sure it's in the same layer as the particles object you want to affect, to get the a turbulent flow of the type you linked.
It looks like what you did was add turbulence to the Particle System in the Force Field Settings tab, which makes each individual particle act as a force field (if you turn on Self-Effect in that tab, you'll see how this affects the particle system).
The Field Weights settings tab controls how much each type of force field affects the particles.

This sort of thing you normally get in animation. The parts you also need to look at is how long the lifespan of each particle is. If you know you have everything set up correctly, it may simply be that you aren't seeing it because you aren't in the correct frame. Make sure you have more than one frame in your timeline, then scrub along it. Could be you've already done it! Alternately, take a quick look via rendering it; some feature just don't show up in viewport in Cycles, but show up in the final product.


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Unwrapping a beveled cube for minimal seams? For seamless textures?
I'm looking to see if there is a common / correct way of unwrapping a beveled cube for a seamless texture, specifically a wood texture.

I can of course mark seams where the flat faces used to be (now the flat + chamfers) and rearrange / rotate these groups manually, but this is tedious and there will always be more than one place where the seam is visible (below).

Is there a common way of unwrapping a beveled cube (or other object) that results in minimal seams?

Strictly, to capture the  grain of solid wood seen in the round (as opposed to a veneer), you really need to generate some kind of  3D texture, which you can bake for a seamless result.

For objects like this you will always have visible seams when using a stock texture with UV projection.
If all you want is a simple seamless look and you don't care about full realism, box mapping may do the trick - it uses triplanar projection, which is a common shortcut for getting seamless looks for simple textures without using any UV map.

For a realistic look you would either need several different image textures and a painted mask, or a procedural material as Robin mentioned in their comment - not just because of the seams, but also because grain on cut wood will flow differently on different sides of the cube as seen here:


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How to rotate UV mapping on skysphere (equirectangular)?
Alright so I've followed a basic tutorial to create a skysphere mapped to an equirectangular environment texture. This is fine, however the mapping is at a slight tilt (pictured below), which is getting in the way of making the sphere -> skydome.

I've tried adjusting the tilt with basic mapping nodes, but this results in the texture being warped --

How can I fix this?

Can you provide a link to the tutorial?  Another thing, I used a UV Sphere and using the UV output of the texture coordinate map, I was able to make this skysphere thingy with no issues. Maybe try doing what I said. Coz when I plugged the generated output into the vector input of the image texture, I was getting something that was nowhere near what you have created. Viz why I am asking for the tutorial.

You cannot map it to an "equirectangular environment texture" when you are using an Image Texture node, which you can clearly see because the projection method is set to Flat:

Instead use the correct Environment Texture node by adding it with Shift+A > Add > Texture > Environment Texture. The projection method should by default be set to Equirectangular, the only other option is Mirror Ball (there is no Flat option):

Either this is a strange tutorial if they are using an Image Texture node or you have to make sure you pay attention to all steps to get everything correct. Especially for beginners I understand that it is often not easy to realize the exact differences in Blender, so probably rewatching tutorials might help.
For the Texture Coordinate and Mapping nodes: I have no idea how they have set it up in the tutorial, but with a correct Environment Texture node on a sphere I would do one of the following things: in any case first of all set the Mapping node Type to Point instead of Vector.
Then from the Texture Coordinate node either use the Generated output or the Object output. With Object you do not have to do anything (you would not even need the Mapping node), for Generated set all three XYZ values for Location to -0.5, although note that if you want to change the Rotation of the image it will get warped too when using the Generated output, use Object instead.


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How to attach mesh object to another mesh
I'm still new to blender and I've been having trouble attaching meshes to another mesh. For example, I'm trying to attach this hairpiece accessory to this hair mesh and I can't quite seem to get it to stick.

The best I can do is have it joined together with the hair but it doesn't follow the armature when I pose it around like it wasn't even attached.
Parenting it to a hair bone also messes it up. I got no clue.
Is there a proper way to do this? Any help would be great!

Related

You can use the "Vertex triangle" Parent object option, which will make your accessory follow the movement of the trhee vertices of the parent mesh (Hair) nearest to the child.
So select accessory, shift select hair, press Ctrl P and choose "vertex triangle".
After selecting the hair, if you tab into edit mode you can choose three vertices to act as leaders of the movement.


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Missing textures in imported .fbx
I grabbed a model from models resource model i grabbed from models resource but when I put the .fbx into blender, the model just shows up white.

I think it is because you are in textured view. In textured view, you are supposed to see the model with the texture applied on it but it looks like the textures are not saved in the file by it's maker. You should change your viewport to solid view to view the model. You can find this option here.

i tried to change views but now my model looks grey

As I mentioned in my answer, textures are not saved in the .fbx files so you could not see them in blender. And as you said that you can see the model grey, that's how it's supposed to look in blender without any materials or textures to it but as compared to your previous white look of your model, you can see the details I suppose....


text:
Help modelling complex shape
I am trying to recreate this  in blender, and do not know where to start. The main difficult part is the top curved object. I tried extruding some sides of a cylinder and then shrinking them down like this  but I couldn't get any further. I am relatively new to blender, so all feedback, tips and tricks would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks, Dan.

You should first draw its profile, here are 2 ways to do it (among many I guess):

Hi, thanks for the answer. After you had created the 2D face, how did you extrude it to become a 3D shape, and then how did you smooth the mesh?

In Edit mode select all your vertices, press E to extrude, then Enter right away, then chose the axis (Y or X). To smooth use a Subdivision Surface modifier, and put some additional edge loops (ctrl R) to sharp the edges.


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rigid column and bean not falling correctly
I created a column tied to a beam that should fall over because of the weight of the beam, however, as seen in the linked video the column falls, but does not topple over.
I tried changing the "shape" in the "Rigid Body Collisions" section to "Convex Hull" as well as to "Sphere" and "Mesh" the results were the same.
https://youtu.be/18qDe29EL4o
How do I get the column to topple over as it would in real life?
Thanks.

You can move the origin "to geometry", going from

to

then it will fall as expected:


text:
How to save an animation as a video
I am quite new to blender and am trying to save this small animation I made, I know you can view the rendered animation by pressing CTRL+F12 but how do I save this as a video? Furthermore, when I tried to do it last time and found 400+ images in a blender folder. I have used a gif program to convert these 400+ images into a gif and turned that gif into a video, but is there a directer and more effective way?

Also see https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/82962/blender-2-79-i-only-get-four-video-output-options

After completing animation in blender, select the Output Folder and Video Format in the right side Properties Panel under Output tab. After that, click on 'Animation' under Render Tab in the same Properties Panel.
https://youtu.be/IIXgRr-lJLg


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Why Transparent BSDF blocks reflections of Principled BSDF? (Cycles)
I wanted to share an issue related to Cycles shaders I don't really know how to face.
I am rendering a honey pot. Nothing crazy about this. But when I tried to add the sticker I noticed some reflection artifacts.
I will try to explain it as simple as possible.
Context
The scene is rendered using Cycles on Blender 2.8.
I have a glass honey pot. This honey pot has another object inside that represents the honey (irrelevant).
The honey pot material uses just a Glass BSDF Shader.

Over the honey pot surface, there is a plane. This plane represents the sticker.
The sticker material mixes two shaders (a Principled BSDF and a Transparent BSDF) who are mixed dependently of the alpha of the sticker texture.

The problem
Scene renders perfectly when the only element generating reflections is the HDRI skymap.

If we add another object (like a white surface) to the scene, the transparent areas (Transparent BSDF) of the sticker do not reflect the white surface. Either Glass BSDF shader of the honey pot.

My questions are:

What is going on here?
How can I avoid this artifact?

Thanks in advance!


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How to make acrylic/plastic effect with shader?

I am studying texturization and found this reference image. I would like to know if anyone could help me replicate the material shown on this "rabbit-astronaut".
I already tried to map using images in PS, and even reflecting images but it did not look similar. This texture appears to be more opaque.

Have you tried to simply mix a Diffuse (a bit yellow or maybe it's the light which is yellow) and a Glossy shader?

Final
A little bit exaggerated to show the effect.

Material
I've used only Principled BSDF shader. Most important thing is to use Rough material (1.0) with Clearcoat. You can manipulate how much reflection will be visible by changing Clearcoat value and/or change Clearcoat roughness also.

Lightning
I've used really simple setup without much of a thought for this example. 4 Area Lamps with different size, strength and Blackbody value (color).

but if i want to use this texture on a game character? i woulndt have all those lighints above him. what happens if I remove these lamps and just use the global?

@SHRIMP please edit your question and add more information. What Game Engine are you willing to use? What does it mean "global"? HDRI lightning? Single color? If you want to see reflections you need lamps/environment. No matter what material/shader you will use. Or you can bake reflections. But again, please add more information of what exactly you want to achieve and where. For Blender you have an answer.

alright!  i ll add more details. just a moment


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Can I Edit the Rig Bones while a Mesh is Bound to it?
i have been working with a rigging addon (not rigify) for a special use case for all of my blender life. (ie: i learned blender while using this addon.)  when working with this addon, if i edit the bones of the rig while the mesh is bound to it, the whole thing will be trashed.  because reasons.  (has to do with special data for my special case.)
now, however, i have been working with a non-special rig, and i have to ask... is it okay/safe to edit the rig while meshes are bound to it?
in a specific case, i would dearly love to be able to move the bone heads while the rig/mesh is posed to see what the results are when moving the rotation center of a joint.
or at least not have to unbind my mesh(es), edit the rig, and rebind the mesh(es), if that's not really necessary.

of course you can, it will just move the center of rotation when you'll animate the bone

The rig will generally stay intact, but you will break previously stored animations and poses (if existing). You could break it if you move bones that are target of others bones constraints, like IK, dumped track or stretch to.

awesome, thanks, guys!


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Copy Shape Keys AND Shape Key Keyframes to Another (Identical) Mesh
i need to do this in 2.79 (because reasons), but am willing to look at methods for any/all versions.
i have a weight-painted mesh object with shape keys.  the shape keys are keyframed.
the setup i'm working with deletes all my shape keys on my mesh when i bind it to a new rig (because reasons.  i can't change/fix this.)
AT ANY RATE...
i need to
A:  copy all the shapekeys from one mesh to an identical mesh.  i found a way to do that, one by one.  is there a FASTER way?  (i also have an addon that copies all shape keys from UNidentical meshes, but even that's not working right in this instance.)
B:  copy all the shapekey KEYFRAMES to this new mesh.  or move them?  because i cannot figure out how.
i saw on this question
Efficient way to programmatically copy shape key animation from one mesh to another
"And it's even faster to just copy an action and rename the keyblocks its fcurves target."
but no indication HOW you do this maneuver.
well, it says 'copy an action.'  however, these shapekey keyframes are not on any action that i can find in the action editor.  they ONLY appear in the dope sheet.  they are named "Key.000" and i can't seem to do anything with that section.  i can't drag anywhere, i can't rename, i can't right click because nothing happens...
https://prnt.sc/L-h_2iEZLYrf
in image:
Yellow Arrows:  shape keys on active mesh, shape key keyframes on Key.000 under active mesh
Orange Arrows:  channel for selected mesh, w/o shape keys or keyframes
Red Arrow: what i want to move from one mesh to the other.
you can see in the lower action editor, there is NO action named Key.000 for me to find and 'copy'  :/

maybe copy means Ctrl L > Link Animation Data, then be sure to make animation Single User... could do the same to copy mesh data with shapekeys but only if both objects are identical


text:
How to Spawn Shape Keys as Objects from One Object?
i swear, this used to be a thing.  i was doing it a lot last year.
i have an object with a dozen shape keys.  because reasons (blender is a butt), i need to spawn duplicates of this object, with each shape key applied as the new basis.
i can't seem to find where/how to do it in 3.60.  is it an addon?  is it from 2.79??
i have 'corrective shape keys' and 'transfer shape keys' addons active.

if you mean that a shapekey needs to be the new basis, then simply delete all the shapekey except the one you're talking about? You can also move the shapekey to top, it will replace the basis

no; if an object has 5 shape keys, i need to spawn 5 objects, each with the subsequent shape key as the basis for that new object.

then duplicate the object and follow my advice? not sure what's the problem...


text:
How to use Vertex Weights with a Command (Shrink/Fatten)?
here's the situation...
i have an animal head modeled.  i want to create layered "shells" of the mesh to simulate fluffiness of the fur.  (forget about other ways to do fur, for now.)
shrink/fatten will do what i want, but i need to control it -- for example the broad areas like cheek, chin, throat, will need lots of fattening (long fur), and the muzzle, around the eyes, etc, will need minimal fuzz (more velvety), and the rest in between.
so i thought i could paint weights -- lower weights around the short fur areas, max weights around the long fur areas...  but then how can i combine that with the shrink/fatten operation?

Sculpting seems the way to go? But you could always aim a Displace modifier at a vertex-group, and paint weights into that..

You could even stack, say, 2 Displace modifiers, and a couple of groups. If they were both set to displace along 'Normal' then the second would pick up the normals generated by the first, so you could brush in undercuts.

oh, excellent!  i will look at that, thanks :)


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Left click moves 3D cursor
Whenever I start blender it has it so that when I left click it moves the 3D cursor, even though I have Select Box selected on the T toolbar.
When I factory reset to default this goes away but I don't want to change to default settings anytime. What is going on?

Could you explain what specifically you mean by "it has it so that when I left click it moves the 3D cursor"? What do you do when you open Blender exactly? What happens?

Under Edit > Preferences > Keymap, type '3d cursor' (without the quotes) into the Name search field. That should show two entries under 3D View, both labelled 'Set 3D Cursor'. The first one should be for 'Shift Right Mouse' with the 'Shift' button selected, and the second for 'Left Mouse' without any buttons selected. Also, do you have any non-Blender addons installed?

Aare you sure you set Blender to left-click-select? That there is how right-click-select works.


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Grease pencil darker and thicker before lifting stylus
I'm kind of a newbie to the grease pencil tool, and while trying the different brushes I've noticed after a while that any line I draw is a bit darker, thicker and more opaque but then go back to their normal material look when I lift the stylus from the line. It's really annoying and I can't seem to find what could be the parameter for this, but I've noticed it won't do this on a new file. I've already tried to copy and paste my drawing in a new file, but the grease pencils material are linked to the strokes and it won't change anything.
If anyone knows how to fix this, I'll be grateful.

Ok I've found the answer: It only happens on layers with a sub 1 opacity. I hope this helps anyone with the same issue.


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Can't select loops, ALT+Left Mouse moves View
I can't select multiple loops, because whenever I hit "Alt+Left Mouse" or "Alt+Shift+Left Mouse", it moves the view instead of selecting loops.
I've been trying to solve this by deleting all double instances of "Alt+left Mouse" in my keymapping, but for now nothing else but "Select Loop" is bind to this, and the problem is still there. I ask this because I have no idea why Alt+left Mouse affects the view and I don't know as well where is the option to disable this?
Here's a screencap of what appears when I press (left) Alt on my keyboard:

Thanks in advance for any useful suggestions.

For those having the same issue: I have a real 3 button mouse, but Blender was set to "Emulate a 3 button mouse" (In Edit>Preferences>Input>"Emulate 3 Button Mouse" must be unchecked).
In hope that it helps anyone having the same issue.


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How to read the value through Python from Geometry Nodes Output Node
When the socket is not connected to other nodes, the script can be read into its variable. Everything is fine.
MyObjName = bpy.data.node_groups["MyGNStrings"].nodes["Group output"].inputs[1].default_value

The value object_test is written in variable MyObjName:

But when I connect this socket to other sockets, its value is no longer readable by the script:

For each animation frame, I need to get my own object index, which will be contained in this socket.

It depends on the exact domain/type, but see https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/249956/how-to-retrieve-the-output-value-in-python-driver-of-a-geometry-nodes-attribut.

More examples: Accessing Geometry Nodes mesh data from Python, Find object instances with python, Blender 4: blf module: How to draw text in the center?, Blender 3.6: Convert curve to mesh with specified resolution via API, and using a driver: Control shape keys with drivers to the speed of rotation

Generally useful search phrase: [geometry-nodes] [python]

Have you or anyone tried to get the value via identifier? (I tested the code below for Group Input in Blender 4.1 ). Edit: Unfortunately,
for Group Output it gives errors for me. Edit2: It works if you assign some value before you read the value!
    import bpy

    in_input_id = bpy.data.node_groups["MyGNStrings"].nodes["Group Input"].inputs["InputObjectName"].identifier #this works

    value1 = bpy.data.objects['Cube'].modifiers['GeometryNodes'][in_input_id]  #or whatever the object
    print("input_value=", value1)

    out_input_id = bpy.data.node_groups["MyGNStrings"].nodes["Group Ouput"].inputs["OutputObjectName"].identifier #this get the identifier but not the value for below
    bpy.data.objects['Cube'].modifiers['GeometryNodes'][out_input_id] = "test_string"

    value2 = bpy.data.objects['Cube'].modifiers['GeometryNodes'][out_input_id]  #or whatever the object
    print("output_value=", value2)  #KeyError: 'bpy_struct[key]: key "Socket_16" not found' (if you not assign some value to it!)


text:
How would you model 'a sphere with a shell' like object?
I am trying to model this thing, but the silver cover on top is what I have no idea how to go about.
And the blue-ish reflection I believe is from the sphere being cast on the inner side of the silver bits.
Any help would be much appreciated.

Just create your sphere and over it draw the shape of your cuts using a Bezier Curve object.
Adjust its shape as necessary, then use knife project to cut the shape.

In object mode select your curve, then without deselecting, select your sphere, by this specific order. Enter edit mode on the sphere and with all faces selected use Knife Project with the option Cut Through active.

Carefully select all the unwanted parts then remove them by deleting the faces.


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Using texture data from texture properties as node data in Cycles
either I'm clearly missing something or I misunderstood the concept, but I hit a wall with something that should be pretty easy (provided it is already implemented in Blender).
I'm basically creating a 'stencil' (for lack of my imagination or better word for it) for character creation in which all the fine skin details such as pores and scars are procedurally generated with displace modifiers.

Almost all of these modifiers are fed with distorted noise procedural textures from texture properties - it is done like that for a quick change of attributes and randomisation on each character.

So far it's working like a charm as it creates great results when combined with vertex group masking. BUT! What I want/need is to use this texture data as a mask in Cycles nodes in terms of color differentiation for these moles, scars etc. We already have Basic noise textures in Cycles working just like that and we have all the texture information needed in Texture properties, yet I can't find a way to connect it to Cycles.
I know I can use it as a brush stencil, paint it onto a plane and save it as an image, but A) it loses the randomisation possibility and B) it only works when the displace Texture coordinates is set to UV. So this is not the way to do it. I'm either thinking of somehow projecting the texture color on a character and baking it (but I can't feed it to shader), creating a complex shader node that does and contains everything that Texture properties do (which requires a peek in the correct code) or using some kind of a script (but I don't know where to even begin).
The easiest way would sure be just to find a way to access this texture data in Cycles nodes, but I'm starting to believe it simply can't be done right now. I'm using and have tried to find solution in Blender 2.80.75 and Blender 2.79b. Any help or insight would be appreciated.
Cheers, Martin


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Stylized rim light using compositing
I'd like to find out how to do a certain hack, or rather a stylized rim light using the least amount of nodes possible, or at least a smart way to do it. I saw an application of this technique in the HERO movie by Daniel Martinez Lara and I tried to replicate it, but failed. Any and help would be appreciated. So my character has an alpha channel and i'd like to acheive the following effect:
from this:

to this:

As you can see, I'm trying to acheive the rim light effect WITHIN the boundaries of my characters original alpha channel. Also all of my experiments resulted in a nasty thin line on the border of my characters face due to my lack of understanding how to ACTUALLY do the unpremult--> do your hacking--> premult workflow. Thank you for taking the time to help. Have a nice day.

Have you tried doing something with freestyle?

Hmm, no not yet, it could be a solution, can i limit the stroke to a certain side of the character, like in my illustration? Thank you for the tip, it might be a better solution.

I really don't know much about freestyle...I just know it is related, so you could look into that.


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Improving workflow with Dopesheet-Editor
I am working on a lenghty animation with lots of small, consecutive animations. currently all in one scene und very unstructured over the dopesheet-editor. I would like to group-up the single animations, involving several objects each, since it got really messy really fast. Changing things afterwards is prone to errors like that. What are your recommendations? Thanks!

You mean like the NLA editor?


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Bones moving some vertex groups wrong
I have a rigged character as you can see below

It seems ok in T-Pose, but when I try to move his feet, I get into something odd:

All of the vertexes are in the same object, the shoes and the ropes ARE moving, but not enough. What's the problem?

There's probably one or more other vertex groups applying influence to the shoes and laces, go through all the vertex groups in weight paint mode and see if anything other than the feet bones are painting the feet.

Yes, the shoes were connected to Hips too. I don't know why that's possible and what's the usage. But thanks, my problem solved.


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Set position of multiple entities in UV Editor
So I ended up here:

In the UV Editor, I want all these little rectangles to be positioned the same X and Y value. The alt+Enter trick in the sidebar just places all the vertices into a point. I've also tried snapping and aligning but they don't seem to work in my case.

In edit mode, select all faces which correspond to the UV islands you want to edit, then press U > Reset.
In this way all faces will be overlapping and mapped on the entire UV Space.
Then in the UV editor, select all and resize as you need.

One option is to copy the uv coordinates of one of the uv islands and paste those same coordinates to all the other UV islands. The result is all islands stacked one above the other.
In the UV editor:

Select one of the UV islands,
Open the UV menu and select the Copy UV's option.
Invert the island selection using the Ctrl I shortcut.
With all the other islands now selected open the UV menu again and this time choose the Paste UV's option.

With all the islands stacked up you can move them to where ever you want in the UV space.