text:
Cut mesh with circle pie chart like mesh for animation
What I want to do is to cut open a mesh like a cake for an animation.
So to do something like this:

to create something like this:

The second image is a render taken from the Cycles Demoreel 2015 ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDRTjzLNK0g )
EDIT: My question now is: How can I create such a thing.
I have not found any way to have an animated circle that can cut a mesh like a boolean tool. I didn't find any option rotate or midify a cylinder or any other mesh to get the same effect of the second image.

@cegaton, can your array modifier version be animated smoothly?

@Delta - Have noted your request to contribute to this question also but as it's done entirely with openGL masking, the method may not suit what you've got in mind. A video of the result is up on Dropbox at this link - dropbox.com/s/g88f7nm04qctkh3/Pie3.mp4?dl=0 - Just click in a vacant space should a sign-in page appear. If you wish to see how it's done, I'll drop an answer here

There's a lot of ways that you can change the shape of the cutting mesh.
For versions where you only alter the shape, you can animate whether the boolean even affects the cylinder , so you have a full cylinder to start with. You simply switch it on for the first frame of cutting.
You can use shape keys which is a very cool answer, you could use hooks, you could use an armature.
But why not go overboard with this and boolean Napoleon the boolean?
From Haunt's bag of tricks:
The yellow box is just ever so slightly larger than the orange one. When they align, it swallows the orange one whole in effect making it cease to exist...  sort of.
If I rotate the yellow one, it reveals more and more of the orange box. I simply subtract the yellow box from the orange box and I subtract the result from the cylinder. The possibilities are endless.
Although this only works for a 180° cutaway.

TLDR: yellow eats orange, orange eats cylinder. YUM!

Interesting approach. Can you expand the system as well for a 360 cut? After I used an empty object to rotate the cube It worked very nice for 180° ( https://streamable.com/tpdew )

Can be done using Shape Keys and a simple cube. If you want to achieve full 360 (see EDIT BELOW) cut-through you will need a bit more work on the cutter shape and shape key deformation though:

EDIT: if full 360 is desired, use a 5 edge polygon instead of a cube and use 2 shapekeys as shapekeys do not work with rotation keyframes, only with vertex location keyframes.

As far as my testing goes the problem I have is that when I want to cut a mesh with more than 90° (beginnig from one side and opening it to the other). At some point there is a little leftover of the other mesh. When I try to rotate the edge 180° around the cursor it just went to the other side. So there is not really the cut open effect I want to have. Any ideas on that?

sounds like you don't have enough of the cutter object located outside the other one. In my example notive one of the edges of the cutter cube is well outside the sylinder.

yes and no. the mesh was indeed not big enough to surround the other one. In the example video ( https://streamable.com/h8ta3 ) you can see that instead of rotating the edge along a circle line it just moves it to the final position which does not create the 180° cake-like cut I want to achieve

Ah, that's because you are using a translation instead of a rotation. The rotation must be around the 3D cursor which must be place first at the center or the main object. Then make sure 3D cursor is used as Pivot Point instead of Individual Origins (hit Period key on keyboard). Then simply hit R

Here is how I did it: I made a cube and moved the outer edges to the 0 line so that it's a flat box. I saved this as basic shape key. Then I created a new shape key, got into edit mode, selected the edge I want to move, made sure that I did rotate around the crosshair like cursor and then I pressed R + Z to move the edge. In edit mode the edge indeed rotates around the cursor, but when I leave edit mode it does not save that it should rotate.

Not sure what's happening. Doublecheck how you work with the shapekeys, they must be selected properly to save the vertex positions. Also may be @cegaton suggested method is easier, you just have to find what to animate: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/34685/how-to-create-a-circle-pie-chart-with-separate-adjustable-variable-triangle-c/35263#35263

To me it looks like this: I move the edge of the mesh using the rotate function to rotate it around the cursor. The shape key now thinks you want to move Obj.01 to location form XYZ to UVW without respecting that I actually rotated the edge to the final location instead of just moving it.
Here is an example video. I guess that I'm doing something wrong here but I dont know. I have rotated the edge with R + Z more than 180° so that it clearer to see the movement instead of rotaion thing.

the example video makes sense with a flatten cube. You may have to rotate 2 edges instead of one to make the  360 as 2x180: rotate one edge one way 180 and the other  the opposite way 180... in which case a cube will not work, you would need at least one more static edge  spread wide enough from the other static edge for the two rotating edge to include the entire source object when reaching 180deg.

The objective - Produce a radial reveal  (animated pie chart) using a mask.
OpenGL -==================-===============- Blender Render

A single cube is used as a mask and that is morphed around the pie to radially hide the pie's lid..

To emulate pie lid thickness a special 'Lip' is constructed to rotate with the mask.

An empty is parented to the Lip's outer extrememty.

The cube's two corner vertices at 3 O'clock are "hooked" to another empty and that empty is parented to the Lip's empty.  As the lip rotates it drags the cube-corner around with it to give us a rotating 'cutting face'.

The cube quickly distorts so it's other corners are also given Hook-Empties which we keyframe to keep the cube edges outside the pie's.
@Cegaton posted an answer recently that makes this hooking process a lot easier to manage and set up.
Instead of creating a special object for each corner to be Hooked to, we do as @Cegaton suggests, select both corner vertices, press CTL-V for the Vertice menu, and select "Hooks --> Hook to new object".
An Empty will appear on the corner's edge which importantly, doesn't initially move the edge from it's at- rest position.   The Empty is selectable in Object mode and thus can be keyframed to move about, rather than using shapekeys.
As the cube's face is being dragged around the pie, each Hooked corner can now be dragged "LOCATION"
wise to correct unacceptable distortions and keep the pie inside the cube's current arc.
The mask cube therefore is ideal for pie-charting with Boolean, Chroma-Key masking, and OpenGL masking.
Masking was chosen here because it doesn't interfere with mesh, nor does it distort texture, which can, along with material shading, reach unacceptable levels on smoothed surfaces when Boolean cutting is used.
OpenGL rendering was also used because of it's convenience.
Rendering is quite fast, no compositing is required, no multiple rendering is required, no mixing in the VSE is required, and it's a WYSIWYG situation.
-==========-
You commented that you're not familiar with masking, nor OpenGL so the following has been appended...
Inviso masking:  (OpenGL)
It's a term I use to describe the effect a semmi transparent object has in the viewport, which also happens to be what is rendered when using OpenGL.  It can effectively hide objects that get behind it.
Setting a mask object's Material Opacity to 0.008, and both specular sliders to 0 (zero), it's Diffuse to a dull grey - not only renders it virtually invisible, it will also selectively conceal other objects behind it..
The Opacity setting of 0.008 is just above the Alpha Threshold of 0.004, the default alpa threshold value as set in User Preferences.
The mask will only work when the viewing mode is set to "Material".
To force an object to be hidden when behind it simply parent it to the mask, then unparent again immediately. Make sure to select "Keep Transformation" each time.
To immunize an object so it won't be affected by the mask, parent in reverse,
i.e. the mask is the child, the object the parent.  Unparent immediately.
Deselect everything (press A) and be in the "Material" view mode when testing it out.
When immunizing, it's possible that you'll reset the masking and need to re-parent one or more of the objects that are to be hidden.
Further Information -
Objects behind the mask may or may not become invisible by default.  This appears to depend on whether the objects are created before or after the mask.
Masks created last, usually hide everything behind them whereas when created earlier, conceal some objects and not others.
This isn't a problem - simply Parent as described.
-=================-
Rendering in OpenGL -
OpenGL is what you are looking at in the 3D viewport.  It uses your computer's graphics hardware and at the same time sacrifices several colour and texture features in Blender in the interests of speed.
Rendering -
In the viewport's properties (press N) Display tab, tick the "Render Only" box.
Select the render menu at top left of the 3D window and click either "OpenGL Render Image" or  "OpenGL Render Animation"
The latter will render out the animation you see in the viewport.
If you're in Solid or Wireframe view-mode, that's what you end up with in your footage.


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Add colour to a cut meshface in animation
EDIT NOTE: This thread had two question in it. One was answered, the the other was not. I split the question into to separate questions and the other one can be found here.

I want to animate cutting open a machine with a mesh with a boolean modifier (or something that does the same). And I want to colour the cut face.
What I want to create is something like this:

In the animation I want to create, eg. the walls should be red, and other parts of it should have different colours.

https://streamable.com/uwbif

This is actually what I want to get. An animation, then some kind of boolean modifier cutting away the mesh and the cutface has a different colour.
This video is a part the How It's Made show ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qnuQw3DFj0 )
I maybe think about this in the wrong way, but what I would like to have it that so I can specify that obejct X has has the matrial Y and if cut, the new face should be colour Z.
I can imagine how it could work: You could create a very thin layer over a mesh that is made up of a different material. So the coloured part is not really the colour of the cut face but the actual original mesh colour. The colour you saw before the cut is just the thin coat that serves no function.
As you can see in this prove of concept video ( https://streamable.com/5s6dv ), it would work up to some point. These are two cubes inside each other. The white one is a tiny bit larger as the red one (solidify modifier with a thickness of 0.01). The white cube is hollowed out using the red cube and a boolean modifier. However, as you can see in the end there seem to be some problems. Moreover, I think it's more like flub work, since you need an extra mesh that actually does nothing.
My Question:
If not clear, my questionis: How do I do this?
How can I add a colour to a cutface that is created with something like the boolean tool and can be used in an animation.

Why ask this again? Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't this the same question as the one you asked a few hours ago? Why not just edit that one with all the detail you put in here?

I use an image of the same scene, but if you would read it, you will notice very fast that it's not the same content. THIS request is about the cut face of a mesh. About how to apply a texture or a different colour to it. THE OTHER request is how to cut open a mesh in a very specific way. Yes, both origin from the same project, but both can be used without the other request.

Ok one is how to cut it the other is how to color the edges.

This works out of the box with the boolean modifer:

add your boolean modifier, don't apply it (this way you can use it in animations)
add a second material, the one to be assigned to the cut-off parts
change the order of the material so that the one created in 2. becomes the first material in the list.

This way, it will be assigned only to the cut-off faces created dynamically by the boolean modifier:

fyi in this case the cutter object is a cube and has no material assigned to it.

So Blender realises that there's no material assigned to the new faces and defaults back to the first material in the slots. I wonder if this brilliant solution was an intended feature or simply happened. I really like it.

Indeed it seems like an unintended side effect ;)

I think a boolean modifier will apply the other object's materials to any parts it cuts from the modified object. So make sure that each cutter object has the right material applied, and it should transfer to the cutout. If you're wondering about UV mapping: that's not going to be easy here, but you can make a procedural material to do it instead or just use global coordinates for your texture.
I just tested the above: you do need to ensure that the cutter object's material is also present in the cutaway object's material list, but it works fine. No need to apply the modifier.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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why are there spots of maximal ambient occlusion?
I get strange spots of maximal ambient occlusion.
To reproduce the problem I set up a little example.
What I've done:

added a Plane
subdivide it several times
applied a displacement mod with a cloud texture
setup ambient occlusion (set pink color to highlight it)
set auto smooth to as smooth as can be (180°)

as result I got a mesh with strange spots with maximal ambient occlusion. (Pic 1)
When I triangulate the mesh it gets better but there are still a strange spots. (Pic 2)
Rendered with Eevee there seems to be no such behavior. (Pic 3)
I must say that I'm a beginner to blender, maybe I've done something wrong?
I've uploaded the  .blend File .
( alternative .blend download )

Interesting, because changing the world location of the plane varies the effect! AO is achieved by casting rays.. there seems to be some (floating-point?) limit on tolerances, somewhere. casting  from smooth-shade-interpolated normals of a low-poly surface. I wonder if the ray is hitting the face it was cast from?.... 1 level of subdiv. fixes. You wouldn't really expect AO to work that well on low-poly meshes anyway?

"changing the world location of the plane varies the effect"
Can't confirm this (Cycles). When I grab the mesh and move it the affect stays in place.
Update: But rotation and scaling has.
My original landscape is huge and I have to heavily reduce geometry.

I got it to vary in Cycles in the viewport, shading smooth, AO straight to ouptput, object-mode moving up and down along Z. I'd changed clipping distance max to 100, maybe that was it. Anyway, no way should viewing-angle, distance to camera, affect AO, without some error, somewhere...

So my current (bad) workaround for a large landscape is to increase the geometry in those places in combination with the smoothing in sculpt mode.

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


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Exporting data: looping through objects gets wrong data for very last object
Many thanks to Martynas Žiemys for his answer here:
how can I export object position info from blender to text file?
which basically works for me, however I have an issue when the very last object prints.
@batFINGER helped by pointing out fstrings; I then went away to condense and clarify the problem, but it got more bizarre!
Here's the test code:
import bpy

def Export() :
    count = 0
    print ( "Export:" )
    for obj in bpy.context.scene.objects:
        count += 1
        print(f"{count} {obj.name} {' '.join(map(str, obj.dimensions))}")

def CreateObject ( i ) :
    bpy.ops.mesh.primitive_cube_add ( location = ( i * 10 , 0 , 0 ) )
    obj = bpy.context.active_object
    obj.dimensions = ( i * 2 , 1 , 1 )
    obj.name = "obj_%d" % i
    print(f"{i} {obj.name} {' '.join(map(str, obj.dimensions))}")

print ( "Blender version: %s" % bpy.app.version_string )

# delete all objects from any previous run
bpy.ops.object.mode_set(mode = 'OBJECT')
bpy.ops.object.select_all(action='SELECT')
bpy.ops.object.delete(use_global=False, confirm=False)

print ( "Create first 3 objects:" )
for i in range ( 1 , 4 ) :
    CreateObject ( i )
Export()
print ( "Create extra object (4th):" )
CreateObject ( 4 )
print ( "Create extra object (5th):" )
CreateObject ( 5 )
Export()

I'm printing each object twice: during creation and at export. Here's the terminal output:
Blender version: 2.93.1
Info: Deleted 5 object(s)
Create first 3 objects:
1 obj_1 2.0 2.0 2.0
2 obj_2 2.0 2.0 2.0
3 obj_3 2.0 2.0 2.0
Export:
1 obj_1 2.0 1.0 1.0
2 obj_2 4.0 1.0 1.0
3 obj_3 2.0 2.0 2.0
Create extra object (4th):
4 obj_4 2.0 2.0 2.0
Create extra object (5th):
5 obj_5 2.0 2.0 2.0
Export:
1 obj_1 2.0 1.0 1.0
2 obj_2 4.0 1.0 1.0
3 obj_3 6.0 1.0 1.0
4 obj_4 8.0 1.0 1.0
5 obj_5 2.0 2.0 2.0

All of the creation reports are wrong. All but the last export report are correct.

Thanks @batFINGER; using fstrings, terminal window shows the same issue. It doesn't appear due to output to file. I'll condense down to minimum code, see if it still happens

Potted the problem, here's the code:

Potted the problem, it gets weirder. Printing during create is all wrong; exporting, all OK except last one:
Create:
1 obj_1 2.0 2.0 2.0
2 obj_2 2.0 2.0 2.0
3 obj_3 2.0 2.0 2.0
Export:
1 obj_1 2.0 1.0 1.0
2 obj_2 4.0 1.0 1.0
3 obj_3 2.0 2.0 2.0
How can I post the test code? Limited to 600 characters here.

The dimensions property in blender is calculated from the scale of the object and the dimensions of its mesh. The issue here looks like it's associated.  Often this can be remedied with a scene update (via depsgraph or viewlayer in 2.8+)  However, in this case would make the simple calculation, knowing a default cube has  2 x 2 x 2   and set the scale when you create.  (btw the fstring formatting was not suggested as a fix, rather to replace prior Q code. Best Practices

The data is not updated.
The dimensions property in blender is calculated from the scale of the object and the dimensions of its mesh. The issue here looks like it's associated. The new scale is calculated, but delayed until the next update.. Often this can be remedied with a scene update (via depsgraph or viewlayer in 2.8+)
After an operator it throws a scene update, explaining the behaviour above. No operator is called after creating the last object to update the scene.
Example adding a view layer update after setting dimension in create.
def CreateObject(i):
    bpy.ops.mesh.primitive_cube_add(location=(i * 10, 0, 0))
    obj = bpy.context.active_object
    obj.dimensions = (i * 2, 1 , 1)
    bpy.context.view_layer.update()

or, to limit to one call, as first line in Export
Set scale not dimension.
However, in this case would make the simple calculation, knowing a default cube has dimensions 2 x 2 x 2  set the scale on creation. A good example is add a plane. Set its dimensions to (4, 4, 4) vs its scale to (2, 2, 2).  The plane is 2D, its mesh bounding box z dim is zero.  The result, in both cases,  is a plane with dimensions (4, 4, 0),  the calculated scale using former is (2, 2, 1).  Non-uniform scale is possibly one of the biggest causes of issues, especially with constraints.

Absoluetly spot-on @batFINGER, on both counts:
CreateDimensionedObject: 1 obj_1 size 1 dim (1.0 1.0 1.0)
CreateScaledObject: 2 obj_2 size 1 dim (4.0 1.0 1.0)
Export:
1 obj_1 2.0 1.0 1.0
2 obj_2 4.0 1.0 1.0
Re: scale: it does seem counter-intuitive to set scale, not dimension though. I had read that already but followed alternative advice, which didn't mention the need for scene update

Cheers.  Prattled on about this in an answer to why the default cube isn't (1, 1, 1) in both dimension and scale, which it was argued would take away any confusion between the two. The dimension depends on the mesh, the scale doesn't.

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


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How can I remove symmetry from an armature?
I have a model with an armature that I obtained from Turbosquid. As you can see in this screen shot, there are bones for both front legs at each joint.

I want to move only the right front leg. However, when I try to pose the right leg in pose mode, all movements are mirrored onto the left front leg, and the the bones of the left front leg don't move at all.

When I try to move the bones of the left leg, they don't affect the position of the leg at all.

There is no mirror modifier applied, and the x axis symmetry option is unchecked. I can't find anything to indicate how the bones of the right leg are linked to the left in order to unlink them. Can anyone point me in the right direction for this? I'd rather not have to build a whole new armature for this.
File: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ykw7LA0aLLTbxYVrQb23CEBUxrnu2g-0/view?usp=sharing

hi could you please share your file

@Ribbit12 just added to the bottom of the post!

The weights aren't right.  The solution for this isn't particularly easy.  You need to reassign everything on the right side of the model to bones with the .R suffix.  The easiest way to do this would be separate the mesh object into 2 half objects, rename vertex groups on the right side, then rejoin and weld the two sides.  I'm not sure that it's worth the trouble.  This is pretty shoddy work on Turbosquid; if you've done something to the original, leading to these problems, it might be better to revert.

Thanks so much for taking a look @Nathan I did make some adjustments to the geometry of the legs and used Mesh -> Symmetrize in edit mode to apply the changes to the left side. Do you think that could have been the culprit? Since I only need to move one leg I guess just ditching the armature and making new bones just for the leg is the way to go.

The easy way to see if your changes were the culprit is to load the original and see if it works.


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Object has texture but no uv map
I downloaded a 3d model (Crash Bandicoot) and it has the textures and they render fine, but there is no uv map. How is this possible?

I can see the seams and they mostly fit the parts, but as you, I cannot see the UV's. But some of the seams however does not make sense. The belt is a complete circle of faces, no seams. Perhaps this is mapped to the face attributes in some way?

I don't know. I tried duplicating it, then I unwrapped the object, thus giving it a uv map, and then transferring the textures with the bake option. But it didn't work because both objects need to have a uv map I guess.

@martin the UV map is there, you just need to zoom out, because the islands are far away from the center of the coordinates.

@Denis THANK YOU! it all makes sense now, and the belt is a complete circle because the UVs are overlapping!


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Monster dripping saliva
How can I make dripping saliva like this http://www.goodwp.com/images/201312/goodwp.com_30490.jpg I tried applying cloth physics to a plane, came out meh https://pasteboard.co/HAZwkw7.png . Maybe it's the material that doesn't make it look good (I used glass). Any help about material or modelling is appreciated.

Please show an image of your work to clarify and compare.  Is the goal a single still image or dynamic animation?  Cycles Render , Blender Render?

Fluid Simulation might be reasonable and difficult at very high resolution.  Composed and Beformed by various means.

Here's a pic https://pasteboard.co/HAZwkw7.png

For single still image as product you can consider 1 or more texture images  on a plane beformed by various means such as Surface Deform modifier.

Please place copies of  images in your question if possible, not external sources.  I will check back in 24 hours.


text:
When rendering intro in composite view it wont render text
Im watching a tutorial on youtube about making an intro from scratch but when we are in compositing view and I hit F12 (render) it wont render the text, it will render the other 2 scenes tho. Can anyone help me figure out why? And how to fix it?

This is how my nodes are set up and they are not complete yet but before i continue adding more that i want/need i would like to be able to see my rendered text?

My rendering looks like this but refuses to display the text to the right.

Scene 1 is my text (Scene)
Scene 2 is the smoke (scene.001)
Scene 3 is the particles (scene.002)
Any and all help would be much appreciated. Also I am new to blender so if im doing something wrong here please guide me through it :)
(Edit: If I just continue until my final render will it affect my project at all?
Update: Final render will NOT display any text whatsoever)

You should provide a link to the tutorial.

@brockmann the link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBRMh5QZ1n8&t=187s&index=12&list=WL

Its almost like its not rendering the world as transparent

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


text:
Using renders for textures in objects behind transparencies
I am trying to animate a texture using a render from the same blender file. I have tried several things so far.
I have rendered the animation independently and then add the video as an image texture. The problem is that I need the texture and composite to be rendered together.
I have used an additional scene for the texture render and an intermediate file where the renders are stored (render layer to output file, use that file for texture input). The problems are that the texture lags one frame and that I cannot link the object with the animated texture in other blend files because it also needs the render setup.
I have also tried to make a UV render layer for the object and add the texture during composition, but I have refractive objects in the way and the object appears as black in the UV mapping.
Is there any way to have the UV render layer to consider the refraction of other objects? How about a UV render layer that takes into account volumetric scattering? (e.g. adding alpha channels to the UV render and raytracing the UV coordinates).
An example application is a first person view of a biker wearing a full-head helmet and watching a CCTV
I am using Blender 2.79
Thanks

Sorry I just don't quite understand what you are trying to achieve here or the problem with your approach. Can't you render the video texture frames out first and load the correct one from disk?

Imagine a scene where a child is playing videogames on a TV and the parents are watching from outside the room through a glass window. Synchronizing armatures in two different scenes is a bit of a hell. I am also thinking in a real time implementation with Eevee in the short future, where the screen will need to be rendered in real time. Being able to apply a render layer to a texture would solve all these problems.

Actually, from what I have been trying, it seems that blender renders all render layers in the current scene first, and then the other scenes. If there was a way to fix the order of render layers, that would also solve my problem.

Why do you have to insist on certain render order for the frames? Render all frames on the other scene first, then use the correct frame from it as texture in the other scene.

Well, if I want to render the whole image in one go, its no use to render the main scene if some textures are not available.


text:
Depth in meters for rendered images
How can I get the depth in meters? I need the "real" distance from the camera to each pixel.
As the next picture but each pixel values representing the distance in meters to the camera.

I am creating my first project with Blender, which builds an animation to obtain rendered images from different viewpoints. I am setting several values for the camera location using python scripts and using the Depth option (Z pass) in Render Layers Node.
I already read many answers about it, but I still don't understand how to set correctly the camera intrinsic parameters for real depth.

Something is wrong, I need this pixel value closed to 7m, or depending on the camera distance, but I am obtaining the next results.
Properties:

Actual depth result with a normalization node:

Actual depth result without normalization:

Which render engine are you using? In Cycles the Z pass is the distance from the camera, but in BI the Z pass is the distance from the view plane

@gandalf3 I am using Blender Render. I need the distance from the camera to the object considering its geometric centroids.

In order to get the real 'meters' you need to define what the scale is. This can be done in Scene => Units.
This configured unit is also used for the depth pass. So a Z-Value of 1.0 when 1 blender unit = 1 meter means that the depth is 1 meter.

Please note that if you use a different Unit scale. You also have to apply this to the Z-Value of the Depth pass.

Scene units/unit scale have no affect on the Z pass

@gandalf3 the depth buffer uses the same unit. Yes it does not change values, but it gives meaning to the values. Will change the answer to reflect this. Thanks for pointing out


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Shading artifacts caused by boolean modifier
I tried applying a boolean modifier so I could make some holes inside a mesh, but the result was horrible shading. I've tried smooth lighting and an edge split modifier with sharp edges, but still nothing so far. I even added a new knife cut near the ends so it wouldn't be as noticeable. It's really bugging me, please help! Split concave edges just made a bunch of triangles with even worse shading.

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/13554/applied-boolean-modifier-leaving-shading-artifacts-with-flat-shading https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/84455/smooth-shading-sub-surface-distorted-render

That first link was pretty useful, but still doesn't solve my problem, as I already used the edge split modifier, and I can't make a triangle fan out of my cylinder. Also I didn't use the subsurface modifier

try auto smooth in the vertex tab

A picture of the wireframe, or sample file will shed more light. One fears the boolean modifier may have naffed up your topology.

@atek What would be the point in doing that? I already have an edge modifier, auto smoothing does nothing more than my sharp edges

@batFINGER Alright, done! Added more images to the post

Yep you have ngons.  Similar in a way to this recent Q/A

Don't use booleans folks, prefer proper topology instead.

@batFINGER Yup! No doubt. The link didn't help much, though. Any solution?

@DuarteFarrajotaRamos Well yeah but I needed those holes, how could I do it without booleans?

Maybe rijig the question re the barrel and how to produce with good topo.

Sorry, what? So I should re-make the barrel? Sure thing, but how? Without the boolean modifier it seems pretty hard

@Dan Manually modelling it with proper topology. Have you checked the link? There even a specific example exactly for this case

@DuarteFarrajotaRamos Oh, I see! Thank you! I got it

Try selecting your entire mesh in edit mode and hit [ctrl + n] to recalculate normals. This should fix the shading..

Already tried that like a million times, and it didn't work. These are not messy normal shadows, these are concave faces shadows


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Rigify FBX animation export twitching
i have some problems with exported FBX animations. I'm create armature for character using Rigify addon and for Unity I use RigifyToUnity addon. I made a few animations and after try to Export FBX, but the animations are broken. Here is an example before (.Blend) and after (FBX) export. In Unity it looks like . And I try to use Flat Hierarchy
(unparent all bones), the results before and after the export look just like this. In Unity i have. I guess this is because the Unity needs child and parent relationships.
Also i tried to use Disconnected bones, before export everything seems to be fine, but after everything breaks down, as in the first case.
This is my preferences for Export.
I tried Export with Simplify 0.1. I also tried turning off the Stretch To constraint and IK Stretch, but that didn't work either.
Here is .Blend file with some references.

It's not clear what the problem is. Also why did you try flat hierarchy? The first image looks ok...

Finaly!I found a solution to the problem, but I don't know if it's a crutch or not. After use the RigifyToUnity addon I turned off all constraints on DEF- bones and use Copy Transform constraints from ORG- to DEF- bones and.... all works


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Blender Texture bake not working
I am trying to bake a texture into my model but it is not wanting to bake. I have followed all tutorials and it doesn't work and I can't find anyone with the same issue. The error I am getting is "no valid object selected" even though I have the image node and the model selected.

You have enabled Selected to Active so you need to select the one you want to bake then shift and select the one that bakes, is it the case?

No I selected the object and no matter if I push shift or not the node will be selected or unselected and I still get the same error

maybe pack your images and share your file: https://pasteall.org/blend/

https://pasteall.org/blend/05c7fceb12ad46a3b26f7dc96db994b8 here you are

You've activated the Selected to Active option which is used to bake from an object to another, while you actually want to bake the object to itself, so just deactivate and it will work fine:


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Fix smoke simulation in an animation
How can I fix this when trying to simulate fire+smoke in a dancing character?
It looks like there are 5 arms, is there a way to create a smoother simulation when movement of the emitter is involved?

you should write what you want to have...or have two images: what you have and what you wanna have. Else we are just guessing ....

lol my bad, completly forgot that part. I want like only one arm, it looks like there are 5 different arms because of that fire. Idk if thats just how fire works or with there is a work around to create a more smooth simulation.

Increase Sampling Substeps for character simulation ... https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/3.0/physics/fluid/type/flow.html?highlight=sampling%20substeps

@vklidu is right. What’s happening here is that you are finding out the smoke simulation, like animation, is in discreet time steps: it is not continuous. Make the time steps smaller by adding more substeps (aka steps per frame), and it looks more continuous.

thanks u guys!!


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Texture not applied, just the color
Pretty much the title.

As you can see on the image, grass and leafs texture is working, applied and looking not that bad.
However, the bark texture I applied to the tree is showed just as a close color. I'm pretty new in Blender, so please could you throw some advices?
Also when I go to UV Editor screen, there is no texture.
Tell me what further info you need and I will provide!
Thank you so much for your time!

Probably it doesn't have a UVMap.

please share blender file (you can remove all objects that are ok) - https://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/

https://imgur.com/a/U5Z7EcH

If you have a texture image than you probably forgot to Choose it for your UV.Go to UV than select new file (locate that image) Now turn the edit mode and go back to UV tab and make the highlighted cubes fit the whole image.
If you already have an image selected than it must be because you haven't done the shading part correctly.

https://imgur.com/a/U5Z7EcH


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Pencil Modelling
Okay so, I've been trying to make a pencil, but sadly I have failed (obviously). I was following this video tutorial and instead of ending up with this:

I ended up making this, even though I have followed every single step... I think.

I would be thankful if someone helps me out with this or tell me another way of making a pencil.

your boolean settings are wrong. You want the difference not the intersect.

I will try it out again later...

Booleans are cool but not always the only way. Especially since Booleans don't like it when verts or edges sit exactly on top of each other. Then you need to marginally move or rotate them. Here's another way.
Create a mesh cone. Make sure the vertices are a multiple of six for a six sided pencil. Adjust the length of the tip with 'Depth'. 'Fill Type':Nothing

In Edit Mode select the entire base and use Checker Deselect. In my case, Nth Selection = 6. For a 60 vertex cone, this would be 60 / 6 = 10.

Duplicate the 6 verts with SHIFTD , use ESC to stop translation and keep them in place, make an ngon out of them with F and throw them out with P 'selection'.

Select everything and use Knife Project with Space K N I .

Invert the selection with CTRLI and delete the verts.

E xtrude the bottom verts down.

Scale them flat with SZ0RETURN. Fill with F.

Finishing touches: Use the knife tool to make a straight cut in order to make the tip, select all and recalc the normals with CTRLN.
Assign 3 materials to the corresponding faces.

Find a good home for the stray hexagon.

Go in the modifier tab and in the object below change from BMesh to Carve and you will get the similar result.

Final result

Hm. You are using newer version of blender, that has improved booleans. It's mean that trick with inverted normals will not work.
Try Operation difference instead:

I'm pretty sure I've tried all 3, none of them worked. I'll try again though and I'll be back to you.


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Textures appear on Material preview Mode but not in render mode
I'm trying to make a large scale ocean.

I've made the texture in node editor using some bakes. So far is looking like on the image above but if I change to render view this is what I'm getting:

This is the nodes I'm using:

Is there something I'm doing wrong?
EDIT:
I'm trying to render the scene to see the final result but the textures are not shown on the final rendered animation. I'm just getting a plain circle with no textures.

Please clarify your specific problem or provide additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it's hard to tell exactly what you're asking.

Have a look here: https://blender.stackexchange.com/q/239085/107598. You're using Displacement but the material settings are set to "Bump Only" and your ocean might have not enough geometry to do the displacement.

Hi Blunder, sorry for the delay. I've checked that and I have "displacement only" on the displacement menu selection and still getting the same blue circle.

Ok. And the other question? Is this plane subdivided? Is there a Subdivision Surface modifier as described in the linked question?

I have 2 subdivisions on the object. One of them is the same as the linked question, the other one is just as default. Still no ocean on the final render.

Wait... 1) Displacement maps are greyscaled images. Why do you swap the G and B channels of your image as you would do with a DirectX normal map? This is not needed. Even if you are using an RGB normal map Blender will convert it to greyscale values and use it for the height 2) Your base color is nearly black and Roughness is 0.0. This would make your water look like black oil. Why does it look blueish? 3) Are you sure the image sequence works? The last time I used one I had to tick [X] Auto Refresh of the Image Texture node 4) maybe you want to share your file? https://pasteall.org/blend/

(After the upload, you need to paste the new URL address here. It's key to access the file. The file limit is 25 MB.)

Hi Blunder I finally got it working. I've checked the autorefresh you mentioned and now it's rendering perfectly.


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Shading Issue with Array
I have created a simple mesh that I would like to array. However, when I use an array there is visible distortion in the shading where the array meets (highlighted in red here, I'm viewing it using the metal carpaint matcap, but it shows up on other glossy matcaps, too):

I think it may be a topology issue, but I just can't figure it out! The .blend file is available here if anyone wishes to take a look.
I would like to understand what is happening and what I can do to fix this issue. So far, I have enabled/applied the following:

Shade Smooth
Auto Smooth
Recalculate Normals
Rotation and Scale
Merge by Distance (after I applied the modifier)

Your help would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

have you set the merge option in the array modifier?

Hi @MartyFouts, I have. I've also set merge first and last (though there is no need to do so in this instance).

If you add a horizontal loopcut across those faces and pull it out slightly to match the curve it cures the problem.  I guess it happens because Blender is trying to bend a flat face. The others are probably ok because they're a bit smaller.

Also add a loopcut and slide it up close to your indentations. If that helps I'll try to add it with images as an answer a bit later.

Hi @JohnEason, thanks for replying. The horizontal loopcut kind of worked... it does smooth out the jagged shading, but the bad shading has moved up to the top most face. I also tried adding vertical loopcuts close to the indentations, but again there is always a badly shaded face at the edges of the mesh.

A bit out of my comfort zone I'm afraid. You'll have to wait until someone more experienced answers in that case.

Hi @JohnEason, no problem, thanks for taking the time to help!

set autosmooth to 22 degrees? but honestly, i did not check for "other" complications then...

the Weighted Normal modifier could be an option, too, with vertex group? I'm not sure how it should look like.


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Beginner Shading Problem
I am new to Blender and I am having a hard time fixing some shading issues. I could really use your knowledge and experience!
What I am Trying to Make: I'm trying to make a car tyre using Blender Guru's tutorial, available at https://youtu.be/WhmRn-tYtxE.
The Problem: When I array my mesh around a curve (the curve has resolution set to 200), I get subtle shading issues wherever the mesh meets (highlighted in red in the image).
I have enabled merge and removed duplicate vertices, but I can't seem to get rid of the issue. The .blend file is available here: tyre_issue_blend_file.

I would really appreciate any help with this issue. I really want to understand why this is happening, and how I can fix it.
Thank you.

hello, maybe you have flipped normals and you need to recalculate the normals? Or you have an inner face? maybe share your file: https://pasteall.org/blend/

Hi, thanks very much for replying! I have recalculated the normals, and I don't think I have an inner face. I have enabled auto smooth and it seems to have helped, but now I have another issue. When I array my mesh around a curve (with resolution set to 200), I get subtle seams wherever the mesh meets. I have enabled merge and removed duplicate vertices, but I can't seem to get rid of the issue. Do you have any ideas? Thanks again. I have uploaded my .blend file here: https://pasteall.org/blend/3a6d0e5ba55f42e18c7123c8b1829d6e

could you please edit your original question and show the new issue with some screenshots? I can't see the seam you're talking about

Hi, I have edited my original question to address the new issue, and added a screen shot. The issue is hard to see, but it is there. It is visible with glossy matcap. If you move around with shift and middle mouse button, if looks like the verts aren't aligned correctly, but they are as far as I can see. Thanks again.

Yes as Ribbit says I'm not sure either there's any problem, Edge Split is a bit unconventional but it's not the problem here

I don't think there is any problem with the shading of your mesh, it's just the reflection of the light from that particular white ceramic matcap Look in the answers section  for pictures

Thank you @moonboots, you've been very helpful!

I don't think there is any problem with the shading of your mesh, it's just the reflection of the light from that particular white ceramic matcap as the issue isn`t shown in any other matcaps. To be honest I am not completely sure.
Your mesh previewed with the white ceramic matcap

Your mesh previewed with the red metal matcap

Ah, thank you for taking the time to reply with images and a gif! This makes it clearer for me, thank you.

Your welcome ;) really happy to help

When you switch to smooth shading, for geometry like yours, you should also enable AutoSmooth by going to the Properties Panel; selecting Object Data Properties; (the one with the triangle icon,) opening the Normals tab and enabling AutoSmooth:

Here is geometry that is similar to yours, with smooth shading enabled.
Without autosmooth set:

With autosmooth set

Hi, Thanks for the reply! I have enabled Auto Smooth (and set the angle to 35 degrees). It seems to have done the trick. However, I am now encountering another issue. When I array my mesh around a curve, I get subtle seams where the mesh meets. I have enabled merge and removed duplicate vertices, but I can't seem to get rid of the issue. Do you have any ideas? Thanks again.

I downloaded your file and the apparent issues all seem to be due to lighting.  Your mesh looks fine, and when I switch to a matte matcap they don't show up.


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Making Brick Walls/Stone Walls/Shingles Using Arrays and Particle Systems
My goal is to make brick and stone walls, and shingle roofs utilizing a small collection of units spread over a plane using the array and particle systems.  I think I have figured out most of it from these two posts:
Array with random objects?
Convert Particle System to Mesh (Collection NOT Object)?
So I can create an array that I can cut holes in.
Issues I can't figure out:

I can't get the plane to fill completely with non-uniform units.  I started with Stones, and have 1x1, 1.5x1 and 2x1 stones that I want to fill a plane with, and there will be gaps, or lots of overlap if I increase the number of emitters.
Unless I set the source as jittered and 1 particle per face, the seem to just appear everywhere randomly.

Is there a way to get a plane to fill with non-uniform shapes with no overlap and no gaps? Or more precisely, is there a way to create a semi-uniform stone wall with random stones of different lengths but uniform heights?
This is what I am trying to create, random length stones that are a uniform height:

Thank you for the suggestions, I will look up Geometry and Sverchok nodes.  Also, the end goal is to produce an .STL file for 3D printing.

you should think about using geometry nodes instead of arrays and particles....

and please add a screenshot what your "end goal" is, so that we can clearly see what you want

ok, maybe animation nodes is the right tool to do this...I think geonodes is until now not capable of doing this...

Hello ! I would definitely not advise using Blender Particles System for this task, it's not flexible enough. Geometry nodes are coming closer, but until we can script complex algorithms, it will be a real burden to do so. Animation Nodes or Sverchok can achieve this for instance, but they require a fair amount of time investment to master


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Export equipable armor parts for unity
I'm new to blender and 3D modeling, I want to export armors as parts like upper body boots, gloves, so on..
and I want to be able equip and unequip in unity game, problem is bone weights are not exporting when I exporting armor only without character, I Tried to export with character and in unity saved that armor parts as prefabs and I remove them from character, but.. when I tried to equip again that prefabs they are not working no more they are transparent, skinned mesh renderer got problems.
Can anyone explain how to do wha I want? or link some tutorials?
here is screens from blender I created different collections for character and armor parts:

result in unity:

Vertex groups are fine? Otherwise you'd have to skin the armor: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/67625/how-to-rig-clothes

yes vertex groups are fine, but if I export without character its not exporting that parts when armature is disabled(character) I think I dont know :(

Do you export to FBX? Should work... You can always export and re-import to check.

yes fbx Im trying to make game in unity

armor is not following bones in unity when exported parts only(if i export with character its ok) as fbx but in blender is fine

Can not test it right now. I'd suggest try to add an armature modifer, then export or parent them temporarily to see whether that works.

I tried that too, I copied armature of player in armor collection and assigned that armature to armor, when I exported in unity armors came with its own bones and player also had the bones of course I tried to replace bones in armor with player bones but not working... I can send you blend file later


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Decimate and dissolve don't remove triangles!
I can't lower triangle count in my obj I brought in from Daz 3D. Right now there's no textures. I tried multiple numbers on Decimate and limited dissolve. I tried everything on these two other pages:
How can I decimate a mesh to remove unnecessary triangles?
Removing triangles and ngons
Why won't it lower triangles? I started with a little over 2 million triangles then It went down to 1.9 million but that's it.
UPDATE: Limited Dissolve is reducing triangle count, but only by a few thousand. I need something that will reduce a 2 million triangle model to 14K triangles. Any ideas?
Also, will eliminating triangles screw up my UV maps? I'm trying to remap my textures so they're all coming from one image after this for Tabletop Simulator but I've never worked with UV before so do you think the Daz textures will still fit?

Did you actually select the entire mesh when you do this?

Make sure all vertices are actually connected. Meshes imported from other softwares can be disconnected on import

@TheLabCat would highlighting all the objects in the layers panel and drawing a marquee around all the points select all of them, or do you have to do something more?

@Gorgious I wouldn't be surprised if they were disconnected, they came from separate products in Daz. What would I do about it if they were separated?

@Ikari layers panel? Where is that? Do you mean the Layout editor?

@TheLabCat I'm not sure what it's called. The area where all your objects and sub-objects are listed. I'm coming to Blender from Adobe so I'm still thinking in terms of Photoshop/Illustrator. If you click on an object in that list, does it select it, because when I did that and tied dissolve it didn't do anything. I had to click and drag a lasso over the points in the model instead. Kind of a drag. What if an object is hard to click on?

@Ikari oh, I see. Yeah, that is the Outliner. But selecting an object in the 3D viewport is usually easier. Once an object is selected, you must go into edit mode (if you can select individual vertices you are already here), and you can press A to select all. Alt+A in 2.80 up is select none.


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Adding Image texture filepath & ColorRamp into a Python Rig UI
So I have a rig in Blender, and the rig has a python UI. I have a plan on improving the python UI. In the rig, there's a material with an image texture node that is connected to a Principled BSDF. There, I got an idea to add a way to easily change the image texture from the rig UI. Here's an example:

Unfortunately, I don't really know how to do so. I've seen some posts with almost the same question. But since I'm not really good at python, I can't really understand it well. A question that popped out is how I could implement it into my script and apply the texture to the node. I hope anyone would help explain it to me so I could understand it.
Another thing I want to add is a ColorRamp. In the rig, there's another material with a ColorRamp. And I also want to add it to the python UI. Here's a mockup on what I was planning to do:

All materials are node based so you'd have to create a custom panel, get the material, find each node and display their properties (texture path and color ramp in this case) on that panel (to basically reuse them). However, in order to do that you need to understand python and bpy because there are a few concepts involved. Recommend start here: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/57306/how-to-create-a-custom-ui, then e.g.: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/207676/node-editor-python-expose-listed-node-groups-dynamically-in-node-shelf-panel/207684#207684

Can you make an example? Because it's still hard for me to wrap my head around it.


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How can I create a "pencil edge" to my object?
Blender 2.93.1
Cycles with GPU Compute - OptiX Denoising
Light Paths:

Total 4
Diffuse 2
Glossy 2
Transparency 6
Transmission 12
No Clamping
(I put the light path details here since I'm working with mirrors and translucent materials. Not sure if it will help answer the question or not).

I'm working on some photorealistic product images for wall mirrors right now but I'm having some trouble getting my materials just right (I'm fairly new to blender and 3D design).
I'm trying to create a material that looks like the edges of this mirror:

The texture of it is slightly exaggerated here, but you can see that it has some translucency and texture to it. The people who make these mirrors take a special grinder/polisher and smooth out the edges of the glass, which makes it a 'polished edge' mirror.
What I've done:

Created a cube
Changed dimensions to match mirror specs
Added a bevel modifier for those slightly rounded edges
Created different materials for every face of the cube

Now I'm stuck at the pencil edge.
So here is a current render and my current shading nodes.

Also, at the corner of the mirror in this recent rendering, the angle is odd where it's transitioning from the z-axis to the x-axis. I'm assuming it's because of the bevel modifier but I'm not sure how to fix that with there being different materials on the object. I think I could deal with that though if I could only get the texture right. I'm not sure why it's showing up so smooth and gray in the render.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I should note: I am going to have to create many different versions of this mirror because there are different sizes with different part numbers and they want images for all of them. This is why I chose to put all the different materials on one cube. I thought it would help me change dimensions to the correct specs more efficiently.
EDIT: This is similar to what I'm looking to do with my glass: Glass Slab material with green side
For some reason when I follow the answer on that post it does not have that green-ish effect on the edges. My edges need to be pretty smooth compared to what my first few pictures show as far as texture goes. To the touch, it almost feels like a matte finished glass.

Relatively new to Blender here as well but maybe it would be easier if you made the edge of the mirror a totally new object... give it some thickness, then apply the material to that.


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How can I simulate thermoforming?
I'm trying to make a simple packaging shape : a sheet of plastic thermoformed onto a round-edged rectangle.
I've already tried this : add surface > subdivide > select the flat thermoformed faces > translation on z while proportional editing
But the shape is kinda random and isn't as crisp as I'd like.
Is there a way to apply my surface on an object, as I would drop a piece of fabric on a box, but without creasing? In other words, simulating a thermoforming ?
Thanks,

There are two common ways to control the crispness that you're looking for, and either might apply here.
Both approaches start the same way:

Create a plane.
Add two edge loops in each direction to create a rectangle in the center. To add an edge loop, hover the mouse near one of the edges and type CTRL r.  Move the mouse to place the loop and left click.  Right click to cancel.
Extrude the rectangle in the Z direction.
This will create the basic shape.  When you add a subdivision surface modifier you get something like this:

One approach is to use a bevel modifier or manual bevels along with the subdivision surface modifier.  By controlling the bevel shape and width you can control the apparent curvature. Here is how to do it.

Add a bevel modifier before the subdivision surface modifier.
Adjust the amount and number of segments to taste.

Here's a sample Bevel Modifier setup:

Here's the resulting object

By making the bevel amount smaller you will make the edge transitions more crisp.
The other approach is to use edge loops as control loops along with the subdivision surface modifier.
Here is one way to do that:

Add two edge loops to the extruded area and place them near the corners:

As you can see, the blob is starting to form up.

Add two edge loops in the Y direction, "inside" the raised area and move them near the corners:

As you can see the blister is looking more like the packaging.  You can move an edge loop by selecting it and tapping g twice.  Right Mouse Button cancels the movement, while Left Mouse Button accepts the new position.


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Smoke not rendering in Cycles - but is baking?! 2.93.1
I have created a potion with a liquid and smoke, when I bake the simulation everything is great, but when I try to render the animation, everything except the smoke renders?  Help please!!  I am using cycles as my jar is transparent glass and the liquid texture animated.
I am also rendering to a codec with transparent background.

Material added, still no smoke in render?!

It would be great if you showed among all those screenshots also one of your smoke material...

I have added 2 shots of the emitter and one of the materials now.

There is no screenshot of the material. A material is found in the Material Tab, that is the red checkered sphere symbol above the red chessboard square symbol (the Texture Tab you show in the last screenshot) and below the green triangle symbol. And even better would be the Shader Editor window instead of the material properties. And this material has to be assigned to the domain, not the emitter.

the smoke does not have a material, the liquid in the bottle does (see screenshot) but the smoke only has a cloud texture.

And there is your mistake. I guess you should probably watch some basic tutorials on how to make smoke simulations, because to teach you the complete process might be too complex for a simple Q&A.

You need to have a material on the domain. If you just need a basic material, use the Principal Volume BSDF material and put it in the Volume socket. But put the Principal Volume BSDF Material in the Volume socket and NOT THE Surface socket in the Material Output as  if you put it in the Surface input, it will display the material like a cube since the domain is a cube

Thanks for the comments, I have added a material to the container, and the bake looks great, but once again the smoke disappears on render?! (screens uploaded)


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any addon or idea for on-off animation(or Fade in and out) of lots of objects?
I would like to use Blender for construction sequence animation.
(Like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6sSbazsyLw)
Since the nature of construction sequence animation, I need to turn on and off(or fade in and out) in Visibility Option(Or Material Alpha) a lot.
I usually faces 3 types. Construct, Temporary and Demolition.
The Construct sequence is starting from Off and then On at specific keyframe.
The Temporary sequence is starting from Off and then On at specific keyframe and off at specific keyframe as well.
The Demolition sequence is starting from On and then Off at Specific keyframe.
I have been doing this by inserting keyframes manually but i got too many object.
And to make fade in and out i need to separate material from original too many times.
If you know any good addon or function in Blender to make the process easy, please comment below.
Thank you!

@Gorgious this is lovely idea! thank you for the information. I really appreciate.

It's a complex topic and I think people underestimate the time it takes to make this kind of animation. Most of the time it's hand animated and it takes several weeks to do it, not even factoring in the modelling time.
That being said, with more recent versions you can use custom properties per-object to fade objects in and out. You then don't have to animate materials individually, but object properties.
Using an Attribute node set to Object, type in the name of the attribute (can be whatever you want).

Select the object, add a custom property. Edit it and rename it exactly like in your Attribute node.

Now you can have multiple objects that share the same material and animate the alpha individually.

If you have multiple materials in your scene (wood, steel, glass, PVC, etc.) you can turn it into a node group. Select the Attribute, Transparent and Mix Shader nodes and press CTRL + G or Node > Make Group to make a node group.
When inside the node group (you'll notice the backdrop has a green tint now), press TAB or click on the arrow in the top right to go back to the base shader.

Now you can just plug the new node group in every material just before the Material Output node and you'll be able to control the object's transparency with a custom property on the object itself.

If you want to create sub-groups with the same fade behavior, you can drive the custom properties easily :

If the custom property is animated using keyframes, you can link them by selecting your target objects and selecting the source object last, and using CTRL + L > Animation Data or Object > Link/Transfer Data > Animation Data.

Note : The cubes will now share the same animation data. In case you change the keyframes of one property, all the other objects with linked animation data will behave the same.
If after linking the Animation Data you want to make each object's animation independant, use F3 and search for "Make Single User", then check "Animation data" and click OK. You can also go Object > Relations > Make Single User > Animation Data. You can alternatively go into the outliner, expand the object properties, right click on the Action and choose "Make Single User".

Hi Gorgious thank you for sharing the lovely idea and your kind explanation. I didn't know that i can use object attribute to material.
One quick question, Do you have any idea that i can just copy the animation data to another but not link(cus it has problem like you mentioned in "Note").

@DYLim thanks :) you can "make single user" on the animation data block, that means they lose their links to each user. I've added a paragraph to the end of the answer

thank you for the answer. Yes, "Make single user" can solve the problem of the link. However, In the middle of work, If i link the animation to another which already had keyframes, the action would remove the whole progress.

@DYLim You can copy and paste only certain keyframes from object to object. you can access them in the Timeline or graph editor

+1 ....but...where is the rotating screw animation...!?

you could create a transparent shader like this so what will happen whenever the camera goes closer to the any object so the object will fade automatically which you can control ..... there will be many objects so you have to run a script which will apply this shader to every object in the scene
script
import bpy

#group = bpy.data.node_groups['your_node_group_name']
group = bpy.data.node_groups['1CameraBasedTransparency']

#get all non grease pencil materials
materials = [mat for mat in bpy.data.materials if mat.use_nodes and not mat.is_grease_pencil]
for mat in materials: #iterate over materials
    node_tree = mat.node_tree #get node-tree of material

    output_node = node_tree.nodes['Material Output'] #get output node of material
    principled_node = node_tree.nodes['Principled BSDF'] #get Principled node of material

    #add a group node in material
    group_node = node_tree.nodes.new('ShaderNodeGroup')
    group_node.node_tree = group

    #link it to Principled node
    node_tree.links.new(principled_node.outputs[0],group_node.inputs[0])
    #link it to output node
    node_tree.links.new(group_node.outputs[0],output_node.inputs[0])


text:
block of terrain with topo on top?
I have a nice piece of topo mesh but I want it to be the top face of a cube to make the object be a block with simple grey sides and bottom. I suppose I could make a separate cube then somehow fit the terrain onto the top but these must be a simpler way. I have tried E extrusion but can't get the hang of it.

Enter edit mode, select the edges all around your mesh:
Use AltRclick to select an edge loop, or CtrlRclick to select a path between your previous selection and the new one.
Once you have selected all that, simply extrude down:
E for extrude, press Z to constrain it to the Z axis, then validate with Lclick.
Then make this extrusion flat by scaling it on Z to zero:
S for scale, then Z, then Numpad 0 and validate.
Not you just have to make a face from that edge loop, with F.

EDIT :

It looks like your mesh is deformed by a modifier, I would guess a displace modifier. I guess it's how you obtained the shape of the top. The issue is that the modifier affects your whole object, even the parts you want to keep flat.
So we need to restrain the area of action of this modifier.
A simple way to do that is to use a vertex group.
For the sake of demonstration, I recreated your setup (at least what I guessed out of your pictures):

As you can see on the right, I show both the modifier settings and the "vertex group" panel which can be found in the Object Data tab (the triangle icon).
First, let's create the vertex group we need:

Enter edit mode
In vertex selection, select only the top part of the mesh we want to deform
Hit CtrlG to assign the vertices to a new group, hit the confirmation button spawned under your cursor.
You can see the created group in the vertex group panel, I rename it "Deform Mask" for the sake of clarity.
In the modifier's settings, select the Deform Mask group in the vertex group input.

Now it deforms only the top vertices, but we need to do one more thing. You will notice that the top vertices are still being moved on X and Y axes, making the vertical faces deformed instead of flat.
This is because of the direction of the deformation. By default, this modifier deforms in all directions according to the faces's normals. We want in this case to move vertices only up and down, so let's change the direction to Z.
And here we go:

Sorry, tried this many times, many variants, my extrusion downward refuses to exhibit vertical sides, the sides get distorted. But you put an "S" after you extrude, don't understand this.

You have to press Z while extruding to constraint the extrusion to the Z axis. Depending on your mesh, sometimes Blender will already constraint your extrusion to the wanted axis (you can see that because he highlights the concerned axis), in which case you don't need to manually constraint.  About S, as I said it's for the scale. If you 'scale to zero" something, it basically crushes it flat. Here I use a scale to zero on the Z axis in order to perfectly align all the vertices on Z.

I’m good all the way to the S. What is it I select before the S Z numpad0 to crush the sides to vertical planes? I tried Shift-Alt-rmb but that doesn’t do it.  I am not familiar with the mouse interface you are using so need the more basic commands.

I don't know what to say. I gave you the most basic and simple procedure. It has nothing to do with the interface, it's just keystrokes. Just keep doing what I described and it just will work. Unless you do something else, in which case, either start from the beginning, either explain exactly where you are and what you did.

Ah, frustration, surely my lack of experience, but I added an image to the original question above showing  the screen after extrusion (left). Then I enter S Z 0 (last from the numbers on my mac keyboard which emulate numpad) and, lo, I get what I don't want on the right. I've tried changing global/local, edge/face, same result...

Hm... It doesn't look quite like the mesh you showed first? By the looks of this, I guess you're using a deforming modifier on top of your "raw" mesh, in order to get your terrain-like surface. I edited my answer for that. Have a look at the EDIT section.

Bmesh script.

Test 10 x 10 grid with voroni z displacement texture
Select plane mesh in object mode, run script.

Extrudes face region
Moves all verts of extrusion to a set baseline. (Edit base_line = -1 to alter.
Sets the material index of new side and bottom faces to mat_index = 1 (once again edit to suit)
If you are using a displace modifier, add all the verts of the plane to a vertex group.(Prior to running script) The plane before adding the base in image are all in vertex group "Group".  Use this group in the modifier. Edit the name of this group in script displace_modifier_vgname = "Group" The script will remove all generated verts from a vertex group if it exists with that name ``

Script
import bpy
import bmesh

base_line = -1 # z value of flat bottom
mat_index = 1 # material on sides and bottom
displace_modifier_vgname = "Group"

context = bpy.context
ob = context.object
vg = ob.vertex_groups.get(displace_modifier_vgname)

me = ob.data
bm = bmesh.new()
bm.from_mesh(me)
# extrude the surface
ext = bmesh.ops.extrude_face_region(bm,
        geom=bm.faces
        )
verts = []
for e in ext['geom']:
    if isinstance(e, bmesh.types.BMVert):
        e.co.z = base_line
        if vg:
            verts.append(e.index)
    if isinstance(e, bmesh.types.BMFace):
        e.material_index = mat_index

bm.to_mesh(me)
me.update()

if vg:
    vg.remove(verts)

I am on a steep learning curve to learn all of these proposals. On the script variant I am getting an error: Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/Text", line 25, in
NameError: name 'vindex' is not defined
Error: Python script fail, look in the console for now...

Somehow lost a "." in paste-ation.  Hopefully all good now.

Thanks much for the script which now works. I put a screenshot of the result back up in the question (the only way I can figure to add illustrations to comments). Couple of things: the base is not flat, it mimics the top. Also the color is bluish, I guess this much be the material chosen. I can manually change these things as soon as I get some competence in vertex group assignment and exclusion which you earlier suggested. But maybe a line of code would do it. I can see that I am lacking a lot of basic skills and should probably do some tutorials before attempting these projects.

Is the vertex group assigned to the displace modifier named "Group" if not edit name in script. A screenshot of your plane and modifier settings would help.  My first intention was to look for displace modifiers and use the vg name from that, however decided against.  Manually Similarly to  @LOlock's answer Suggest this method add a grid, add a solidify modifier, adjust the thickness,  apply the modifier (effectively extruding the region) Select the boxes top vertices and assign a group. add the displace  mod, using the vgroup..

Re images, scripts or blends for comments Recommend PasteAll See the top RH corner, select image and upload.  They are removed after a few months.


text:
Earthquake visualization in blender?
I have csv catalogue(s) of earthquakes occurring in time and xyz space that can be individually represented as cubes or spheres of differing sizes depending on the earthquake magnitude. I have little experience on Blender/Python and am wondering whether I can learn enough of these subjects in a few days to create a nice 3D visualization of my various date,x,y,z,m, and maybe some other attributes. The appearance of the earthquakes might be additionally accompanied by some sound. No physics required. The earthquakes are in local areas so no spherical surfaces required. I have been attempting to do these displays using two different programs as shown following, but Blender would be vastly better. I am stalled here: existing script I have been able to find for csv import appears to be limited to  3 variables

I needed something similar and had a bunch of historic quakes and locations in a CSV file. With lots of help I ended up with a script that placed the locations on a sphere to place animation and text. Here it is https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/36837/convert-csv-latitude-longtitude-to-blender-coordinates

And here is the result - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19otdCjlIg4 I must say that it wasn't as automated as I would like but I had no time for that. It is a more advanced problem. Consider what the output is as well. Are you rendering to a movie file or should it play in a webpage or game engine? This will indicate how to place audio. If its a movie then you simply add the sound in Blender's Video Editor, after rendering the animation.

Possible duplicate of Import coordinates from CSV and create sphere at each position as well as  here

Is the data (x,y,z) or (lat,long,depth)?

The good thing about comma separated values files is that they are pretty easy to read if they don't contain errors. The amount of Python you need to learn isn't too much.
I made this example file and saved it next to my blendfile:
number,long,lat,mag
1,37.9230,18.1445,3.5
2,47.1948,23.1326,0.1
3,40.9674,16.6782,1.5
4,45.1434,23.3850,4.2
5,39.4629,21.7380,1.4
6,34.7125,16.9653,5.3
7,34.3573,17.9092,3.3
8,40.9570,24.7064,4.4
9,34.9255,17.1371,3.4
10,45.9753,20.9662,0.7
11,31.0126,20.1624,3.4
12,47.6929,20.7224,5.6

My script is not elegant at all. I focused on it being readable. It can be done much shorter and prettier but not everybody is an experienced coder.
The script imports the csv file, separates it into lines and puts the values into a list.
From there it's not hard to let Blender generate circles or spheres with the right diameter and the right location.
Under Linux it's better to start Blender from a terminal. Otherwise you won't see what the script is printing. Under Windows, the System console can be toggled in the Window menu at the top.
import bpy

blendPath = bpy.path.abspath("//") # path to the blendfile because my .csv is in the same directory
fileName = "example.csv" # name of the csv

txt = open(blendPath + fileName, "r") # open the file to read
quakeTxt = txt.read() # read the entire file into a string
txt.close() # close the file
print(quakeTxt)

quakeLines = quakeTxt.split("\n") # split into a list divided by linebreaks
print(quakeLines)
quakeData = [] # this will hold the actual data

flag = 1 # that flag helps omit the first line
for a in quakeLines:
    if flag: # if it's the first time
        flag = 0
        continue # continue with the next iteration of the loop
    if len(a) > 0: # ignore empty lines
        # this is a good place to turn the strings into numbers
        quakeData.append(a.split(",")) # append the data as a list

for a in quakeData: # go through the data
    number = a[0]
    locX   = a[1]
    locY   = a[2]
    mag    = a[3]
    print("Nr " + number + ": Location: " + locX + " " + locY + " Magnitude: " + mag)
    # the print statement only works because all the numbers are still strings. That has to change if you want to use them for blender objects

Thanks for all the commenting, the non-coders salute you ;-)

For test prints consider using print("Nr ", number, ": Location: ", loxX) Doesn't matter what type the vars are, and avoids unnecessary string concatenation.

This can be done with Animation Nodes. Download and install the linked add-on. The first thing we need to do is to parse our data. In the Node Editor, create a new Animation Nodes NodeTree:

Add a Text Block Reader node (nodes can be added with Shift + A or you can search by name with Ctrl + A). Press the "+" button, then the magnifying glass button and click to create a new Text Editor window.

Now, paste your .csv file into the Text Editor. Here is mine:
36.0071678,-120.5664978,3.37,1.25
39.361,-120.0015,0.2,1.2
61.0127,-152.3792,109.2,1.9
34.2196667,-117.5191667,4.28,2.01
19.1678333,-155.692337,4.33,1.84
52.5276,160.5151,37.6,5.2
33.5093333,-116.7995,3.67,0.6
63.7417,-149.4625,117.7,1.4
39.3438,-120.0228,5.4,1.2
33.497,-116.7903333,6.16,1.09
33.4935,-116.7871667,6.63,0.39
33.3825,-116.8723333,5.13,1
37.6496658,-118.9426651,5.26,0.74
33.765,-116.9028333,11,0.95
60.9685,-150.2176,25.3,1

The data  is ordered x,y,z,mag. Add a Split Text node, and set it to "Lines." Now we  have a list of strings, each containing the data for one earthquake.

Next, we need to extract a location vector and a magnitude from these text lists. We'll use Expression nodes for this. Add an Expression node and create a new input from the Text List output of the Split Text node. Use the gear icon to set the output type to Vector List. Paste the following code into the text box:
[[float(p) for p in e.split(",")[:3]] for e in t]

Duplicate the Expression node, change the output type to Float List and paste this code:
[float(e.split(",")[3]) for e in t]

Current NodeTree:

Next, add a Combine Vector node and a Compose Matrix node:

Last, add an Object Instancer node. Select the mesh that you want to represent the earthquakes (I'm using an Icosphere). Set the number of Instances to the number of earthquakes in your data. Add an Object Matrix Output node, and use it to position the Icospheres:

Result:

(requires Animation Nodes)


text:
How to generate temporary operators with dynamic properties?
During the development of an add-on I had to generate an operator based on the information in a dictionary. As I didn't find anything on that topic, I thought it might be useful to add my solution for others to use...
This might come in useful, when you have a dictionary of data, a user needs to fill in, before some operator logic is executed, but you don't want to create an operator for every possible dictionary combination.

Hi. If you have an answer, even to your own question, this should be in the answer box below, not as part of the question.

Thanks. Seems like I need to add an answer myself and then mark it as solved, right?

You can mark it as solved if you want, but you may want to wait a few days and see if anyone has an alternative (maybe even better) solution.

Good point. I need to wait two days anyway, before I can accept my own solution.

As operators are not editable after creation, I achieved this by using a CollectionProperty with is hidden to the user. Instead, the temporary operator just shows the elements as single Properties of the type specified in the dictionary. The preset values for the Properties is taken from the dictionary, too.
That way, we can create operators "on the fly", which are created in the function createOperator and discarded, when the next temporary operator is created.
The Property type is handled in the calling operator by adding a type substring (such as 'b_' for boolean) to the name of the Property, which will show up in the GUI. Additional Properties could be added the same way.
WARNING: It might be dangerous to use these operators with Blenders undo functionality. Therefore, I disabled it for these generic operators. Also, the usage of eval is dangerous in terms of security as written here. So make sure, your dictionary does not contain user input or digest the operatorName properly.
I hope this is of use to anyone.
Happy coding, Mr. Anderson!
P.S.: New to the forum, so feedback is VERY appreciated! :)

Just for reference: I took some inspiration from this question on dynamic
operator generation and this old thread at blenderartists on generating dynamic properties in operators. Especially, this trick by sambler helped alot. Generating Blender operators in a function comes from an older Blender Dev entry.
bl_info = {
    'version': (1, 0),
    'blender': (2, 79, 0),
    'author': 'Mr. Anderson',
    'name': 'Temporary Operator Showcase',
    'location': 'blender',
    'description': 'Creates operators when executing another operator, based on the contents of a dictionary.' ,
    'warning': 'This is a test only!',
    'category': 'test',
}

import bpy

custom_dict = {
    'spoon': {'bent': True, 'dynamic': False},
    'smiths': {'amount': 55, 'angry': True},
    'matrix': {'greenness': 0.5, 'speed': 6.5}
}

class PropertyEntry(bpy.types.PropertyGroup):
    name = bpy.props.StringProperty()
    intProp = bpy.props.IntProperty()
    boolProp = bpy.props.BoolProperty()
    stringProp = bpy.props.StringProperty()
    floatProp = bpy.props.FloatProperty()

def registerTempOperator(name):
    # check for previous temporary Operator and unregister it
    try:
        bpy.utils.unregister_class(TempOperator)
    except UnboundLocalError:
        pass
    blender_id_name = 'object.add_' + name

    # create the temporary operator class
    class TempOperator(bpy.types.Operator):
        """Temporary operator"""
        bl_idname = blender_id_name
        bl_label = 'Add a ' + name + ' object.'
        bl_description ='Adds a ' + name + ' object to the scene.'
        bl_options = {'REGISTER'}

        operator_data = bpy.props.CollectionProperty(type=PropertyEntry)
        operator_name = name

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

            # expose all properties in the collection to the user
            for i in range(len(self.operator_data)):
                propname = self.operator_data[i].name[2:]
                # choose the right Property type depending on name identifier
                if self.operator_data[i].name[0] == 'i':
                    layout.prop(self.operator_data[i], 'intProp', text=propname)
                elif self.operator_data[i].name[0] == 'b':
                    layout.prop(self.operator_data[i], 'boolProp', text=propname)
                elif self.operator_data[i].name[0] == 's':
                    layout.prop(self.operator_data[i], 'stringProp', text=propname)
                elif self.operator_data[i].name[0] == 'f':
                    layout.prop(self.operator_data[i], 'floatProp', text=propname)

        def invoke(self, context, event):
            data = custom_dict[self.operator_name]
            for key in data.keys():
                item = self.operator_data.add()
                prefix = ''
                if type(data[key]) is int:
                    item.intProp = data[key]
                    prefix = 'i'
                elif type(data[key]) is bool:
                    item.boolProp = data[key]
                    prefix = 'b'
                elif type(data[key]) is str:
                    item.stringProp = data[key]
                    prefix = 's'
                elif type(data[key]) is float:
                    item.floatProp = data[key]
                    prefix = 'f'

                # add the identifier to specify the data type
                item.name = prefix + '_' + key

            # show operator as popup window
            return context.window_manager.invoke_props_dialog(self)

        def execute(self, context):
            # TODO write the contents of operator_data somewhere here
            # or do something awesome

            print('Data is in here:')
            print(self.operator_data)
            print([i.name for i in self.operator_data])
            return {'FINISHED'}

    # register the temporary class and return the operatorBlId
    bpy.utils.register_class(TempOperator)
    return blender_id_name

def operatorList(self, context):
    items = []
    for item in custom_dict:
        items.append((item,) * 3)
    return items

class CallingOperator(bpy.types.Operator):
    """Operator which calls the temporary operator"""
    bl_idname = 'object.calling_operator'
    bl_label = 'Call operator'
    bl_description ='Call the temporary operators specified in custom_dict'
    bl_options = {'REGISTER'}

    op_list = bpy.props.EnumProperty(items=operatorList)

    def draw(self, context):
        layout = self.layout
        layout.prop(self, 'op_list', expand=True)

    def invoke(self, context, event):
        return context.window_manager.invoke_props_dialog(self)

    def execute(self, context):
        operator_name = registerTempOperator(self.op_list)

        # invoke the other operator, based on its bl_idname
        operator = eval('bpy.ops.' + operator_name + "('INVOKE_DEFAULT')")
        return {'FINISHED'}

# just a basic panel to add the test operator to the 3D toolbar
class TestPanel(bpy.types.Panel):
    """Contains the operator to test."""
    bl_idname = "VIEW3D_PT_TEST_TOOLS"
    bl_label = "TEST"
    bl_space_type = 'VIEW_3D'
    bl_region_type = 'UI'
    bl_category = 'Tools'

    def draw(self, context):
        layout = self.layout
        layout.operator('object.calling_operator')

def register():
    bpy.utils.register_class(PropertyEntry)
    bpy.utils.register_class(CallingOperator)
    bpy.utils.register_class(TestPanel)

def unregister():
    bpy.utils.register_class(PropertyEntry)
    bpy.utils.register_class(CallingOperator)
    bpy.utils.unregister_class(TestPanel)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    register()


text:
How do you create a sphere with a certain amount of edges?
I am in the process of making a board game, and I need some customized dice.
I need 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 sided dice for my board game. I have looked around on model sharing websites, and all the models that I could find (free or $$) don't include D5, D7, D9 or D11 dice. So I decided to start modeling my own dice, but I can't figure out how to evenly space the faces/edges on the 7-12 sided dice.
I've been working with Blender for about a few months now, but i still consider myself a novice. I guess I was wondering if there was an easier method to create these dice? I was thinking, maybe to create a sphere with X amount of faces on it, so I tried to use the Ico Sphere option, but it only allows me to edit the subdivisions, not the total face amount. Is there a trick I can do or an add-on that might work well for me here to model these dice accurately?
EDIT:
Maybe another alternative would be to create a sphere and then using a boolean modifier, you subtract the desired amount of faces from the sphere leaving behind the desired dice amount? That could work...but the math behind it might be far more sophisticated than what I can do. blender doesnt have a feature that will do this math for me, will it? :P
EDIT 2: I posted this question on the mathematics stack exchange if you guys wanted to go look at it and it's detail.
https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/2683018/how-to-evenly-space-out-a-certain-amount-of-axes-off-of-one-center-point
Thank you for your time and response.
~Jared

Related A number of options are covered with add mesh extras.

batFINGER - that link is useful, but I'm afraid it really doesn't solve my issue for the d7, d9 or d11 sided dice. still useful though, i will probably use that for the common sided polyhedral objects!

Attempt at the D9

The first part of the code, is an algorithm to estimate N equally spaced points on a sphere.
Adapted from
Constructing Polyhedra from Repelling Points on a Sphere

by Simon Tatham
Scatters N points randomly on the surface of a sphere, allows them to
  move under mutual inverse-square repulsion while keeping them
  constrained to the sphere's surface, waits until they converge to
  fixed locations, and outputs their locations.

Once the points are determined to within a tolerance TOL they are
rotated to make one the north pole. A 1 radius UV sphere is createdand holes are bisected into the mesh by cutting with a plane normal to
the radial of each point, and moved rat along the 1 unit radius.

Image showing convex hulls of 9 points on left, and sphere with cutting planes on right.
The Code
Copy the code below, paste in text editor and run script. Change the parameters to suit. Note it might hang every now and then finding a solution , if so hit CtrlC in the system console.
import bpy
import bmesh
from mathutils import Vector
import random
from math import pi, asin, atan2, cos, sin, radians

# parmaaters
n = 9  # number of points on sphere
rat = .86 # how far along the radius to bisect
u_segments = 32  # UV sphere settings
v_segments = 32
thickness = 0.2  # solidify thickness
TOL = 1e-7

points = [Vector((0, 0, 1))]
for i in range(n - 1):
    theta = random.random() * radians(360)
    phi = 2 * asin(random.random() * 2 - 1)
    points.append(Vector((cos(theta) * cos(phi),
           sin(theta) * cos(phi),
           sin(phi))))

while True:
    # Determine the total force acting on each point.
    forces = []
    for i in range(len(points)):
        p = points[i]
        f = Vector()
        ftotal = 0
        for j in range(len(points)):
            if j == i: continue
            q = points[j]
            # Find the distance vector, and its length.
            dv = p - q
            dl = dv.length
            dl3 = dl * dl * dl
            fv = dv / dl3
            # Add to the total force on the point p.
            f = f + fv
        # Stick this in the forces array.
        forces.append(f)
        # Add to the running sum of the total forces/distances.
        ftotal = ftotal + f.length

    fscale = 1 if ftotal <= 0.25 else 0.25 / ftotal

    # Move each point, and normalise. While we do this, also track
    # the distance each point ends up moving.
    dist = 0
    for i in range(len(points)):
        p = points[i]
        f = forces[i]
        p2 = (p + fscale * f).normalized()

        dv = p - p2
        dist = dist + dv.length
        points[i] = p2
    # Done. Check for convergence and finish.
    if dist < TOL: # TOL
        break

context = bpy.context
scene = context.scene
# make one point north pole.
R = points[0].rotation_difference(Vector((0, 0, 1))).to_matrix()
points = [R @ p for p in points]

bm = bmesh.new()
#bmesh.ops.create_icosphere(bm, diameter=1, subdivisions=5 )
bmesh.ops.create_uvsphere(bm,
        diameter=1,
        u_segments=u_segments,
        v_segments=v_segments)

for p in points:
    ret = bmesh.ops.bisect_plane(bm,
            geom=bm.faces[:]+bm.edges[:]+bm.verts[:],
            plane_co= rat * p,
            plane_no=-p,
            clear_outer=False,
            clear_inner=True)
    '''
    # add visible cutting planes (using bisect)
    R = Vector(p).to_track_quat('Z', 'Y').to_matrix().to_4x4()
    R.translation = rat * p
    bmesh.ops.create_grid(bm, x_segments=1, y_segments=1, size=1, matrix=R)
    '''
me = bpy.data.meshes.new("dice")
bm.to_mesh(me)
ob = bpy.data.objects.new("dice", me)
scene.collection.objects.link(ob)
context.view_layer.objects.active = ob
ob.select_set(True)
ob.location = scene.cursor.location
# add a thickness modifier
sm = ob.modifiers.new("Solidify", 'SOLIDIFY')
sm.thickness = thickness

Alternatively could hard code in a set of  9 points.
from mathutils import Vector
raw = [
0.798313857169, -0.442003436215, 0.409057389405,
-0.552293193116, -0.798759837392, 0.238652364346,
-0.173114881688, 0.873088163724, -0.455794137855,
0.749969728716, 0.23229964104, -0.619340199553,
-0.872965308015, 0.388085187337, 0.295502044616,
-0.600669921728, -0.124465371314, -0.789749337749,
0.278179133859, -0.797203763248, -0.535800829925,
-0.105061227491, -0.0758822299659, 0.991566450448,
0.477641726235, 0.744841584279, 0.465907067653
]
it = iter(raw)
points = list(map(Vector, zip(it, it, it)))

EDIT:
Updated for 2.8, for prior version  see previous edit revision.

This is fantastic and would presumably work for any number of points. Very well explained too.

@RichSedman Thanks. Yes does a nice 7. Would like to make it an operator, but the grunt needed to find solution for cases like 9 grinds when sliding props on op panel.  Thinking of how to create better topology from the circles.   Also been rolling them in the physics engine .

i'm sure this is the correct way to make what i want...i just wish i knew how to use code to generate shapes in blender. lol

Scratch that, i figured it out. I had no idea you could create shapes using scripts....:O i learned something today, thank you for your help!

I learned something, too. But one thing is certain: since it's impossible to make all ridges the same size, this dice would not be a fair one (meaning that not all sides have the same probability)

I'm not confident that you can easily divide a sphere into 7 surfaces. The edge count doesn't really matter for a dice anyway.
Here's a non spherical example for a seven sided dice. It works for all dice between 3 and too many sides. It's basically the way ten sided dice are made.
Create a seven sided cone, not too high, fill type 'Nothing'

In Top View, create a seven sided circle.
Rotate it with R = 360 / 14 RETURN

Shift select your cone, go to Edit Mode and use Knife Project with 'Cut through' checked.

Switch on Vertex Select, invert the selection with CTRLI and delete the 7 verts.

Select the bottom face, put the cursor there, go to Object Mode, Front View,  duplicate the cone and rotate it 180° around the cursor. Join them with CTRLJ.

With the lower half selected, go to Top View, use R = 360 / 14 RETURN, whatever that might do.

Select everything, remove doubles and hit F to close the holes, recalc normals.
The result is a 14 sided dice where every bottom face has a parallel face on the top side, so you just have to give the parallel faces the same numbers and you can have uniform dice.

This would solve my problem for sure. thank you for this suggestion.

@JaredJ. Repeat my steps, if anything is unclear, I'll expand the answer.

Only certain numbers of faces can exist as a regular solid - some are just not physically possible in three dimensions. The first few regular solids are Tetrahedron (4 faces), Hexahedron (6 faces), Octahedron (8 faces), Dodecahedron (12 faces), Icosahedron (20 faces) so you'll struggle to create the inbetween ones.
That said, there are some ways around this.... for example, you can create a 10-sided solid (a decahedron) but it is not strictly 'regular' (although all faces have the same profile).
For the other numbers of faces you can be creative with the larger regular solids by using multiple faces for the same value.
For example, for a 'D3' you could use a D6 and give the faces values 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3.
For D5, use a D10 (irregular) with 1,1,2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5 or a D20 (regular) with 1,1,1,1,2,2,2,2,3,3,3,3,4,4,4,4,5,5,5,5.
For D7, you can't create a simple version with a reasonable number of faces... but you could use a D8 and simply re-roll if you get an 8.
D9 is also a challenge..... D10 and re-roll if you get a 10...?
D10 - as an irregular decahedron or use a D20 with 1,1,2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5,...etc...
D11.... D12 with 12 causing a re-roll.
As for how to produce these in Blender, simply enable the Extra Objects addon (in User Preferences, Addon tab). You'll then have additional options in your Add/Mesh menu - in particular Maths Functions/Regular Solids, specifying which solid (4, 6, 8, 12, 20 sided) in the tool shelf (T).

I saw this D9 dice as an example and i'l trying to figure out how to recreate it as a model.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/D9_dice.JPG
something like that would be adequate enough for me and my board game, but i'm having troubles with the math behind evenly spacing out the hole cutouts.

Try posting on https://math.stackexchange.com - someone there might be able to advise on spacing.

Rich, okay. I can do this. thank you for the tip!

I'm not sure if this will solve every case, as I have not found a good proof for checking the number of faces vs the number of points, but at any rate, the D9 solution can be found by solving Thompson problem! Now, thanks to tensorflow and Travis Hoppe, we have a math-free answer to that.  See 'Stupid Tensorflow Tricks'
Looking at the h5 file found on the associated Github page is straightforward with python:
import h5py

h5 = h5py.File('coordinates.h5','r')
hset = h5['N'] #N is the number of points
coords = hset.get('coordinates')
for item in coords:
    print(item)

This will give you the minimum energy for a certain number of nodes.  The D9 case is satisfied by a 7 pointed sphere (N=7).
[0.82112638 0.45593844 0.34332435]
[ 0.70207437 -0.05185188 -0.71021332]
[-0.32175939  0.86663088 -0.38134212]
[-0.19458951  0.33363507  0.92240044]
[-0.94138981 -0.2497393   0.22674989]
[-0.38722143 -0.48798233 -0.78226135]
[ 0.32175939 -0.86663088  0.38134212]

Again, not sure if this will satisfy all of your other cases.  If anyone looks at the other cases, please post your findings!


text:
Preview Unity asset with all texture types
I'm creating an asset for a unity game (Cities Skylines) including textures for diffuse, specular, normal and alpha.
when I set the view to textured I can only see the diffuse map on my model but not combined with the other ones. To see the model I have to import it into the game every time.
Is there a way to preview the asset model in Blender with all textures applied without rendering it?
Greetings

No, not yet. Cycles material viewport preview is very basic at the moment

Mmmmmh, what about the Blender Game Engine?


text:
Scale/inflate part of mesh along curve
I have a mesh with tree-like branches. I want to create a curve which resembles loosly the shape and make an empty follow that curve.
Is it possible to scale/inflate the part of main object from zero to full size as the empty passes it's position?
The linked video shows growing branches, which use the option to create thickness to a curve. Instead of thickness I want to "grow" an existing mesh.
Example growing branches

you can use a Lattice to inflate a shape but maybe you should give a bit more details

@moonboots I added a video link in my posting.

this is probably made with a curve, a Taper object, enable Map Taper and play with the Start & End Mapping values: zupimages.net/up/21/43/cf2e.gif is it what you're looking for and do you need an explanation? But no empty here