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Animation import into Unity - mesh deform
I rigged some FPS hands and a gun and started make animations. I'm really struggling import my animation from Blender 2.8 to Unity.
The Animations look fine in Blender like it should, but are messed up in Unity.
don't know the causes of this problem and already searched several hours for a solution.
Changing the compression of the animation in Unity makes this problem less bad, but its still noticeable and for sure not a proper solution.
If you need more info about the project settings just let me know.

The method I use is to select in pose mode all (and only) deforming bones, go to Menu Pose/animation/Bake action, and create a new action, clearing all constraints and parenting, so that the Fbx I'm exporting is a clean rig, with no constraints, associated to the clean mesh. Make a copy of both mesh and rig before any attempt (You'll have to try out some exporting preferences, according to the needs). It works fine.

I believe this is more of an issue with the FBX format and how Unity handles animations not Blender, when exporting your mesh tweak these settings in Unity for your animation try setting the position and/or rotation error values lower to see if it helps with the hand sliding on the guns handle try changing the "keyframe compression" to "optimal" and see if there is any improvement. Unity is attempting to optimizing and compress animation for faster loading times.
In Unity

In Blender when exporting try using settings similar to these,
disable leaf bones export only deformable bones
changing the values for "Sampling Rate" and "Simplify" can also help.

Thank you so much!! This was the right tip. Now the model animates like intended. In Blender I needed to set the"Simlipfy" Slider in the Baked Animation to zero. This caused to problem. Also in Unity the "Anim Compression"  -> "KeyFrame Reduction" -> all 3 settings must be set to zero aswell like you said. Thank you again for your fast and right answer!!! I should have asked way earlier :-).

Please add a check mark to my answer as correct in case others view this question.


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Particles invert
I want create grass with hair method, but the object appear on opposite side of the emitter.
I already try too reverse face direction but it just make the reverse, particles outside, grass inside.

You tried inverting the faces after combing, right?

that what i did

Strange, I can't reproduce it entirely, but if you alter your geometry too much, it's best to delete the particle edit progress and start over.

Ok thank you ! i'm gonna try

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Blender render turns into TV static on Blender 2.8
Blender render turns into TV static on Blender 2.8

This is the result when i tried to copy it into the object that I made with 2.7 before installing the new version.

Hello and welcome :). Please tell us more about your problem, or we can't help you. Are you talking about the artifacts?

hello, so as it shown in the picture thath there's a kinda bug on the edges like an unclear tv.But when i tried to copy it in my another viewport from the object that i've made with blender 2.7 it worked well. so can you please tell me what should i do?

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


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Reducing vertex count
I'm making a low poly model of an iceberg and there is a certain part of it that has about a million vertices (which probably got there when I was sculpting the thing).
Outside of Edit mode it looks just fine but I have to continue sculpting the model specifically in the place where this massive cluster is and my pc can't handle that.
It either takes 5-6 seconds after I click in sculpt mode to see any change or blender just crashes.
Is there ANY way to fix this?

Try using the Decimate modifier in object mode to reduce the geometry. It might take a while to compute but when you are happy with number of vertices apply the modifier and continue sculpting, but don't go so high on subdivision with the dynamic topology.

You can use the decimate modifier in edit mode too, only on the selected part. Just hit the space bar and type in decimate. The dyntopo also can decrease the polycount with the collapse edges function.


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Approach to model 100 aircraft
I have a need to create quite a lot of aircraft models which later will be utilized in visual scenes of air traffic simulation.
They don't need to be perfect, but to be acceptable and good for eye from distance.
Not much details expected, but gear, flaps, lights expected.
Also, 3-4 LOD levels required.
I wonder what would be Your approach? I have a collection of fuselage cross-sections
blueprints, which I was thinking to utilize to create quickly 9-10 cross-sections curves and then loft a body, but I never had a good experience with NURBS.
Any thoughts? How would You approach this kind of task?
Appreciate Your help!

Hello, I'll throw a heads-up : If you want answers on this site you will have to restrict the spectrum of your question to more specific topics and ask things that are not subjective / opinion based. Also it helps if you throw in some of your work / research or what you have tried and explain where it failed.

Hi, thabks for your input. I thought i already did that. Let me try to elaborate further. Aircraft fuselage main figure is the cylinder, the hardest part of fuselage to model for me is the belly, where wings are attached to the fuselage. One way i thought about it was to use nurbs, in particular, loft. But i didn't like the result, especially the fact of conversion to mesh afterwards and retopo to reduce polygons.


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How to extrude faces inward and outward sphere together
I need Your help with extrusion. Can't figure out how to extrude something like window frames on a spheric surface and make them solid, while window surfaces must remain flat.
When I extrude faces along normals, then it solidifies my window surface as shown in the screenshot 2 below.
Basically, I want to extrude windows frames simultaneously inward sphere and outward sphere.
How can I achieve that?
Thank You!

the image is not clear in message, as the image looks like an extrusion and not a solidify.  please clarify a bit simpler if the image does not show the details, thanks.  clarify frames or panes. are you extruding one other or both?

Hi, Dave. I tried extrusion, not solidification. I believe, u can't solidify separate faces of an object. My target is to leave  windows plain and make frames more thick, while leaving windows thin. Hope it clarifies.

I'm not exactly sure what you're trying to do, but to keep an extrusion "solid", use shift+d to duplicate the faces first, then right click to make them snap back to their original position, and then extrude. This will give an extrusion with 2 faces - the original face and the extruded one. If you need to extrude inwards as well after that, you can do it from the inside faces.

Hey, thanks a lot, Christopher! I didn’t know that I need to create extra face before extrusion. I thought that what extrusion does - creates one more face and moves it in direction you want... I will try duplicate first, thanks

Let me try to explain my question further. Sorry for not being clear from the beginning. Initially frames and windows faces are lying in same plane to each other. So I want bigger faces (windows) to stay where they are and same thin as they were. Frames are required to be “extruded” inwards and outwards, thus becoming solidified. When I’m trying to extrude faces of frames along normals, I get result as shown in screenshot 2.

Use "separate objects" when in edit mode and you have the window panes selected. Put them in a separate grouping. Then tab out of edit mode, use solidify on the frame, and not on the panes group.  Parent the panes to the frame for scale adjustments as "parent object" in object mode, select panes-object first, shift+click frame and apply parenting (right click or menu etc).  The panes will have the thin non-solidified thickness and the frame will still have a solidify you apply, adjust as required.

Thanks a lot, Dave! I'm at work next 4 days. Will try after that and reply back.

Thanks a lot, Dave! I finally reached my home PC and tried a method You suggested. It worked. However, I'm now curious if there is a way to place my panes to be in the middle of the frame, so that frames to have a ledge at the outside and inside the sphere.

Hope these screen shots will clarify what I mean:
https://prnt.sc/ttlqwb
https://prnt.sc/ttlqhl

yes.  simply adjust the frame solidify modifier.  the +- 1 is the inside or outside adjustment to move the frame solidify on the inside or outside more. You can use the solidify thickness, but if that makes the frame too wide, then try shrink fatten on the scaled axis (destructive so save another copy) or use push-pull.  Warning, this slightly scales also if in edit mode.  But as I recall it is fine for object mode to push-pull the panes from centre point.  Adjust your pivot point with  (.) as necessary.  I put push-pull on (Q) key because it is in the corner drop down menu at top left.


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Apply bevel or insert loop cuts without affecting shading
It should be an easy answer, but I can't find it.
I'm trying to add loop cuts into my shape (I can't use subsurf, as it will affect other geometry), or bevel edges, but I can't keep the shape shaded smooth, as my actions create visible areas of shade changes. Same result I get after adding loop cuts with 0.5 smoothness.
How can I make this done without those steps in shading?
Thank You!
Screen shots below:

Before bevel
Wireframe after bevel applied
Shading after bevel applied.

I found a solution to my problem. I read similar problem on the below link:
Material is stretching when using Edge Loop
So, after beveling, with edges still selected I go to Mesh > Normals > Smooth Vectors
and then press Shift + r few times until ribs get smoother.
That's it.

There may be multiple reasons:

1st: Did you apply scale for your object?
CTRL+A and choose scale(it will reset your dimensions to 1,1,1 but Blender will recalculate shading)

2nd: Is auto Smoothing enabled and set to good value?

3rd: If 2 solutions before didnt work, try to use Shift+N and recalculate outside

Question, are you using subdivision modifier right now? Bad topology may cause that shading as well if you use sub on it
After using bevel + smooth brush

Hello, Miko!
I tried all 3 suggestions - it didn't help. Result is still same as from my result screen shot.
Subdivision modifier was already applied before, so its not in the stack anymore. Only modifier I have active now is mirror. I tried to apply it, but no effect.

is there possibility for me to look at it?

I did a small workaround, i deleted one loop cut and added 6 instead of it with smoothness value of 0,5. It gives a better result, but still i can see, that there is an "intervention" into the shape. It still visible that shading area is a bit different, however, with Zebra matcap You can't see a difference. If nothing works, I will go with this option. But I want to find out, why there is a problem in my original approach. Thank You!

It's weird, but with 2.92.3 I'm not seeing the problem.  You do have some non-quad faces in the vicinity of the wing outline and they're producing some shading issues but otherwise it looks fine on my monitor.

I am sorry for being late, I just opened it and I see no problem as well with your shading... I will add picture to my answer so that you can see

Sorry guys, i uploaded the file without beveling. It is my fault, somehow i thought it will be better to send file untouched. Can You please apply bevel on some of the loopcuts and share a screen shot?

Hmm okay there is a little deform visible on a plane after bevel but you can actually solve it really easy... just go to sculpt mode, take a smooth brush, set strength to 0.05-0.08, and go over all of it few times, it will not affect your geometry too much and it will smooth those lines... see picture of result

Thanks, man! Amazing one, didn't know i can do that! Again, the power of this site helps me to save time! Appreciate everyone's response!


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Extrude vertices along edges
I've been looking for answer on this site, but didn't find a solution, or dumb enough not to apply for my situation.
I need to extrude vertices along already created edges? Is there any way to do that?

I don't know how to extrude them into the said direction or if it's at all possible. But you can move them by double tappin g and holding alt. Then you can add a loopcut in the middle.

you are making your question difficult, do you just need to extrude vertices?

I need to extrude them along given edges. I tried moving them, but loop created after that has different topology, than i need.

Probably i need to create the new path for transformation, but i don't understand how to do it in a correct way.

I don't think you can do that

Thanks, moonboots, i will look for alternatives. Can You please advise how to do it alternatively, if any?

I told you how you can do it alternatively. That will work fine.

You can slide vertices along their edges out beyond an existing boundary if you release the clamp: see this answer

Perfect! That's what i was looking for! Thanks a million!

Three different ways to do this currently. Options #1 and #2 only allow to specify distance factors relative to edge length. Option #3 should allow absolute units.

Use vertex slide: Press G,G twice to activate Vertex Slide, while the cursor is hovering the edge with the desired direction. Afterwards press C to deactivate clamping and allow extending beyond current position.

Scale in relation to the other vertex: Place you 3D cursor at the other end of the edge by snapping it to the vertex with Shift+S > Cursor to Selected. Change the Transform Pivot to the 3D Cursor and then scale the opposing vertex with S.

Use a custom transform Orientation: Select the edge with the desired direction. In the 3D View Properties Area from Transform orientations chango to local and press + to add a new one. Select it from the list (should be named Edgeby default), then select your vertex and move it by using G then tapping twice the desired axis to move in local coordinates, in this case Y,Y.


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EEVEE ignores light-emission outside of the camera frame
Screen Space Refraction = on
Motion Blur = on
Refraction = off (when I turned it on, the raytraced light dissapeared completely)
All Materials are based on Principled BDSF
All Materials are set to Opaque and SSR
Transparent Shadow = none
As you can see, the reflection only occures when the emitter is inside the frame (at least in my scene)
Its kinda odd that it works perfectly fine in viewport because it renders the whole scene instead of just the frame.
I hope, that I just missed something in the settings...

Eevee is not a physically accurate render engine and employs a number of 'shortcuts' in order to get realistic results with minimal render time. One of these shortcuts is Screen Space Reflections (and Refractions).
As implied by the name, Screen Space interactions are dependent on what is visible on the "screen" (effectively the camera) so anything outside the visible field of view will not be considered. This is a method typically employed in game render engines and is usually 'good enough' but does have its limitations. By not considering anything in the scene which is not directly visible the rendered can significantly reduce the workload but in your case it produces such unrealistic results. For Viewport renders the same is true but the viewport can "see" parts of the scene outside the frame of the camera so the effect seems less pronounced (but if you adjust the view towards the edge of the visible space you should see the same effect).
If you want to continue using Eevee (rather than swap to Cycles) you have two options.

Render each frame larger than required and then trim off the excess in the Compositor. Resizing the camera to include a border without affecting the rest of the frame can be easily achieved by adjusting the Sensor Size of the camera (in the Camera properties) and the compositor can be used to trim back down the the required size.
Use Light Probes. Light Probes are effectively meshes that act as a boundary between your objects and capture details of the light crossing that boundary. The Light Probe includes settings as to the area of effect to consider for reflections/refractions. The light is captured by 'Baking' the light map - options for which are on the render settings under the heading 'Indirect Lighting'. Once the lightmap is baked it will be used for reflections regardless of whether the source is inside or outside the rendered 'screen space'.


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Face surface/shading looks wrong in a FBX export from sketchup?
I dont have the original file anymore, of this fbx file that time ago get from the sketchup , and now remade some parts but still looks weird the surface.
If I'm not  worng there is an option to fix these problems, but I dont know what is exactly.
A thanks in advance guys if I can count with your help.
this is the blend file:
https://ufile.io/an4cp

This is exactly why a consider Sketchup such a bad modelling tool, it has absolutely no respect for proper modelling etiquette and good practices. Under the *Object Data * tab of the Properties Window check if there are any custom normals and clear them. Also try turning off Auto Smooth

Related - https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/76513/strange-black-shading-cannot-fully-light-mesh-cycles

I disabled the Turbosmooth , that was the problem, a LOT of thanks guys!!

Ok, I turn off the Auto Smooth and now everything is normal. THANKS !!

That is not called "turbosmooth" this is not 3DS Max, that's is called Auto Smooth

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


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Blender 2.8 add object dialog disabled
I'm using Blender for a couple of years now, and I recently installed Blender 2.8. I want to add a circle of 6 vertices, but when I add a circle, the 'Add Circle' dialog is disabled (screenshot below), and I can't change anything. This happens with every object I add to the scene. I haven't experienced anything like this in previous editions of Blender, and I can't find any setting to enable it. I've tried to restart Blender, and even reinstall it, but that didn't help. Is there any setting I'm missing that might be causing this?

? I may be missing something, but the Circle dialog box is there in the lower left corner.  If you click the grey box with 32 in it, turn it black and delete the entry and retype it to "6" and hit enter, your circle should have 6 vertices.

No, that's just it, it seems disabled somehow. When I try to click anything in there, I just deselect the circle, as if the dialog wouldn't even be there. Also, it's displayed darker than normal. (compare the text in the dialog with the text in the timeline window below)

Have you tried to download and install a different iteration of  Blender 2.80?  It is still a beta and may not be entirely stable.  2.80 is being updated continually.  It could be worth a shot?

I've just installed the latest version of Blender 2.8 (2.80.55), still the same problem. Is there a way to get previous beta builds of Blender 2.8?

Similar issue? https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/38917/added-objects-properties-greyed-out?rq=1

Yes, thanks! Global Undo was unchecked. For anyone reading this in the future: this "Global Undo" setting isn't under the "Editing" tab like in 2.79 anymore, it has moved to the "System" tab.

load factory settings should help

I had the same issue, you need to go Edit->Preferences->System and then add the check to Global Undo


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TypeError: UILayout.prop() when trying to display custom settings in a menu
I want to make a custom menu in Blender where I can change certain custom settings (code below).
import bpy

class CustomMenu(bpy.types.Menu):
    bl_label = "Custom Menu"
    bl_idname = "custom.menu"

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

        settings = context.blend_data.custom_settings

        layout.row().prop(settings, "type", expand=True)

class CustomSettings(bpy.types.PropertyGroup):
    my_settings = bpy.props.EnumProperty(
        name="My Settings",
        description="Custom Settings",
        items=[
            ('S1', "Setting One", "", 0),
            ('S2', "Setting Two", "", 1),
            ('S3', "Setting Three", "", 2),
        ],
        default='S1'
    )

def register():
    bpy.types.BlendData.custom_settings = bpy.props.PointerProperty(type=CustomSettings)
    bpy.utils.register_class(CustomMenu)

def unregister():
    del bpy.types.BlendData.custom_settings
    bpy.utils.unregister_class(CustomMenu)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()

    bpy.ops.wm.call_menu(name=CustomMenu.bl_idname)

When I run this code it gives me this error:
TypeError: UILayout.prop(): error with argument 1, "data" -  Function.data expected a AnyType type, not tuple
I'm new to scripting in Blender (I do have some experience with python), and most of the code I copied from examples. I would like to have a better understanding of how these custom settings, the prop() function, and blender types work.

Can only add bpy.props properties to ID types eg Scene, Object, Mesh, Armature and bones.

import bpy

class CUSTOM_MT_menu(bpy.types.Menu): # Menu name need 'UPPER_CASE_MT_mixed_case'
    bl_label = "Custom Menu"

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

        settings = context.scene.custom_settings

        layout.row().prop(settings, "my_settings", expand=True) # Layout.prop(data, 'prop') # show data.prop

class CustomSettings(bpy.types.PropertyGroup):
    my_settings: bpy.props.EnumProperty(
        name="My Settings",
        description="Custom Settings",
        items=[
            ('S1', "Setting One", "", 0),
            ('S2', "Setting Two", "", 1),
            ('S3', "Setting Three", "", 2),
        ],
        default='S1'
    )

def register():
    bpy.utils.register_class(CUSTOM_MT_menu)
    bpy.utils.register_class(CustomSettings) #  CustomSettings need register first
    bpy.types.Scene.custom_settings = bpy.props.PointerProperty(type=CustomSettings) #  not BlendData, need Specify a data type.

def unregister():
    del bpy.types.Scene.custom_settings
    bpy.utils.unregister_class(CustomSettings)
    bpy.utils.unregister_class(CUSTOM_MT_menu)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()

    bpy.ops.wm.call_menu(name="CUSTOM_MT_menu")

BlendData cause TypeError: UILayout.prop(): error with argument 1, "data" -  Function.data expected a AnyType type, not tuple

Please add an explanation of why this solves the problem so others can learn from this.


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Color into Alpha - Nodes and Vertex Paint
As a way of easily blending materials together on a single object, and to allow me to do so on arbitrary parts of the model (without needing to segregate a specific part of the model's UV map or duplicate the material*), I've started experimenting with using vertex painting.
By vertex painting greyscale, I've managed to mix between two textures (on arbitrary parts of the model) by using the greyscale as an alpha for other textures. But, to get more textures, I'd need to be able to use different colors. How can I use this vertex paint color information to drive the alpha channel of various other textures within the material?

If someone knows a better way of doing this process, I'd be keen to know it!

* e.g., putting a dirt patch on a long wall model sharing one texture: doing so would usually change the texture an every repeat of the texture, where vertex painting directly onto it and using that as an alpha for other materials allows me to do only a specific part.

Image here is example of what I mean. The red parts become white, the rest becomes black in the first, the yellow parts become white and the rest white in the second, and so on. These various black and white channels can then be used as an alpha for other textures. However, it shouldn't be limited to just pure red, green or blue, I'd like to be able to mix potentially a dozen materials in one place.
Also, to be able to mix them with varying levels of opacity, could the brightness of the color itself be used to give transparency? In a way, a specific shade of red would be one texture, but a darker red of the same shade would give less transparency to that area of texture, allowing the texture underneath to show through more.
Just my thoughts on what I'm trying to figure out.  Again, if someone knows a better way of doing all this, let me know. Thank you.

I happen to have a node asset which does just that:

It's based on HOW TO Color Mask in Blender Shader⬅ No Photoshop Needed! by CDDT Reborn.
It's not perfect, notably when picking a key color close to pure red and expecting it to cross the hue circle counterclockwise. There's probably ways to make this more adaptable but with more options and compute time.
The video explains better than me how to make it, so I will focus my answer on how to use my node asset.
Firstly, download the blend file:

You can either append the node group using the menu file > Append > navigate to the file > Nodetree folder > ColorMask. Or you insert it in your asset browser library.
To use it, either drag it from the asset browser to the shader editor, or press ⇧ Shifta > Group > Color Mask.
Inputs
Input Color Where you plug the image you want to filter a color from.
Key Color the color which you want to key out.
Hue/Saturation/Value Thresholds how much the filtering can deviate from the key color's HSV. Zero would mean only the exact same color is filtered out.
Invert inverts the resulting Mask.
New Color Replaces the keyed out color by a new one. It's mostly useful for seeing the filtering in action while seeing the original image.
Outputs
Passthrough is the input color with no effect, just for convenience.
Mask is the black and white mask with the keyed out color in white and the rest in black.
Replaced Color is the original image with the new color mixed according to the mask.

Plug it into a color ramp and then make the white color transparent (Set the alpha to 0)

Thanks for the suggestion, but doesn't the color ramp only take the 'Value' of the color? I'm trying to use hue instead.

@Smail Then use Separate HSV node to pass the Hue to the color ramp.


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Boid Collation causing Teleportation
When using the boid particle system, the boids teleport when they fly near a collision object. Even if they don't collide, they teleport to be in contact with the collision object on the Z axis.
https://youtu.be/BPhHn4z5rHE
I tried splitting the collision object into separate pieces, but it didn't fix the issue. The boids need at least a separate, goal and avoid collision.


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Fix Animation with 'Add' Track Breaks the Animation
Firstly I had a model, and the issue was the pelvis was rotated the wrong way (in its default pose). To fix this, I rotated the pelvis back, then adjusted the rotation and location of the leg and lower spine bones back to their initial position (to compensate for the new location of the pelvis).
https://youtu.be/AMrEfKxOJ_U  (at the start, right is with the NLA fix track, left is without it but with a working animation)
I made this 'fix' into a 1-frame NLA track. In the video, you see that enabling this track fixes the glitching in the model and makes it look correct. However, playing the rest of the animation then just breaks it, throwing all the other rotations out of proportion.
None of the blending modes fix it. What do I do? I have more than a dozen models using this rig which need to be fixed and even more animations. How can I get it working?
Blend file:

Have you checked the bone roll?


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How to get the array modifier to snap to vertices?
Overview
I've created 9 tiles I can snap together to form a surface with a hexagonal pattern. I can manually snap them together, but this is quite tedious. The Array modifier seems promising, but I'm not sure how to (easily) make it exact.

Conceptually, it's simple. We just tile center pieces so white snaps to white horizontally, and grey to grey vertically. For each side, we snap an edge green to green on the left and bottom, and yellow to yellow right and top. Then red, orange, purple and blue for the corners. In practice though, I don't see any way to attach snapping points for this to work neatly.
My hope is someone has a better way than what I'm doing.
Current Method
A method that basically works should be a two-phase process. First, create horizontal strips for the top edge, center area, and bottom edge using array modifiers on the top, center, and bottom pieces using the upper corners, side edges, and lower corners as cap pieces.
Next, grow the wall vertically using an array modifier on the previously-generated center strip using the top and bottom strips as cap pieces.
The problem is it doesn't work as expected for the shapes I'm using.

I have to calculate the relative offset. Horizontally is pretty easy because I need to move 4 hexes, and each tile is 4.5 hexes wide. Just plug 8/9 into the offset field and we're good. But it's less obvious the vertical offset needs to be 12/13*, and I'd prefer a generic solution that doesn't require knowing how to calculate things.

It's 4 caps + 4 midsections out of 5 caps + 4 midsections, but knowing each cap is half the height of a midsection, and that the height is therefore 6 mids out of 6.5 mids and applying a 12/13 offset, requires more critical thinking than I want to do on a regular basis.

The end caps are completely wrong and don't line up at all. The vertical location is too high, even though it should be right just by doing geometric center calculations, both appear to use a relative horizontal offset of 1, and the right cap is rotated 180° from where it should be. I don't see any place to adjust the offset or rotation for the caps, so I have to manually place them after applying the array modifier to the center pieces.

Using the array modifier vertically works fine for the center strip (other than requiring me to calculate the offset), but similarly breaks when using the top and bottom strips as caps.

Also, I'd still like a way to build a 2D grid in one step instead of two.

Conclusion
Using vertex snapping, it's not too hard to create horizontal strips using three arrays, manually add end caps, use a fourth array to tile the center strip vertically, then manually merge the top and bottom to accomplish what I want.
But I feel like I can't be the only person trying to accomplish this, and am hoping there's a way to set this up to create arbitrarily-sized walls for the various scenes I'm planning to build with this style with minimal fuss.

did you ever take a look at geometry nodes? this is a pretty easy task there. Yes, it takes some time to learn it...but i can strongly recommend it. It's awesome.


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Put Animations from One Rig to Another
How can I get an animation from one rig to work on another? They are different rigs and have different names (although I can edit the animation text file so bones have the same name). The ordering of parenting is the same.
SURELY there is SOME combination of using 'copy pose', this script, and blending modes in the NLA that will allow me to do this?
I know this is vague but I'm looking for a process that would work universally, not just in one specific case. I also know it's not easy, I just don't think it should be 'impossible' with the tools we have.
The animations are kept as text files. If I import the animation to 'new', it makes a new rig using the first frame of the animation as the default pose 'rest' position. If I import the animation 'onto' the desired rig (the rig I want the animation to work on) it uses the second rig's rest pose as the first frame of animation, offsetting from that (usually broken) instead of using its own default (which works).
Video
As you see, there's lots of combinations, more than shown here. For moments like this (the 1-frame top track), I can also delete all 'rotation' keyframes or all 'location' keyframes, which also changes things. I have got this to work a couple times, but I don't understand it enough to reliably repeat it.

I believe this can only be done for rigs that are identical in terms of naming as well as number of bones present in each. Then it's a simple matter of unlinking (or duplicating) the action of the armature you want to copy animation from and linking it to the armature you want to copy the animation to.

(Link is broken above) This is often aka re-targeting the animation.  In as much as can "try" and do it all via script , it can go spectacularly  wrong. My take would be to make a conversion rig that uses constraints. Have done this for CMU mocap to rigify meta rig. There was a GSoC addon re automating this somewhat.  Albeit on same bones rig, This  example creates a conversion rig from one super weird rest pose to another more sensible one. https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/72120/create-pose-from-existing-armature


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Depth of Field - Visible Lines on Distance Change
As the distance of my Depth of Field effect changes (EEVEE), visible lines are drawn across the objects on which the effect is happening. These lines are the 'thresholds', I presume, between different levels of blurriness.
Focus on the 'Komsomol' as the camera starts moving. Lines are only visible in motion, not paused.
https://youtu.be/Vqxnez8iq_0
Is there a way I can stop this happening and smooth out this effect for Eevee?

There is a "Max Size" setting in the render settings for depth of field when using Eevee, maybe this can help ?  https://i.sstatic.net/uaENX.png

I turned it down to about 20 to increase render time. Default is like 100, but that takes a long time. Is this the cause?

Does it fix the problem ?


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Seamlessly Attach UV Surfaces
I have a surface with correct UV mapping, and I have another surface next to it which has its own UV mapping, but which I want to be aligned with the first, in both scale and position, so the texture between them becomes seamless.
Can this be done?
Currently I'd select both of them and give both a new UV projection so they'd be joined together and then adjust the scale and position again until I'm happy, re-doing this process evey time a new surface is created which needs to be a part of this one; it's not very efficent.

Thank you.

Any reason to not model the surfaces based on the material so you only have to UV it once?

Hi :). To match the UV scale precisely, look into Texel Density addons (there's a few), it saves time considerably.

@DaleCieslak I'm sorry, I don't understand. What do you mean?

@JachymMichal Thanks for the suggestion; I'll look into it.

What I mean is, why model the floor in your image as two separate pieces where you need to match the UVs?  is there a reason to not model, say, the entire floor as one piece?

@DaleCieslak Sometimes I'm just extruding a piece out; in the above I subdevided one edge to get half the length and extruded out that part. But thinking about your comment, I could've just moved the edge even if there'd be redundent parts of geometry from the second half of the edge. Could work, I'll keep an eye open for it, thanks.


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Custom 'Empty' Objects and Settings
Can I make my own 'empty'-type object in Blender?  Something with its own wireframe 3d model which you can't open in edit mode, for example like a speaker or a light.
Also, is there a way I can give this its own set of settings, unique to those such 'empty' objects? Just how only speakers have settings for volume and pitch, and a light for color and intensity.

Short answer: no.  Blender's python interface doesn't allow changing the geometry of empties.

@MartyFouts What about a way of getting extra UI settings, but only on specific objects?

The scripting language isn't really set up to do that.


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Save Custom Property to Shape Key
I'm trying to save a StringProperty to the shape keys of an object. In the past I've used bpy.types.Object to save Props to an object, and .Scene to save it to the scene, but when trying to save it to .ShapeKey it isn't treated as a String. When I print() the value of this StringProperty, it gives:
<_PropertyDeferred, <built-in function StringProperty>, {'default': ''}>
Why is it 'Deferred', and how can I save properties to individuial shape keys, just as the other shape key properties such as Range Min and Vertex Group have been?
class KEY_LIST_OP_alter_groups(Operator):
    def execute(self, context):
        print(context.active_object.active_shape_key.KEY_LIST)

def register():
    bpy.types.ShapeKey.KEY_LIST = StringProperty(default='')

When typing into the Console the 'KEY_LIST' does auto-suggest under C.active_object.active_shape_key.KEY_LIST() so it appears to be registering, it's just not being understood as a String.

Custom properties can only be added to "any subclass of an ID, Bone and PoseBone". bpy.types.ShapeKey isn't one of those.

So is there a way I can do this? There 'are' properties saved to specific shape keys after all.

Not that I know of. You can try storing data on the bpy.types.Key instead.

This looks promising. But how do I access it? All I can find under context is active_shape_key. I'll keep looking around though.


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Blender Character Modeling and Gravity
Working through some modeling courses for Blender and had a couple of questions. Still fairly new and not sure on terminology (hence my trouble googling this) so forgive me if these are already asked and answered...
1: In character modeling, I see some models with their arms straight out from the body at a 90 degree angle while others have the arms angled what seems closer to around 35-45 degrees. I was wondering what the difference was in respect to modeling and rigging and such?
2: When I'm drawing the model sheets for characters, I was curious about whether or not I should "draw" gravity's effects on them. Specifically the arms again. If the model's arms are spread away from the body, I'm used to having the sleeves drape according to gravity but it seems this isn't going to translate to the model once I get rigging and the sleeves will look off. I'm thinking that I should either draw the sleeves as if gravity isn't a factor, or draw them as if the arms will be at the character's sides?
Thanks!

Modeling a character with its arms by its side can cause issues at two stages. While modeling or sculpting having two disconnected parts together can make selecting and moving each part separately harder. Then while rigging the character, it can make it harder to specify which parts follow each bone.
Whether you model a character with arms straight out or half way down is mostly a matter of taste, each helps the modeling/rigging process. Some people suggest the more relaxed pose is better as the mesh is closer to the normal position so there is less stretching around the shoulder.
As for drawing a modeling sheet, draw them in the position to be modeled. It's not uncommon to have the side view of a character with the arms moved to the side to keep the drawing clearer to read. You may be interested in this CGCookie tutorial on drawing a modeling sheet


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Why is a floor texture applying to the outside/inside walls of a cube instead of the selected floor?
Previously I was able to get a different downloaded floor diffused/normal/roughness/specular.PNG to apply correctly to the same cube room but to out of the three demonstrate this outside/inside wall and ceiling issue as mentioned in my question, can anybody tell me how to correct this and why this applies in certain cases?
I will attach images of the wire , materials, vector and relevant UV and shader editor view's.

You have to assign different materials for the different parts.

OK thanks, just added repeat of the same texture and deleted the first textures you can see below and that worked thanks


text:
Artfacs on Volumetric clouds cycles
I'm trying to make a cloud with some displace, the first with a Voronoi and the second with a cloud, finishing it with a simple volume scatter shader, but when I'm rendering the cloud get same artifacts, it isn't occurring when I use only the Voronoi or cloud but when both are on this thing appear, I try something like turning up the max bounce value but made no difference, does someone know how to fix it?

increase the volume bounces, as it is in very specific places (you can see the sligthly rounded shape the artifact creates) where it overlaps

ooh i could fix it, i forgot of this question, but it wad the subdivision surface the problem,the sequence of modifiers ware a 5 or six lvl ss> displace> displace, de ss was making the first displace too smooth and the second was deforming to mutch the mesh, than i put 3 lxl ss>displace>3 lvl  ss >displace


text:
the light doesnt bonces
the sunlight doesn't bounce like expected, don't matter what I do, false-color don't get that red to make it look like day, and the light lose strength fast, the room dont look like its geting light, light path is set do defout bounces, like 4 4 8 12 0

What type of light are you using, what's it's strength set to, and what look are you using?

Oh the description doesn't went,there os diferentes types, in the roll: a 150000 Sun; a 500000 Sun; a 1000000 sun; a 1000000 Sun withou Glass on Windows; a 1GW area without Glass on window

Are you using the denoiser? What happens if you disable that? Is the false color on a rendered, saved image?

yep I'm using a denoiser, didn't try to turn off, but I will, and yes a false-color save
the only thing that I did in a different way of other renders is that I star testing in Eevee than change to cycles to get the final, but I don't think that it changes the final in this way

iv tried with no denoiser, get the same thing in a bad quality kkkkk


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Blender 2.8 layer grid/palette not showing up in 3D view
Where is the layers grid? Mine seems to have vanished in the Blender 2.8 beta. on Mac OSX
I tried numpad/ or Object Mode, View, View Global/Local
but made no difference.

Are you talking about the layers panel in the 3D view header from 2.7 and prior?

There is no Layer grid in 2.80. It's replaced by Collection system.
Read here about this change: https://wiki.blender.org/wiki/Reference/Release_Notes/2.80/Layers


text:
blender 2.8 select vertex, edge, face problem
i work on a macbook pro (no numpad) with  Blender 2.8 (no ctrl+tab shortcut) and i only have the choice to select between emulate numpad to chage point of view or not emulate numpad and use ctrl+1,2 or 3 to choose between vertex, edge or face modes.
it's not possible to have both? i tried to bind vertex, edge and face select modes to a quick favorites but its not possible
Any idea or solution?

Can you not work with the Fn-key?


text:
Blender 2.8 will not open on my Windows 7 computer
I have been trying to upgrade to Blender 2.8 on my desktop.   However, when I black screen opens for a few seconds and closes.  My computer is a bit dated but should meet the minimum requirements.
My specs are:
Windows 7 home 64bit
Intel i7 920@2.6GHt
20Gb 2100MHz ddr3
ATI Radeon HD 4800 GPU (DirectX 9, 10.1)
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Not an answer but I wonder if Blender abandoned support for Windows 7 since Microsoft themselves are ending support for it in 2020

Related https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/77895/startup-black-screen#comment138614_77895

@MrVimes - as long as it's not announced over the official channels, your comment is indeed not an answer.

Which AMD driver version do you have installed? Also, try to start Blender from the command line using the "--debug --debug-gpu" options, then update your question (by using the edit link below it) with the information it drops.

I have driver version 8.850.0.0

That's a fairly old version. The latest driver is 13.9

I just updated the drivers.  Now it opens the console, goes full screen, then freezes the computer...  Grr

@metaphor_set Hence why I posted it as a comment and not an answer.  I am simply suggesting it is a possibility.  Wondering.


text:
How Can I define rigid plane?
I want to pour cubes which are in the image. However when I animate blender p plane passing through to the cubes. How can I solve this problem? I just want to pour cubes and observe falling of cubes when I animate.Can you Help me?
Thank you...

Have you applied a Collision Modifier to the plane?

No , Can you help me?

Ok so I just realized that you were using animation nodes. Would be easier to actually mention it in your problem description to save time trying to understand the problem. Do you have the same issue when you are not using animation nodes?

[Final Edit now I think I understand the problem better]
OK, so I have the same behavior as you if I use your AN setup. Blender expects the passive to not be moving, or you to be explicit about it if it's moving.
So my solution:
Select cube, go to physics, add rigid body, select type active.
Select plane, go to physics, add rigid body, select type passive. Under settings, tick Animated.
Play animation.
It should work.

I tried but I cant solve problem?

Are you sure your plane is passive? I think it should be surrounded by green when selected, not yellow.

If you solved the problem thanks to an answer from another user, please mark it as answer.


text:
How do I rotate my viewport around the position of my cursor?
I have googled a lot and didn't find the answer.
I think in older Blender versions, if you for example middle mouse click on a model and drag, it rotates around the point you hovered your mouse cursor over, for example the surface of the model.
But since I updated to Blender 2.8 it always rotates around a fixed point somewhere in the distance, so I have to use the walk navigation to rotate around the model. For example I wanna rotate around the model but it rotates around a point far behind the model

Tool Shelf Panel > View Tab > View Lock > Lock to 3D Cursor. Check it.

Edit -> Preferences
I think you need this to be checked.

This also could be interesting for zooming to/from mouse position

I found a nice tutorial on that subject.

Hello :). Any idea on how blender sets the rotation center, when this option is disabled?

@JachymMichal Magical invisible point in space. Just try zooming in all the way until you can't anymore. Then you are there.

Thank you! That's already helpful. With your help I actually achieved my desired result by checking "Auto Depth" instead. :) So it rotates around where my cursor is

I don't want to orbit around selected, I just want to orbit around where my mouse cursor (not 3D cursor) is. Orbit Around Selection can do that if you don't select anything, but if you do select a loop, while zoomed in, it gets really hard to navigate because the imaginary orbit point becomes the median point of the loop you've selected. Is there any way?

@melly_berk The mouse moves on 2D plane, and rotation point needs 3D coordinates. It's not possible to rotate around your mouse because the depth is missing, and guessing it is a very hard task. I suggest using the "." (period) on numpad to automatically center and zoom to see entire selection.

It's, in fact, possible to orbit around your mouse cursor. Just open blender while Orbit Around Selection is enabled, add two meshes to different locations. Select each and try to navigate, you'll see you're navigating around their origin point. This time just hover your mouse on them and navigate without selecting those objects. You'll see navigation orbit points will be around those object's origins. I don't know maybe I'm wrong. I just feel like that :D @FilipFranik

@melly_berk Try "Auto Depth" without "Orbit Around Selection" seems like Blender actually can guess the depth. (Unfortunately IMHO it doesn't do the best job guessing it)

@FilipFranik Checking "Auto depth" or in the current version "Depth" next to the "Auto" keyword actually orbits around where you put your cursor on a 3D model and IMO it works just as good as in the old blender versions

Default shortcut to pick the orbit point on your mesh: Alt + Middle Mouse Button click


text:
Lock a background image from being easily deleted?
The hide/show background image button is just a few pixels to the left of the delete background image button.

When I need to toggle hiding and showing the image (my eyes go off the hide/show button and watch the image alignment with my model), I sometimes hit the delete because my mouse will creep a few pixels to the right. Then I have to load, align, resize, move and rotate the image all over again every time this happens!
Is there an image lock add on, feature or any workaround to stop or prevent this?

I don't think they can be locked; they could be saved to frame with addon, but that isn't going to change your situation. I think you better off sticking to empty images.

There is a way if you are willing to edit Python files in the Blender installation... Go to to the directory Blender/2.78/scripts/startup/bl_ui and edit the file space_view3d.py in a text editor (after you made a backup)
Search for the line
row.operator("view3d.background_image_remove", text="", emboss=False, icon='X').index = i

This is the code that adds the delete button. Add the following line in the front of it:
row.label(text="  ")

This line adds an (invisible) text consisting of two spaces between the eye icon and the delete button. You can change the number of spaces as you like. Result:

And in the future when you upgrade your Blender version, repeat the procedure. Not very convenient, I know :)

I'm using Blender 2.78a on Elementary OS Loki. I don't have that directory tree you mention. I created startup/bl_ui in scripts and created that file with that code and restarted blender, but it didn't work. Any ideas?

Nevermind, I found it with the help of this question. http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/30467/where-are-the-blender-program-files-in-ubuntu-14-04 That tweak works. Thanks.

authors: Никита Старков

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


text:
Dynamically color or highlight current sculpt stroke
When I sculpt, if the current stroke I was making was a different color or highlighted, I then could see how I was effecting the vertices better. After the stroke, I could change angles and take an even better look. When I start another stroke, the last stroke would become the same color as the rest of the mesh and the new stroke would become highlighted. Even better, have the option of a number of strokes that would be highlighted, but just one would be nice.
Is there a way to achieve this effect?

This looks more like a feature request and I don't think this is possible (yet). To preview model better while sculpting, use Matcaps, set up windows to have several views of the model, rotate the view frequently and so on.

I was afraid it would sound that way, but I had to ask, because I didn't see anything when I searched, yet I've found Blender so far to have features that required the integration of a few basic tools. I was hoping at least for that.


text:
Setting Up A Minimal Sculpting Environment With An Image Area
I want to sculpt in a minimal set up with a reference image loaded in another area. I will toggle views to change settings when needed. But, I'm having trouble with the steps to set this up.
I understand how to split areas in Blender. I also know how to hide areas with: 't', 'n' and 'shift+space'. I understand that F11 will give me full screen, getting rid of the window chrome. But, I'm having trouble combining these steps in a way that will create the minimal sculpting set up I have provided below. I don't want the areas with the red x's. I only want the areas with the orange check marks.

What steps will achieve this set-up?

Generally you have already written all the necessary tools for that - splitting / joining area, getting rid of Tools and Properties menu.. Shift+Space won't help here, unfortunately. The procedure is already in the answer, I can propose another solution - change screen layout to 3D View Full, make a copy of it (to backup), and split resulting full 3D View once. There set up a UV/Image editor. Save in User Prefs if needed.

Blender comes with full screen layout by default.

Ok, here we go:
1. Remove UV Screen
This may sound contradictory, but necessary to remove the timeline. Blender is weird like this and will only collapse a section if their is only one section spanning the width of it above it. Remember to collapse a section pull on those little three lines in the top corner

2. Collapse Timeline
Pull on the three corners in the 3d view as shown in the image.

3.Right Panel
Remember step one when we collapsed the UV screen to collapse the timeline? Well we have to do this again to collapse the right panel. First pull down then up as depicted in the image below to remove the outliner.

4.Finishing up
Now, press T to close the tool panel. Next pull the top three corners of the 3d view toward the right panel to collapse it. To remove that top bar pull on the three lines below the info icon and pull down, then up. Finally, Pull the 3d view corner again to the left to open up another 3d view. You can change it to UV image editor by clicking the icon.

Further Reading
How to close view windows?
Arranging Areas - Blender Reference Manual
Simple, Nice Explanation On BSE
Great Youtube Video

This is a good answer, but after now understanding the answer I would agree this question is a duplicate. I did have one issue. I had to close that image view before I could get rid of the info area on top.


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How to scale in Edit Mode after scaling to Zero
I was working on Shape Keys when I discovered that an Object cannot be Scale back after scaling to Zero in Edit Mode.
I pressed S 0 to scale to 0 in Edit Mode
Then when I tried to press S again to scale it back in Edit Mode it doesn't have any effect.
Am using 2.79b, and I've tried it on 2.80, same result.
Can anyone help me out?

After pressing S in Edit Mode, I immediately press Esc and set the Scale parameters in the Resize Panel

As far as I can tell, they have already done the scaling and are trying to deal with a zero scale mesh.

That is misleading. If an object's geometry is scaled to 0 in edit mode, all the vertices share the exact same location and the information is lost. There is no way to scale it back to what it was. This 'solution' is only adjusting last operation - it's pretty much the same as undo and after another operation is performed that will not work any more. The answer is incorrect and may mislead someone who is new to Blender and stumbles upon it.

@Martin Z Is not the same thing as undo try it yourself and see what am talking about.

The functionality is called Redo Last. You can also call the the Redo Last panel with F6. It only works for the very last operation immediately after it is performed. Try scaling geometry to 0, then deselect all and select all again. After another scale operation you can enter whatever values you wish into Redo Last panel and it will not bring your mesh back.

I agree with you if you didn't you didn't agree with me. Because am not a professional, that's why am asking. But I don't understand why someone will be down voting the answer I gave to my question when the person could not give a better solution


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How to animate the wrapping and unwrapping motion of rope around a pole like in the game TetherBall
I'm still somewhat of a blender noobie but have learned a bunch over the past six months of learning blender. I want to create an animation where a rope wraps around a pole like in the game Tetherball and then it unwraps and rewraps on the opposite side. I've explored using rigid body simulations and rigging bones but everything I've tried up to now hasn't worked. All I really need is just to be pointed in the right direction and I can research it and figure it out on my own. At this point, I just don't know what blender process will lead me to the results I'm looking for. Thanks in advance for your help.
Al

Related https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/76756/animate-winding-a-ribbon-rope-cable-around-a-cylinder/76788#76788

You can use Soft Body physics to achieve this - similar to How to get the physics engine to wraps a string around the moving part of a motor constraint?
Here's a quick example :

The key here was to setup the 'string' as a string of vertices with Soft Body, setup the 'pole' with collision, and use a Wind force at the start of the animation (keyframed to just give an initial 'push' and then stop - with 'flow' set to zero) to give it the initial motion. The Soft Body simulation does the rest.

Hello Rich, this is just what I was looking for. I really appreciate the quick response! One last question though. What if I wanted to animate an object being attached to it like a ball, would that effect the Soft Body setup? And, what if I wanted the ball that's attached to come to a rest on the first wrap for about 10 secs before it unwraps. Can this be done with the Soft Body system?

Hi @user109536 - glad to help. The Soft Body can't really interact properly with the Rigid Body so it's not easy to attach a ball to the end. For that you probably want to start with a rigid body simulation by using lots of separate RB objects chained together using RB constraints. This will behave very similar to the SB 'rope' but would allow you to attach a RB ball onto the end. Pausing it would be possible by 'slowing down' the RB world settings to give the appearance of stopping - or there are ways by converting to keyframes. Probably enough for a separate question! :-)

Thanks again for the quick response! I think I got it. In my prior research, I studied a video that used several rigid body objects chained together, so I have a good idea of how this could work. I'll give it a shot and see what I can come up with.  I really appreciate the help!


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Is there an automatic way to cut geometry up evenly in Blender?
I'm creating a simple 3D level for a Unity game. I'm planning on using trimsheets to texture this level with low resolution, seamless textures. I used Probuilder in Unity to box out the level's geometry, and I've imported this draft as an OBJ into Blender. I'm trying to finalize the geometry in Blender but I've noticed it's a bit painstaking to create evenly-divided geometry out of quads. I'm attempting to do this so that each surface can use the trimsheet and the texture will be evenly spread across the geometry.
Is there a way in blender to just model with non-uniform quads, and then let the material handle applying the texture in a grid-like manner?
Here's a picture of what I'm currently doing (painful)

Here's a picture of what I want the end-result to look like (even quads allow me to have the textures repeated in a uniform manner)


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How can I write a script that checks whether an image node is connected a color input or a non color input?
So i tried using chatgpt for this which is why I'm here XD
I saw this free tool blender bob on youtube had made that would change color space of image nodes based on whether it had a particular keyword or not. While great for PBR materials, my project is using duplicates of a single image to drive the color and drive the roughness, bump, etc. So I will have to create multiple duplicates of the image, assign them the keywords and then replace all the images in the nodes. I figured why dont i just alter the script so that it detects what kind of input its connected to and change the color space that way. But chat GPT cant figure it out, and I obviously cant :P
any suggestion to how can i do this, attaching the script chatgpt made below:
    import bpy
from bpy.types import Image, Operator, Panel, ShaderNodeTree

class FixColorSpaceBase:
    bl_options = {'REGISTER', 'UNDO'}

    # Must replace these with the color space names you want to use
    color_space: str
    non_color_space: str

    def set_color_space(self, image: Image, is_color: bool):
        """Set the color space of an image based on whether it is connected to a color input or not."""
        if is_color:
            image.colorspace_settings.name = self.color_space
        else:
            image.colorspace_settings.name = self.non_color_space

    def find_image_nodes(self, node_tree: ShaderNodeTree):
        """Find all image nodes in a node tree and set their color space. If a group node is found explore its node tree recursively."""
        for node in node_tree.nodes:
            if node.type == 'TEX_IMAGE' and node.image:
                is_color = False
                for input in node.inputs:
                    if input.name in ['Color', 'Base Color']:
                        is_color = input.is_linked
                        break
                self.set_color_space(node.image, is_color)
            elif node.type == 'GROUP':
                self.find_image_nodes(node.node_tree)

    def execute(self, _context):
        # Set color space for images in all materials
        for material in bpy.data.materials:
            if material.node_tree:
                self.find_image_nodes(material.node_tree)

        # Set color space for images in all worlds
        for world in bpy.data.worlds:
            if world.node_tree:
                self.find_image_nodes(world.node_tree)

        return {'FINISHED'}

Running the following code will add a "Check Where Links Go" operator to your F3 menu. Running it will display in system console what types of sockets the links lead to (the operator will be only available if you're in the shading editor and have the Image Texture selected).
import bpy

the_id = "check_where_links_go"

class CheckWhereLinksGo(bpy.types.Operator):
    """List the socket types of the links from Image Texture Color"""
    bl_idname = f"object.{the_id}"
    bl_label = "Check Where Links Go"

    @classmethod
    def poll(cls, context):
        if not context.active_node:
            return False
        return context.active_node.type == 'TEX_IMAGE'

    def execute(self, context):
        node = context.active_node
        socket_types = {l.to_socket.type for l in node.outputs['Color'].links}
        print("This Image Texture Node is linked to sockets of these types:")
        print(*socket_types, sep="\n")
        return {'FINISHED'}

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

def register():
    bpy.utils.register_class(CheckWhereLinksGo)
    bpy.types.NODE_MT_view.append(menu_func)
    setattr(bpy.types.WindowManager, f"{the_id}_cls", CheckWhereLinksGo)
    setattr(bpy.types.WindowManager, f"{the_id}_fun", menu_func)

def unregister():
    oldclass = getattr(bpy.types.WindowManager, f"{the_id}_cls")
    oldfunc = getattr(bpy.types.WindowManager, f"{the_id}_fun")
    bpy.utils.unregister_class(oldclass)
    bpy.types.NODE_MT_view.remove(oldfunc)
    delattr(bpy.types.WindowManager, f"{the_id}_cls")
    delattr(bpy.types.WindowManager, f"{the_id}_fun")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    try:
        unregister()
    except AttributeError:
        register()

This is mostly boilerplate code, and could be shortened to a oneliner:
C.area.type='NODE_EDITOR';n=C.active_node;C.area.type='CONSOLE';print(*{l.to_socket.type for l in n.outputs[0].links})
Which you would use by going to your Shader Editor, selecting the Image Texture node, pressing ⬆ ShiftF4, pasting this code and pressing ↩ Enter:

I tested both techniques on Blenders 3.0 and 3.5.

for some reason it does nothing in my version of blender, theres no output in the console either

@VisuaLHippocracY Do you understand the difference between Python console and System console? How about the "oneliner", did you try to test it, didn't it display something in the Python console?

whoops my bad, yes it does print it out. however how can i change it so that it detects all the nodes, active and inactive, throughout the file that are connected to an rgba input?

@VisuaLHippocracY by iterating over all nodes, and skipping (continue) each iteration where the node type is not TEX_IMAGE.


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How to "Outset" the pattern using Inset Tool
I am struggling to perform an Outset move with the inset tool on this pattern. It needs to be outset by 10. I have removed duplicates but doesn't seem to make a difference.
I have attached the model for convenience.

Any suggestions? thanks!

The easiest way that I know is extrude this face up, then use shrink\fatten (Alt+S) to outset the thing, then remove one face back.

If you don't mind using add-ons, you may activate add-on "Mesh Tools", and use a function offset edges from this add-on (context menu ⇾ Mesh Tools ⇾ Offset Edges)

Thanks for this! Excatly what I needed and the 2nd option is also great to know!

Do you need an interior edge loop, or do you just need to enlarge the mesh.  You can accomplish either by first scaling the mesh to make it larger, and then using the inset tool to make the inset face, if you need it:

Thanks for this. Crantisz got there first so Il mark his answer.


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ALT F -> Fill not working correctly?
Selection of vertices in the same plane does not fill correctly if I am to understand the ALT F function correctly. I would like the area marked in red to be filled.

I found the solution:
I removed duplicates prior to ALT F

wow but that's horrible topology. i wonder though what the best way is to fill it with a pretty quad topolgy. Is that even possible?


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Get the "negative" of this object using Boolean Difference not working
Somehow the difference boolean is not working on this object in which I try to get  the "mould" of the blue object, ie the blue object is the cutter.
I have followed the guidlines based on this link

The Boolean modifier is not working

As far as I know, my model

does not have duplicates
is a manifold object
the normals are correct
is a mesh.

I have attached the file incase someone might look at it. Thanks!

if you try to dig the cube with the circular shape, you need to give the Boolean modifier to the cube, not to the circular shape. In that case the boolean seems to work fine with the Fast solver option

I never tried the fast option. Solution under my nose! Thanks! Should I delete this post?

no, you can keep it

If you try to dig the cube with the circular shape, you need to give the Boolean modifier to the cube, not to the circular shape. In that case the boolean seems to work fine with the Fast solver option.


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How to zoom very close for mesh repairing
I have 2 queries here

How to zoom very close for mesh repairing?
If I zoom in to far it moves past the hole.

What is the best tool for repair this hole/gap? I plan to use the fill tool via ALT+F

Hi :). You can zoom more precisely by holding down Ctrl and holding down and dragging the mousewheel.

... where 'zooming' is actually dollying. For a true zoom, you can go into the 'View' tab of the N panel and change the focal length of the viewport camera

select one of the edges or verts and press "." on your numpad

The issue isn't that it's zooming too far per se, it's that it's not zooming on what you want. You need to change your focus.
With the area you want to focus selected, press numpad .
This will move your view such that the focus is the selection. Zooming in and out will now keep the focus.
Note that panning the view (shift + mmb) will move the focus
Finally, if you want to move your focus manually but precisely, I suggest going into the front(1), right(3), or top(7) views and panning the view there while gradually zooming.

Pressing . on your numpad will move your focus point to whatever you selected. It's one of the most important features IMO, super useful!

You can zoom in by pressing Ctrl + Mouse3 (Scroll/Wheel) and then moving you mouse "up" and "down".
If your view starts clipping when you get close to the mesh just press N and go to "View" to change the "Clip Start".
To repair the hole I believe the best way is using the fill toll by pressing F.

you mean Ctrl+RMB? I just get a lasso selection with that command. Your clipping and repair suggestion works.

Ctrl + Pressing the scroll/wheel

The default zoom (focal length) is 50mm. In the View menu N, change the focal length to something like 200mm.

So many answers! But, if you would like to zoom in on a specific part of the mesh, you can hover your mouse cursor over the point you want to zoom in on. Then you can press Alt+MMB (Middle Mouse Button) to view that specific area. (Be sure to not push Alt and then drag with the MMB. That will snap the view to axis instead.) (You could also select your vertices that you want to focus on, and push .) Then you can zoom in on that specific spot. If it starts clipping to the other side of your mesh, push N on your keyboard, select the View tab on the side, and turn your Clip Start value further down.


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How to repair this mesh - detach or split options?
A botched boolean operation has come back to haunt me and Im not sure how to proceed to fix it. The boolean cutter came to close to the outer surface (blue line). I somehow need to detach the mesh(red line) from the outer surface(blue line) and move it back to the left. Any tips? Thanks!

I have repaired this manually by using the following
To see non-manifold geometry:
In edit mode and with vertex mode selected
select -> select all by trait -> non-manifold
To select a non-manifold vertex and to zoom/focus in:
hit "." on the numpad
Delete the non-manifold geometry:
hit the "delete" button for vertex/edge/surface
To manipulate the vertices:
select vertices and press "m" in which various options appear.
The above options helped me rebuild my geometry.


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why do I get this oblong shape brush icon in sculpt mode
All the brushes have this oblong shaped profile(blue) when I select the radius via "F" keyword even though the face is parallel to the XZ plane. Is there a setting that I have accidentally changed?

go to object mode, press ctrl+A and apply scale, your brush should be normal

Just to explain why this happened in the first place... this is the default cube with a normal brush:

And when you scale your object in only 1 axis, for example, axis Z, this happens:

This is simply due to the reason that you scaled it... it even gives you this warning message:

It simply warns you that you scaled your object not in all axis but only in 1 or 2. Solution is to apply scale by pressing Ctrl+A and selecting Scale, this will set your object to 1/1/1 and your object will be uniform once again

the warning message is very subtle as I hardly ever notice it! I have to pay more attention to it. Im assuming it cannot be moved to a more line of sign view?


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how to measure distance of 2 separate objects via select faces
I am struggling to find a way to measure the vertical distance between 2 faces of 2 independent objects so that I can move the target object to the correct print-bed position for printing.
The measure tool appears to be only available for one object at a time in edit mode... Any tips?

why don't you select your target-face in edit mode, use Shift-S -> Cursor to selected, then select the other object's face and Shift-S -> Selection to Cursor?

Snapping might be the way to go..

Set 'Snap To' to 'Vertex'
Set 'Snap With' to 'Center'
Set your Transform Pivot to '3D Cursor'

The 'Center' Snap setting means the current transform center.. so the snap source will be wherever the 3D Cursor is at the beginning of the move. In a suitable orthogonal view...
ShiftRMB-Drag will move the 3D cursor. Subsequently holding down Ctrl will cause the cursor to snap to vertices.
Having established the source vertex, you can then move the object under constraint (here, GZ,) and the source vertex will snap to target vertices in that dimension.


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how to wrap a group of spheres around a cylinder
I took the following steps in an attempt to wrap a bunch of spheres around a cylinder.

Add a plane mesh
add a number of spheres
join the spheres into one object
parent the plane to the spheres, ie the plane is the parent
select the spheres and a surface deform modifier with the plane as the target
select the plane and add shrink wrap modifier with the cylinder as the target.

I have tried various wrap methods and snap modes but unfortunately the spheres are distorted on the cylinder. I simply want the spheres to retain its shape but is just sitting on the surface of the cylinder. My final objects will not be spheres some other mesh object.
Any tips are welcome.

You could use Geometry Nodes to distribute instances on the vertices of the cylinder. Better yet, you can create the cylinder inside GN to keep it all procedural if you'd like that:

Here's the full node setup:

And here's the file:

cool... that looks great! Unfortunately I get an error stating " file written by newer blender binary (300.43) Expect loss of data". I am using 2.93.1

@user9106985 Geometry Nodes have undergone quite a drastic change with 3.0, so I don't think it would work with 2.93. Just update to the latest version? Latest stable release is 3.1 and that should be fine since I'm not using any nodes that's not available in 3.1, I think (I'm using 3.2 Alpha).

Many thanks. I had not realized of the new version. Installed and your model works

You're welcome. Feel free to ask further questions if something's not right with the setup for your specific purpose.

is it possible to replace the cylinder on which the geometry nodes acts with an arbitrary shaped mesh? Ie, a mesh that does not change configuration when we change circular or vertical count for example?

You can disable the link between "Cylinder" and "Join Geometry" so it doesn't show. If you then link Geometry from the Group Input to it, the object you put the Geometry Nodes modifier on will show up in the middle instead: https://i.imgur.com/kCiH9SM.png Distribution is still based on the cylinder though, do you also want the spheres to "stick" to the geometry in the middle? That'd be a bit more involved.

Thanks. I replaced the object with a uv sphere and that works however, if I replace it with my target object (a meshed vase), the instances  do not appear. The source of this vase is an stl import not a default blender mesh object. Would that be a limitation?

I don't think so, no, a mesh is a mesh. If it's an import it could be very big or very small, however. Did you make sure it has an appropriate scale?

I figured the problem. I actually appended my target geometry as an object instead of the usual import stl. Now it works. Thanks for this cool modifier!

It won't work as the Shrinkwrap modifier won't project your plane nicely around your cylinder. There are several ways to do it, like Simple Deform, Instancing, Particles, Geometry Nodes...
The easiest is probably to give to your spheres a Simple Deform (Bend mode) modifier. Don't forget to apply the rotation of your sphere object. It will deform the spheres a bit though. If you don't want deformation you could use Instancing instead.

For the Instancing solution, duplicate a part of your cylinder, separate as a new object, subdivide it so that it has as many vertices as you want instances of your sphere:

Keep this object selected and in the Properties panel > Object > Instancing, click on Vertices. You'll be able to hide the object with the visibility options:

Parent the sphere to this object, it will duplicate the sphere along the object shape. Move the sphere object so that it sticks to the cylinder.

The Particle system solution is a bit more tedious, so it's probably better to use one of the two solutions I've explained, or switch to a more flexible like Geometry Nodes as explained by Kuboa.

thanks for this!

its not clear to me how to reproduce what you have shown? The blender docs states to select an object that defines the origin and axis of deformation. Thus I have selected the cylinder as the target.

if you want to use the Simple Deform modifier you don't need the cylinder, by default the bend axis center will be the origin of the object, just don't forget to apply the rotation in Object mode (Ctrl A > Rotation)

now it works. Thanks! It looks like the distortion is too much for my liking. I presume instancing is what Kuboä is referring to in his post?

Kuboa's solution is Geometry Nodes based, it's a bit more complicated, I can explain instancing though

Technically what Geometry Nodes is doing is also instancing, but what moonboots is referring to is an older method of using that duplication method through the Object Properties panel. That can be a simpler and faster way if all you want is placement and not more control like orientation etc.


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bridge edge loop for 2 closed loops of equal vertices not working
I am struggling to get a clean surface between the  2 loops (in the same plane) each of which have the same amount of vertices.
I selected
1)the inner loop via ALT LMB and then
2)the outer loop via ALT SHIFT LMB
3) edges Bridge Edge Loop

The desired result is below.

Hi :). This is a known bug, unfortunately not of very high priority. Bugs me too :))

Your problem comes from the fact that you have inverted normals, recalculate them (select all in Edit mode and ShiftN) and the Bridge Edge Loops will work fine:

You can also activate the LoopTools addon, select the edges, right click > LoopTools > Bridge.

To the rescue yet again. Many thanks!


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boolean modifier for 1 cylinder inside another cylinder
I cannot get the boolean difference modifier to work for these 2 cylinders as shown. What am I doing wrong? The normals on both cylinders are point outwards

have you tried to hide it or delete the boolean object after applying?

Try changing from 'Exact' to 'Fast'

@moonboots: I will check the next time. thanks

What you are doing works just fine.  You can't see that it works because the Boolean modifier is non-destructive.  Cylinder.001 still exists.
You can do one of several things, including but not limited to:

Hide Cylinder.001 by clicking the eye icon in the outliner, or selecting it and typing H in the 3d Viewport resulting in the eye looking closed;

Placing it in a different collection and hiding that collection;
Applying the modifier and deleting Cylinder.001; or
Changing its Viewport Display property to Bounds or Wire so that you can see that it still exists, but also see the Boolean effect.

Your choice depends on your workflow.  A very popular workflow is to

Create a separate collection called something like Cutters and move it to that collection
Change its Viewport Display to wire or bounds.

This gives you the flexibility of hiding all of the cutters you are using, or only a few of them, while still allowing you to see both the result of the Boolean and why that result occurred.  Here's an example:

The 3D Viewport:

I like the idea of creating cutters. Works perfect for me! THanks alot!


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sculpting - symmetry problem when adding clay on one side
I wanted to add clay to one side and I expected it to mirror it on the other side based on the y symmetry setting. However, I did not expect it to remove material on the inside wall as shown attached. In fact it does not appear to add the mirrored clay very well on the other side.
I guess theres nothing I can do about this?

If you want to add material, use the draw brush, if you want the material to behave like clay, use the clay brush.

This happens because that side of your mesh is too thin and brush is too big, so basically you pull the front side, but backside is affected by too big brush as well... To change that go here and check this:

After checking Front Face Only, your brush will affect only vertices that are visible from your view... I am not sure though if this causes that bad symmetry, if symmetry still won't work, send me your file

@MikoCG....great thanks for this tip. I also selected 1 to make sure of normal view and it worked. NO deformation on the inside.


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How do I fix vertices scaling towards selector?
I've recently started using blender, and was working with it just fine, when I accidentally changed how the scaling and rotating works. Now when I try to scale something, it scales as if the selector was the senter. Axis locked translations are also affected by this, as I have to find the selector to translate it.

Related: http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/5519/setting-the-pivot-point-of-an-object

If your selector is what it is scaling to, then you may have changed the Median point, or bumped your keyboard and it changed.
Easy fix!
The third little box on the end of your screen will have the options to change the median point.

The original option you were probably using was the one called median point before it changed. just click on that one and it should fix it.


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Blender Video Editing: How to create custom effect strip?
I would like to create a custom effect strip for the VSE (Video Sequence Editor) and add it into the Add->Effect Strip menu. In my case I want to create a copy of the Transform effect, except with certain default values (ie. Blend=Over Drop, Scale X=0.75, ...).
How can I go about adding this custom effect?
I understand that blender is scriptable, but I have not found any resources that mention this particular topic. Any pertinent links or advice would be appreciated.

Perhaps it could be a version of default transform effect that is saved as start up file?

Can you elaborate a bit on this method?

I don't know how to code an effect and I believe that it is a bit of a challenge. You could use python to code adding a transform effect with those parameters already defined, or you could append this metastrip plus effect fro another "master" blend file scene.
Here I have created a metastrip by adding a color effect (red) then pressing Ctrl-G. To this metastrip I added a transform effect and set the scale and x,y values. I also changed the blend type to "overdrop"

Next I selected the metastrip and its transform effect and duplicated them with Shift-D. I can place this duplicate metastrip anywhere on the timeline. Press the TAB key to step nside the metastrip and change the media.

Press the TAB key to get back out to the master sequence timeline, then you can drag the end handle of the metastrip to the correct new length.

Then you could split your screen to make a little FX bin on the side.

This is at timeline -0. In other words, you place a bunch of stuff outside the rendered timeline. Then you can select them no matter where you are in the edited timeline. They wont zoom or move unless you change it. I have also altered the color of that red strip in the other effect so that you can identify the one that you want to use, it may have different x,y offset values or scale etc.
Also you could enable the Addon Extra Sequencer Actions, then use it to copy the transform and blend type properties from your original effect to the others. It is a bit fiddly to select correctly. Make sure the master effect is the last one that you select.


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Modeling question - flatten part of the cylinder
Got a question on modeling, would like to know if anyone can suggest a way on modeling this part of a chair? It is kind of flatten part of the cylinder. Thank you.

You might try to start with a subdivided cylinder that is bent the general direction this goes, and then try a booltool brush of a flat surface like an extruded cube to cut away that flat area, and then retopologize the result to fit your desired vertex arrangement.

I didn't know this Bool Tool addon before. Did some research in Google, found out this addon is included in v2.78
Enable this addon under File > User Preferences > Add-ons > Bool Tool

Select the rectangle first, then select the cylinder, use the Difference operation and got the below result.

You might look at the bevel modifier to get the slight rounded edge from the reference. I had mentioned retopology only in the case that you might want to actually have even distributed quads in your model -  but that is not always necessary, so is really just an after thought. The nice thing about the booltool brushes is that you can work with other modifiers liek Array to get really good effects quickly.

The knife tool is a simple option. In the Gif I just filled with one big NGon. You could of course bridge the vertices and get neat geometry. The object is set to Auto-smooth with smooth shading.

You might try to start with a subdivided cylinder that is bent the general direction this goes, and then try a booltool brush of a flat surface like an extruded cube to cut away that flat area, and then retopologize the result to fit your desired vertex arrangement.

Copy your comment to answer, delete comment, and elaborate little more. How to use this AddOn? How to retopologize this particular example etc.

If you need to add an image to a comment then upload the image to somewhere like imgur and link to it. When you add an answer, all information should be in the answer itself, not split between answer and comment. In short, only add an answer if you intend it to be a full answer to the question.


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Modeling question - twist/bend part of a mesh
Modeling question - twist/bend part of a mesh
Is there a way to twist/bend part of a mesh like this? I tried the Simple Deform modifier, but didn't really get a good result. Any suggestions?

you can try with curve modifier

But that's 100% do-able by the normal rotation tool

The easiest way probably would be to select the crossing edgeloop to be twisted, fill a non-manifold face there, rotate it around normal Z axis to create desired twisting and delete a face.

Great method for shapes like that is shown here in the picture. Here is what you have to do:

place 3 profile (can be more) meshes depending on what form you want. Profiles must have the same vertex count.
join all the parts into 1 mesh.
with profiles selected press W and then 'Bridge edge loops'.
check 'Tools menu (T)' for more options if you need.
apply subdivision modifier.

You can see the result in the second picture. This is similar. For your case you must adjust the placement of the profiles and then adjust the 2nd. profile to match the one you need. I think you will need 4 profiles to get an accurate result.

If you wish to try with curve modifiers, I tried an example setup for you to follow:
First, I created a similar arm shape, starting from a cube extruded and subdivided, and also a 3 vertex bezier curve object, straightened along the arm axis. Then I added a curve modifier to the above curve object, adjusted size and position. The subdiv modifier is to get a similar arm shape, with an edge loop.

Here you see the curve setup

Then in top view I starded moving one side curve vertex

which ended like this:

then I switched to right view

and moved the same vertex along Z to get the rough starting shape

Now, using the curve tilt tool on that same vertex

I twisted the mesh about 90 degrees

then inverted the selection, to select only the remaining 2 vertices of the curve, to adjust their tilt too:

Of course you can add more or less control points, and move, adjust, tilt them to get exactly the shape you need.
Hth


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Object with custom opacity gradient
I would like to create an object with a custom gradient in opacity.
I start with a curve (or more generally, a function of all three coordinates) that contains opacity values for the object I want to display. So for e.g. a cube extending from 0 to 1 in all three dimensions, that function would spit out the opacity value I want for each point in the cube. That way, I can model a cube with exponentially falling opacity or even an opacity that falls and rises  again when going away from the center.
Does anyone have an idea how to achieve this?
Thank you!

Should be perfectly possible by expressing your function in shader nodes, or, if necessary, OSL.. could you give an example function for demonstration?

@RobinBetts To test it, I would've gone for something nice and simple like exp(-x^2 - y^2 - z^2). In the end, I'll probably have some kind of data set that I describe with a more complicated polynomial fit.

I expect you want more than this.. but it's a start ..
In principle, you can just make the color or density of a volume absorption shader a function of your chosen texture space. Here, Object Space is used. Its origin is at the object's origin, and is measured in Blender units along the object's local axes. So this default cube has 0 a its center and runs from -1 to 1 in all directions.

The function here is e^ -(x^2 + y^2 + z^2)..

Instead of mapping to a gradient, you could put in a threshold, map to Alpha instead.. all sorts, it depends exactly what you want..


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Material solid color despite uv image texture

I have uv unwrapped my texture. It is assigned. The image is set to repeat and it has a texture coordinate node, as well as a mapping node, attached.
No matter what I do it only shows up as a solid color, even in renders. Any advice on how to fix this?

As you describe it you seem to have done nothing wrong, so it's hard to tell the exact problem. Could you provide the blend file, at least that object where the texture should be? Upload your file here

Can you add a screenshot of your node setup?

                                                                                this is the .blend file in question


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Knife Project with UV Sphere
I am wanting to make a depression in an object using a UV Sphere. I create the sphere and position it, then shift-select the object and enter edit mode. When I select the knife project tool, I get an error message "No other selected objects found to use for projection". Why does a UV sphere not work with this tool?

Possible duplicate of Can't use "Knife Project"


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Scripting an inspector/editor for custom properties
I want to assign arbitrary data in the form of custom properties to a category of objects within my scene.
For the sake of this question, let's say that the arbitrary data is comprised of several named custom properties ranging from 0.0 to 255.0 in value, effectively several bytes of data.
Next I want to build a custom panel that will facilitate visualising and editing specific bits of an objects arbitrary data.
I've not had much luck finding an example of how to achieve this.
To elaborate on the question with some code, I know I can do this kind of thing:
class BM_PT_block_inspector(bpy.types.Panel):
    bl_idname = "BM_PT_block_inspector"
    bl_label = "Block"
    bl_space_type = 'PROPERTIES'
    bl_region_type = 'WINDOW'
    bl_context = "object"

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

        # toggle a pre-existing setting
        self.layout.row().prop(obj, "show_wire", toggle=True, text="Wireframe", icon="SHADING_WIRE")

        # show custom property values directly in panel
        self.layout.row().prop(obj, '["my_prop_0"]')
        self.layout.row().prop(obj, '["my_prop_1"]')

but I would like to be able to render UI elements like checkboxes in the panel that will essentially act as toggles for specific bits of the data stored in the active object's custom properties.

This can be achieved with custom property getters/setters.
Use custom getters/setters to read/write to the desired data instead of the default behaviour.
def get_array(self):
    mc = self["blk_flags"]
    return list (map (lambda i: ((mc >> i) & 1) > 0, range (8)))

def set_array(self, values):
    mc = 0
    for i in range (8):
        if values[i]: mc |= (1 << i)
    self["blk_flags"] = mc

class BMBlockSettings(PropertyGroup):
    blk_flags : IntProperty (name="Bit Flags")
    blk_arr : BoolVectorProperty(name="Toggles", size=8, get=get_array, set=set_array)

class BM_PT_block_inspector(bpy.types.Panel):
    bl_idname = "BM_PT_block_inspector"
    bl_label = "Block"
    bl_space_type = 'PROPERTIES'
    bl_region_type = 'WINDOW'
    bl_context = "object"

    def draw(self, context):
        self.layout.row().prop(context.object.bm_block, "blk_arr")

def register ():
    bpy.types.Object.bm_block = PointerProperty(type=BMBlockSettings)

def unregister():
    del bpy.types.Object.bm_block


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Rope modelling issue - curve modifier breaks up if object moved from origin
I have succesfully created a rope object using the screw and curve modifiers. But when I move the object away from the origin the path gets more distorted the further I move it away.
The only way I've been able to fix it is to apply both modifiers. This leaves me with no ability to modify the object path or rope strand dimensions easily. See below for examples. You can see the underlying sine curve

I guess what you need to do is to move both the object and the curve

Either move both objects together or parent the curve to the rope. When parenting, be aware that pressing ESC while moving will screw up the rope.

If you move the object away from the curve, on some axis, it may mess up the array, so put the origin of the curve at its beginning point, put the object at the same position, give it the Array and the Curve modifiers, and if you want your object to be somewhere else, select BOTH the object and the curve. As Metaphor said, to make it easier you can parent the curve to the object.

Many thanks to @metaphor_set for the suggestions! I found that using the parent command worked the best.


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I am trying to install py script in blender 2.80, but i cant find that script in user preference!
I am trying to install python script in blender 2.80, but I cant find that script in user preference!
I have checked everything and its all set but I still cant find script to activate!
Is it because blender 2.80 unstable? if yes then how much I have to wait for blender 2.80 to support scripts?

Depends on the script but it should appear at least. What's the script/addon you are talking about?

Read: Installing an addon and “Install from File” not working to install addon

http://www3.telus.net/wacampbell/downloads/BlenderToMSTS.zip, its the zip which contains the addon and it worked in blender 2.79b but not in blender 2.80

Preferences > Add-ons > Install from file works, problem is that the Addon needs to be updated in order to work properly in Blender 2.8x.

so any idea how to update script?thanks already :)

No problem, all relevant changes: https://wiki.blender.org/wiki/Reference/Release_Notes/2.80/Python_API/Addons


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Need help troubleshooting a lighting change in EEVEE from an unknown source
I have an animation that I'm working on and mid scene there is a lighting change that happens which brightens the scene.
I think it is the sun lamp that I have in the scene because when I disable it the lighting stays consistent.  I have narrowed down the exact frame where it happens but there are no keyframes tied to any lighting elements that would change the lighting in the scene. I have deleted the sun lamp and added a new one, same problem.
I copied a sun lamp from the next scene where there are no issues and as soon as its pasted into the scene I get the same lighting change at the same frame.  I need the lighting so match the next scene perfectly so its seamless when edited together and have put a lot of time into it so far and don't want to have to recreate any lighting changes in the following scenes.
What am I not seeing/checking?
You don't see the lighting change when looking at the scene through the full viewport. It is only seen when looking through the camera or once rendering frames.

It's difficult to imagine the situation by your description. Attached images or videos could help, and best of all, the blend file.

You can upload your blend file here: http://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/


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Camera shaped Vision problem in 3D view
I have clicked wrong keys and now im not able to turn it off and now i only see what was in the camera shaped box.

Probably you hit alt+b it's a hide mask tool.

To turn it off just hit alt+B again


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Cycles one side transparency
Is there a way to create a material that seems diffuse shader, but can see lights trough it when lights are behind like E.V.E. in Wall-e? I have tried diffuse mixed with gloss and both mixed add to transparent shader, but can see through all sides.
Here a picture of what I want to do.

I want to be able to see light from the camera side only when the light is on just like on EVE's chest.

I don't think it's clear the result you're trying to achieve. It would help if you could update your question to include an image showing the desired final result.

Added the EVE pictures

There are various ways you could probably achieve this effect - one is to use a Refraction shader to allow light through in a specific direction and to scatter based on Roughness using the following setup :

Here the Diffuse shader provides the basic diffuse surface and the Refraction shaders are added to this to show through the illumination from behind.
I've added two Refraction shaders (the Mix shader can vary the reletive strengths) - one with a low Roughness for the 'sharp' image and the other with a high roughness for the 'glow' around it. The very high IOR of the first Refraction shader forces the rays that pass through the surface to mostly align with the surface normal - this forces the rays to form an image of what's behind the surface, without being affected by the viewing angle (as if the image of Suzanne is projected onto the surface). The second Refraction shader has high roughness and provides the 'glow' and by slightly reducing the IOR of that shader the 'glow' can be made to be more based on viewing angle - eg, in your first sample image of Eve the 'scatter' of the green on her chest is offset from the 'image' part; the lower IOR effectively mimics this.
Note that you can also change the colors of each of the Refraction shaders independently so as to tint the 'scatter' differently if required - or vary the Roughness for more/less scatter within the surface.

Alright! this is what I were looking for. Short and effective solution. I would give you more points by explaining what everything do but can't lol, Thank you!

@EricBrochu You’re welcome - glad to be able to help. ( - and thanks to Robin Betts for fixing my typo!)


text:
'Search Bar' for custom UI Lists - prop_search
I'm trying to create the ability to have multiple UI Lists (custom, assigned to bpy.types.Object) which can be selected and have their names edited by use of a 'prop_search' widget.

In this example picture, there's a UI List of Particle Effects, and beneath it a property_search to change the particle effect being edited.
What I'm looking for is the opposite. A property_search tab which changes the active 'list' being worked on. With multiple 'instances' of the UI List existing in the project.
How might this be achieved?

does this answer your question?

@MartyFouts Sorry for the long wait, got around to this at last.  No, I don't think it answers the question. I'm trying to use a template_ID to select a Collection Property.

@MartyFouts I re created the question, I think it's clearer what I'm asking https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/263159/search-box-for-custom-collectionproperty